Surnames

[Cyril Haearn]

Perhaps people should be encouraged or required to choose their names themselves, maybe at age 21

Ernest is a worthy name, but it seems queer to give it to a tiny baby

[fausto copy]

All this talk of changing names, makes me wonder whether we should change the name (or title) of this thread!

[Mick F]

Help yourself!

[lbomaak2]

As a university lecturer (recently retired) I have come across several students in recent years who wanted themselves known by a name that bore no relation to any of their "official" names.

[PDQ Mobile]

In much of rural Wales a person often "aquires" the surname of the place they live in.
So Harry Williams of Bwlch y Fedwen will become "Harry Bwlch" or "Harry Bwlch y Fedwen" if there's any risk of confusion.
It is an endearing and useful trait.
Especially in a place with relatively few common surnames.

It sometimes extends to other distinguishing features as has already been mentioned.
The story of "Wil Penny and a Half" springs to mind.
A rather small man but well endowed by all accounts.
And who made money in the war by betting with American serviceman about relative sizes!!!

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

Going on from what TC was saying, I'm a Stephen Michael, but for all my life I've been Michael, Mike, or usually Mick.
Stephen bit of it is there, and I'm happy to be SM, but I dislike intensely being referred to as plain Stephen.
What gives people the right to call ANYONE by their first name without asking first?

It's got to the point, that I've "changed" my name by hyphenating it to Stephen-Michael rather than two separate Christian names.

Was common for son take your fathers first name, he took his fathers and his grandfather was also called Charles.
My brothers took my fathers 1st and 2nd as their second mid name.
Me and my twin were not planed................. and there was no name to carry for my middle name
Very common for people to take there 2nd name as there first...............most I think because they prefer it.

[drossall]

There again, in my old club sixty years ago, it was apparently the custom to name people after their bikes. For example "Claud" hadn't been christened by that name at all.

[merseymouth]

Hello all, One of my late club mates, a bloke took his lady wife's name, there was money involved?
But he was a NRRA Record Holder, on a few counts.
So I was able to toast him at our dinner as the only man to set records in both maiden & married name! Trike records of cause! MM

[mercalia]

A strange chat by a black African who has the name Colston

When the statue of Edward Colston was pulled down in Bristol during the UK's Black Lives Matter protests, it had special resonance for one man thousands of miles away

What I didnt know was that slaves would be given a second name of the owner, an early form of barcode.
If the guy can be philosophical about some thing as personal as a name why not about statues, not being some kind of personal affront but a echo of just the bad times we have left behind?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-53941979

[Elizabeth_S]

Anyone who's done any family history will know that spelling was pretty fluid pre-1900, mainly because most people couldn't read or write and may have spoken to the minister with a strong accent. My husband's surname has at least half a dozen different spellings before they settled on one (and he's Scots and they all lived within a 10 mile radius for hundreds of years).
My great-grandparents came over from Ireland to Scotland as the McCormicks, they gave most of the kids born in Scotland a surname as a middle name to make them look more Scottish (random ones, it doesn't follow the naming rules), then they went down to Liverpool as the McCormacks as they thought it made them sound more Scottish! Of course I'm not actually sure if my g-g-granddads name was McCormick (or was Cormic) or even if his first name was Roderick or Roger (he used both, or even Rory).

[Tangled Metal]

A strange chat by a black African who has the name Colston

When the statue of Edward Colston was pulled down in Bristol during the UK's Black Lives Matter protests, it had special resonance for one man thousands of miles away

What I didnt know was that slaves would be given a second name of the owner, an early form of barcode.
If the guy can be philosophical about some thing as personal as a name why not about statues, not being some kind of personal affront but a echo of just the bad times we have left behind?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-53941979

It's not uncommon I believe for black people to africanise their name and drop their slave name in the process. Some find their slave name as objectionable as the statue of slave traders. Perhaps you should be asking why do black people object to slaver statues and not slave names?

[Morzedec]

In my region of rural France many of the farmers are known by the name of their tractors or cars; hence 'Peugeot Pierre' for example.

Many French people struggle with their 'H's', so I'm often called Old 'Oldsworth'. Damn cheek: less of the old, please.

Happy days,

[mercalia]

A strange chat by a black African who has the name Colston

When the statue of Edward Colston was pulled down in Bristol during the UK's Black Lives Matter protests, it had special resonance for one man thousands of miles away

What I didnt know was that slaves would be given a second name of the owner, an early form of barcode.
If the guy can be philosophical about some thing as personal as a name why not about statues, not being some kind of personal affront but a echo of just the bad times we have left behind?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-53941979

It's not uncommon I believe for black people to africanise their name and drop their slave name in the process. Some find their slave name as objectionable as the statue of slave traders. Perhaps you should be asking why do black people object to slaver statues and not slave names?

I thought I was

[Jdsk]

What I didnt know was that slaves would be given a second name of the owner, an early form of barcode.

Why did you think that so many West Indians have European surnames? Slavery wasn't the only reason but most of the others were part of the systematic destruction of the Africans' identity and culture.

Is that comment about "barcode" a reference to branding?

Jonathan

[ambodach]

My own surname is territorial based on the lands occupied and a river as well. The original family were quite influential in early Scottish history but were defeated by rivals who stole the land by forced marriage. My forenames are from both sides of the family and have been used as family names for many years.