Over thirteen generations and five centuries, thousands of people are born and named. The following are examples of the unusual names and naming patterns of Newport area names of the past:
ROYAL PAINE Several generations of Royal Paines can be found among the descendants of Anthony Paine, an original settler of Portsmouth in 1638.
PRESERVED FISH Grandson of early Portsmouth settler Thomas Fish. One of many generations including a whaler, China Trade merchant and a founder of the New York Stock Exchange, Kinsman to statesman Hamilton Fish and Newport hostess Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish of Crossways.
GRIZZEL FISH Brother of the above.
ISRAEL FISH LAKE (1792-1870) Prominent merchant and shopkeeper of “Lake’s Corner” at Equality Park.
DODGE – BALL Gravestone at Block Island showing intermarriage of founding families Tristram Dodge and Edward Ball.
CHARITY BALL A daughter of the above.
MAHERSHALLALHASHBAZ DYER (d. 1670) son of Quaker martyr Mary Dyer.