Ancestor with a strange name...

I wonder if Turtle was her mother's maiden surname. I found this on Ancestry:

Thanks for responding! I did wonder that but her mother's surname was Wooldridge so it's not that. But it's strange you mention Turkel because her Christening records record her name as Thurkell. Thanks for that, hopefully a mystery solved!

I think I've seen turtle in older poetry referring to a turtledove, so maybe that was the meaning? Perhaps a more likely source of a girl's name.

I have two of these, both of which I have figured out.

In many languages, Achsah would be a good phonetic spelling of "Axe ", as the final e -

Sounds like turtle catcher - maybe she had a talent for turtle hunting

Obviously now I'll be telling people she was some sort of notable turtle hunter roaming the New Forest!

There is one branch of my family that had some strange forenames............Leafy Forrest was probably the oddest.

I have an ancestor who turns up on various documents as Square or Squire. I always figured his name was actually Squire as that has the benefit of making some sense, but then we went out to the family graveyard and....

Were they purely European in background?

I'm pretty sure she was, my Dad's maternal side have been in the New Forest for ever. But you never know! I've been able to find her parents and their parents and they're all from the New Forest or within Hampshire

I loved reading about this, thanks!

we have an “Otter” in our tree and i’ve been trying to track down where it comes from for ages. they came from England and settled in Massachusetts.

Perhaps it began as someone's nickname and it became so memorable that later generations gave it to their children as a middle name.

I know a similar case of this IRL.

I like to think that her family were fond of it and wanted to remember her! Clearly in some way she made an impression