Loved this week's story from BBC and others on the UK's most unfortunate names. During my years as a journalist I constantly encountered unusual, unfortunate and amusing names. This story prompted me to recall, among others, a young lady called Courtenay Fish and another child I once heard of who had been named Ikea. When we came to name our children we approached the task with caution, having realised that if our first child was a girl, we both liked Amy. Which of course would be really silly teamed with our surname of Arrow. Temptation was removed as our firstborn was a boy - and - rest assured, we steered clear of Bowen.
That said, yesterday's news that the most ancient English words had been unearthed led me to wonder does it matter anyway? Language changes so fast, particularly English, would these word associations simply evaporate over time? Perhaps. But I think there is still life and laughter to be found in unlikely nomenclature.
A rose by any other name might just sound silly
Loved this week's story from BBC and others on the UK's most unfortunate names. During my years as a journalist I constantly encountered unusual, unfortunate and amusing names. This story prompted me to recall, among others, a young lady called Courtenay Fish and another child I once heard of who had been named Ikea. When we came to name our children we approached the task with caution, having realised that if our first child was a girl, we both liked Amy. Which of course would be really silly teamed with our surname of Arrow. Temptation was removed as our firstborn was a boy - and - rest assured, we steered clear of Bowen.
That said, yesterday's news that the most ancient English words had been unearthed led me to wonder does it matter anyway? Language changes so fast, particularly English, would these word associations simply evaporate over time? Perhaps. But I think there is still life and laughter to be found in unlikely nomenclature.
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