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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Zaphod99 on Saturday 08 April 23 08:21 BST (UK)
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In the course of my research i came across somebody with the Christian names Victor Timothy. I looked on Freebmd and found half a dozen. What sort of parent calls their child Vic Tim?
Zaph
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;D ;D ;D ;D
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What sort of parents call their son Arch(ibald) Bishop !
John
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One of my grandmother's friends was called Daisy Plant.
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Think I've mentioned before that I have a Heath Rowe and a felix toe on my tree
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Years ago here there was a professional couple ,he P.Nutt she Hazel Nutt.
Viktoria.
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Years ago here there was a professional couple ,he P.Nutt she Hazel Nutt.
Viktoria.
Seem to remember them, always backwards and forwards to Brazil.
John
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a friend ! tells me that if you key in any rude word on Free BMD there will be someone with that word as a first name or surname.
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haha, thanks for the giggle! Must add, although unfortunate use of surnames only. My husband worked for a company that amalgamated, using the last names of the previous owners. BELLE-FOSH. A client laughed out loud when he saw it. "Do you know what fosh is in my country? POO!" Translating the other from French makes it Pretty-Poo...or a dozen other synonym pair ups from which I've chosen wisely. ;D ;D ;D
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Amongst others, I have a “Minnie Cooper” on my tree and someone I know once claimed to have gone to school with a girl called “Annette Curtain”.
Many years ago their was a piece on the wireless where they interviewed a registrar who collected the strange things people wanted to call their children. He came up with a Mr & Mrs Pipe who wanted to call their son “Dwaine” and a Mr & Mrs Enis who insisted on calling their son “Peter”.
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I may have mentioned this previously but I have a book by Russell Ash entitled
Potty Fartwell and Knob , extraordinary, but true names of British people. Published by Headline. Each name culled from sources such as Parish Registers, Census returns and BMDs records.
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My father was at school with a boy named Percy Vere,
Steve
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Cliff Walker is a tad unfortunate as well!
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Cliff Walker is a tad unfortunate as well!
Not as unfortunate as Eileen Dover (old joke - apologies if there's anyone really called that)
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Then there is Arthur Righteous , Bill Poster, Harry Siplous, George Ian Stiles,
Will Power , Jon Quill, Roy Ton, Will Ton , etc etc etc .
Viktoria.
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My mother's friend was called Audrey Strange
As a child I thought her name was ordinary strange
A Turkish friend was named after the French for bunch of flowers as he mother thought Bouquet was chic
Unfortunately they spelt it Buket and pronounced it Bucket
a friend in Bradford was named Cresta ..before the fizzy drinks came out . She got teased at school.
& I had a friend from Malawi who was called Costly because his birth had been costly ( in pain ?) To his mother
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Annette Curtain.
Ken Tucky.
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That or those made me laugh ,Coombs.
Viktoria.
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Rika Onions.
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How about Anna Sasin? ;D
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198 worst names ever that will leave you wondering what their parents were thinking. Theres some real howlers amongst them.
https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-unfortunate-names/?utm_source=duckduckgo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic
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Problems sometimes occur when a woman takes her husbands surname on marriage - I worked with a May May and had a neighbour called Josephine Joseph.
I wonder do Registrars of Births try to deter parents from giving 'unusual' names ? -- e.g. would they advise Mr and Mrs Kerr not to call their infant son Wayne I wonder?
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Or Mr and Mrs Hunt calling a son Michael. ;) Known as Mike.
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A young Asian heritage girl was called "Beauty" - she was, actually. I knew a real "Teresa Green", and my father's friend Mr Button really called his daughter "Pearl".
TY
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We once had a disagreement with a company and I asked for the managing director's name.
It was "Robin Banks".
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I had a friend whose mum was Annie Boddy 😂.
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My neighbours surname was NOONE I often read it as no-one
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Problems sometimes occur when a woman takes her husbands surname on marriage
Thankfully Whoopie Goldberg never got together with Peter Cushing ;D
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Next door to my aunt in Birmingham was a couple called Mr and Mrs Onions. Except that they pronounced it ON-Eye-ONS.
Regards
Chas
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Currently reading a judge's memoirs and he despairs of a couple naming their daughter Delenda.
S_L
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I went to school with a girl called Anna Rack
Carol
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I heard of people whose name was Sidebottom, ,but pronounced
Siddibottam !
Viktoria.
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Imagine Ken Tucky dating Minnie Sotar and having a daughter Louse E Anna.
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I heard of people whose name was Sidebottom, ,but pronounced
Siddibottam !
Viktoria.
