Monday 24 May 2021
A rose by any other name
The UK government has finally moved on the vexed issue of parents who burden their children for life with inappropriate names. For example we have this from Gleena Simmins, mother of three year old toddler Treezer Green.
“What I never realised at the time was that the name Treezer would cause such problems. Before he were born like, somebody on social media told me it was the name of an ancient environment warrior who looked after trees and animals and such. They said it was a really ancient name from like before Hitler. I never knew they made it up. I unfriended them dead quick but it’s like too late.”
There are other examples, such as this one from Moorla Snipe, mother of two year old toddler Dunno Mait.
“I just liked the name Dunno because it sounded all friendly like and I thought it might help at school later on. Like at football matches where they call each other names like Johnno or Robbo and suchlike. I thought it was a good idea.”
There are numerous other examples such as Blymee O’Reilly where misguided parents have given way to a momentary enthusiastic desire to assign their son or daughter a striking name, just as they assign a gender.
With this in mind the UK government has sponsored initial research into an app designed to screen out inappropriate names and names which could cause future embarrassment. It is not the government’s intention to assign official names, although it is thought that in a very small number of cases this may be necessary.
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11 comments:
Once worked with a man, Richard, whose parents, Mr and Mrs Head, thought this traditional family name was a good idea. But this was before the insult was commonplace.
Then there was the trick of phoning another department and asking if anybody there has seen Mike. Surname Hunt.
Doonhamer - Mrs H once knew a chap called Richard Sich and a couple who named their daughter Tamara Knight.
I have known several people called P.Green, and one Wendy Cottage.
Never mind odd combinations, a construction trades lecturer in a college I worked in was assigned a young Iranian man for his tutor group. He was not likely to prove popular anyway, being dark skinned and not having very good English. To make matters worse, his name was Kunt.
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We all feel like that now and again - Letters of Note.
The different surnames between mother and child, coupled with the ignorance & stupidity about the names, do rather show where these folk fit in society.
DJ - Wendy Cottage was surely foolish, but maybe people adapt to some silly names and even gain from them.
Sam - reminds me of the time when I was marking people off during an election. One name on the electoral register was Fuk Yew but he didn't come in to vote.
Doonhamer - ha ha - sums up something wider too.
Ed - so common in our local media stories as well.
I used to work with a bloke - William Anker.
Grandad - I bet he always signed his full name. Easily a good enough reason for a name change though.
Slightly off topic, when Billy Cotton toured he often traveled by train. He carried his props in a large trunk with his initials, W. C., in gold leaf. On one journey he went to check his trunk in the corridor and found a man fiddling with the locks. It turned out this chap thought it was the lavatory.
Andy - good job it was locked. Or maybe he knew but didn't like Billy Cotton.
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