Thursday 29 June 2006

Whats in a name ?

A rose by any other name, would smell as sweet ........

What is in a name ? I was reading Lyn's journal UK GALhttp://journals.aol.com/ukgal36/Britsblog/entries/1597/A, Yesterday,and she was talking about names ....it set me thinking

My late husbands name was actually Leonard Michael,he was his parents eighth child so they must have used up many favourite names before Mick appeared,the story according to my late dear mother in law was ,as follows ,They had decided one of the new babys names should be Michael ,but Dad was told as he set off to register the new baby, that he could choose the second name,as he sat in the office waiting to fill in the form the registrar asked him is there a second name,looks out the window and on the corner of the wall out side he read Leonard Street ,so Mick was officially Leonard Michael,he hated it ,and was always known as Mick ,to everyone except his Mum who always called Michael .

And then my name ...Janet Althea ,which I dont mind, but when people ask what the A stands for are usually a bit dumb struck  when I tell them ....so we decided when our first born son was born ,one simple name was the way we wanted it ,so we had Mark ,our second son is called Derek two very simple but masculine names that ,suited them as little ones and suits them now as men ,When I gave birth to a little girl ,I was so delighted , I must have forgotten our rule ...Mick wanted Jayne,remember Jayne Mansfield?(I wasnt about to indulge his fantacy lol ) So our little girl was called Sharon Jayne ,four years later ,I had another dear little girl ,and we called her Catherine,back to the one name rule again ! but figured Catherine was a big enough name for a little person .....

All went well until Catherine was about four ,she wanted to know why her sister had two names and her only one ,with result she was told to go away ,and think about a second one for her self ...in due course she informed us her second name was to be 'Rhubarb',and it stuck ,she had all combinations of that... Catherine Rhubarb ,sometimes Ruby !

Now she is known as Kate ! I once rang her place of work ,and asked to speak to Catherine and was told ,sorry no one with that name works here ...her e-mail address is however Rhubarb !

And while we are on the subject of names ,a few come to mind ,as a little boy Mark called his buttons ~bobboes ! and I forget who it was requested a gin gin biscuit (when they wanted a ginger one ),but needless to say it stuck ,Iwonder what your family names are ,Iwould be interested to hear .....With love from Jan  xx

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

charlie used to call tomatoe sauce bubba sauce and yorkshire pudding was norkin pudding! love Joanne

Anonymous said...

I should have been Patricia Joan, but my Dad's mum said she would call me Pat so Mum said that my name was not to be shortened, hence I became Joan Patricia!!! My school friends called me Jo so I ended up with my name being shortened after all. Angela was going to be Julie Ann right up until she was born, then it suddenly became Angela Susan, for the life of me I don't know why but it suits her more! And Kevin was always going to be Kevin!!

Anonymous said...

Sorry my comment went on twice.....blame aol, it wouldn't save, then it saved double!!!

Anonymous said...

Jan being one of eight children we all have two/three first names I have three but that is the trouble having so many aunts and uncles who all wanted one of us to have their names ~ I loved Catherine's choice for a second name "Rhubarb" :o) lol ~ Ally

Anonymous said...

I have a lot in common with your children!!  My parents both have middle names they don't use (Alistair Ian and Alison Sandra) so I didn't get one and to this day I feel cheated :o)  And I had strange words too.  I called milk cooees (my gran called it that and it stuck!) and trousers were pronounced trazzas and kangaroos were called kangaroo-garoo-garoo-boink-boink-boink's!!  And that's only a few of them!!  I was a strange child!!!!!!
Gill xx

Anonymous said...

Hi Jan...

I have two names, niether one was ever used, only my nick name "Bead" I hated it!

Astra!
http://journals.aol.co.uk/astra1547/astrasjournal

Anonymous said...

