www.alphadictionary.com

Leslie Charteris wrote the original Saint books that greatly amused me as a teen. His lead character regular addressed unintroduced thugs as Algernon.

I'm guessing no flowers for them?



Hmmmm ... I'm wondering ... [checks the googles] ... gak!
May William Shakespeare have mercy on our souls! There are, in fact, people naming their babies Renesmee.

*is experiencing near-clinical depression*

I know a gal named Irene, who answers to Reenie, from childhood nickname. Isme is the name of the prophet Isaiah's horse. In chapter 6 he is reported as calling out, "Whoa, Isme!"
Now put that together and...

Oh, btw, did you ever check out some of the names the aforementioned Bard used! Polonius or his wife named their kids Ophelia and Laertes. The queen is Getrude, and then of course, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern twins.

Were Rosencrantz and Guildenstern twins? I have brothers who are twins. As small children their sibs called them Twin and Othertwin; Twin being the first one addressed and Othertwin being the second one addressed. Hence we were constantly changing their names. They got even. Remember that younger siblings sometimes grow up.

Philip you just created a monster. As it happens I have newly born twin great-grandchildren. I shall certainly repeat the twin/othertwin routine!

And btw, R&G were Hamlet's classmates and probably unrelated except in the evil of toadyism.

Twin one and Othertwin. Hmm, has anyone else thought of the Cat in the Hat? Thing One and Thing Two? Or am I alone in this?

Not anymore.

My maternal grandfather had a sister, Tallulah (Lulie, for short), who married and gave birth to eleven children. She and her husband, Abe, named them alphabetically, using first and middle names as follows:

Anna Belle, Corrie Dean, Edgar Fant, Gertrude Holmes, Ida Jones, Kelsey Law (who later changed her name but kept the operative letters intact), Melvin Nesbit, Oscar Perry, Query Ross, Shields Trenton, and Ulysses Vance.

Having no more children, they named a dog WX and a cat YZ.

The dubious can see proof at http://www.celebritycensus.com/alphabet_family.php.

The only discrepancy between my records and those on the internet is Corrie's middle name, although either name works with the sequence of letters.

I'll admit that I'm right proud to be kin.

I work in a government office, and to paraphrase Ferris Bueller, some of the names I see are just... they just are. Lesbia, Eville, Itchell (I thought someone missed a key until I saw the signature) and one that always cracks me up when it comes to mind: Bienvenido Bastardo ("welcome bastard" in English), which surprises since I'm told Spanish speakers, depending on where they're from, can be more formal than English. With that as a last name, I'd think the first name would be... more carefully chosen.

There is a story of a mother who named her children Eeny, Meeny, Miny, and Suzy. She didn't want no moe. If you aren't a redneck or some other daughter or son of the South, you may not understand this "joke". If that is the case, just keep on truckin'.

"Grandson" of the South

I once worked for an ad specialties company and typeset some astonishing names for personalizations on pens and such. The one which has stayed with me is Heber Noseworthy.

The googles bring up 284,000 results so I have hope that I am protecting the anonymity of the one who ordered from us.

One of my many uncles claimed to have a friend who was named Joe Shagnasty. Joe had his name changed to Bill Shagnasty because every Tom, Dick and Harry was named Joe.

Somebody told me about a coworker of his named Carlos -- this is not really a name story, per se -- who said he was tired of hearing his name. "Carlos, would you help me with this?" "Carlos, where did you put that?" Finally he said, "I'm tired of always hearing 'Carlos, Carlos, Carlos.' I'm gonna change my name!"

Another article on names:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/ ... ness-names

Here's a nice piece from Slate on Puritan names:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/20 ... itans.html

I wonder why it appears no male names have made it to the 21st century.

"Humiliation" reminds me of the tavern keeper in The Adventures of Robin Hood, Humility Prim.