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Sunday, July 26, 2026

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                                                

2 comments:

Victoria said...

Ebenezer is a Hebrew word meaning “stone of help”!!
We often sing the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” which goes, “here I raise my ebenezer, daily I’m constrained to be, let thy goodness, like a fetter, guide my wandering heart to thee, prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, praise the mount I’m fixed upon it, fount of thy redeeming love…”

The Raving Queen said...

Victoria, Thank you for the info on the name Ebenezer. I had no idea. The meaning is apt for Scrooge after his experience with the three spirits.