Names

[madhatter]

Parents can be so clumsy.

I imagine Richard Head would concur with that.

[UncleEbenezer]

I used to deal with a tax payer called Peter Ennis. He always signed his name in full. I also worked with a William Williams whose nickname was Billy Twonames.

R6

Our local builder's merchants were William Williams
There's also an estate agent Doolittle and Dalley...

I used to do business with a William Williams. Must be a lot of them around!

As for estate agents, anyone from Bath here? Is Wild and Lye still going?

[staffordian]

I can well recall an estate agency in Dartmouth in the late 1970s by the name of Letcher and Scorer...

[staffordian]

And on the subject of double names, a cousin of mine named Gillian, but known to everyone as Gill married a chap whose surname happened to be Gill.

[servodude]

I contracted at an engineering firm once where the CEO and CTO were Donald MacDonald and Donald McDonald.

-sd

[stewamax]

Their parents were lucky that The Man from the Golden Arches didn't come knocking with a 'passing off' lawsuit.

[gryffron]

I can well recall an estate agency in Dartmouth in the late 1970s by the name of Letcher and Scorer...

We have a Swindells.

[wheypat]

I was at college with a Richard Little.

Every registration from 5 to 18 he hated his father a little bit more.

[Leothebear]

There was a kid with the last name "Allcock".
Of course his nickname was "No balls".

[bungeejumper]

Their parents were lucky that The Man from the Golden Arches didn't come knocking with a 'passing off' lawsuit.

LOL, that brings back memories. We had a threatened lawsuit from some idiot in Minnesota who thought he'd bought the worldwide internet rights to the word "compliance". I think he'd paid a lot of money for it, too.

I pointed out to him that you could open a hardware store called McDonalds, but probably not a fast food restaurant with red and yellow lettering and a big M. And that he was in the business of pharmaceuticals compliance while we were generally in fund management, and that the chances of any punter getting confused between the two was effectively zero. So the "compliance" trademark (or rather, service mark) wouldn't be likely to hold up in court even if it had been properly registered to him. Which it hadn't.

He didn't like that. I tried for weeks to convince him, and the lawyers' letters kept on coming, but eventually he went away. It's a long way from anywhere else, Minnesota, and some of the locals don't know that there's a world out there beyond the horizon. And other time zones, and omigaaad, other languages too.

The Royal Harry was my local Chinese chippy, back in my Birmingham days. And there are 23 Harry Windsors on LinkedIn. Good luck with clamping down on all those abusers, your highness.

BJ

[bungeejumper]

There was a kid with the last name "Allcock".
Of course his nickname was "No balls".

Alcock and Brown got away quite lightly, really.

BJ

[OLTB]

I understand that the (now retired) footballer, Fitz Hall of QPR, Crystal Palace and others, was known as 'One Size'.

I also used to know a Mr D'eath and heaven help you if you mispronounced… IT'S DEE-ATH BOY, DEE-ATH...

Cheers, OLTB.

[Meatyfool]

I understand that the (now retired) footballer, Fitz Hall of QPR, Crystal Palace and others, was known as 'One Size'.

I also used to know a Mr D'eath and heaven help you if you mispronounced… IT'S DEE-ATH BOY, DEE-ATH...

Cheers, OLTB.

Mortimer by any chance?

Meatyfool..

[brightncheerful]

I remember reading about a school that had refused to accept the name of a pupil, Topsy, and insisted she be called by a different name.

Mr and Mrs Turvey were not amused.

[OLTB]

I understand that the (now retired) footballer, Fitz Hall of QPR, Crystal Palace and others, was known as 'One Size'.

I also used to know a Mr D'eath and heaven help you if you mispronounced… IT'S DEE-ATH BOY, DEE-ATH...

Cheers, OLTB.

Mortimer by any chance?

Meatyfool..

Ha ha - not quite. He was a customer of the company I used to work at, although I do sometimes think that some of them belonged on Discworld.

Cheers, OLTB.

[stewamax]

There is Wilfred De'ath who is a journalist (vide The Oldie) and author.

[AleisterCrowley]

We had a 'Death' in the business, pronounced as written apparently.

I also had a meeting invite cc'd to a 'Randy Sarah'- who was, sadly, a bloke...

[stewamax]

For those who wish to blame their parents...
The Reverend Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache-Tollemache (1826 –1895) christened one of his sons
Lyulph Ydwallo Odin Nestor Egbert Lyonel Toedmag Hugh Erchenwyne Saxon Esa Cromwell Orma Nevill Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache

[bungeejumper]

For those who wish to blame their parents...
The Reverend Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache-Tollemache (1826 –1895) christened one of his sons
Lyulph Ydwallo Odin Nestor Egbert Lyonel Toedmag Hugh Erchenwyne Saxon Esa Cromwell Orma Nevill Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache

Huh, I think you might have overlooked Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfe­schlegel­stein­hausen­berger­dorff­welche­vor­altern­waren­gewissen­haft­schafers­wessen­schafe­waren­wohl­gepflege­und­sorg­faltig­keit­be­schutzen­vor­an­greifen­durch­ihr­raub­gierig­feinde­welche­vor­altern­zwolf­hundert­tausend­jah­res­voran­die­er­scheinen­von­der­erste­erde­mensch­der­raum­schiff­genacht­mit­tung­stein­und­sieben­iridium­elek­trisch­motors­ge­brauch­licht­als­sein­ur­sprung­von­kraft­ge­start­sein­lange­fahrt­hin­zwischen­stern­artig­raum­auf­der­suchen­nach­bar­schaft­der­stern­welche­ge­habt­be­wohn­bar­planeten­kreise­drehen­sich­und­wo­hin­der­neue­rasse­von­ver­stand­ig­mensch­lich­keit­konnte­fort­pflanzen­und­sicher­freuen­an­lebens­lang­lich­freude­und­ru­he­mit­nicht­ein­furcht­vor­an­greifen­vor­anderer­intelligent­ge­schopfs­von­hin­zwischen­stern­art­ig­raum Sr.

Born in Germany in 1904, and moved to the United States, where he protested all his life about officials who constantly misspelled his name. He claimed that his Jewish great-grandfather had invented the surname (which is actually a pile-up of ungrammatical German involving sheep and space aliens) as a protest against being forced to adopt an "authentically German" name.

There's nothing new under the sun. I like his style.

BJ

[UncleEbenezer]

For those who wish to blame their parents...
The Reverend Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache-Tollemache (1826 –1895) christened one of his sons
Lyulph Ydwallo Odin Nestor Egbert Lyonel Toedmag Hugh Erchenwyne Saxon Esa Cromwell Orma Nevill Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache

Demonstrating that today's Rees-Moggs aren't even original.

I used to know Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus Stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel.