BS: House Names what is yours? +question

Subject: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Mr Red
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 06:27 AM

As a 2017 project I am photographing house names in the town I live in. Smallish town (3000 peeps and rising)

House names of Stonehouse
and it expanded to:
Business signs of Stonehouse
&:
Leisure pursuits of Stonehouse

Demographically it would seem older houses and up-market houses are more likely to have names. More recent dwellings and ex/state housing is less likely. Project is ongoing.

So 2 questions,
1) what is your house name (if it has/had one)
2) can anyone suggest a better heading than Leisure pusuits for: Churches, Schools, Football Clubs, Scouts, MotoX etc. And should pubs be part of this, rather than "trade".

TIA
enjoy.

PS I once called my house "Isle of Dew" - beware what you choose - I got divorced there!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Mr Red
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 06:33 AM

Leisure pursuits direct link, even though it is on the page from the OP.
I still can't think of a better description.
(copy & paste ain't so clever)

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 10:05 AM

Ours is Briardene. Next door is Thorland. No idea why.

Third question. Does anyone really call their house Dunromin?

:D tG

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 10:57 AM

I remember a series of letters back & forth to one of the national dailies some years ago.

One of my favourites from that exchange was "COBWEBS"

This was explained as being an acronym for "Currently Owned By Woolwich Equitable Building Society"

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Senoufou
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 11:01 AM

Our last house we called Nutwood (where Rupert Bear lived; I used to love the illustrations of his little village in the Rupert books)
Our present house hasn't got a name, but there's one in our village called 'Thistle Dew' which always makes me smile. Also there's a pretentious one called 'The Neuk'.
A house we had long ago I called Larch House (had a larch tree in the front garden)

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Senoufou
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 11:12 AM

People sometimes try to make a house name out of the residents' names.
All I could come up with was something like 'Mile Hi Bazaar' which sounds a bit...er...odd.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 01:04 PM

"Linnside" is beside a linn -- which can be a waterfall or a pool -- the burn beside the garden has both!

I think this has been the house name since it was built in 1863

I know of a house in Ardentinny that is/was named "Ower the Hill Tae"

(Harry Lauder song O'er the Hill Tae Ardentinny')

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 01:06 PM

--- there is one problem about living close to a waterfall - - you have to go outside to discover if it is raining or not!
(Tho' you do become inured to the sound of the falls- - -)

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 01:18 PM

Tullach Ard (The High Hill) - The Mackenzie war cry (my wife's family)
Didn't really want one, but when we moved to rural Ireland (no postcodes) we thought we might need it - we didn't and now it's a bit of an embarrassment
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: DMcG
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 01:43 PM

My house is unnamed, but one of my favourites is a Victorian unpainted red brick house, with a black front door. In the fanlight it announces itself in gold lettering as "Casa Blanca".

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Senoufou
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 02:05 PM

My father's family were Mackays, whose motto is Manu Forte ('with a strong hand'). But that sounds as if we're inviting Manchester United for tea! (Well, my husband is an ardent fan of theirs, but still... not a good house name.)

I love Casa Blanca! Hee hee!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 04:32 PM

"The boy stood on the burning deck."

Oh, sorry, that's "Casabianca".

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 05:23 PM

In Kansas, USA, I once rented a house that was not... to put it charitably... in tip-top condition. We named it "Withering Heights".

We stayed there only several weeks, as the city decided it was not up to code. It was torn down later that year.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 06:38 PM

housenameheritage.com

Welcome to House Name Heritage.com. If you're reading this it's likely that you already have a named house or you're currently thinking about naming it.

Perhaps you recognise that house names can be fun and informative. Perhaps you appreciate the benefits that can ensue from having a well named house. Perhaps you sympathise with our aim of creating an historical database of house names and named houses. Perhaps you just want to be different!

Whatever your reasons and wherever in the world you live, the correct name can bestow on your property a character of its own, and an individuality that a mere street number could never hope to match.

includes pages on house names from Australia France, Germany, India, Wales ...

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 07:45 PM

Our present house doesn't have a name, despite being in it for 30 years.
But our previous one was Christmas Cottage........and our surname is Santer!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Mrrzy
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 09:34 PM

Where I lived for about 10 years in Central VA, USA, there are a lot of estate names - had our house had one, we would have called it Kelly Day. Senoufou and other French speakers would appreciate that...

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Mar 17 - 10:10 PM

Dave the Gnome asks: Does anyone really call their house Dunromin?

Dunno, but American Old Farts often name their retirement dream home "Dunrovin" (even if said home is in a trailer park).

I'm an Old Fart. I really should get around to naming my home. How's "Rattlesnake Haven"? [We don't often have rattlesnakes, but I was afraid I'd find one today as I was mowing...]. Forget the snakes. They don't come often. I think I should call this place Ponderosa Pines, after the magnificent trees that frame our sunset every evening.


-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Mr Red
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 02:53 AM

Christmas Cottage........and our surname is Santer!

Is the cat's name Claus?

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Senoufou
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 04:20 AM

Kelly Day! Hahaha Mrrzy, I love that!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 06:04 AM

A previous owner called ours "Twin Oaks" (they frame the entrance) but only the electric bill uses it. I feel sorry for posties when house signs don't have the number on.
A house near us presumably owned by a football fan, is called "Llanesra" which I thought was Welsh until I twigged. Welsh names Like Ty Gwyn , Ty Coch or Plas Bach, Plas Newydd are common. Our neighbour (absent on their yacht in retirement) called theirs Offshore.
As we are both retired librarians (sorry, Information Consultants) we though of calling ours Dunfinin, Dunstampin or Dunlendin.
RtS

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 06:06 AM

PS One house near here was called Whitegates. A new owner kept the name but repainted the gates black. Go figure!
RtS

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 09:48 AM

RtS;
you may be being a little unfair on your neighbours. They might not be Arsenal fans.
Apart from the extra 'L' added to the reversed name, it may be a referebnce (legitimately) to Saint Esra. A quick Google finds nothing about the saint, but a street name in Dublin: St. Esra Close. Althought the Wiki entry doesn't look promising: Explanatory note


A new streetname, based on the understanding that the second element in the placename Cill Easra (Killester) is a saint's name. There is no evidence for such a saint.

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 10:38 AM

Most of the houses on our lane are named and not numbered - And there are a lot of them! Posties and regular delivery drivers are Ok but I feel sorry for anyone not in the know!

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Mrrzy
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 12:09 PM

Senoufou, I knew you'd appreciate that!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 01:38 PM

Mr Red, we did have a cat at Christmas Cottage, and she did have claus, but her name was Honey!
My parents called our house "Iona" although they had a mortgage - wishful thinking!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Senoufou
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 04:03 PM

As our present house has no name, I've just asked my husband to suggest a Malinke name for it. He finds the idea of naming a house a bit strange. But he's come up with either 'boh' or 'so', which apparently mean 'house'. I don't think I'm going to bother getting a sign made which just says 'BOH' or 'SO' to attach to the door. People will think we're weird...

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 04:58 PM

I suppose if I had a house out in the country I't would have a name. But I've always lived in towns where the houses have numbers. It's always seemed a strange idea to stick a name on a house with a number. Very few people think of doing it in the places I've lived.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Anne Lister
Date: 31 Mar 17 - 06:06 PM

Our previous (rented) home was Lower House, Lower House Farm - and it was the centre of the postcode. Lower House Farm was of course a different building, but luckily next door. We got used to having all manner of confusions with delivery vans, especially as there was no easy way of remembering which house was which along our (two mile) lane. There was a Church Cottage, which wasn't actually the cottage closest to the church, and a School House where no school was now.
We're now the proud owners of a newly built house and we're dealing with the complexities of having a plot number a few digits different to our street number. Wondering whether to name the house - and if so, then what. Apparently our little new estate is known locally as Balamory. You'd have to know the children's tv series and see our estate to know why.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Mr Red
Date: 01 Apr 17 - 02:10 AM

sign made which just says 'BOH' or 'SO' to attach to the door. People will think we're weird... /I>

or the will think you are "So, Boh!"

Very few people think of doing it in the places I've lived.

I guess that is "So, post house names!"

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: BobL
Date: 01 Apr 17 - 02:24 AM

Nigel, could there be a Saint Lester? Or even a notable person named Lester Saint? Although the name "Lester" is Anglo-Saxon so possibly not in Ireland.

Senoufou, some much-travelled friends have named their house "Karibu" = "Welcome" in Swahili. Is there a Malinke equivalent?

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Apr 17 - 03:17 AM

BobL, in Malinke I think it's 'i ni che' for 'welcome'. (Husband is asleep so can't ask him at the moment!) But being a very literal African, I know his response would be that not everyone who comes to the door is welcome; in fact, some are definitely NOT welcome, for example double-glazing salesmen and Jehovah's Witnesses. If we put i ni che on the door, it would be followed by a rather long 'terms and conditions'!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 01 Apr 17 - 07:03 AM

... not everyone who comes to the door is welcome ...

Not a house name, but my youngest daughter has a door mat with the message:

"      Friends welcome
Relatives by appointment"

DC

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 01 Apr 17 - 07:52 AM

I once lived in a house that apparently had a name, though I was unaware of it until I returned from work one day to find its name emblazoned across the front door in large letters.

Why anyone would name a house "Condemned" is still a bit of a mystery to me.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Reinhard
Date: 01 Apr 17 - 08:23 AM

In Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, the gods live at the hub of the discworld in a place called Dunmanifestin.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: meself
Date: 01 Apr 17 - 10:35 AM

Rats' Nest. We moved up from Snake Pit.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Mo the caller
Date: 01 Apr 17 - 02:06 PM

When my grandmother, mother and family first moved into their newly built house there were no numbers. My grandma became known as Mrs Sunnyside, and they thought of the woman opposite as Mrs Waysbury long afterward, 20 years or more; even though they knew her name by then.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: BobL
Date: 02 Apr 17 - 06:37 AM

When I moved here, my partner suggested "Sea View". The nearest coast is seventy miles away. She was like that...

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Apr 17 - 10:02 AM

We've named our cars over the years, which my husband thought completely batty at first. Our present ones are 'Misty' (mine) and 'Assita' (his). He's quite used to the madness now.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 02 Apr 17 - 01:49 PM

Jim Carroll - I have a feeling (tho I may be wrong) that your war-cry house name is the same as or similar to that used as a clan war cry in a series of romantic/fantasy novels set in Scotland (and other places) written by an American authoress; they are in the process of being turned into a tv series which is proving to be very popular with fans of the novels.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Apr 17 - 02:18 PM

Gallus, would that be Diana J Gabaldon? (She wrote the Outlander series.) There's a short video by the Cast of 'Outlander' one can see showing how to pronounce 'Tullach ard" in Gaelic. Which is no mystery, as it's pronounced exactly as it looks!

PS Love your name! When I lived in Glasgow, people used to say,"Och, he's dead gallus!" (cheeky or a bit brash)

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 03 Apr 17 - 07:10 AM

!! Gallus Molls was our singers' group name (from the kids' song) - think we did all of three performances 'way back when Glasgow's Tryst and Mayfest in the '80s or perhaps early '90s I think?

What venues did you go to, perhaps our paths crossed?

Back then it was Scotia Bar, Babbity Bowster, Clutha Vaults, the Star Folk Club (can't remember which particular home it was in then! Maybe beyond Mitchell Libraray?) sometimes the Third Eye Centre, and of course Cy Lauries Ceilidhs upstairs in a venue the name of which completely escapes me- -was it the Riverside Club?
(see this old age/memory defects - -- )
We also ran ceilidhs at the Trades Hall -- - and there were events at Washington Street Arts Centre---

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 03 Apr 17 - 07:20 AM

--- and yes, I was referring to DG and Outlander (Ootlander?!)but was not sure if I should mention specific names.....

Re 'gallus' - I can't lay my hands on my good Scots Dictionary at the moment, but it is amazing the depth of meaning in some Scottish words, as I discovered many years ago when someone asked me to translate Hamish Henderson's Freedom Come All Ye (Roch The Wind)- I had thought I knew what I was singing about, but in fact the depth of meaning in some of the words and expressions amazed me, wasn't just simple one-word exchanges, the meanings were richer, deeper.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Apr 17 - 11:51 AM

You're right Gallus Moll. Words such as 'glaikit' and 'dreich' are brilliant for exactly describing stuff for which the English vocabulary has no equivalent. I also like 'flair' for floor and 'greetin' for crying. On my first day as a young teacher in Glasgow I was confronted by a very plump woman trying to explain, "See him Miss? He's no comin' tae skewl the day hain. He's at hame lying on the flair greetin'!" I could only nod weakly and pretend I'd understood.

I was in Glasgow from 1970 until 1976, then left to go down to Norfolk. I'd spent 10 years in Edinburgh before that. (Completely different environment!)
I remember the Third Eye Centre (Sauchiehall Street?) but none of the others ring a bell. I lived off Byres Road and also in Caird Drive (Pairtick!)

Apologies to all for this unforgivable thread drift!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 03 Apr 17 - 01:22 PM

Bonzo Grange!!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 03 Apr 17 - 04:19 PM

Embry as weel as Glesca! Whaur aboots -- did ye gang tae college / uni there?
Ye maun hae veesited Sandy Bells and mony ither baurs wi' fowk music - and we must have crossed paths somewhere along the line!
I was a student in Edinburgh '66-'69, and round about the Sandy Bell's Broadsheet first appeared.
Also The Corries folk trio and Paddy Bell and many other groups and individual singers and musicians were around the place (Bert Jansch played at our college, wow!)
Jean Redpath was at Edinburgh Uni a bit earlier in the decade I think?

As for thread drift - who cares? Lots of argumentative regulars frequently take other threads off into the blue yonder! They don't have to read this if they find it boring....

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 03 Apr 17 - 04:24 PM

Think you were in Glasgow too early for Riverside Club, and I can't remember whether the Scotia was a bikers' bar for a few years in early '70s? not even sure that the Merchant City had got started -- so Byres Road, Glasgow Uni area, Pairtick was definitely more groovy then!
Was the Highlanders' Institute still going? Think it was opposite the side of Mitchell Library, great ceilidh dancing.

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Apr 17 - 04:30 PM

I was at Edinburgh Uni in the early sixties Molly. I lived on The Meadows, and in Merchiston.
Glasgow was very vibrant and jolly when I was there in the seventies. My two nieces live and work in the 'Burgh' and my sister is in Perthshire.

Mr Red, would the title 'Names of Public Leisure Venues' be suitable for your third category? (And apologies for hijacking your thread a bit!)

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Apr 17 - 06:04 PM

OK, I give in. My house has a name and we live miles from anywhere. It's called Moor Cottage, and, though it's a late-Victorian house, the name "Moor" appears on a map from the early 19th century. So the name is no fad!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 03 Apr 17 - 06:34 PM

Senoufou, did you sing and / or play any instruments? (I might remember seeing / hearing you somewhere? eg Sandy Bells if you were on The Meadows, not far- - - )

I was at The String School in Stewartville St, Partick (opposite the library?) at the weekend!

Subject: RE: BS: House Names what is yours? +question
From: Mr Red
Date: 03 Apr 17 - 07:16 PM

Senoufou
Funnily my local folder is called "leisure".
When it comes to web addresses, particularly subdomains, short is better.