I usually look for origins and meanings of surnames, which often give a hint as to where a family initially came from back in the mist of time:-
Surname Sidebottom: English: habitational name from a lost or unidentified place, probably in Cheshire, named with Old English sīd 'large, spacious, long' + bothm 'valley bottom'.
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I once read a blog about names. The writer contended that all the names with "bottom" were breeding out. Women with the name got married and the name ended. Men with the name died as bachelors, as no woman wanted to be lumbered with the name. How true that is, I do not know, but I can believe it.
Regards
Chas
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There are five Norman Conquest births on FreeBMD. One even has the middle name of William.
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Some very funny examples
Ann a Rack made me chuckle
Poor BOTTOM men ! Tho the women could still have married them and changed their surname by deed poll
My stepsis got her first husband to change his surname to hers . They split up soon after
Her second husband retained his surname and she double barrelled hers . The eldest children have her surname .
I knew a SMILEY who.d changed his surname because he grew up with surname SMELLY + didn't want to pass it on to his children
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Imagine Ken Tucky dating Minnie Sotar and having a daughter Louse E Anna.
They would have been pals of Phil Adelphia, and Minnie Apolis.
Little girl at school when Jamie became a girls’ name ,as with Jamie Lee Curtis-
but her Mum spelled it Jammie ,fortunately her surname was not Dodger!
She was however a lovely little girl .
Viktoria.
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How about the two musical sisters Claire Annette and Amanda Lynn?
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OH changed his surname when he left university and was employed by a bank where it might have scared off the customers (hint - first two syllables were swindle).
Reminds me of the old joke about the law firm called Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe.
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There is a player in our AFL whose name is Steele Sidebottom, pronounced as read.
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Bodgit and Scarper , cowboy builders :o
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Woe, Lackaday, and Rue - my solicitors.
Regards
Chas
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.....and Sue, Grabbit and Run
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FreeBMD has lots of entries for Jenny Wren, and quite a few for William Goat. Also some for Victoria Plumb; I was a bit disappointed not to find a Victoria Sponge, but there were some for Victoria Spong.
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Many years ago when Tony Blackburn did a morning show on radio 1, he had an odd name competition where you had to produce a birth certificate to prove validity. The winner was Percy Pitchfork.
Brian
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SPARROW, SPARROW female mmn JOLLY
GRO Reference: 1872 S Quarter in RISBRIDGE UNION Volume 04A Page 443
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Augustus Oliphant.
My great, great gran was called Gertrude Georgeanna Wallaker. Yet her married name was Taylor.
A Brazilian doctor I have heard of is Dr Whet Faartz.
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Our Anglican minister when I was a kid was Canon Church.
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Which reminds me that I once heard of one called Canon Law.
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I have just been looking through a tree on Ancestry posted by one of my DNA matches and she has an Ida Burger marrying a Richard King. The marriage took place in 1876, long before the fast food restaurant chain was founded. The couple lived in Leboeuf, Erie Pennsylvania.
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A Fanny Brain as an ancestor's sister. I may have mentioned this before in this thread though.
Lots of Glasscock's in Essex. Lucky none of their parents ever liked the name Ivor.
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When I lived in the Highlands of Scotland there was this local doctor.
Death
DUCK
DONALD
81
FUSSELL
M
2006
239 / 70
FORT WILLIAM AND BALLACHULISH
John
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My partner has a relative called Fanny Pink ;D
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Best one I have ever found is poor old Zachariah Forskin (1928-2002)
He was obviously much loved though as two of the current generation have variations of his first name as well as sharing his surname.
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My partner has a relative called Fanny Pink ;D
My partner has a relative called Fanny Large ;D
Fanny’s parents had complimenting surnames, Joseph LARGE and Harriett BIGGS.
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Best one I have ever found is poor old Zachariah Forskin (1928-2002)
He was obviously much loved though as two of the current generation have variations of his first name as well as sharing his surname.
It could be that Zachariah had Scandinavian ancestry. There is a word in Swedish that sounds like foreskin but means "prior knowledge", or "foresight". Think "Do you ken John Peel?"
Regards
Chas
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I always felt sorry for Simplicius Fürtwängler and the possibly related Scholastica Furtwängler and Dyonisius Fürtwängler.
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"poor old Zachariah Forskin"
A shame that he never met and married a woman I knew in Peru whose given name was Circuncisión.
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Mine is Providence Butt, Harbour Grace, Nfld. Theophilus Coveyduck often mistranscribed, same area.
Conception Bay, Nfld.
Carol
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Mine is Providence Butt, Harbour Grace, Nfld. Theophilus Coveyduck often mistranscribed, same area.
Conception Bay, Nflrd.
Carol
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Best one I have ever found is poor old Zachariah Forskin (1928-2002)
He was obviously much loved though as two of the current generation have variations of his first name as well as sharing his surname.
It could be that Zachariah had Scandinavian ancestry. There is a word in Swedish that sounds like foreskin but means "prior knowledge", or "foresight". Think "Do you ken John Peel?"
Regards
Chas
Kennis, is to know ( have knowledge of ) often people, in Flemish .
Kennismaken, to make acquaintance
Weet also but that is more to know facts .
“ Weet u om welke uur Komt het autobus.?( Know you ) do you know what time the bus comes ?”
Viktoria.
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Kennis, is to know ( have knowledge of ) often people, in Flemish .
Kennismaken, to make acquaintance
Weet also but that is more to know facts .
“ Weet u om welke uur Komt het autobus.?( Know you ) do you know what time the bus comes ?”
Viktoria.
And the German kennen and wissen are exact analogs to the similiar Flemish words.
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Yes close links and also with Old English
Viktoria.
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I have relatives with the surname Quick. The old school registers had the surname first so imagine the entry for my gt gt aunt and uncle Fanny and Dick (not Richard). Unfortunately Fanny Quick married Richard Smarts and became Fanny Smarts!!!
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And I raise you …….
Fanny Burns.
🥴
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I went to school with brothers, surname was Head.
One was first name Richard.....
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I remember the EastEnders character Willy Roper in the mid 1990s. ;D
Never come across an Ivor Glasscock even though the actual surname is common in Essex. :)
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I have a Pleasant Johncock in my tree.
She married a Mr. Fright and they duly had a daughter called Pleasant Fright.
Bev
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I have come across an amusing surname - Lardant. A name found among Huguenots.
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I once read a blog about names. The writer contended that all the names with "bottom" were breeding out. Women with the name got married and the name ended. Men with the name died as bachelors, as no woman wanted to be lumbered with the name. How true that is, I do not know, but I can believe it.
Regards
Chas
My Mum had a friend whose name was Sidebotham. She refused to marry him unless he changed it. He did, but I don't know what to.
On another note, I worked with a lovely girl whose name was Kamiljit. She said she'd been teased at school and it was actually the name of a beautiful flower in India.
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How can I stop being notified about this thread?
TY
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The easiest way is to click Unnotify either above or below the display of posts.
Alternatively, go to your Profile settings and the Email Notifications section, where you can disable notifications for lots of threads at once. Also at the top of that page are options to disable notifications completely on threads you post in, or to specify which ones you want.
(As I have email notifications on for threads I post in, now that I've replied to you I'm going to have to do this as well.)
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Finisher Coronation Kingshott
What were the parents trying to indicate here with these names?
Was there a coronation around this time in 1903?
Finisher Coronation Kingshott
1903–1970
BIRTH 27 AUG 1903 • Lurgashall, MIDHURST, Sussex, England
DEATH 20 JUL 1970 • Westminster Hospital, London, England
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Such unusual names obviously make it easier to trace them, such as Lucretia Theodosia Arbuthnott, unless you find they had a namesake first cousin of similar age also called Lucretia Theodosia Arbuthnott.
China has 92 million people with the surname Wang, which is Chinese for King. So the Chinese and English words for king are quite similar. Imagine trying to trace an ancestor called Zhang Wang in Beijing in the 1800s.
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ArthurK, I can't find "unnotify", I've sought it several times, simply - not there. Thank you for your kindness and helpfulness.
TY
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ArthurK, I can't find "unnotify", I've sought it several times, simply - not there. Thank you for your kindness and helpfulness.
As shown here (but if you're not set to get emails it will be Notify instead):
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Such unusual names obviously make it easier to trace them, such as Lucretia Theodosia Arbuthnott, unless you find they had a namesake first cousin of similar age also called Lucretia Theodosia Arbuthnott.
COOMBS
Whilst I was trying to track down your Lucretia, I came across the surname which just might be a forerunner of ARBUTHNOTT on ThePeerage.com
Hugh de Arberbothenoth1
M, #17021, d. after 20 March 1238
Last Edited=2 Sep 2003
Hugh de Arberbothenoth was the son of Duncan de Arberbothenoth.1 He died after 20 March 1238.1
Child of Hugh de Arberbothenoth
Hugh de Arberbothenoth+1 d. a 2 Aug 1282
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I think the German skier Fanny Chmelar has the worst name Ive ever heard of
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Why? .................................
