Charles Dickens Created Scrooge!!!!!!!!!!!!! But Did Anyone Really Ever Name A Child Ebenezer??????????????????????????

                                                                               

                                The first picture is a Victorian representation of the Alaistair Sim Scrooge, from 1951, still the best live action version of the story.  The second is "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol," which is truly second best!

                                    But that first name--Ebenezer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Where, beside this story, have you heard the name?  Certainly not in this day and age, and when grade school kids are old enough to catch on, anyone with the name would endure merciless teasing.  

                                     I am beginning to wonder if the first name was also created by Charles Dickens.  Having read my way through his works, the Brontes, George Eliot and Jane Austen, I cannot find the name anywhere else.  Nor in Thomas Hardy or Henry James.

                                      So, I have come to accept the name Ebenezer as a dramatic conceit.

                                      If anyone can show further example, then come forward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

                                      And remember, in Winter, to take your gruel, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!