L20 by toofarnorth via Flickr
Every once in a while a request comes in that seems impossible. It’s as if the name was invented, and used just that once. Until you look just a little deeper, and it becomes apparent that the name isn’t invented, but merely long forgotten.
Thanks to Ashley for suggesting the mysterious Ladusky as our Baby Name of the Day.
Ladusky pops up in genealogies at a fairly steady clip. She was in use in the early nineteenth century, exclusively for women, throughout the US, and she’s never completely disappeared.
Before we get to her origins, here’s more proof that the name was a bona fide appellation in the nineteenth century: Frances Hodgson Burnett penned a novel called Ladusky in 1877. This was a few years before her success with Sara Crewe and Little Lord Fauntleroy, but some years after she’d established herself as a writer. Ladusky wasn’t a hit, and I can’t find it – or a plot summary – anywhere.
Still, we know this much – Burnett was a daring namer. Editha, Esmerelda, Feather, Stefan, and Cedric are among her characters. So it isn’t a surprise to find a gem like Ladusky among her works.
While the name has never ranked in the US Top 1000, she was fairly common in the earlier part of the nineteenth century. Where does she come from? Hold on to your hat – Ladusky appears to have evolved from Louise.
If Louise to Ladusky feels like a leap, it helps to look at some of the Northern European variants of the name:
- Ludwika
- Liudvika
- Alojzia
- Lovisa
You can imagine that none of these would be simple to wear in American English. I suspect it is a combination of a changed pronunciation of Ludwika and company, paired with the diminutive form -ka. (Think of Mariska or Madlenka.) And so we start to find names like Laduska and Loduska in use, and Ladusky, too.
There are even forms like Ladieska, and I wonder if it helps explain the handful of girls named Lady in the late nineteenth century. But that’s just a guess – it could just as easily be the equivalent of naming your son Earl.
Another temptation is to link the use of other forms of Louis within the same family tree. While it is true that Ladusky and Louis or Louisa do sometimes appear over the space of a generation or two, I suspect that they were quickly seen as different names, the equivalent of Jacob and James today.
While notable Laduskys are limited to Burnett’s fictional heroine, there was a Christian missionary who cared for those with leprosy and the wounded in Japan during the Russo-Japanese war. Her name was Loduska Wirick.
Ladusky eventually became a surname, too, presumably from similar roots.
From Clovis and Aloysius to Ludovica and Ladusky, Louis might be the appellation that has generated more variant forms – and more surprising variants – than any name.
Not mentioned here is the name Lodoïska, which belonged to the heroine of two operas first performed in the late 18th century. The one by Cherubini was enormously dramatic and a huge worldwide hit – it came to NYC in 1826 – and it’s reasonable to imagine that the popularity of Anglicized versions like Lodusky / Ladusky in the 19th century may have something to do with that.
That is fascinating, blindinglights. Thank you!
And it’s absolutely part of the puzzle – and perhaps it explains where Frances Hodgson Burnett took her inspiration?
It looks like Cherubini based his work on a series of novels first published in France in 1787 by Jean-Baptiste de Couvray. It gets even better, though! de Couvray’s stories were based on real life, and his Lodoiska was based on his real-life wife. I hit a dead end here, but at least one French site connects Lodoïska to Louise, but I’m not clear why. (It may be style more than reality, because Louise would be Luiza or Ludwika in Polish. BUT -ska and -ka are how diminutives are formed for Polish names, so it seems very possible …)
Oh I am so happy to find you ladies. My was given my middle name from my great great great aunt. LaDusky. She spelled her name LaDuskie but it was said somewhere down the line there was Native American in the line. And you can see it in my aunts and grandmother.
How interesting, Dawn – thanks for sharing!
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My name is LODUSKY My mother said it was an Indian name. She was born in Olk. and her father was a fur trapper. and my mother had a grildfriend that was a Indian but I do not know what tribe or what it means. if you find out please lrt me know. thank you
Ludovica is a family name passed down to a lot of the girls, and a few were called Louisa, but Louis/Louie spelling was most often used for the boys. I do see how the spelling variants can be inter-changeable. Laduskia would be the spelling variant that I would choose, if I had too, mainly because it sounds more feminine and less masculine. Then again, I like the more frilly spelling and annunciations, one can never mistake them as being boy. Laduskia could go by Lady for short, and I find that sweet and endearing. 🙂
My name is Laduskye. I live in Texas so being compared to Sandusky or Landusky has never been a problem. My mother actually found the name on a tombstone in a small Texas graveyard.
I found this article in information a family geneaologist sent me on a family page from MyFamily.com. My grandmother, born in Jackson County, GA in 1884, was given the name Cornelia Laduskia Randolph. I’ve wondered ever since I started researching my own family tree where this very unusual name might have come from, since her siblings all had very ordinary names.
