WHAT’S IN A NAME? by Donal Kennedy

…………………..WOULD SMELL AS SWEET ” as Juliet said to Romeo.

But what if your given name was Uranus?

This thought arises from a recent TV documentary  where a man, understandably, discontinued answering to his first given name. Nicknames are no longer politically correct though most names must have originated as nicknames. There’s a dispute about Kennedy – Ceann Eide,which I prefer to believe meant “covered head” when a warrior ancestor was recognised by his helmet, rather than “ugly head” favoured by begrudgers. In the Middle Ages in England there was a Bishop Grossteste, which I’d imagined arose from his virile endowments but I’m told referred to a large or a fat head.

I once met a woman surnamed Strongintharm from Yorkshire, which on the England/Scottish border would have been Armstrong, strongarm men stole each other’s sheep. I imagine Treanor was originallly “traen fhear.” but I may be wrong.

In Essex there’s a place called Little Hadham, and near it Much Hadham, but I’m disappointed there’s no Hadham Hall which would suggest a Magnate enjoying the Droit de Seigneur. And in Cornwall there’s a place called Mousehole, pronounced, I believe, “Muzzle.” So far as I know it’s not complemented by a place nearby pronounced “Azzle.”

The inhabitants of Darwen in Lancashire call it “Darren” which dates back before the Anglo-Saxons blew in, and comes from the oaks which grew there.

Doire Colmcille is linguistically connected.

And I read that in 13th Century London, adjacent to St Pancras there was a “Gropecunt Lane” at least 2 miles from Hornsey Rise.