The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #106125   Message #2189417
Posted By: The Walrus
08-Nov-07 - 08:23 PM
Thread Name: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
Emma,
Amelia,
Violet,
Rita,
Nell (as a name, not a contraction)
Herbert,
Albert

Any of those qualify?


Little Hawk,
"...And the British warships that bore Roman and Greek names!

HMS Justinian, HMS Neptune, HMS Hermes, HMS Agamemnon, HMS Achilles...the list goes on and on. This was because the British saw their empire as the natural inheritor of the ancient glories of Greece and Rome, destined like the Greeks and Romans before them to dominate the world of their time...and for awhile they did...
"

An interesting theory, except that, at the time (late 18th/early 19th Century) most maritime nations named some, or all, of their fleet after classical characters, which could cause problems with captured ships pressed into service, for example the RN had, at the same time, a Nymph, a Nymphe (ex French) and a Nymphen (ex Danish)[OK, not classical names, but the first examples which came to mind].
It's worth remembering that 'the Classics' were an essential part of any European Gentleman's education.

W