 | As a historian and genealogist, I've searched for many weird and wonderful names in the past. You should see what some of the Victorians were naming their offspring, not to mention what English monoglot census clerks wrote in lieu of actually recording the names given to them by my Welsh antecedents. But Quillsh Wammy? It's the first time that a Month of character focus on Death Note News has fastened upon an individual with a British sounding moniker. This should be game on. I have the tools to do it and decades worth of skills to throw into the mix. Nevertheless, I've got to admit, it seems like a quest doomed to failure. Quillsh Wammy might sound British, particularly when wrapped around such a formal, stiff-upper-lipped gentleman, tuxedo clad and with a known home in Winchester. However sounds British is the optimum phrase here. I doubt I've ever met a Wammy in my life, and certainly not encountered a Quillsh. Hey-ho, let's give it a go. |
Hunt for the Origin of the Wammy Surname
It's not in any of my dictionaries nor directories of English surnames, nor the Celtic ones either. So I take my search for Wammy origins on-line.
The first issue is wading through pages and pages of search engine results relating to Death Note's Wammy and not a lot else.
Apparently there's a single, solitary individual surnamed Wammy in Tanzania - probably a Death Note fan - and a billion role-players, fan-fiction writers and fan-artists all including the name in their fandom pseudonym. (I'm just as guilty with my MRSJeevas avatar, which was only ever added for a laugh on a single site right on the eve of my novels taking off...)
Eventually hitting a few 'Wammy Surname Meaning' sites, I draw several large blanks. The pages are set up, with no historical personages nor current demographical clusters to populate them.
All kind of confirming what instinct said before - Quillsh Wammy has a British feel to it without following through to reality.
The first issue is wading through pages and pages of search engine results relating to Death Note's Wammy and not a lot else.
Apparently there's a single, solitary individual surnamed Wammy in Tanzania - probably a Death Note fan - and a billion role-players, fan-fiction writers and fan-artists all including the name in their fandom pseudonym. (I'm just as guilty with my MRSJeevas avatar, which was only ever added for a laugh on a single site right on the eve of my novels taking off...)
Eventually hitting a few 'Wammy Surname Meaning' sites, I draw several large blanks. The pages are set up, with no historical personages nor current demographical clusters to populate them.
All kind of confirming what instinct said before - Quillsh Wammy has a British feel to it without following through to reality.
Could Wammy Indonesian or from the Nederlands?
 | Then pay-dirt - BAM! A website claims to have a plethora of Wammy families dotted all over the world! Until you dig in to see and notice that actually it's just one or two individuals hailing from quite disparate regions of the world. In short, probably Death Note fans, whose pseudonyms have somehow been snapped up in the trawl through genealogical cyber-space. Name-list.com cannot suggest an origin for the name Wammy, though it does proffer the guess that those bearing it as a family name are probably Dutch or Indonesian. Why not Russian or Australian, I don't know. They scored just as many. One apiece for all. And the USA should have owned it with a mighty haul of three Wammys within its borders. However, the site did inform me what Wammy spelt backwards is Ymmaw, which seems worth knowing. Plus the most common misspellings, namely Wsmmy Wammi Vvammy Wammya Wmamy Wamym. Can't go wrong with that bit of knowledge under my belt. |
British Wammy Surnames in the Genealogical Record!
Pretty much ready to call it a day, I nontheless duly typed Quillsh Wammy's name into Ancestry.
He doesn't exist - naturally, as Tsugumi Ohba made him up for Death Note - but Wammy people do with aplomb, figuring highly in the historical record with Christian names that wouldn't seem out of place in Another Note: The LA BB Murder Cases.
Ok, not a Believe Bridesmaid between them, but a Canada Let Wammy, and a Graphics Wammy. And a Sammystirred Wammy. All there on board ships or, well mostly, in US High School Yearbooks. Real, actual US names! Name-list.com was right to call it above.
But no, skimming down the line reveals a distinct grouping of folk surnamed Wammy - way before Death Note was conceived into literary being - in 18th century Nunkirschen, Prussia and Marne, France. Then they all disappear again.
Only to resurface two centuries later as a sole fictional character in Winchester, England, and a fair few Americans filling in Yearbooks.
I'm going to assume misspellings in the past and Death Note fans now. Nevertheless, for your genealogical pleasure, here is that listing. Off you go fan-fiction writers!
He doesn't exist - naturally, as Tsugumi Ohba made him up for Death Note - but Wammy people do with aplomb, figuring highly in the historical record with Christian names that wouldn't seem out of place in Another Note: The LA BB Murder Cases.
Ok, not a Believe Bridesmaid between them, but a Canada Let Wammy, and a Graphics Wammy. And a Sammystirred Wammy. All there on board ships or, well mostly, in US High School Yearbooks. Real, actual US names! Name-list.com was right to call it above.
But no, skimming down the line reveals a distinct grouping of folk surnamed Wammy - way before Death Note was conceived into literary being - in 18th century Nunkirschen, Prussia and Marne, France. Then they all disappear again.
Only to resurface two centuries later as a sole fictional character in Winchester, England, and a fair few Americans filling in Yearbooks.
I'm going to assume misspellings in the past and Death Note fans now. Nevertheless, for your genealogical pleasure, here is that listing. Off you go fan-fiction writers!
