BS: The MOST British given name of all is...

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Alec
Date: 12 Nov 07 - 12:22 PM

Wayne? (Not common but not ultra rare either) Clement? (Never common & now almost defunct)

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Nov 07 - 12:02 PM

"Kevin" also seems rather British to me, but there are a great many Kevins in North America.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Anne Lister
Date: 12 Nov 07 - 07:33 AM

Followers of "Old Harry's Game" on BBC Radio 4 will know that in a previous series there was the revelation that God's real name was Nigel....

I'm puzzled by some of the contributions above. Lester Simpson and Lester Piggott aside, I'd assume any Lester to be American, myself. Lynn is a man's name, reasonably frequently found here in Wales. Trevor as a girl's name? Never heard it here. Have met an American female Cyril, though - I was very confused.

I've known two male Vivs here, not necessarily spelled with extra "y"s but generally Vivien rather than Vivian. Other confusing first names here in Wales include Ceri (male or female, and sometimes spelled Kerry).

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 11 Nov 07 - 11:34 PM

Refering back to your first post, I have a friend named "Nigel Lester", known him for over 40 years now. Commonly known as "Nige" middle name "Howard"
My vote would be for my rather commonly used monica.
JohnB

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Nov 07 - 02:57 PM

There's nothing wrong with Nigel, it's just very British, that's all.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 11 Nov 07 - 02:36 PM

Metchosin:
Lynn as a man's name. Lynn Davies Gold medal winner in the long jump 1964 (Tokyo) Olympics.

And anyway, what's wrong with 'Nigel'?

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 11 Nov 07 - 03:47 AM

JennieG - Remillion seems to be a dark red dye used to imitate the blood of Christ in religious artwork (statues and icons usually) and has been around for several hundred years as a given name.

It's probably linked to vermillion, the more popular red pigment.

If you Google Remillion you'll get a link to the 'behind the name' website which has a couple of people also looking for ancestors named Remillion. Maybe you're related?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 05:14 PM

"Orson Cart" lol

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: GUEST,Bert on Kelly's machine.
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 03:09 PM

I don't know about MOST but the BEST is certainly Albert!

I used to be called Little Bert, 'cos I was taller than my Dad and he was Big Bert.

Bertie.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 03:06 PM

"Then there's the other rare middle name Death or De'ath."

I think you'll find that it's Irish, Richard.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: fumblefingers
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 02:54 PM

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Bob Hitchcock
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 01:31 PM

My Father's full name was "Albert Charles Leslie Hitchcock", a very English sounding combination, but everyone just called him Bert. Tarquin and Quentin always strike me as very English along with Orson. I knew a man in our village in Sussex many years ago whose last name was Cart (a shortened version of Carter I expect) I told him he should name his son Orson, he was not amused.

Bob.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: rich-joy
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 01:58 AM

Despite the popular view that it's a very Aussie name, I've always found the "Sheila"s I have heard of, to be from the British Isles (as opposed to the "small s" descriptive term "sheilas", which is kinda like older terminology for "chics" downunder in Oz .....)

"Algernon" had got my vote for feeling most British - until I discovered it was a French word to do with moustaches - and came over with William the Conquerer, along with Percy!!!


Yeah, Rowan and JennieG, the Oz regional difference thing gets my vote too! Upon moving to the state of Queensland some years back, I was struck with the common-usage pronunciation "Quoinsland"!!!!


Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: JennieG
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 12:34 AM

Rowan, I think Rich-Joy's wonderful litany of names came from The Naked Vicar Show on ABC radio in the 70s - from memory it ended with:
Maybelline, Marlene, and my name's Kay!

I work with a Marline, pronounceed Marleen.

I enjoyed the ABC doco and I agree with you, there are regional differences in the Ozzie accent. I thought those SA women were wonderfully up themselves......

