Was Jinger Duggar ever actually GINGER?

[darareaksmey]

I never heard the red-hair connection to the word ginger till about 5 years ago, when I was describing my recently-departed cat to a Brit internet friend. I told her my cat was orange, and she said that there the cat would've been called a ginger. Hmm, okay.

When I was growing up my best friend was named Ginger, and she was a brown-eyed brunette. To me, the name goes with whatever hair color.

[Trynn]

I didn't hear the word Ginger connected with redheads until Harry Potter. And even then I couldn't understand why they were calling Hermione "Ginger." (I thought they were calling her that instead of Ron for some reason.)

[mirele]

I almost wish they would have done with another G name just so Jinger wouldn't be so weird within her own family. There is an actress named Jorga, but I think it would be hilarious to have a Jorje. I'm also surprised they never had a Jeffrey because that can spelled with a G or J. I've also Jillian with a G but never just Jill.

Could have spelled it "Jinjur," like the name of the woman general in The Marvelous Land of Oz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinjur

In some ways, Jinjur would be fitting.

[Wolfie]

I went to a Catholic girls school and we had a family whose 8 daughters all attended over the years. And every single one if them was named Mary 'Something' and went by their middle names. And no one thought a thing about it, or at least no one said they did. I personally thought it was a bit strange, but their parents were pretty darn Catholic.

Not uncommon in really Catholic families. More common is that they have at least one daughter named Mary. My great grandparents had a few daughters named Mary, and they all died as children or infants. My great aunt once said that she was so glad that the second Mary lived long enough that she hadn't gotten that name.

[clarinetpower]

Tracy Chevalier wrote a book, The Virgin Blue, on this subject. It has to do with a young girl who has red hair during the Hugenot Uprising in France. Apparently (I don't know if this was really true, but her research is usually pretty thorough), red hair was associated with the Virgin Mary and Catholicism. The protagonist was vilified for having red hair in her village, and since it's a recessive gene, it came back later in her family.

My grandmother and her whole family were redheads, and she hated it. Went blonde in the 1960's, and still is. (She's 88, so it's now alternately tinted pink or peach and very, very thin...) She hated her red hair with a passion, and was so glad none of her 5 kids inherited it. She now has many grandchildren and even great grandchildren, and the last born (who was born only days after my daughter) came out with bright red hair. She laughs about it, but she was really hoping that by now (a year and three months later) it would have changed. But nope. He's a ginger for life. Dang genetics!

But, in turn, those genetics also gave her the first descendant with dimples, my own little one. She was just tickled about that. :)