<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.6058" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV>Yes, and though perhaps not common, Ida was a not uncommon Dutch name.  I encounter in an early 18th century Dutch community in Kentucky (of all places!).  And, my family hosted a Swedish foreign exchange student named Ida.  Christine Rose gives Eytic and Ydtje as Dutch/Frisian variants of the name.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 3/9/2011 3:22:14 A.M. Central Standard Time, elisabeth@etgenealogy.se writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Hello List<BR><BR>Ida was a very common first name for women in Sweden in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Now, about 100 years later, it is often used for little girls, again. Partly because the little sister of Emil in Lönneberga, in the books by Astrid Lindgren, is called Ida. There is also a song "Little Ida's Summer Song" that is sung at most grade schools, when the summer vacation begins.<BR><BR>Names of great grandmothers is very "in" here, like Emma, Alma, Sigrid, Lisa, etc.<BR><BR>My 25 öre!<BR></FONT><PRE class=moz-signature cols="72">------------------ Elisabeth Thorsell Swedish Genealogist & Writer Editor of "Swedish American Genealogist" Visit <A class=moz-txt-link-freetext title=http://www.etgenealogy.se/sag.htm href="http://www.etgenealogy.se/sag.htm">http://www.etgenealogy.se/sag.htm</A> Utgivare av nyhetsbrevet "Vi Släktforskare" Besök <A class=moz-txt-link-freetext title=http://www.etgenealogy.se/ href="http://www.etgenealogy.se/">http://www.etgenealogy.se</A> </PRE><BR>Ida Skarson McCormick skrev 2011-03-09 08:44: <BLOCKQUOTE cite=mid:4D772FEC.4040807@seanet.com type="cite">On 3/8/2011 9:05 AM, Terry Parcel wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE cite=mid:842529.46155.qm@web112906.mail.gq1.yahoo.com type="cite"> <STYLE type=text/css>div { margin: 0px; }</STYLE> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: rgb(68,79,117); FONT-FAMILY: tahoma,new york,times,serif"> <DIV>Anyone know if Ida is an abbreviation for a woman's first name.  Hitting a roadblock.  Thanks.</DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>-------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>Terry:<BR><BR>Ida is a name in its own right, not a nickname in the usual sense. A nickname for Ida is sometimes Idie. That's what my Missouri-born grandfather called me, in his _Mark Twain Tonight_ accent, when he wasn't calling me Li'l Sistuh.  <BR><BR>Mount Ida was 2 sacred mountains in Greek mythology (present-day Crete and Turkey). <BR><BR>Gilbert  and Sullivan's comic opera, _Princess Ida or Castle Adamant_ , opened in 1884. It was based on the 1847 poem "The Princess: A Medley" by Alfred Lord Tennyson. <BR><BR>The name's popularity in the US was extended most likely because Ida Saxton was President McKinley's wife. <BR><BR>Ida was very popular around the turn of the 20th Century but waned thereafter. You don't know how many people have told me they had an aunt or a grandmother named Ida. <BR><BR>Over the years Ida got paired with  and merged with other names (maybe 2 people to name the baby after), such as Ida + Lee -> Idalee, Ida + Mae -> Idamae, Ida + Elaine -> Idalaine. The Idalaine I knew in college was called Idie.<BR><BR>Ida was frequently used by immigrant women for themselves or their daughters as a substitute for an Old Country name. Some immigrants carried over Old Country naming patterns but substituted American names beginning with the same or similar sound(s). <BR><BR>Among the Norwegian immigrants, for example, an American name beginning with any vowel could be substituted for a name beginning with a vowel in Norway. I was named after my mother's schoolmate whose parents came from my father's parish in Norway. <BR><BR>A number of Jewish women are named Ida.<BR><BR>There was a 19th Century Black feminist leader named Ida B. Wells-Barnett, for whom some Black women are named.<BR><BR>My name is pronounced with a long "I," but I respond, also, to EE-da in a doctor's office, restaurant, etc. That pronunciation is used by some named Ida, primarily Spanish speaking, I believe.<BR><BR>If you give us more information about the Ida you are inquiring about, such as full name, dates, location, and ethnicity, perhaps we can provide more specific help. <BR><BR>See Wikpedia.com for some information about Mount Ida, _Princess Ida_, Ida Saxton McKinley, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett.<BR><BR>--Ida Skarson McCormick, <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated title=mailto:idamc@seanet.com href="mailto:idamc@seanet.com" moz-do-not-send="true">idamc@seanet.com</A>, Seattle<BR><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=2 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Jay Fonkert, CG<BR><A href="http://fourgenerationsgenealogy.blogspot.com/">http://fourgenerationsgenealogy.blogspot.com/</A><BR>Saint Paul, MN<BR><BR>Director, Association of Professional Genealogists<BR>(</FONT><FONT lang=2 face=Arial color=#000000 size=1 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="8">professional profile at <A href="http://www.apgen.org)/">www.apgen.org)</A></FONT><FONT lang=2 face=Arial color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR>Member, Genealogical Speakers Guild<BR></FONT><FONT lang=2 face=Arial color=#000000 size=1 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="8">(professional profile at <A href="http://www.genealogicalspeakersguild.org/)">http://www.genealogicalspeakersguild.org/)</A><U><BR></FONT><FONT lang=2 face=Arial color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></U>Member, International Society of Family History Writers and Editors <BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=2 face=Arial color=#000000 size=1 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="8">CG (Certified Genealogist) is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by Board-certified associates after periodic competency evaluations.</FONT><FONT lang=2 face=Arial color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR></FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>