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Metchosin
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 12:32 AM

I know of two men named Lynn, both originally from Saskatchewan. I've never heard it used elsewhere. Is it of English origin and more common in the UK?

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Rowan
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 12:15 AM

Yes, Rich-joy, I think (but couldn't swear to it) that it was the Mavis Bramston Show.

And John Clark did a beaut hour's doco on the origins and development of the Australian Accent on the ABC (Oz, for you USers) last Thursday night; I confess I fall into the camp that maintains there are regional differences in the Oz accent. I always associate "coool" with Victoria and SA and "Kewl" with NSW and Qld. I can't do phonetic symbols but I'm sure you'll understand, even if my attempts mystify nonAussies.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Rowan
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 12:06 AM

Richard didn't meet too many "Rowan"s in his stay in Oz; for the first 20 years of my life I was uncomfortable with the fact that I was the only example of Rowan I'd heard of. When I got to uni I found I shared my given and surname with someone in the medical faculty and about 30 years later come to the conclusion my mother may have met him while pregnant with me, liked the sound of it and 'pinched' his name for me. Since then I've met several, some female. Very few seem to have had a Scottish connection.

And, Mr Happy, your reference to Mountain Ash tempts me to some thread drift. Around 1900 some foresters from New Zealand did a bit of a tour of the othe Australasian colonies, starting with Tasmania. Tassie foresters took them to see the Florentine Valley, where the tallest eucalypts towered 300' + into the sky. "What are they?" asked the NZers. "Swamp gums" answered the Taswegians. "Do you have any seed?" asked the NZers. "No" answered the locals. The next stop for the tourists was Victoria, where they found out the Forests Commission had a huge collection of all sorts of seeds. "Do you have any swamp gum seed?" asked the NZers. "Take as much as you like!" answered the Victorians. Which is how NZ got about 30,000 acres of Eucalyptus ovata which rarely grows more than 30' high, is straight for no more than 2' and is difficult to burn. What they wanted was Eucalyptus regnans, called mountain ash by the Victorians. This cuationary tale was told to all aspiring biologists at Melbourne Uni as an injunction to use scientific binomials.

Some other reflections on names mentioned above;
Doris, Edith, Enid, Mamie, Mae and Thelma are (or were, before they died) aunts of mine
Wendy is the mother of my daughters
Ivor (one pronounced Eyevor and the other pronounced Eevor) is the name of two friends (both Aussies) of mine
all of which Little Hawk may (probably correctly) regard as the Britishness of Oz

PoppaGator, I'd always associate "PoppaGator" with the US and "Rhys" with the UK, although we have plenty of the latter (and none of the former) in Oz.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Greg B
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 07:56 PM

Owen? Well, then, me cousin was Welshman Daniel Owen, poet laureate
to none other than good old Queen Vic herself. First Welshman to
write a novels in native Welsh in the 'modern' era.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Owen

I have the fortune (or misfortune) of being his very image.

My understanding is that his mother ran the bawdy house in
his native Mold, Clywyd, where he is immortalized in the town
square.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: JennieG
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 07:38 PM

Forgot to say in my post the other day....my British-born grandfather's first names were Christopher Hiram. Christopher I can understand - it sounds British - but Hiram? I always think of Hiram as being a 19th century Amurk'n entrepreneur out to change the world, not someone who was born in the British Isles in the 1880s.

Then there is his sister (also mentioned in my post) Remillion. Heavens only knows where that came from.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: folk1e
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 06:41 PM

most Brittish give their kids a "christian" name!

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 06:26 PM

The best known male Hilary has to be son of the Socialist MP, formerly known as Sir Anthony Wedgewood-Benn, AKA Tony Benn MP. His son Hilary is the Enviroment Minister.

My grandmother was named Ethel Winifred - a very English sounding composite.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: PoppaGator
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 05:48 PM

When I spotted the thread title, the first name to come to mind, for me anyway, was "Trevor."