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Why? .................................
I too like BumbleB don’t understand that one ,if it is a bit——-leave me in innocence :-[
Viktoria.
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Fanny Schmellar featured in a question on UK tv quiz show 'The Chase'. The pronunciation was something approximating Fanny Smeller causing the host to corpse multiple times.
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A Benjamin Harbord born Coltishall in Norfolk in 1775 (died 1856 in Gt Yarmouth) had a father John Harbord born 1741 in Tunstead and John's mother's maiden name was Coldass.
Benjamin is likely a distant relative of mine as I descend from William Harbord born c1675 who lived in Norwich but may have been from the Tunstead/Coltishall areas.
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Fanny Schmellar featured in a question on UK tv quiz show 'The Chase'. The pronunciation was something approximating Fanny Smeller causing the host to corpse multiple times.
There's another clip from another program where they actually ambush Bradley Walsh with Fanny Chmelar (correctly like "sh-mee-ler") in person. At least she was a good sport about it!
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A friend of my aunt's had the first name Queenie. Queenie married a Mr King and became Queenie King.
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I was looking at a Lincolnshire law and order website and came across this!
In 1900 a new Magistrates court opened in Grimsby, one of the magistrates was the Rev. John Posthumous Parkinson.
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If Parkinson was not a common name, then Michael Parkinson could have claimed he is a descendant of Rev. John Posthumous Parkinson, then WDYTYA would not find his ancestry so boring after all. ;D
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I actually knew someone named P**** Screws. She may well still be alive, so I won't give away her first name.
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....but of course we all want to know what it was! ;D
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Bill Lear, the American most famously associated with LearJet, also started Motorola, and later introduced the 8-track cartridge.
He must have had a sense of humour. He named his daughter SHANDA.
;D ;D ;D ;D
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I worked with a lady once whose surname was Hertrick and she confided to me one day that she dreaded her only daughter might want to marry a guy called Mr Hiscock - she dreaded putting that Engagement notice in the paper!
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I always thought the middle name of Noel was very exceptional, even for December births but the middle name Noel is very common for births around Christmas. Type into FindMyPast for example in the death indexes for "James Noel" or "Paul Noel" with no surname, there are many entries, and the DOB's seem to be December, or late September (conceived around Xmas probably). Kim Kardashian has Noel as a middle name and she was born October.
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For any fans of Doc Martin, listen when he calls the patients' names, the latest one that made me giggle was Helen Highwater. ;D
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Helen Highwater and her companion, Helena Handbasket.
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My kids' grandparents lived in a village called Highwater. There were plenty of local jokes combining that with "hell".
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I taught a Chinese international student with the unfortunate name pronounced F**k. Tricky.
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Bill Lear, the American most famously associated with LearJet, also started Motorola, and later introduced the 8-track cartridge.
He must have had a sense of humour. He named his daughter SHANDA.
;D ;D ;D ;D
That's a bit cruel though in a way, an OK name on it's own but up for ridicule from peers even if she was the 'highlight' of his life at the time !!
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Shanda Lear.
Bill Lear must have been one of the few American fans of Only Fools & Horses. ;D
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When I worked in a bank, many years ago, one of our customers was called Carey Hunt. Fine if you say it correctly but!!!!!
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When I worked in a bank, many years ago, one of our customers was called Carey Hunt. Fine if you say it correctly but!!!!!
Not really appropriate for this forum.
SS
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When I worked in a bank, many years ago, one of our customers was called Carey Hunt. Fine if you say it correctly but!!!!!
Not really appropriate for this forum.
SS
Perhaps just as well I don't get it.
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Oh dear, softly softly. Paul's post was to show us how our minds can work. I think that you have proved his point for him.
Regards
Chas
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Not a personal name but a place name: in Sussex there's a village called Halnaker. In many medieval and early modern records it's called Halfnaked.
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When I worked in a bank, many years ago, one of our customers was called Carey Hunt. Fine if you say it correctly but!!!!!
Lucky I was not drinking anything when i read that. My PC would be covered in spray from the drink. ;)
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Must admit, I don't get it either. But in view of comments by those who do, perhaps just as well!
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Spoonerism
Regards
Chas
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I needed to have it explained but then wished I hadn't asked! ::)
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I've definitely led a sheltered life ,as I've never heard of it and judging by some comments I don't think I want to know. ;)
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A relative named Marjorie married a chap named Alfred Butter; I've always wondered whether she called herself Marge Butter...
Moderator comment: topic closed; the pitfalls of unfortunate names have been amply demonstrated.......