[Hana]

Don’t know where to put this query.

One of my main forebears was named Queney or Quinney Vaughan. It seems like such an odd name for a woman at the time (she was born around 1790) that I just wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone has any ideas.

1. Women weren’t given surnames as last names at the time, from what I’ve read, but there was a surname Quinney that exists, though I’ve found none in the area. And a John Quinney who was a famous native-american.

2. Could have been a mispelling of Queeny I suppose, which was, I think an Irish girl’s name — but her name gets passed down spelled as Quinnie, and there doesn’t seem to be irish in our family.

3. There is an algonquin word that means ‘long.’ And that side of the family was tall.

4. There was a famous Belgian witch, named Quintine, who is burned at the stake. The second wife, after Quinney, names her daughter Quintine.

Anyone have any other ideas for how she could have gotten such an odd name?

Thanks! Just throwing it out there like a message in a bottle, just in case. (Not counting on anything that’s for sure. 😉 )

(Oh, I also found a site that gave her name as Quinsey. Anyone recognize that one from anywhere? Doesn’t seem like a likely name, as it is an old name for an illness of the throat.)

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