Who names their kid Deodat? That’s what I asked myself the first time I came across one of my 4th Great Grandpas. That is after I figured out what the name really was. Since I was unfamiliar with the name Deodat, it took me some time looking through several records about my GGGGGrandpa to feel like I was transcribing the name correctly.

Perhaps it was the unfamiliar name or maybe the connection I seemed to feel with Deodat that led me to research the meaning of the name. At first I thought, what were his parents thinking – I bet he got teased a lot at school. But after finding the meaning of the name Deodat, which is a contraction of the latin word deodonatus, not only did my view of the name change but I gained a new insight into the family.

Deodonatus means given to god. That’s a pretty religious name to give your son (assuming his parents new the meaning of the name). It is meaningful to me to think that perhaps in my heritage there is a grandpa who was given to god. Deodat.

Who Names Their Kid Deodat?