I have a horrible feeling some of my long-held northern prejudices are about to come pouring out…
When I was a kid certain names were regarded as either posh, weird or funny. Some names go in and out of fashion with the generations, but some just remain posh, weird or funny. My grandma was called Emma – a name I found odd and old-fashioned when I was young; now it is a beautiful and common (in the best sense of the word) name and our lovely daughter-in-law bears it. Emily, James, Katie, etc are other examples.
But today, while we were looking around Hawkshead (near Coniston in the Lake District of northern England…), we overheard a father setting his family up for a photo. He addressed his sons by name: Casper, Felix and Max.
Now, without wanting to give offence to anyone with those names, they all smack of ‘south’ and ‘posh’ and ‘public school’ to me. So do names like ‘Jeremy’ and ‘Rupert’. Am I the only one to find this sort of nominal dislocation (!) funny?
I have never come across anyone called ‘Casper’. When I was a teenager we had a mongrel dog and my mum decided to call it Casper. He was a nightmare and uncontrollable – until we had his bits removed by the vet. Then he became promiscuous in a bisexual sort of way – even trying to mate with esteemed visitors like the Baptist Minister and attempting to breed with trees in the local park. I can’t get this association out of my mind.
But, if you think I am being picky, you should have tried being a blond, blue-eyed lad in Liverpool in the 1970s with the name ‘Nicholas’. I used to get called ‘copper bum’ as a variation on ‘knickerless’ or ‘nickel arse’. And you wonder where I got my hang-ups from…
That aside, I also saw the street name in Hawkshead that had been changed at some point. I liked the social history wrapped up in the original name and regret that they changed it to the name of a wussy poet – even if he did go to school in the village.
July 30, 2009 at 6:37 pm
You need to get out more, Nick!
)))
July 30, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Ha ha – separately great names, but collectively hilariously southern. You should read Pies and Prejudice. Yours, Poppy
July 30, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I think that older names are coming back.
My names Ernest ran through my family, father, great uncle, great, great uncle etc.
Second Name, Daniel, Uncle, Great Uncle etc .
I have one son, but refused to give him any of the traditional names associated with the old family line of names, which I perhaps regret in hindsight.
I won’t identify him, be he rejoices in an Irish Gaelic Name. I am unsure of how difficult it has made his life, but being relatively modern (1970′s) he seems to be reasonably adjusted.
Coming from the East End of London, going back 250 years (family tree) I can confirm that the names of more afluent families (‘Nobs’ as they were called) did not tend to be popular in our neighbourhood, and when encountered were met with derision.
Similarly, joining the Army in the 60′s was a whole new cultural experience. Meeting others drawn from across the whole country with a bewildering array of accents and names and nicknameswas wonderfuly broadening and maturing you realised that your small world was a tiny microcosm of life and people and cultures.
Now, little remains of my upbringing and I don’t see any children with my forename around these days.
July 31, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Casper, Felix and Max – I immediately thought they were cat’s names!
Our youngest grand-daughter’s name is Mae and our generation say “Oh, after Mae West”, but the next generation say “Oh, that’s a pretty name”. Fashions come and fashions go in names like everything else!
Anne.
August 1, 2009 at 10:27 am
Hi Nick
My eldest brother is named Gilbert Keith named after Gilbert Keith Chesterton, my other brothers names are Louis Bernard, and Maurice Anthony, very unusual names in the early nineteen fitfies, as John Dave Mike Paul & Alan were the most popular names of the day.
Cheers Pauline
August 1, 2009 at 6:42 pm
I knew Casper was a cat’s name – just read on the internet news about such a named cat in Devon who on his own initiative regularly does a round-robin commute on a number 3 bus service from his home in Plymouth.
Anne.
August 2, 2009 at 2:41 pm
To confirm your prejudices. My husband’s headmaster at prep school in the south was called Casper.
I’m not terribly sympathetic about your childhood troubles with the name Nicholas. You should try being called Gay!
August 5, 2009 at 9:35 am
I actually laughed out loud at this post. I called my son Nicholas who is now 4. He goes to nursery and all the children there are either Max, Lewis, Xavier, Oliver etc – there are none of the common names I grew up with such as Andy, Mark, John etc.
My real name is Chantal and growing up in a council estate in London was pretty much the same, I was called all sorts and everyone pronounced it incorrectly. It was only on leaving school that it got shortened to Charlie (phonetic alphabet – C for Chantal and Charlie) and it has stuck. Only my family call me Chantal and it is strange, it takes me back to the days of when they would shout it when I was in trouble – hhhmm!
My son is starting school next month and I will wait for him to be called Nickerless…!
August 7, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Just round the corner from here there is a road called Slippery Gowt Lane. No prizes for guessing that it is not the most sought after address in the area. When the wind is in the right direction you can smell both the river at low tide, and the town dump!
August 8, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Hmm. My brother is Rupert. My son is Felix – actually, Felix Emmanuel. But I was very very nearly Sacha. I think I got off lightly. Good thing Christian solidarity trumps class solidarity, eh Nick.
August 10, 2009 at 1:28 pm
True, indeed, comrade!