The first Trevor I ever met in person (here in the states) was a coworker who had been born in South Africa. Not England by any means, but more-or-less "British" from the US standpoint. (He was certainly of British ancestry ~ not a Boer or an African.)

While I had never previously known a Trevor in person, I did recognize the name as a boy's/man's name.

At my next job, I had an employee named Trevor, but this was (and still is) a female Trevor. Very attractive, and very aristocratic, from a wealthy and prominent family. Made me wonder if upperclass Brits named their daughters as well as their sons Trevor, or if this was a strictly American affectation ~ ??

One name mentioned only briefly and obscurely in one of the preceding posts struck me as just the kind of quintessentially British names LH was asking for:

Rhys.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Banjo-Flower
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 05:46 PM

Gerald

Gerry

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: ard mhacha
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 02:08 PM

LH , Owen Celtic from Eoin same pronunciation.
I left out the most common name in the nationalist north of Ireland ,Sean.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 12:43 PM

Perfect, Desdemona! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Desdemona
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 12:29 PM

Okay, LH, I see what you're looking for now, and I think I can provide it, because my very own cousins, Juliet and Derek, have a daughter named Georgina...now that's what I call a "British" triple threat!

~D

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 12:25 PM

Someone mentioned Clive...a very British name, I think. Then it occurred to me that Owen is also rather British-sounding. Then you have Clive Owen! Perfect.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Dazbo
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 12:18 PM

Sorry Emma, didn't notice the inverted commas.

( no longer at work :-) )

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Grab
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 12:03 PM

LH, don't upset Spaw now by missing "Bubba" and "Cletus" off your list...

Actually, one sure way of telling Americans from their names is if they're called John Johnson the third, or John Johnson Junior. The only person who gets to be called "the third" or whatever in Britain is the reigning king/queen. If a son is named after his dad (which is not uncommon in more rural areas), one or the other will either use a diminutive version (eg. "Edward" vs. "Eddie" vs. "Ted"), use their middle name as their given name, or simply be known to the world as "Ed" and "young Ed" (or maybe later on, "Ed" and "old Ed").

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 11:56 AM

GregB at 10:39: did you mean Ivor Biggun, wearer of cheap suits, Martin-mangler extraordinary, subject of a 'where are they now? feature in the current 'Mojo' magazine, and generally good sort? If so, I have the honour to stand alongside him in his latest band, the Trembling Wheelbarrows, at least until the restraining order takes effect. I have a sneaking feeling, though, that this might not be his real name.

Oh, and a new UK book on unusual names mentions my own forebears, a father and son both named Grimwood Death.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Emma B
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 11:27 AM

Precisely the reason for putting invented in inverted commas Dazbo!

The name Wendy is probably a diminutive of the Welsh name Gwendolynbut, in this instance, it is believed to be derived from the phrase "friendy wendy," used by a child named Margaret Henley, whom Barrie befriended in the 1890s.

In modern name meanings Wendy is often described as meaning friendly.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: GUEST,Dazbo at work
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 11:03 AM

Wendy wasn't an original name created by JM Barrie. There are quite a few Wendys in censuses taken before Peter Pan came out (and they're not the names of young girls but of fully grown women so it had been around for at least 30 years before Peter Pan. I believe it is a diminutive form of Gwendoline.

There have been very few true Anglo Saxon names that have come down the ages mainly the ones already noted, Godgifu being a favourite of mine (IIR the correct spelling) meaning gift from God.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 10:56 AM

My goodness! I've set loose a monster here. Wonderful work, ladies and gentlemen.

Now let me explain what I was after in this thread. I was not after names which ONLY are found in the British Isles. No indeed. I was not necessarily after names which are very common in the British Isles either. I was simply after names which are MORE common in the British Isles than they are in most other places, particularly North America.....names which, when heard by a North American, immediately suggest "someone from the British Isles". That's it, period.

So, "Lester", for instance may not be all that common a name in England, but I suggest that it still sounds more like an English name than it does like an American name.

