What ethnicity is the name "Ravenwood"?

ClintonHammond said:

"It also sounds kinda like Native American."

More precisely, it sounds like the Anglicization of a Native North American name... I guess it could be possible for Marion to have some Cree or such a few generations back in her bloodline...

Click to expand...

more precisely, names consisting of several words, do neither in general sound like native american names nor their anglicanization nor their translation to english (if that's what you meant). and "ravenwood" certainly doesn't sound like a native american name, even though including an animal as the raven which was quite important to the natives: the word "wood" doesn't belong there.

with the same idea, you could rather say that "ravenwood" might be a jewish name as for example "Rothschild" (red sign) or "Goldblum" (golden flower). german / jewish history. jews were suggested to pick a normal german name around 1800 to make it harder for people to distinguish between "native jews" and germans. many jews created their new surnames from everyday things, cities, signs, houses, signs, ... . ravenwood could as well be the english translation of rabenholz, which actually is a small german town and a german surname (rather uncommon though).

and now pale horse demonstrated it might be english so what i'm trying to say is, we have no idea, do we?

Actually it is a lame winery in Sonoma that makes some cappy zinfandels, but has a cool tribal logo that people get tattoos of all the time, so maybe Abner was from a wine making family?

FINALLY-- a great answer to my question (whether it's mundane or not)!! Thanks to everyone who had constructive suggestions here.

Pale Horse said:

It's definitely British

and I don't think it was a street in California, I think it was a punk band...lol

Click to expand...

Also, that was an interesting observation about Marion possibly being Mediterrainan (bad spelling, I know). We know NOTHING about her mother.

I would have to say crack-whore maybe? Just a thought, little crack action, chasing the dragon maybe ?

I looked up the name Ravenwood on Ancestry.com and the hits that I got consisted mostly of women from England. Of course, if they are married, they only took the name from their husband, and I do not know where the husbands were from. The other thing; just because they are in England does not mean there was not a migration of Ravenwoods from elsewhere. This census was from 1930.

Indyologist said:

Also, that was an interesting observation about Marion possibly being Mediterrainan (bad spelling, I know). We know NOTHING about her mother.

Click to expand...

...and her grandmother. did lucas want to keep her secret from the audience?

Indyologist said:

We know NOTHING about her mother.

Click to expand...

I'm wondering the same thing. We know her father died (well, at least that's what we're told but no valuable evidence has proven it) but her mother remains a mystery. Perhaps she could show up in Indy IV or something.

Jay R. Zay said:

...and "ravenwood" certainly doesn't sound like a native american name, even though including an animal as the raven which was quite important to the natives: the word "wood" doesn't belong there.

Click to expand...

I disagree.As Indians(I use that term because none of the Native Americans I know object to it)were 'acclimated'(using the polite term)into American culture,they were also encouraged to take on more American-sounding names.For example,my given Indian name might be Chases the Raven of the Woods,but I may choose a new first name,say John,and just shorten my given name to Ravenwoods,or more precisely Ravenwood as a surname.

TombReader said:

I disagree.As Indians(I use that term because none of the Native Americans I know object to it)were 'acclimated'(using the polite term)into American culture,they were also encouraged to take on more American-sounding names.For example,my given Indian name might be Chases the Raven of the Woods,but I may choose a new first name,say John,and just shorten my given name to Ravenwoods,or more precisely Ravenwood as a surname.

Click to expand...

i have to admit i didn't know this.

Wow, that's good research. Standing ovation/ amazed silence for TombReader. (no this is not sarcasm)

It is still a crappy winery

Pale Horse said:

. . . .and I don't think it was a street in California, I think it was a punk band...lol

Click to expand...

From the Facts & Trivia (or something close to that) page on IndianaJones.com:

Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan named Marion Ravenwood for his wife's grandmother (Marion) and a street off the winding Beverly Glen in Los Angeles (Ravenwood Court).

Click to expand...

. . . . .and Roundshort: so I supposed the Ravenwood family lable was so foul that it drove Abner straight to a prime wine country like Nepal.

They make some up and coming wine in China . . . really it is almost as good as the Fingerlake Region

Rick5150 said:

I looked up the name Ravenwood on Ancestry.com and the hits that I got consisted mostly of women from England. Of course, if they are married, they only took the name from their husband, and I do not know where the husbands were from. The other thing; just because they are in England does not mean there was not a migration of Ravenwoods from elsewhere. This census was from 1930.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Rick, you ROCK!

There's an area where I live called Ravenwood.

I always thought Marion was supposed to be sort of exotic because her hair and skin were dark. She looked really tan to me.

Here's what I could find.

Others:
http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=ravenwood
http://www.namespedia.com/index.php/Ravenwood
http://www.definition-of.net/Ravenwood-name-meaning

Here's one that says Ravenswood, but it still might be distantly related to the name Ravenwood.