# What kind of name is Turnipseed ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 11, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657 "2004-02-11T15:13:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/41 "2020-05-06T08:48:23Z")
This is interesting that no less than _three_ separate people claiming descent from the original Turnipseed immigrants have discovered and commented on this long-dormant thread over the last ten years! ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/42 "2020-05-06T08:54:34Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > The German equivalent (Rübensamen) does exist as a (rare) surname in German. So this could have been a literal translation from a German original - or maybe a nickname that someone just chose to stick with? Turnipseed is almost certainly a literal translation of a German name which, in turn, exists in several versions of different truncation. German Wikipedia, for instance, lists a couple of prominent people named [Rübsam](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCbsam) and one prominent [Rübensam](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_R%C3%BCbensam). ---
**Author:** ![Petek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/petek/32/1590_2.png) [@Petek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petek)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/43 "2020-05-06T10:20:32Z")
Here’s some more trivia for this thread: The book _Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads_ contains a recipe for **Tunipseed Sisters’ White Loaf**. The description of the recipe begins: > [@](#): > > Ola and Minnie Turnipseed, two elderly spinster sisters, legends as cooks in northern Indiana (RFD, Monticello), cooked and served dinners in their kerosene-lit farm home for more than thirty years. . ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/44 "2020-05-06T13:10:43Z")
I went to high school with an African American girl with the “Turnipseed” surname. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/45 "2020-05-06T13:47:34Z")
This thread was started in 2004, and restarted in 2010, 2017, and now in 2020. Does that set any kind of record for zombie threads? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/46 "2020-05-06T14:46:56Z")
IIRC, the literary work “Oliver Twist”, the newborn baby dropped off at the orphanage had no name, so the name “Twist” was made-up out of whole cloth. Maybe the common Turnipseed ancestor had a similar origin. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/47 "2020-05-06T15:06:09Z")
I thought for sure this thread was being resurrected to say “What kind of a name is X Æ A-12 Musk?” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/48 "2020-05-06T15:25:09Z")
Turnipseed was one of the minor fairies in **A Midsummer Night’s Dream.** I’m shocked that I was the first one to mention this. On the rare occasions I come across “turnipseed,” Shakespeare is the only thing I think of. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/49 "2020-05-06T15:27:52Z")
Well, I’m a complete idiot — the fairy’s name was _Mustardseed._ And her best buds were Peaseblossom, Cobweb, and Mote. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/50 "2020-05-06T15:50:56Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > This thread was started in 2004, and restarted in 2010, 2017, and now in 2020. Does that set any kind of record for zombie threads? The **Steward Sandwich** thread has been revived more often, but I’m too lazy to look up when it was started. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/51 "2020-05-06T16:21:07Z")
The [thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=109762) on the (as far as we know non-existent) alternate ending to the movie “Big” keeps getting revived every so often. Has to be at least a dozen times by now, if not more. It has a better claim than the Beatles for being better than Jesus in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/52 "2020-05-06T16:54:53Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > It sounds like a Hobbit name to me. Probably from Bree, where they all (Hobbits and big people too) tend to have vegetal related surnames (like Butterburr or Ferny). ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/53 "2020-05-06T18:57:22Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > The **Steward Sandwich** thread has been revived more often, but I’m too lazy to look up when it was started. Thread: [Anyone Remember “Stewart Sandwiches”?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=480139&page=3) By your own count, looks like there have been 45 revivals so far. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/54 "2020-05-07T04:45:02Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > This thread was started in 2004, and restarted in 2010, 2017, and now in 2020. Does that set any kind of record for zombie threads? You could say the turnip tree continues to bear fruit… …er…the turnip vine? Am I close? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/55 "2020-05-07T04:52:54Z")
There was a Turnipseed family whose kids went to school with me when I was growing up in Des Moines, so it is indeed a real name, albeit a zombie one in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/56 "2020-05-12T15:37:42Z")
> [@Rubiconx](#): > > To all of you my last name is Turnipseed and I am damn proud of it and directly descended from the original brothers who came to America. You might say it would suck to be called Johnny Turnipseed but rather it would be his honor! It was my dad’s cousin who was actually hit by James Dean as he crossed into oncoming traffic to pass an 18 wheeler, so a little respect! My father was very proud of his last name as am I! I took the teasing as a young little boy but I don’t take it now! As far being Jewish, I was confirmed by an Israeli jewish genealogy group to be Jewish but that was years ago and how legitimate it was I’m still not sure about. No one should ever tease others or laugh at someone’s last name because one day karma will call you out and then it’s just not gonna be funny anymore. I think it’s a great name, and would never mock it. I think the world is a more interesting place with Turnipseeds in it! I’ve been aware of the name as it pops up on lists of rare and unusual surnames. Long live the Turnipseeds! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/57 "2020-05-12T16:04:30Z")
Whereas it never would have even occurred to me that it was unusual. I would have just assumed that the person had a distant ancestor who was a turnip farmer. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/58 "2020-05-12T16:59:30Z")
BTW, Tom Turnipseed, who was the attorney/poliction mentioned on the previous page, died just a few months ago. When the segregation academies started sprouting up in the mid 1960s, this proud segregationist was the first president of the SCISA (South Carolina Independent Schools Association). When asked about race in private school admissions, he said at the time that race had nothing to do with admissions, and the only document that referred to race was on a form designed by the Feds. Later, after his conversion he was quite open about the segregation academies, saying (not in these exact words) “Duh! Of course they were built to keep the Blacks out.” From what I’ve been able to tell, documents relating to their founding just emphasized vague concepts as “to maintain local control of the curriculum” or some other code-speak. ---
**Author:** ![dflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dflower/32/3270_2.png) [@dflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dflower)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-turnipseed/228657/59 "2020-05-12T17:52:11Z")
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