Can you decipher this first name please?

[Pam Downes]

I would be very grateful for other people's interpretation of the name of the person second line from the bottom on
RG9/1244 folio 121 page16.
She's the granddaughter of John and Sarah Nelson, living in Whissonsett.
I thought at first it was Almar, but then realised that they didn't write 'A's like that in the 1860s. If I try to make it begin with M, H N or W the remaining letters don't make any sense.
I can't even seem to see a similar letter to the first one in the name elsewhere on the page/adjacent pages, so am totally stuck.

Pam Downes

[Peter Goodey]

"I would be very grateful for other people's interpretation of the name of the person second line from the bottom on RG9/1244 folio 121 page16. "

If you post the image, we'll all have a go!

[Geoffers]

I would be very grateful for other people's interpretation of the name of the person second line from the bottom on
RG9/1244 folio 121 page16.
She's the granddaughter of John and Sarah Nelson, living in Whissonsett.
I thought at first it was Almar, but then realised that they didn't write 'A's like that in the 1860s.
Hello Pam
Definitely Almar. Both forms of the capital A were in use, though it isn't that common to find them both used on the same page - this is presumably down to the enumerator copying different handwriting used in the schedules. Almar was not a common name, but if you search the 1881 census just using the forename Almar or Almer, you will get a few hits.

Geoffers

[ChristineR]

Hello Pam
...Both forms of the capital A were in use, though it isn't that common to find them both used on the same page - ....

Geoffers

I can back that up - having found both on the same folio in an Essex parish in 1861. Confused me at first too, and thought it quite odd, having never seen the capital made out of the lowercase shape before.

Christine
Victoria Australia

[Pam Downes]

"I would be very grateful for other people's interpretation of the name of the person second line from the bottom on RG9/1244 folio 121 page16. "

If you post the image, we'll all have a go!

Oh Peter, if only I were clever enough to be able to post an image. I'm afraid I'm the original computer dimbo - though not entirely my fault. When I ask my son how to do something his answer is 'click here, there and that' and he then disappears. And when I start to read the 'Dummies' book he bought me, the first page I read I can't relate to my computer and when I ask why the answer is 'you haven't got that on your computer'.
So for the time being I'm afraid you'll have to settle for the census ref. :)
But thank you very much for wanting to help.

Pam Downes

[Pam Downes]

Hello Pam
Definitely Almar. Both forms of the capital A were in use, though it isn't that common to find them both used on the same page -
Geoffers

Very many thanks to Geoffers and Christine for extending my knowledge of handwriting in the 1860's, and to Geoffers for confirming the name.

Pam Downes

[Peter Goodey]

"Definitely Almar"
New one one me, Geoffers!

Is that a variant of Alma? That particular name seems to have enjoyed a fair degree of popularity following the Battle of Alma (1854) in the Crimean War. You can still find terraces, pubs, even hamlets named Alma.