The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #43231   Message #630538
Posted By: The_one_and_only_Dai
18-Jan-02 - 11:21 AM
Thread Name: I am turning into Rick Fielding
Subject: RE: I am turning into Rick Fielding
I would be delighted, nay honoured, Rick...

The naming convention you describe stems from the fact that everybody in a Welsh village apparently has the same name, whether it be 'Dai' or 'Jones' or whatever. So a qualifier is necessary to differentiate between them. Hence in the film 'Zulu', the soldiers have names like 'Jones 358' and 'Williams 147'.

Cultural verisimilitude is added by alliteration or irony, puns are particularly good. Only I can't think of any good ones right now. But there's an apocryphal story about a place with 2 Jones', one being the undertaker and the other a travel agent. They were called 'Jones One Way' and 'Jones There and Back'