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Posted: 09-11-2012 12:24 Post subject:

Couples fuse surnames in new trend: ‘I now pronounce you Mr and Mrs Puffin’
Hundreds of British married couples every year are now blending their surnames in a new trend that has seen Mr Pugh and Miss Griffin become Mr and Mrs Puffin, the latest Deed Poll figures, shown exclusively to The Telegraph, reveal.
By Emma Barnett, Women's Editor
7:00AM GMT 09 Nov 2012

The practice, which originally became popular in the US with American newlyweds, six years ago, is known as ‘meshing' and has become incredibly popular with young newlyweds.

Eight hundred British couples have already have already meshed their surnames this year and the soaring popularity of the practice has meant that the UK Deed Poll Service, the UK’s largest issuers of Deed Polls (approximately 50,000 a year) have had to create a separate system to cope with demand and track the fast-growing trend.

“Meshing has changed from once being a rare novelty to now being noted as being one of the main reasons couples may use a Deed Poll to change their names,” said Claudia Duncan, an officer at the UK Deed Poll Service.
“Four years ago there were only a handful of couples choosing to mesh so the growth is huge. Primarily meshing seems to be adopted by younger couples in their twenties or early thirties as opposed to older couples. Meshing has allowed couples the freedom of reinvention - meshing their names as a symbolic reflection of their union with a completely new start without any history being tied to their surname.

“Many clients feel meshing is more romantic than double-barrelling their surname, whilst we did have one very honest client simply say they could not decide whose name should come first in the double-barrelling so meshing seemed the obvious solution.”

Examples include:

• Miss Clifton and Mr Mole becoming the ‘Moltons’

• Miss Price and Mr Nightingale became the ‘Prightingales’ Eek Eek

• Miss Harley and Mr Gatts becoming the ‘Hatts’

Last week Dawn Porter, the British television presenter, opted to fuse her surname changing it to 'O'Porter' after her marriage to Chris O'Dowd, the Bridesmaids actor.

As increasing numbers of women look for alternatives to giving up their surname when they get married, double-barrelling also remains a popular choice and is still currently more in demand than meshing.

“Gone are the times where women feel obliged to take their husband's name, with many women establishing a name for themselves professionally prior to marriage,” explains Miss Duncan.
“Not only does relinquishing one's surname feel rather antiquated but it is quite impractical when women start looking at updating client databases and changing payment names etc.

“Yet many people do wish to change their names or at least make some sort of minor change to reflect their marriage and double-barrelling has been seen to be the solution by lots of women (who fuse their maiden and married names).

“Many husbands are also changing their surnames to a double-barrelled name, with several clients acknowledging that not only did it seem more equal for both parties to change their name following their marriage but they felt it was a shame their partner was giving up her name and link to her family (especially if the woman happens to be the last in the family to retain the surname).”

However, interestingly meshing is seen as a more bespoke and current option for the latest generation of newlyweds - while double-barrelling is seen as a more practical choice.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/9664227/Couples-fuse-surnames-in-new-trend-I-now-pronounce-you-Mr-and-Mrs-Puffin.html

It might be amusing to look at the wedding announcements in the local paper, and wonder what the fused name might have been! Twisted Evil

Posted: 18-11-2012 10:58 Post subject:

Traditional surnames are becoming extinct: farewell to the Footheads and Pauncefoots
What happened to the Pauncefoots? It’s no good asking the Bythewoods - some traditional surnames that date back hundreds of years are now becoming extinct, a new book claims.
By Jasper Copping
7:50AM GMT 18 Nov 2012

They are names that have been passed down through generations of Britons.
But many traditional surnames – some of which date back to the Domesday Book – are becoming extinct.
Names such as Mackmain, Bythewood, Foothead and Pauncefoot are among those thought to have died out in Britain, and researchers believe thousands more have vanished.
Others are on the brink of extinction, used by just a handful of individuals.

The extinct names have been identified by members of the Guild of One-Name Studies, a group dedicated to investigating the origins and heritage of surnames.
Debbie Kennett, from the guild, said: “There is a continual process by which some names thrive and some don’t. The inheritance of surnames is purely random.
"Some die out and some increase exponentially. At the same time we have many more being introduced, including new hybrid, hyphenated names.”

An analysis by Mrs Kennett in her new book, The Surnames Handbook, has put the number of names now in use in Britain and Ireland at up to half a million, half of which have been introduced in the past century as a result of immigration.
The figures are estimated from studying analyses of the electoral register and other sources. The exact number is not known, as no comprehensive database of Britain’s surnames exists.
Totals indicated by censuses and electoral registers are inflated by large numbers of incorrectly-entered names.

The stock of names includes a core of about 400 “high frequency” ones, shared by at least 10,000 individuals.
After that, there is a range from the more common to less common names, down to endangered ones used by just a handful of people.

This category includes names such as Rowbree, which is derived from a farm near Hereford, which, in turn, got its name from an Old English term for a nearby hill; and Doogood, which is probably from a nickname for a well-intentioned individual.

Also considered endangered are some names taken from months: February, April, September, October, November and December.