Hi Jan, I enjoyed that entry, it was different! And lovely graphics as usual! My name is Linda Patricia , my next brother was called Bryan Sydney ( to his horror) after my dad, and then 15 years later my other brother was called Terry Francis. I thought that was very modern for my mum and dad! Terry is the actual name (not shortened) then when I started doing my family history found out that Francis is an old family name and goes way back! Unusual for those days don't you think? Oh Jan, sorry I've done an entry on your journal! lol Linda xxx
http://journals.aol.co.uk/lindachapmanuk/metamorphing/

Anonymous said...

My family all have two names, no nicknames. But Reet's family had some strange ideas. Her dad was named Albert but they called him John. Because of this, another member of the family who was named John had to be called John-John. Reet's mum was named Katherine but was called Kit and an uncle whose name was Albert was called Alby by the family and Bill by his workmates.
It's all very confusing to a simple lad like me. B. x

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed that about names, Jan. In continental Europe, people are sometimes endowed with in excess of 5 Christian names!

Anonymous said...

What an interesting entry! I am called Colleen. . just that for ages until my confirmation and I chose Mary.My Mum told me Colleen means "Irish girl" and she had always loved that name.I get called Coll a lot .I have two sons . . one called Lee. .I thought you can not shorten that but all the cousins called him Lee Lee!!My other son is called Kristian but all his friends/teachers/workmates. . everyone except ME call him Jack!! My sister is called Denise but really she was christened Jane . At work people know her as Jane so have to remember if I ring her work to ask for Jane!LOL . .oh and we call large breadcakes cakeybread!

Anonymous said...

Rhubarb?! Now, if you'd christened her Rhubarb I bet she would have hated it....and you!! Lol! My kids used to call a cardigan a cardiglug, to this day that's what I call it! When they used to go down stairs it was called blobberling, I've blobbled down stairs ever since! Kids have a vocabulary all of their own! Funniest one was my son, A bird was a rail-rail, a dog was a bow wow and his potty was a wow-wow. If he spoke quietly I didn't know if he'd seen a bird, a dog or was in dire need of his potty!! Jeannette xx  

Anonymous said...

Lovely graphics.   I don't tell anyone what my first name is.  
Dawn          

Anonymous said...

Tried to leave a comment last night but AOL was not having any so will try again today.  My Dad was away to the war when I was born think he was in Italy. Mum wanted me to be Morag but up here it would have been Morag the Torag will explain if you don't know think its a bit Scottish.  Dad's name was John hence Joan I am call after him and have the same middle name too Teviotdale.  Chucking it down here this morning won't have to water the garden today. Love Joan.

Anonymous said...

Hi - it's Rhubarb here - can't believe you told everyone about that. Oh well, secrets out of the bag now. Didn't read up until just now as been into work and then the dreaded Asda. Not long been back. Gonna have a coffee, a cig and a chill for 10 minutes before the boys get home from school. Hope all well your end. Speak soon. Love ya

Anonymous said...

Well am Catherine after my mum and my middle name is her maiden name...My mum gets called Katie and since i have lived through here it's Cathy...Kerry was an unusual name where am from and i always said if i ever had a girl i'd call her by that..Her middle name is my maiden name...Garath has 2 middle names, alexander after a friend and james after my dad...Although my dad was know as jimmy...Mikey has 1 middle name....Sorry i haven't commented for a while just trying to catch up after all that's been going on over last couple of weeks   Caff xxxxx

Anonymous said...

This is an interesting entry on names,funny really when we'd talk about Katie Rhubarb we didn't think anything about it .Shes a one off any way in the nicest possible way, bless her.As you know Pete hates me to call him Peter and wouldn't answer me if I did.I wasn't sure if I liked Maisies name when she was born but now I love it and it suits her.Hopefully see you tomorrow ......Love Jeanxxx

Anonymous said...

Cute entry, Jan.  I named our oldest Rebecca with absolutely no intentions of her being a Becky.  Lasted one day.  Now she goes by Becca.  My ex wanted to name Megan...Alexandra.  I thought it was too large of a name.  Now, I wish we had because I do love it.  Still, I can't imagine my children by any other names than what they are.  xxxx Chris