Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Does your name date you?

Inkstainedwretch

One Too Many
Messages
1,037
Location
United States
In the 19th century stagecoach drivers were often called Jehus and sometimes even addressed as "Jehu." It's from the Bible verse: "His driving is as the driving of Jehu, son of Nimshi, for he driveth furiously."
 

ChiTownScion

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,247
Location
The Great Pacific Northwest
My grandfather had a brother named Adam and a sister named Eve. And five other siblings as well. Odd part: I never knew about several of them (and three generations of their descendants) until after my Dad had died, and Facebook came into being. Turned out that the extended family was bigger than I imagined.
 

Stearmen

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,202
Florence Lowe Barnes, pioneer aviatrix, was known to one and all as Pancho Barnes. She ran a bar for flyers frequented by the test pilots of the 40s and 50s, including the original Mercury astronauts. I have no idea how she got to be called Pancho.
While running guns down in Mexico. She said her partner looked like Don Quixote, so he dubbed her Pancho, thinking that was Sancho's name.
 

Inkstainedwretch

One Too Many
Messages
1,037
Location
United States
For a long time jewels and flowers were favorite names for girls born to Asian immigrant parents, especially the Chinese and filipinos. Violet, Orchid, Pearl, Rose, Sapphire, Ruby, Lily and so on. In the 80s CNN had a news correspondent named Emerald Yeh.
 
Wilbur and Ruby (along with my wife's Grandfather Richard [Dick] Chapman on the right) outside of his service station on Rt. 66. Pretty sure she was not a stripper as they were charter members of High Street Baptist Church. You don't see many Wilburs nowadays either.

15052361538_7f80954d19_c.jpg
 
Last edited:

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
In the 6th grade I had a principal whose first name was Terrell F.
One time, I played hooky from the 6th period class.
Next day I was taken to the school boiler room for a spanking
with a long wood paddle with holes in the middle.
The first whack was not so bad.
Afterwards the rest stung but I didn’t cry or give him the
satisfaction that it hurt.
Six whacks left purple marks across my butt cheeks.
Sitting down in class was difficult but I managed not to
show that it hurt.
The principal's nickname was "Terrible F.".

And I never skipped class again! :D
 
Last edited:

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,796
Location
New Forest
The headmaster, we didn't have head teachers back then, the headmaster's surname at my school was Cashin. He was known as Mr Chips, as in Cash in your chips. So called because of the book: "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," about the life of a schoolteacher, Mr. Chipping, written by James Hilton in October 1934.
Mr Cashin once overheard me refer to him as Mr Chips and asked why, so I told him. It seem to amuse him.
So glad he didn't know, or if he did, question me as to why my classmates called me: The Count.
If you were off school and needed cover, for a price I could write you a note from one of your parents, as long as I had some example of their handwriting. The Count was a pun on counterfeit. Sometimes I was referred to as Plates. Cockney rhyming slang, plates of meat....feet. My full title was Count the Feet, as in counterfeit.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
When I was growing up I remember girls with two first names.
One that comes to mind was Myrtle Mae. I had her in Biology class.
A very shy gal with a gentle smile.

I recently saw a movie where the character looked and behaved the same way.
9k7yfd.jpg
 
Last edited:

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
I was just thinking of people at work and their names. One thing is, there are only clear generation differences within a family. Otherwise, it's a smooth seamless transition from the past, if you follow me. But at work, we have a Katherine, Julie, Kenneth (that's me), Kelly, David, another David, Michael, John, one more David, Royal (most unusual), Myra, Melissa, Avraham (he's from Israel), Yeon (Korean), Carolyn, Linda, Lorre, Lori, Adrienne, Brian, Greg, Clint, Mark, Rhonda, three Jessica's, Michelle and so on.

Aside from the people who are employed there, we still get mail now and then for everyone who has ever worked there in the last fifteen years. In a way, they have become immortal.
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
This isn't the answer to that question but does anybody name their son "Frank" these days? Or Clyde?

I mentioned somewhere that I knew a man named Shirley. He was married to one of my stepmother's daughters, whose name was Billie. My stepmother's name was Naomi, an unusual name in itself.
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,796
Location
New Forest
Well, some names disappear, on purpose. For 25 snark points, does anyone know the surname on Ralph Lauren's birth certificate?
I couldn't resist looking that up. Have you heard of the 50's British Pin-Up: "Diana Dors?" Her real name could be very embarrassing, as she put it: "Imagine the headlines if the neon went pop on the second letter."
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,298
Messages
3,078,221
Members
54,244
Latest member
seeldoger47
Top