Thanks for posting all these interesting facts and comments!
You’re welcome – it is a fascinating name, isn’t it?
Researching my family history I just learned I have a great great great aunt named Lodersky Fulton born in South Carolina c. 1810. The only thing I have found online is a reference to a Lodersky Mutiney in Scotland c.1500. It seems such an unusual name for a baby girl!
I cannot believe you could find anything on this name! I really thought it was just one more strange, made-up name from my Appalacchian family tree. The original in my fam was LOdusky, not LAdusky, but I guarantee it’s the same name. I’m not a fan of the name at all, but I’m really happy to find out where my gr-gr-gr-grandmother pulled it from! 🙂 Thanks!!
That’s a fascinating history, and for anyone wanting to use it, Dusk, like Burnett’s character, seems the perfect short form.
It is a very interesting name. After reading its history, I kind of like it.
I’m going to echo Lady Gwyn’s thoughts on this one – too surnamey and masculine sounding. I was actually surprised to read that it’s a feminine name. Plus, having grown up 3 hours from Sandusky, OH home of Cedar Point, all I hear in Ladusky is Sandusky.
I found it! The Library of Congress has a page where you can search for specific phrases in old issues of Scribner’s, and looking for “Frances Hodgson Burnett” gives you Lodusky, spelled a little differently but doubtlessly the right story! Here it is, if anyone’s interested in reading — http://www.online-literature.com/burnett/3908/
Looks like Lodusky goes by Dusk in the story.
I love it! Burnett is a great writer and it baffles me that this story is no longer published anywhere…I think I’m going to conduct a search of my own…luckily I know a number of people with collections of books from the 1800s, including my grandmother. Cross my fingers.
As for the Lodusky spelling…I think I prefer that to Ladusky. It has a poetic appeal to it for me. Also, I love the Dusk nickname.
Poking around a bit online and I don’t think Ladusky was a novel. Every source I see it in says “Ladusky Scribner’s (U.S.A.) 1877”, which makes me think it was some contribution to a periodical magazine, hence its difficulty to find. I’m going to do a bit more searching!
Scribner’s was (is) the publisher. There was Scribner’s Magazine, but that was in print only between 1887 and 1939.
Though there was Scribner’s Monthly from 1870-81…
Yep, it was Scribner’s Monthly.
What a history. I’ll give you Louis for the most variant boy’s name, but I think Mary probably still beats him in the derivatives market (even excluding alternative names for Mary like Lourdes and Regina).
Although not a name I would use, Ladusky is very interesting and not all that unpleasant to say. It does sound slightly masculine, but that’s not necessarily a problem. I kind of like it.
Ugh. Too surname-y and boyish for me. Also reminds me too much of Sandusky…so no, I would not use this name at all, despite my Polish roots.
Jerry Sandusky was my first thought too… YUCK!
Ladusky isn’t really my style, and if you hadn’t told me its origin I would have assumed it was a masculine name because of its similarity to Dusty or Laddie. My first guess on the pron. was LA-dus-kee but I could see it sounding more feminine with the pron. LAY-dus-kee. It is kind of a mix between Lady and Dusk so I could see it appealing to those who like nature-y names with the surname-y feel like Landry, Lafayette or Huntler (no its not a typo).
The -usky ending reminds me forcefully of the popular diminutive suffix of Eastern Europe -uska/-ushka, etc. Might it be that Ladusky did indeed start off life as an Eastern European pet-form of one of the Lod-/Lud- forms of Louisa? The Polish form in particular looks promising.
Alternatively, it might have been conceived in Eastern Europe as a pet-form of Lado/Lada, a Slavic Goddess.
I suspect, though, that most use there has been (which doesn’t seem to be all that much from the records), stems from its use in Burnett’s book. Wish it were possible to find out more about it. It seems to have sunk without trace. Even the British Library doesn’t appear to hold a copy!
Burnett’s book is a mystery – I’ve sometimes had that experience with less-established authors, but with someone like Burnett, I really expected to find a copy out there. Or at least some note about the plot!
I think it is very possible that Laduska came from a pet form in use in a Slavic language. One of the things that fascinates me about Polish names is how names change in conversation. My mother-in-law refers to her sister by no fewer than three diminutive forms, depending on context and mood and audience. It’s especially complicated because we have another family member with the same name – and the same set of diminutives! But I find it very difficult to track down records of those forms. My son’s nickname doesn’t register anywhere – which seems off, because every Polish speaker I’ve ever met used it without a second thought.
The only place it became a written name is the US, but I expect it has more history and use in spoken language. Funny how oral tradition works like that.
It may be a legit name but it’s totally not my style – too surname-y sounding 🙁
I am skeptical about this one. It sounds too much like a last name for me to get on board with it!