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.
My middle name is Loduskye from my grandmother Loduskye Floyd Parker. Can you shed some light for me?
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.