Focusing on Frona

My brain is overwhelmed with options! Tons of intriguing rabbit holes to explore and so little time today. There is this church ladies lunch…so with a deadline looming and type time shortened by the mid-day destination, focus I must to chase rabbits another day.

My focus? Frona. I didn’t know her. Did she know of me even if we met before I would have remembered? She married Henry. My popo Robert Pearson was one of their children, my dad Calvin Granville a grandson, making me a great-grandchild of Henry and Frona (Hughes) Pearson.

When I came across Popo’s death certificate, I was startled that I don’t recall ever hearing the name Frona. Now I’m yearning for photos and family stories. Sadly, ones who could satisfy curiosities about my father’s heritage are no longer here.

I’ve peered into a few of those rabbit holes and it seems Frona as a last name has Irish connections. Was my paternal great-grandmother named Frona to honor her parental roots? It was a common given name in the mid-1700’s to mid 1800’s, so had her parents peered through books of baby names, Frona might have stood out as a favorite.

Not so these days, according to data-gathering technology - stuff you didn’t know existed to know - that lines up a myriad of rabbit holes to periodically escape into. If you are named Frona in 2023, you are more likely to live in West Virginia - perhaps a nod to my Appalachian ancestry. Forty-seven of the 576 Fronas in the US live in Florida. Think of it…there are an estimated 169 million females in the country now. Frona is probably not even on a baby names list.

If you are interested in exploring related rabbit holes, check out MyNameStats.com. Take a compass!