While sitting in a café, having a coffee and chatting about anything and
nothing with an old friend of mine the other day, we happened upon the subject
of names.
It seems that some Scandinavian countries want to have a list of
official names the parents can only use! This has to be a gross infringement of
people's civil rights.
But while having this chat I mentioned that my surname, Walsh, was Irish
meaning “Breton” or Welshman. My friends name, Ward, it seems means ‘Guard’ or ’Watchman’,
from the Normans.
I’m amazed how names are held as some form of sacred mantra to families.
I own up to being a little bit like this myself. I’m proud of my name and my
ancestry, yet I know little about my ancestors of more than a few generations
ago.
Most of us, it has to be said, have no idea or wish to know just what our
names mean, they were given to us by our forefathers, and that’s good enough.
But if you don’t know where your name derives from, I do urge you to look it up,
you might even be very surprised to find out where your family originated.
I once met someone whose surname was Flynn. When I asked him what part of
Ireland his family were from he denied any connection with Ireland. But even stranger than that was an old friend
of mine whose name is David Jacobs; he claimed that I was a total idiot for maintaining that he must have Jewish ancestry, even though there’s a broadcaster by
the same name who is Jewish!
Names, of course, change over the years until they are neither spelt or
sound like the original name. Take my name, "Walsh", for example, Welsh, Welch,
Walshe, Breathnach, Branagh are all the same name.
One of the most popular surnames in the world has to be the names in the
above title of this blog: they are all, believe it or not, the same name! Smith
obviously derives from the old word for tradesman, Blacksmith, Silversmith,
Arrowsmith etc.
The name Smith is in the top ten surnames in nearly all European
countries and in North America. I was quite taken aback to find out that eight
out of the top ten surnames in America are of British origin, and the remaining two
are Spanish. I thought there would have been lots more Germanic, French,
and Spanish names up there.
Of course, we then lead on to the names that mean different things in
different countries. I have spoken before in these blogs that my Father had a
friend in Düsseldorf who went by the name of Billy Shiite, which for some reason
sounds like a Geordie comedian to me. "Shiite" by the way is not a good name to
go by in Britain unless you want people to either gasp or fall about laughing
every time your name is mentioned.
I’m not sure just how far the fame of those tiny little creatures,The
Wombles has spread across the globe? They live on Wimbledon Common and
collect rubbish most Brits of a certain age will tell you all about them. Well
they also live in Huddersfield: honest, there’s a family called the ‘Wombles’
I have also met a few people whose surname was ’Cock’. One of these changed
his name to ’Cox’ as he could no longer take the sniggering and the lewd jokes. I
also know a ’Deadman’, but he’s alive and well. One of the best names I know is
held by a young man who hopes to make his way in the world of show business and
I can guarantee he won’t have to change his name to get an Equity card, so
look out for the wonderfully-named Chad Bunny in the future.
So, think before you name your children, as their given name may clash
with their surname like ‘Dick Head’ (Honest, it’s a real person).
But if you want to know the two most common names in the world, the
agreed wisdoms that be claim they are ‘Mohammed’ as the given name and ‘Chang’
as the surname.
Not an Orinoco Womble in sight!
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