You follow?

We Canadians, by the way, had a prime minister named Lester Pearson, but it's a pretty uncommon name in Canada.

Here are some typically American names:

Tex
Hank
Zeke
Billy Bob
Billy Joe
Thelma Mae
Daisy Mae
Emmy Lou
Wyatt
Jake
Elvis
Alvin
Maizy
Mavis
Blanche

(Note the popularity of the rustic approach for male names...the USA has always been besotted with all forms of frontier primitivism and cowboy mythology, plus a healthy dose of Southern romanticism for female names a la courtin' Daisy Mae neath the Magnolia blossoms, and all that...) ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Mr Happy
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 10:50 AM

SIT! - Well!

Fetch, Stay!

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Desdemona
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 10:47 AM

My dog's middle name just happens to be Winifred, which was suggested by my Anglo-Saxon scholar partner...someday we're planning to get her a sister called Edith!

~D

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Greg B
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 10:39 AM

What about Ivor Biggin?

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: GUEST,Santa
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 10:33 AM

Alfred would do for a good English name that has lasted. Or Edwin? Oswald was around until recently but not many people called Hengist and Horsa nowadays.

It occurs to me that Frederick is another Germanic version of Alfred - does that imply two different Teutonic roots/routes?

My mother was Winifred. Sounds Anglo-Saxon, but possibly related to Guinevere, which has British roots - unless old Geoffrey didn't know the difference when he wrote out the old tales.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Desdemona
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 10:00 AM

Ah, but "English" was originally a heavily inflected, Germanic language; something like 80% of the most commonly used words in modern English are still Germanic in origin, despite the Norman invasion, centuries of loan words, etc.

~D (showing my geeky English major roots)

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:55 AM

Surely those are Saxon names that begin with Ae like that, and they're originally from Germany.
G

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: TheSnail
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:45 AM

Algernon.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Desdemona
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:42 AM

If we're talking English, as opposed to "British," I'd have to vote for something like Aelfric, or Aethelfreda, or maybe good old Edith!

~D

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: GUEST,Nigel
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:35 AM

One would point out that Nigel is not common. Bloody Oiks!

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:14 AM

David Lester - quite a well known copyright lawyer

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Emma B
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:10 AM

Ops just beaten to the post there!

I would say Wendy has to be a purely British name as it was "invented" by J. M. Barrie for his play Peter Pan.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Emma B
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:54 AM

Lester Simpson?

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: GUEST,Santa
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:53 AM

Lester Simpson.

But it isn't common.

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:47 AM

Lester Piggot?

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Trevor Thomas
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:24 AM

I am a Trevor, and no, it's not the sort of name Americans tend to use. It's Welsh in origin.

There was however, a famous American boxer called Trevor Berbick - it's not unknown.

People have mentioned Bert as an English name, but along with Ernie, (another English name) they were as American as can be on Sesame Street!

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: Grab
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:21 AM

De'ath is a surname - if it's used as a middle name, it'll either be a hyphenated that's lost its hyphen or some similar notation to track ancestry, or maybe a nod to some friend or relative. From here there are apparently 9589 people with that surname.

LH, you're unlikely to find anyone in Britain named "Lester". At most it'll be "Leicester" (*) and that'll be as a surname.

On reflection, I think the rule of male names involving a Q being posh English is not too far off. Which leads me to my nomination:

Farquhar

Mind you, surnames are another thing altogether. My personal favourite is from round my way: Fitzherbert-Brockholes. You wouldn't get *that* anywhere else!

Graham.

(*) Pronounced "Lester", of course...

Subject: RE: BS: The MOST British given name of all is...
From: fat B****rd
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:15 AM

Doris ? You don't get many Pearls and Glorias in the UK these days.
I had an Auntie Rena, whose birth name was actually Victorina. Apparently my French forebears had a short list of Christian names and didn't include girls.