What's in a name?

[AMcD]

Billy Connolly once performed a song called "Talkin' Blues" about people who'd been given strange names by their parents..

Well... tonight's Evening Times brings us "Glasgow McKenzie".

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5027152.html
"We called our baby Glasgow because he's big, friendly and so full of life"


I think the lyrics to Billy's song sum it up perfectly.

I'm tellin' you people I've got problems on my mind
Something that's been bugging me for quite some time
As I wander through the world just lookin' for fame
The question keeps cropping up, "What's in a name...
Like Elvis, Engelbert, Bamber Gascoigne?"

(I used to think that was a disease
Oh I'm sorry I didn't come to school yesterday, Miss
I was in bed with a bad attack of that Bamber Gascoigne
I got up 5 times to the lavy, and that was my starter for 10!)

I knew a young couple once, name was McCann
Gave birth to a baby, a fine young man
Then they went to get him Christened in the church
And the priest nearly fainted when he heard the baby's name
He said, "Wha!"
They said, "Ghengis."
He said, "Ah, Jesus Christ!" (They're always saying that.)

Now life's pretty hard as an ordinary man,
But it must get pretty hellish as Ghengis McCann.
Just wandering through the world looking for a friend
Luckily he found one in the end
He's a nutcase. From Aberdeen. Called Napoleon Bonacord Smith.

Well the two got to talkin' about trouble and strife
And how they'd been laughed at all of their lives
Then like Napoleon and Ghengis did in days of yore
They rode home on horseback and evened up the score
With rifles, bayonettes, screw-tops and swear words

So if you get yourself a baby and you're looking for a name
Remember what I told ya' cause you might end up the same
You might get yourself in trouble it's plain to see
Every word's true you can count on me
William J. Connolly the 3rd. The J's for Jemimah

[duncan]

i think what's funny is little Glasgow's big sister is called Pagan.


They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
-- Philip Larkin

[turbozutek]

You know there are some people - out there; that you really couldn't hit hard enough.

Arty farty parents give baby stupid name shocker.



Chris...

[Kirsty]

Was it an urban myth that there was a wee girl in Glasgow called Pochahontas Mcfarlane or somethine?

Bizarre spelling of ordinary names also.There are kids in my wee boys class that make writing christmas/birthday cards a pure nightmare.

Amy = Aimiee
Kieran = Keerian
Ciara = Keera
Jade = Jaydee
Chantell = Shantelle

Help ma boab!

Kirsty

[DMcNay]

Was it an urban myth that there was a wee girl in Glasgow called Pochahontas Mcfarlane or somethine?

Now, I can't reveal whether this is true or not, as it could get me sacked from my work, so you didn't hear this from me, okay?

But yes, it's true. Someone (not me) may (or may not) have opened (or didn't) her account (or not).

I have to be vague like that for the sake of my job.

And there's also a child in Glasgow somewhere with the first two names of Precious Angel.

[AMcD]

A pal of mine who used to stay in Kilwinning used to talk about a baby there whose name was Shareen Nanjiani <insert scottish surname>. Not sure if it was two separate names or the both mashed together to form one name... apparently the mother always liked the sound of that name, which is fair enough I suspose.

The bonnie baby contests they have in the local papers (Killie Standard in particular) have some fantastic mixes of bizarre new spellings of old names, exotic european-sounding names and old-fashioned Scottish surnames. Great stuff... I cannae help thinking some of these names will sound even stranger in years to come when they are old pensioners, they're supposed to be called Isa and Agnes no' Chantel-Louise-Ann.

Think I'll change my name to Max Power.... /homer simpson

[JayKay]

Chantelle always has a wonderful sound in broad glaswegian "Haw Chantelle...I'll no tell ye again!"

There are no doubt a fresh crop of young Beyonces growing as we speak, but a favourite I once heard was Dyson, a boy's name.

[Gazzathecoigne]

Allways cringe when I hear an angry parent shouting "Britney", or "Kylie"!

The world's gone mad!

[nuttytigger]

there is wee girl where i stay called Pocahontas McGraw!!! my mum knows her mum, so it is 100% true!!!

[skintobalinto]

Names that sound funny, there was a woman in my old work called Isla Campbell who married a Mr White !!!!


I also knew a Robert De'ath hated the apostrophie being missed out

My friends brother worked with a guy called Thomas Breen known as Tam

[mustardman]

How about the pronounciation of Margaret, quote "hey, magret". No,no, no MARGARET!

[DMcNay]

How about the pronounciation of Margaret, quote "hey, magret". No,no, no MARGARET!

Is it not "Maigret"? Spell it like the name of the Belgian detective, but pronounce it "May-grit"

See, I went down the easy route, and called my wean "Lorna". Here nicknames "sausage"...

[Ronnie]

Hugh Deaney ...

My mate George introduced me to him in Falkirk.

[mustardman]

funny, people with short names get nicknames which have more letters than their original name. Not all the time though

[evilmiss]

I kid you not, my friend deals with a customer called P. I. Jama and another gent called Mustafa Kamel. The dizzy world of phone banking.

Just spare a thought for all the Kylie's and Jason's out there...not to mention poor wee Pocahontas McGlinchy from Feegie Park...