Names

[Mary Chambers]

Indeed both names are Scottish and, fortunately for the latter, both are pronounced exactly the same, ie .

I've known someone called Smellie, and it was pronounced as it looks.

I have small grandchildren at independent schools in London, and their class lists are a wonder to behold. I wish I could tell you some of the extraordinary names, but I suppose I'd better respect the privacy of the children involved.

I used to marvel at the name Hardiman Scott (he was on television and radio) and wonder if his parents actually addressed him as Hardiman when he was two.

(Oh, it's disappointing. He was actually always addressed as Peter.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I used to marvel at the name Hardiman Scott (he was on television and radio) and wonder if his parents actually addressed him as Hardiman when he was two.

On similar lines, I've often wondered whether Mr & Mrs Covey-Crump addressed their son as "Rogers" in conversation. (Was this a way of settling a dispute about whether or not to have more sons?)

[vinteuil]

I've known someone called Smellie, and it was pronounced as it looks.

... in my very first week of grown-up employment I was included in the invitation to the retirement party of two grand ladies who had served the Department over many years - "Drinks for Miss Smellie and Miss Belcher".

[Richard Tarleton]

A few BBC types - Petroc Trelawny, Marmaduke Hussey, William Hardcastle, Zeb Soanes and Tomasz Schafernaker. There must be many more. It is a part of what the BBC does.

Just to say Marmaduke Hussey was anything but a BBC type - rather, put in as Chairman by Home Secretary Douglas Hurd to, as an anonymous briefer at Conservative HQ put it, "make it bloody clear" that change was urgently required; he was "to get in there and sort it out". It appears he didn't know where the place was when he was given the job. The writer of this obit in the Guardian clearly did not believe in De mortuis nihil nisi bonum ....

[vinteuil]

On similar lines, I've often wondered whether Mr & Mrs Covey-Crump addressed their son as "Rogers" in conversation. (Was this a way of settling a dispute about whether or not to have more sons?)

... o Rogers Covey-Crump! - and John Shirley-Quirk!! (... and don't call me Shirley... )

And as a child listening to early music programmes on the Third / Radio 3 - the delight that they should feature Marilyn Wailes and Millicent Silver....

[Stanfordian]

I've known someone called Smellie, and it was pronounced as it looks.

I have small grandchildren at independent schools in London, and their class lists are a wonder to behold. I wish I could tell you some of the extraordinary names, but I suppose I'd better respect the privacy of the children involved.

I used to marvel at the name Hardiman Scott (he was on television and radio) and wonder if his parents actually addressed him as Hardiman when he was two.

(Oh, it's disappointing. He was actually always addressed as Peter.)

I can't imagine any babies being addressed by certain names such as Barry or Marmaduke.

[Lat-Literal]

Just to say Marmaduke Hussey was anything but a BBC type - rather, put in as Chairman by Home Secretary Douglas Hurd to, as an anonymous briefer at Conservative HQ put it, "make it bloody clear" that change was urgently required; he was "to get in there and sort it out". It appears he didn't know where the place was when he was given the job. The writer of this obit in the Guardian clearly did not believe in De mortuis nihil nisi bonum ....

A very fair point RT.

Elsewhere, research finds a Lord Gavin but sadly no Lord Wayne (in terms of first name) or Lord Darren. There isn't a Lady Kylie either but there is arguably more than one Lady Tracey.

Just imagine that on the back of a replica Celtic shirt at a quid per letter

Quite - although I do actually quite like Celtic as it is a good name in itself.

Daily Telegraph - The funniest football team names in the world - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...hind-them.html

[Stanfordian]

... o Rogers Covey-Crump! - and John Shirley-Quirk!! (... and don't call me Shirley... )

And as a child listening to early music programmes on the Third / Radio 3 - the delight that they should feature Marilyn Wailes and Millicent Silver....

At my old school any pupil with a double-barrelled surname would have been in for 'troubled' school career.

[vinteuil]

.

... I was a cadet VSO before going up to university, and was sent to a Jesuit seminary in French-speaking west Africa.

In my class were Télesphore Mbog and Dieudonné Banzatapog.

One was sweet, the other a right bastard....



.

[oddoneout]

.

... I was a cadet VSO before going up to university, and was sent to a Jesuit seminary in French-speaking west Africa.

In my class were Télesphore Mbog and Dieudonné Banzatapog.

One was sweet, the other a right bastard.....

Well I suppose being God-given could go either way - it's quite a responsibility to put on a child...

[Mary Chambers]

On similar lines, I've often wondered whether Mr & Mrs Covey-Crump addressed their son as "Rogers" in conversation. (Was this a way of settling a dispute about whether or not to have more sons?)

One of the more splendid names.

[P. G. Tipps]

I've known someone called Smellie, and it was pronounced as it looks.

Was he/she English, perhaps, Mary ... ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUlUOFd4xF8

I have never come across any adult in Scotland pronouncing Smellie as it is spelt, at least to any person blessed with that proud and wonderful surname!

http://www.pronouncenames.com/pronounce/smellie

[Serial_Apologist]

Nominative determinism, I once had a Chinese dentist called fang!

Didn't he start a school of edible interior design known as Fang Chewy?

I worked with a Yorkshireman called Don Keys. He drove the fork lift truck - not that that has anything to do with anything...

[Serial_Apologist]

My father once invited Eric Pickles to our home. "Haven't you got a better chair than this one?" the local Chairman [sic] of the Conservative Association demanded to know.

[ardcarp]

Then there's the Steele Bodgers.

Not to mention the Fetherstonhaughs.

Apparently one-time MP and journalist Horatio Bottomley called upon a certain Mr Fetherstonhaugh and asked the butler if the said gentleman was at home...but pronounced his name phonetically. The butler (with the usual ice-cold hauteur) replied, "I think you mean Mr Fanshaw, sir".
To which HB replied, "Then tell him Mr Bumley is calling".