# My grandmother's name: ever heard it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969 "2004-04-02T22:34:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/1 "2004-04-02T22:34:58Z")
My grandmother was born in a tiny Alabama town in 1901. She is the only person I have ever known to bear the name \* Zulimer \*. Her father, a barely literate first generation Irishman, swore that he named her after a song he loved, _“Clifton and Zulimer”_, but I have never been able to find any record of that song or anything even close. (I’ve also searched for Clifford and pretty much any variation of a Zulimer-like word I can think of. Has anybody ever heard this name before or of anything that even remotely might be the basis for my grandmother’s name? (I have promised my mother that if it’s out there, I’ll find it- so far it ain’t out there.) ---
**Author:** ![cheapbastardon38thstreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cheapbastardon38thstreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheapbastardon38thstreet)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/2 "2004-04-02T22:42:01Z")
I Googled Zulimer and got 6 hits, most are foreign language ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/3 "2004-04-02T22:43:44Z")
I just googled Zulimer. It returned 6 hits. In at least 5 cases, the name appeared as a last name. The exception seemed to be on a spanish-language white pages listing. The sites all appeared to be Germanic, Slavic or Spanish-language. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/4 "2004-04-02T22:46:05Z")
I’d googled it also (should have mentioned) and didn’t find anything relevant. I had better luck with Zuleima and Zulima (a Hebrew word for “happiness”), but still nothing similar. (As much as we loved Meemaw, this is a name we just sort of let die with her in the family; my father’s grandmother’s maiden name was named a far more reasonable _Louisiana Talitha Cumi Cotton_.) ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/5 "2004-04-02T22:52:16Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > My grandmother was born in a tiny Alabama town in 1901. She is the only person I have ever known to bear the name \* Zulimer \*. > > Her father, a barely literate first generation Irishman, swore that he named her after a song he loved, _“Clifton and Zulimer”_, but I have never been able to find any record of that song or anything even close. (I’ve also searched for Clifford and pretty much any variation of a Zulimer-like word I can think of. > > Has anybody ever heard this name before or of anything that even remotely might be the basis for my grandmother’s name? (I have promised my mother that if it’s out there, I’ll find it- so far it ain’t out there.) Like the others ,the best thing I can come up with is ZULEIMA--------it appears mostly in spanish, or portugese, and seems to be a story of a trek across panama. Sorry, that’s the best I can do. ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/6 "2004-04-02T22:58:10Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > My grandmother was born in a tiny Alabama town in 1901. She is the only person I have ever known to bear the name \* Zulimer \*. > > Her father, a barely literate first generation Irishman, swore that he named her after a song he loved, _“Clifton and Zulimer”_, but I have never been able to find any record of that song or anything even close. (I’ve also searched for Clifford and pretty much any variation of a Zulimer-like word I can think of. > > Has anybody ever heard this name before or of anything that even remotely might be the basis for my grandmother’s name? (I have promised my mother that if it’s out there, I’ll find it- so far it ain’t out there.) I found another entry in a list of names common to Venezuela. In this instance the spelling is exactly the same. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/7 "2004-04-03T00:15:46Z")
is it possible that some one misconstrued “tristan and isolda?” (i know i misspelled isolda, see how easy it can be?) betwix irish and southern accents things may have gotten a bit turned about. not to mention opera singing. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/8 "2004-04-03T00:18:26Z")
Wow! That is a really inspired suggestion **rocking chair** - nice one! ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/9 "2004-04-03T01:10:46Z")
There is a Parish in Ireland called Clifton - perhaps there once was another Parish called Zulimer that has since been reincorporated / deserted / renamed? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/10 "2004-04-03T01:59:18Z")
To me, Zulimer sounds like Salome. There was a brief craze for Salome themed music & dancing at the turn of the last century (sparked first by Wilde’s play in 1893 and then by Little Egypt at the Chicago World Fair.) I don’t know where Clifton comes into it. I have seen several references to Maud Allen’s Vision of Salome program but that was a few years later. Anyway, there’s a frenchified version of the name Salome spelled Zulime. You can find a pages of Google hits on that spelling - maybe you’ll find something that matches up with Clifton or your grandfather. As I said, Salome inspired vaudville & dancehall type numbers were hot stuff around 1901. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/11 "2004-04-03T06:31:53Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Wow! That is a really inspired suggestion **rocking chair** - nice one! I agree. I think this is an avenue worth pursuing. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmothers-name-ever-heard-it/237969/12 "2004-04-04T02:18:34Z")
> [@rocking chair](#): > > is it possible that some one misconstrued “tristan and isolda?” (i know i misspelled isolda, see how easy it can be?) betwix irish and southern accents things may have gotten a bit turned about. not to mention opera singing. Hmm… I can totally see it… One of my grandfather’s sisters was named Kaldoney due to a “mishearing” of her mother’s birthplace (which was not Scotland but a town in Tennessee named- you guessed it- Caledonia).