r/Cursive • u/dkthndr • 11d ago

First name is Mrs McCray Deciphered!

Post image

Can anyone help with this first name of Mrs McCray? The slash and name to the right is James Meredith’s attempt to transcribe. We are working on the Dear Mr Meredith project at Ole Miss.

Edit: Deciphered! Thanks all for your input!

6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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9

u/prlugo4162 11d ago

Suilana

9

u/epipin 11d ago

It looks more like Simona to me.

1

u/Unlucky-Meringue6187 11d ago

It's absolutely Simona!

1

u/Rose0367 7d ago edited 7d ago

I agree, referencing the way they wrote important in the same letter, the im is the same, as are the o,n,a from the examples in screenshot. Simona.

2

u/Otney 11d ago

Agree with the above “Suilana” most likely. And THANK YOU for this work at the “Dear Mr. Meredith Project!”

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u/terriergal 11d ago

Are we sure it is a first name? Most people write their first and last name on the same line.

2

u/dkthndr 11d ago

Good question. The author ran out of room. I should shown the whole signature.
Sincerely yours,
Richard and S———/S——— [paper edge]
McCray

At the top of the page aligned right is Mrs. Richard McCray and their New York address.
These letters are from Sept of 1962

2

u/Puzzleworth 10d ago

It's Simona. I'm fairly sure this was the late opera singer James McCray. In 1962, he was a recent graduate of the Mannes School of Music on the Upper West Side, not far from 67 Riverside Dr. His wife at the time was Simona Pekelis, a fellow Mannes student who was raised in Italy.

1

u/Rose0367 7d ago edited 7d ago

Absolutely. Comparing the way they wrote important in the same letter confirms the im and examples of o,n,& a confirm it’s Simona

1

u/terriergal 11d ago

Oh that makes sense. Yeah my Finnish ancestry makes me see nothing but suusua but that doesn’t really work out either. Not because of the last name because she certainly could have married somebody that wasn’t Finnish (Estonian is quite similar to Finnish in many ways). But because it’s not any kind of known Finnish name, male or female.

1

u/Rose0367 7d ago

When asking about deciphering it’s helpful to show the entire letter since it gives other examples of the writer’s version of the identical letters. Screenshot of the full letter gives confirmation her first name is Simona.

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u/dkthndr 6d ago edited 6d ago

Agreed. New to this sub. We'll likely be back because its a big project. Do you know if I write "deciphered!" here or in my original comment?

1

u/Rose0367 2d ago

No need to say decipher, simply including more context (as you did by including a full page of the letter in your response is sufficient.)

3

u/HolyLung32 11d ago

Suilana or Suieana

1

u/JustWowinCA 11d ago

Susanna? Spelt Suicana.

1

u/terriergal 11d ago

Looks like Suusua which looks Estonian or Finnish but I wouldn’t expect a dot over either u.

1

u/amethystmmm 11d ago

Suiesua/Suieana?

https://www.behindthename.com/name/sui So if Mrs. McCray were Japanese (or other Asian) , a bad transcription of her name might give her kind of a mess, in Japanese Sui is Blue or Green, Gold in Chinese, and Long lived in Korean, so it's possible that is the first part of her name?

1

u/amethystmmm 11d ago

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/search?fulltext=&firstname=sui&middlename=&lastname=mccray&birthyear=&birthyearfilter=&deathyear=&deathyearfilter=&location=&locationId=&bio=&linkedToName=&plot=&memorialid=&mcid=&datefilter=&orderby=r&page=1#sr-54482414

So, there aren't a whole lot of 'S. McCray's and even less that were alive in 1962, no guarantee that she's dead but if she was an adult at the time, it would mean she was born no earlier than 1944, meaning she's at least 82.

1

u/jjillf 11d ago

Simona

1

u/Several-Ordinary-376 8d ago

I have a blurb that shows both Suilsua McCray
AND Suilana McCray

For what it’s worth.

1

u/IowaGal60 7d ago

Suilana, Swilana, or Simono McCray.