Does anyone else suffer these?
I was brought up thinking my name was Ball. When I discovered it was really Balls, I was naive enough to believe my father's explanation that people were always forgetting to put the "s" on, so we didn't bother with it. This was in the 1950s when the world was a more innocent place (at least where I lived).
Both father and great-grandfather got some fun out of the name. In WW1, great-grandad was hassled by an officious warden when his shop blackout was not perfect. He asked for g.g's name and told him not to get cheeky when he gave it. Grandad just shrugged and pointed to the shop front "It's up there in writing, mate".
My father was told to stand to attention and give his name when he didn't stop chatting quickly enough in the mess hall when he was called up in WW2. After shouting his name loud and clear, he was frogmarched to the commanding officer, where he explained in a perplexed way that he didn't understand why he was in trouble, he had only given his name. "And what is your name, man, asked the officer" ....
The really surprising thing is that for four generations (at least) the first son in the family was called Aaron (in one case Aaron Thomas)! Luckily our family was all girls.
