Silly names not just the forte of dazzling urbanites?

[derspiess]

Celtic names: 

[jimmy olsen]

First names for newborns seem to be going to pot over in Blighty as well; found some official Government statistics but the top 100 isn't available as a list bur rather in this format:

Poppy!

[mongers]

First names for newborns seem to be going to pot over in Blighty as well; found some official Government statistics but the top 100 isn't available as a list bur rather in this format:

Poppy!

I'm fairly sure it's another one of those childhood nicknames that has now become a first name.

[garbon]

Celtic names: 

You have no taste, so who cares?

[merithyn]

What's interesting to me is how all the nicknames are taking place of the original names.

I admit that as much as BB dislikes last names for first names, I dislike this new trend. Give the kid the real name, and then feel free to call them the nickname. But for heaven's sake, give them a real name first!

[Caliga]

That's not new either.  Princesca's grandfather's legal first name is Harry, and she had a great uncle legally named Dave.  I had a great-great-great-uncle legally named Harry as well (born c. 1870).

[garbon]

White trash!

[merithyn]

That's not new either.  Princesca's grandfather's legal first name is Harry, and she had a great uncle legally named Dave.  I had a great-great-great-uncle legally named Harry as well (born c. 1870).

Must have been a mid-1950s thing that they didn't allow nicknames as first names, then. My cousin - born ~1955 or so - couldn't be named Toni because it was a nickname. Her mother was required to give her the real name of Antoinette, though she's never once used it. Toni has been Toni since she was born, and her mother still cringes when she hears the full name spoken.

[merithyn]

Because earlier I was having a go at some genealogy, perhaps my first serious go, and looking at the census/births/deaths/marriage records it appears throughout the mid to late 19th century there were only ever about 6 or 7 Adam Carter* in the whole of England and Wales during that period, which is very surprising, to the point I thought there must be errors in the database.

I dug a bit into my dad's line a little while ago. That was a complete waste of time. He's Welsh, and apparently the Welsh have only six names that they use before they get lost. My great-grandfather's name was Meredith Williams. In the tiny town that he lived in (pop. ~ 500), there were something like 20 other Meredith Williams'. His father's name was James, and his mother's name was Mary Katherine, but she went by Elizabeth. (WTF??) There were at least three other couples named James & Mary Katherine Williams, and another several James & Elizabeth Williams. Talk about a nightmare trying to find which one is the progenitor of our line.

[Ed Anger]

Ugh. The welsh.

[mongers]

Because earlier I was having a go at some genealogy, perhaps my first serious go, and looking at the census/births/deaths/marriage records it appears throughout the mid to late 19th century there were only ever about 6 or 7 Adam Carter* in the whole of England and Wales during that period, which is very surprising, to the point I thought there must be errors in the database.

I dug a bit into my dad's line a little while ago. That was a complete waste of time. He's Welsh, and apparently the Welsh have only six names that they use before they get lost. My great-grandfather's name was Meredith Williams. In the tiny town that he lived in (pop. ~ 500), there were something like 20 other Meredith Williams'. His father's name was James, and his mother's name was Mary Katherine, but she went by Elizabeth. (WTF??) There were at least three other couples named James & Mary Katherine Williams, and another several James & Elizabeth Williams. Talk about a nightmare trying to find which one is the progenitor of our line.

Good grief that does make it difficult, very difficult.

I had a brief look at my old man's side of the family and it's a little odd, like them deciding to entirely change the surname in the 1920s from one beginning with an A to one starting with an H.   

[Josquius]

Good grief that does make it difficult, very difficult.

I had a brief look at my old man's side of the family and it's a little odd, like them deciding to entirely change the surname in the 1920s from one beginning with an A to one starting with an H.   

My great grandad replaced a much cooler spelling with a Y with a more common one with an I....because the one with a y 'was too common' (in the low class sense, not the widespread sense). Something he only thought to tell the family when he was in his 70s...
I've always utterly failed looking into my geneology beyond relatives I knew.

I admit that as much as BB dislikes last names for first names, I dislike this new trend. Give the kid the real name, and then feel free to call them the nickname. But for heaven's sake, give them a real name first!

I dunno, that can be quite confusing. My nanna is called Elizabetha or something like that. She has only ever been called Ella. Why have the name someone is actually called and their legal name be different? Sounds like a route to confusion.

And of course the embarassment will suck for the kid when he is faced with a substitute teacher who doesn't realise he never uses his embarassing full name.

[Barrister]

Because earlier I was having a go at some genealogy, perhaps my first serious go, and looking at the census/births/deaths/marriage records it appears throughout the mid to late 19th century there were only ever about 6 or 7 Adam Carter* in the whole of England and Wales during that period, which is very surprising, to the point I thought there must be errors in the database.

I dug a bit into my dad's line a little while ago. That was a complete waste of time. He's Welsh, and apparently the Welsh have only six names that they use before they get lost. My great-grandfather's name was Meredith Williams. In the tiny town that he lived in (pop. ~ 500), there were something like 20 other Meredith Williams'. His father's name was James, and his mother's name was Mary Katherine, but she went by Elizabeth. (WTF??) There were at least three other couples named James & Mary Katherine Williams, and another several James & Elizabeth Williams. Talk about a nightmare trying to find which one is the progenitor of our line.

Try being Ukrainian.

Mom's side (which is general British mix) can be traced back to at least the 17th century.  Dad, who's Ukrainian, hits a giant brick wall as soon as you go back to the old country. 

[Capetan Mihali]

Try being Ukrainian.

Pass.

[Barrister]

Try being Ukrainian.

Pass.

Your loss.  Pyrogies.