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Ancestry.com Reveals the Sweetest Valentines in America's Family Trees this Valentine's Day

Leading Family History Web Site Discovers Unusual Romantic-Sounding Names and Places in Historical Records through the Decades

PROVO, UTAH – Feb. 14, 2009 – Valentine Roses, Chocolate Cherry and Rose Bouquet may all sound like perfect gifts for that special someone this Valentine’s Day, but historical records uncovered by Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, show they were actually names of real people. From Cupid Hart (1870 Census) to Hans Love Sick (WWI Draft Card) to Queenie Romance (1930 Census), the number one family history Web site discovered a crazy quilt of Valentine’s Day-themed names in the 7 billion records found in its many collections, proving that we are, indeed, a nation of romantics.

The charming compendium of romantic-sounding names and places was researched by genealogists at Ancestry.com, who scoured millions of pieces of data in thousands of collections of Census, Draft Registration Cards, and birth and marriage indexes to determine America’s Valentines. The findings present a telling look into our passion for this most saccharine of holidays.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

Although the true origin of the holiday is still contested, Americans have celebrated Valentine’s Day for centuries by exchanging tokens of romantic love, with an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards sent every year. Esther Howland, a native of Massachusetts, has been credited for selling the first mass-produced Valentine cards in the 1840s.[1] Since then, thousands of Americans have immortalized their love of Valentine’s Day by giving their children names that evoke the holiday. The team at Ancestry.com found records containing the following names:

Valentine Day (WWI Draft Card)
Mary A Valentine (1930 Census)
Cupid Hart (1870 Census)
Love Queen (WWI Draft Card)
Chocolate Cherry (AL Marriage Collection)
Lottie Chocolate (1930 Census)
Sweet Heart Bush (1930 Census)

TILL DEATH DO US PART

Valentine’s Day is by far the most popular day for couples, pierced by Cupid’s arrow, to profess their undying love for each other in marriage. Nevada takes the lead in the number of Valentine’s Day weddings, with more than 54,000 couples exchanging vows on February 14 between 1970 and 2004. In fact, the number of nuptials performed on Valentine’s Day each year in Nevada is about 4.5 times higher than an average day.

BEST ROMANTIC GETAWAYS

Want to plan a romantic getaway with your significant other that will be sure to get sparks flying? Ancestry.com’s team of researchers uncovered a plethora of romantic-sounding destinations that should make it onto your list, including: Romance, Ark.; Love County, Okla.; Sugar City, Colo.; Romeo, Mich.; Darling Township, Minn.; Loveville, Md.; Bliss, N.Y.; and Lovelady, Texas.

“Valentine’s Day has traditionally been one of the most popular holidays for many Americans, and it’s been great fun to see how the interest in the holiday has translated into the naming of people and places,” said Gary Gibb, Vice President for U.S. Content for Ancestry.com. “Now, in just a matter of seconds and a few clicks of the mouse, people from across the country can find out if they may be related to a Valentine, too.”

All of these names and places are now available and searchable in historical records on Ancestry.com. Think you may have a Valentine in your family tree? Celebrate the holiday this February and research your roots by visiting Ancestry.com.

About Ancestry and The Generations Network
The Generations Network, Inc., through its flagship Ancestry.com property, is the world's leading resource for online family history. Ancestry.com has local websites in nine countries and has digitized and put online over 7 billion names and 27,000 historical records collections over the past ten years. Since July 2006, Ancestry.com users have created more than 9 million family trees containing 865 million profiles and 16 million photographs and stories. The Generations Network also includes myfamily.com, Genealogy.com, Rootsweb.ancestry.com, MyCanvas.com, dna.ancestry.com, Family Tree Maker and Ancestry Magazine. More than 7.9 million unique visitors spent over 4 million hours on a TGN website in December 2008 (comScore Media Metrix, Worldwide).

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