Given name Florence circa 1830s

[Joy Weaver]

Because my husband's 3gm's name was Mary BROWN, almost impossible to sort through in records, I've been concentrating on searching for records of her sister, Florence.  I think it is likely that they were born in the Kilkenny/ Laois region, though I'm by no means sure of that.
My question is this:  How common would the name Florence be around 1830-40 in this region? What I'm wondering is whether she might have chosen that name after coming to Canada in probably the 1840s.  The family attended both Anglican and Presbyterian churches in Quebec, so were almost certainly Protestant in Ireland.
One obvious possible original name is Flora, but does anyone have other ideas I might try in searching for records in ship manifests or (would it were possible!) Irish church records?
(I don't know the parents' names, but they may have had brothers named Alex and David, also names too common to search with certainty).
Joy Weaver, USA

[JackL...@aol.com]

    Joy,

 

    From Fr. Patrick Woulf's "Irish Names for Children" 1923:

 

    FLORENCE (m, f) Latin, "flowering one". Florence was once used as a masculine name in England as well as in Ireland; however, it's use for boys in England was rare after the 17th century. In Ireland it's use as a masculine name has persisted, mainly because it was employed to anglicise names such as FINEEN, FITHEAL, and FLANN. FLORR, FLORRIE and FLURRY are pet forms. As a feminine name it is used to translate BLATHNAID, derived from blath (flower).

 

    Jack Langton

[Joy Weaver]

Thanks, Jack.
I wonder what the odds of her name being Blathnaid originally are.  I've never heard that name before.  It's worth a try, though, since Flora and Flossie haven't brought positive results so far.
Joy

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