There really was a Mary Scary: wacky Halloween names

 
Publicity pictures from the forthcoming film Van Helsing. The movie which opens at cinemas in May 2004 is directed by Stephen Sommers, it is tipped to be the ultimate horror movie and will star Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. Picture shows Frankenstein nd06_vanhelsing-c
25 October 2012

Mary Scary, Mr Spooky and Frank N Stein are among weird, wacky and even scary names unearthed by a family history website.

Ancestry.co.uk said a study of names on its site going back hundreds of years, ranging from school registers and marriage records to phone books, revealed some unusual entries.

Names of interest included Norfolk woman Mary Scary born in 1843, butcher Fran Pire, who left New York for Southampton in 1926, a First World War soldier called Will Fright and a Southampton newsagent described in a phone book as Mr Spooky.

Ancestry.co.uk international content director Miriam Silverman said: "Drawing attention to this somewhat curious selection of names highlights the fact that not just life but also history has a way of imitating art."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in