Just prior to upping-sticks and moving to France, I was teaching at the prestigious Prep' School, Windlesham House (above).
Recently I was looking at their Wiki site (to glean some info) and took a look at the list of some of the better known 'old boys'.
Amongst the more recent ones, whose names people might recognise, were Sir Michael Hordern, Duncan Goodhew, Chris Whitty, and Guy Ritchie. All with perfectly normal Christian names.
However, going back a bit, I came across Christian names that were much more adventurous. Imagine naming your son one of these....
Ichabod, Debonnaire, Roden, Saumarez, Lepel, Leveson, Colthurst, Hay, Osmond, Bentley, or Sutton. All more like Surnames than Given Names.
Just like the naming of Dogs, one needs to be able to shout a given name without either you or the Dog/Person feeling embarrassed. The name also needs to be short, sharp, and clear.
Imagine shouting to your son "Debonnaire (or Ichabod), come here; it's lunch time"; rather than "Billy, come here... etc". Whilst giving your sons (and daughters) interesting names, one needs to remember that they should be practical.
There was a recent trend for giving children the names of where they were conceived, so we could have had Bolton Brown, or Frinton-on-Sea Smith, or even Torremolinos Thomas. Not a good trend.
Wines were also popular for a while, and lots of girls were tragically named 'Chardonnay'; we even knew one called 'Chablis'.
So, when you're choosing a name, make sure the poor child won't be constantly embarrassed by shortening it into something obscene, or that it isn't a well-known Italian word for 'Ugly old Cow'.
33 comments:
I once followed the mother of a child called Prentagast round a supermarket, mother must have !over the name and repeated it endlessly as she shopped!
You need a name you can either SHOUT or quietly beckon. Prentagast isn't amongst them.
I doubt some of those old names will ever come back into fashion - although you never know.
Not many humans or animals Christened with your given name now - or mine!
Back in the 80s we used to take in summer students from the local Language School. One of the girls had two brothers with the delightful names of Esmond and Everard.
My sister and I were named after characters in 'Swallows and Amazons'. Quite sensible at the time!
I've known TWO Everards, but no Esmonds.
We have some strange and hifalutin names here but we reserve them for horses and dogs on their paperwork. They have pet names for the stables and kennels. The latter are what they answer to assuming they can be arsed to bother.
That sounds about right. Some of the dog's names at Crufts are crazy.
I am afraid that we were part of that place of conception naming trend. Hence our son is called Back of a Taxi Pudding and our daughter is called Spurn Point Sand Dunes Pudding. Laughing aside, I very much agree with your belief that parents should seek advice from wise old men like you and me before burdening their children with ridiculous forenames.
We very nearly had a 'Back of the Taxi' (nice name) over in France a few years ago. Luckily she made it by a couple of minutes. We could, of course, start a naming 'Consultancy'. 'Names-r-Us' has a ring to it!
mine are Christopher David, Peter John, and Deborah. Named after family members. But mostly were called " get here now!"
I've read recently that old-fashioned names are coming back into fashion - Elijah being one that I can recall seeing listed. Surely no-one who called their son Ichabod would be common enough to actually shout at, or to, their child!
Dog's names are a bit easier, one of our rescues was called Duke and we rehomed (Kennel Club registered) "All Things Bright and Beautiful of Tintagel Winds Labradors". Her pet name at kennels was Petite Chose so we stuck to that - or "For goodness sake PC get a move on" as she was inclined to linger over road-side scents!
Have you noticed that more recently dogs are being given human names...one of our neighbours has a dog called Eric. An old friend had a dog called Ben - in fact he had several dogs called Ben over the years as they gradually passed away, because he didn't want to change the feeding bowls!
Some countries, Iceland for example, have official naming lists, if the name is not on the approved list, it can't be registered. At times I think this is a good idea.
All good solid names. So much better than "Oy, you".
The most popular boy's name in the UK used to be James. Now it's Mohammed. Billy was originally named Badger (he comes from Toulouse). I thought it was silly so changed it to Billy.
An Aunt of mine named ALL her dogs Rover, she couldn't be bothered to find a different name!
Yes, I've seen that. It's like some countries have 'official haircuts'. You can either have No 1, 2, or 3.
Most names here are family names, handed down over generations. There is a trend with girls names. Lydia and Natalia are very popular. They're Greek saints so acceptable. If you don't like having to name your daughter after your mother in law, as I had to for the first, you get around it by baptising the child Eleni and actually calling her something else. Elli in my case.
There was an unfortunate boy at my last school with the given name of...Lil'Joseph. Yes, you read that right...Lil'Joseph is exactly how it was written on his birth certificate. His father was obviously nuts and his mother went along with it. 🤦♀️
I thought the 1960s and 1970s were particularly awful for names, now I realize I am just not aware of such trends. Parents should , at the very least, relegate their imaginative names to the middle name (or if they want a trendy name in the family, change their own).
It's good to have traditional family names. I gave all three of my children 3 names each; none of which were traditional family names. I slightly regret it now.
Oh dear! I hope he's now known as just 'Joe'.
It's important that people have names that are suitable both for a dustman and a prime minister. You never know what they will become.
I once asked my mother why she named me Kathleen. She said by the time I came along (5th of 8) she had run out of names but there was a pretty girl in town who was dating a guy with a convertible. Mom said she wanted to be that girl so she named me after her. Made sense to me.
Hopefully, people with unusual names or names they do not like can choose to use their middle name. A friend chooses to be called David instead of Seth. His given name was Seth David.
My husbands 3 grandchildren…Marshall, Banks and Winslow, none of them on my list of names to choose. I have one child, a girl, who I called Zoe, her surname is Pankhurst, short Christian name to go with long and distinguished surname, however I mostly call her Zo. Marie, Melbourne, Australia
My mothers favourite names from when she was a little girl were ILONA and INGO. As I was the first daughter I got ILONA, and I have an older brother called INGO. I hated it when I was young. She yelled it up the street when it was time to come in for dinner. I must have explained it a million times. Now I quite like it.
What an interesting way to name someone. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that a lot of boys were named after old heartthrobs.
I like both. I think I'd have stuck with Seth. It's more distinguished.
All 3 are very interesting names. I do like the name Zoe too, it suits her surname.
We knew a girl called Iona, and she pronounced it Yona. She always said she didn't like it, but I thought it was a lovely name.
When trying to explain my name, I often say, I am not a Scottish island, with a smile of course. There are plenty of misspellings, never heard of the Yona version before.
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