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Weird Personal Names

Back in primary school, my sister had a friend called Rosalind Gotobed. The actual pronunciation was GOT-oh-bed (I think it's Dutch somewhere along the line) but of course she was called Go-to-bed by us ignorant Brits anyway.
 
Back in primary school, my sister had a friend called Rosalind Gotobed. The actual pronunciation was GOT-oh-bed (I think it's Dutch somewhere along the line) but of course she was called Go-to-bed by us ignorant Brits anyway.
I seem to remember my sister had a teacher called Gotobed.
 
Are there any kids named Qwerty?

None for which I can find any mention.

One reason may be that - according to some 2014 research - parents are prone to select names that are typed on the right side of a QWERTY keyboard rather than the left side ...
‘QWERTY’ Keyboards May Have Changed How We Pick Baby Names, And It’s A Bit Spooky

Baby names go in and out of style, but have you ever wondered why we prefer certain names over others? Believe it or not, the explanation may lie in part with the way the keys are arranged on our computer keyboards.

A new study suggests that as a result of our society’s rising involvement with computers, parents tend to select baby names that can be easily typed on the right side of a standard QWERTY keyboard. It’s a sort of corollary of the so-called “QWERTY effect,” which holds that — because of the arrangement of keys — we tend to view more positively words made up of more letters on the right-side of the keyboard (to the right of T, G, and B.) ,..
FULL STORY: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/qwerty-effect-baby-names_n_5822960
 
Oh, and my boss' surname is Titball. I think it's a West Country thing as there used to be quite a lot round here in the 1800s - less so these days. However, his first name is Richard. (He goes by Rick). And we're pretty sure his second name is William. What WERE his parents thinking? Somebody in the office has even seen his name on a similar 'Weird names' thread somewhere else on the Internet.
 
Oh, and my boss' surname is Titball. I think it's a West Country thing as there used to be quite a lot round here in the 1800s - less so these days. However, his first name is Richard. (He goes by Rick). And we're pretty sure his second name is William. What WERE his parents thinking? Somebody in the office has even seen his name on a similar 'Weird names' thread somewhere else on the Internet.

Dick Will Tit Ball - a more version of Pee Po Willy Bum Drawers!
 
I occasionally worked with a woman whose surname was Penix. We politely assumed it was pronounced "Pennicks" when dealing with her, but in-house we spoke of her as "Peenix," and wondered why she did not change her name.
 
I occasionally worked with a woman whose surname was Penix. We politely assumed it was pronounced "Pennicks" when dealing with her, but in-house we spoke of her as "Peenix," and wondered why she did not change her name.

During my senior year in high school (a half-century ago) I had a female classmate named Penix. She pronounced it "Pee-nix."

Hers wasn't the sole Penix household in the school's service area, and her younger brother also pronounced the name as "Pee-nix."
 
Oh, and my boss' surname is Titball. I think it's a West Country thing as there used to be quite a lot round here in the 1800s - less so these days. However, his first name is Richard. (He goes by Rick). And we're pretty sure his second name is William. What WERE his parents thinking? Somebody in the office has even seen his name on a similar 'Weird names' thread somewhere else on the Internet.
You know I am still chuckling at Dick Titball several days later. :D
 
As possibly previously mentioned, my brother's former boss's name was Jan Glasscock. (The 'J' being pronounced as in 'jam' rather than 'yam'.)
He'd walk into an office to introduce himself and invite the workers to get the giggling over with quickly so that could all get down to some work. When he upset Bro, a round of brews was produced with a nice hot sugary tea in Bro's dog's personal mug for Jan.
 
A selection of 16th Century Puritan names.

e.g.

Praise-God. Full name, Praise-God Barebone. The Barebones were a rich source of crazy names. This one was a leather-worker, member of a particularly odd Puritan group and an MP. He gave his name to the Barebones Parliament, which ruled Britain in 1653.

If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned. Praise-God’s son, he made a name for himself as an economist. But, for some inexplicable reason, he decided to go by the name Nicolas Barbon.

Humiliation. Humiliation Hynde had two sons in the 1620s; he called them both Humiliation Hynde.

(Warning : Some adult-themed articles linked at the bottom of the page)

https://slate.com/human-interest/20...-religious-nomenclature-used-by-puritans.html
 
Talking of 'virtue' names, I was working my way through the online baptismal records for Devon and Cornwall (don't ask), and one that popped up a few times for a female was Admonition. I can understand Grace - Charity - Mercy - but Admonition doesn't seem to fall into that category?
 
A former colleague of mine has a granddaughter called Pippa nova-rey. Spelled exactly like that.
 
I recently learned that there are several small communities in the US called Bucksnort. There's also a restaurant in Port Alberni, British Columbia, with that name.

I once met a woman, African heritage I assumed, whose name I at first thought was Gladys but it was actually Gladness, which I found quite pleasing.

I used to work with a woman called Gladys but she insisted on being called Glad or Gladdie. Her only sibling was called Archibald and she once told me that she and her brother were named after their parents. Parents -- Gladys and Archibald; children -- Gladys and Archibald. No possibility for confusion there, of course.

Gladdie was quite a character. I recall her announcing one day that she had found a dead body in Woolworth's years earlier. She explained that she had been in the store on a weekday during the height of summer and had discovered an elderly man near the back wall who had collapsed and died, presumably from heart failure. Apparently he had lain there for a while without being noticed. Gladdie alerted the staff and action was taken. Presumably he hadn't been there for more than some minutes. While the incident itself isn't comical, her account of it was. Gladdie was something of a female version of Frank Spencer and I could easily imagine her in that situation.
 
I once met a woman, African heritage I assumed, whose name I at first thought was Gladys but it was actually Gladness, which I found quite pleasing.

That's a name to live up to!

Decades ago I read about a couple, both poets, who changed their surname to Joy when they married. It was at the time when there was still discussion going on about whether women should change their names when they married, wear a wedding ring, promise to 'obey', wear a white wedding dress if they weren't a virgin (really!) and so on.

So they become 'Mr & Mrs Joy'. The joy didn't last because they divorced, and he reverted to his old name. However, she stayed 'Joy' because in the meantime she had become well-known in that name. The layers of irony are like those of a big prizewinning onion.
 
Any relation to the immortal Derek Deadman, actor of repute?
 
I had a teacher in junior school called Mrs Deadman.
 
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