Others, with fewer than 200 bearers in the UK, include Ajax, possibly brought over by Huguenot refugees in the 17th century; Edevane, thought to derive from an Old English description of “the younger happy one” or “the younger prosperous one”; and Slora, likely to be from Gaelic “sluagdach” (“leader”).

Of those that are believed to have vanished, Foothead is thought to originate with a property near the foot of Spurn Head, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, while Bythewood could have come from a trade such as a carpenter;

Pauncefoot – a name which appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, as Pauncevolt – was probably a nickname for a person with a fat belly, from the Old French word “pance” or “panch”, meaning “stomach”, and “volt”, meaning “vaulted” or “arched”. The surname is preserved in the name of the village of Compton Pauncefoot, in Somerset.

The origins of Mackmain and De Rippe – another vanished name – are unclear.

In her book, Mrs Kennett traces the history of British surnames from the Norman Conquest, when they first started to be used, initially among landowning families, and later among lower social classes.

Many early surnames died out at the time of the Black Death in the mid 14th century, when their use was still not universal. By the start of the 15th century most English people had fixed hereditary surnames, although they spread more slowly in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The book explains the origins of many British names and provides ways for people to find out about their own.
Surname research is increasing in popularity, as part of a wider, growing interest in genealogy, which has been driven by more resources becoming available online.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9685356/Traditional-surnames-are-becoming-extinct-farewell-to-the-Footheads-and-Pauncefoots.html

Posted: 23-11-2012 08:53 Post subject:

Posted: 25-01-2013 11:04 Post subject:

Six Nations 2013: Billy Twelvetrees in a hurry to become an England household name
What first distinguishes Billy Twelvetrees, naturally, is his wonderfully arboreal surname. So rare is the nomenclature of this prospective England centre that by tracing his family tree – one, presumably, with a dozen branches – he has discovered only a thin scattering of namesakes in Scotland and a Dr Twelvetrees in an unspecified part of South America.
By Oliver Brown
11:59PM GMT 24 Jan 2013

The 24-year-old has acknowledged that life as ordinary Billy Smith would sometimes be far more straightforward, conceding: “It does follow me around.”

Even amid the satisfaction of his international call-up, Twelvetrees cannot escape surely the best sobriquet in all of rugby union: “36”, coined by his one-time Leicester captain Geordan Murphy, in whose thick Irish accent his name sounds suspiciously like “twelve threes”. Letters of part-affection, part-sympathy have arrived from far and wide. Cool

Jests aside, we are not sitting here in the sweat and liniment of Gloucester’s Kingsholm changing rooms to debate the quirks of Twelvetrees’s genealogy.
Not entirely, anyway, for what numbered jersey do you suppose the flaxen-haired back is targeting in Stuart Lancaster’s England side for the Six Nations? Why, 12, of course.

While Brad Barritt remains the holder of that shirt in a settled midfield partnership with Manu Tuilagi, no one should doubt the young pretender’s determination to wrest it off his back.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/9824940/Six-Nations-2013-Billy-Twelvetrees-in-a-hurry-to-become-an-England-household-name.html

Any other similar names? I can think of the town of Sevenoaks in Kent, and of the London district of Nine Elms, and perhaps some people carry those names too. (My surname is also a place name.)

Posted: 26-01-2013 12:41 Post subject:

There is a place around here in Suffolk, or maybe Norfolk called something like Nine Foot Ditch. Not trees I know, but still odd.
As you say, there are many people with place name names, my married name is a place name too, so the chances are that there is someone out there with Sevenoaks as a name.

Posted: 26-01-2013 16:51 Post subject:

We have a Six Mile Bottom in Cambridgeshire...

Posted: 26-01-2013 19:03 Post subject:

My friend told me today that he went to a conference where one of the speakers was called Roger Haws.

Posted: 26-01-2013 20:32 Post subject:

In this afternoon's footie:

Macclesfield v. Wigan

For those who enjoy a bit of a pun, the referee in this game is Roger East and the linesman is Richard West.

(Not a pun, but an amusing coincidence.)

Posted: 28-01-2013 13:21 Post subject:

A name to conjure with - Dutch footballer Ricky van Wolfswinkel is currently the target of bids from PL clubs. Wink

Posted: 28-01-2013 13:28 Post subject:

The best one has to be German skier Fanny Chmelar

Posted: 03-02-2013 19:24 Post subject:

It's the combination of name and place of employment.
(also, how do you change the size of pictures here?)

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/1/2/10/enhanced-buzz-9257-1357140416-7.jpg

Posted: 20-08-2013 01:51 Post subject:

Posted: 20-08-2013 13:22 Post subject:

[quote="sherbetbizarre"]

Posted: 20-08-2013 13:32 Post subject:

Whilst working in a hospital many moons ago I heard a few odd first names. Things like Diamond, Cloud and Chance. Poor kids Laughing

Posted: 20-08-2013 23:18 Post subject:

A slightly weird story from last year about a theatre that issued carrots instead of tickets:

The name of the theatre director is Quim Marcé

Let's give him a big hand! Smile