h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There was a headteacher on TV the other day who gave his name as Spokey Wheeler. The Spokey bit had to be a nickname that had 'stuck', it's a great name for a headteacher!

I also saw a policeman on TV the other day who was called Andy Trotter. He must be remarkably brave to stick with his profession.

Has anyone else come across names of people that read in an odd way, or really suit their profession?

Any more?

I have to suggest, because I know that famous (and inscrutable) Brit reserve and modesty forbids you ..or you didn't even think of:

Mark Moxon ..for me it has all the magic ingredients you mention in your formula for serendipidous fame or ironic occupation.

peace
~jwf~

Oh, and how about Sir Edmund Hillary, John Wilkes Booth and Tanya Tucker.

Out in semi-rural Texas, there are 2 highways named after the supposed daughters of Boss Hogg: Ima and Ura.


Mikey

My ex once came across an IT contract agent called ......
......
............Rex Smoothy....

'nuff said

(and then of course there is the sheer daftness of being
a girl called Ben!)

That blokey in America who wanted to set up his human cloning service a while ago -

Richard Seed.

You'd think he would know better, wouldn't you?

I can top that.I have taught a Theresa Green,Theresa Brown,Tracy Stacy and a Candy Sweet.There are a lot more like that and I can't help wondering what some parents are thinking of when naming their children.Are they trying to give them a complex?
By the by my maiden name was Messenbird which of course my parents could do little about but at least they didn't saddle me with a ridiculous first name.Thanks mum and dad.I escaped being Georgina by a hairsbreadth but my elder sister wasn't so lucky.

I heard of a family called 'Island' who called their daughters Coral and Treasure. I actually think that's quite nice.

Better than being
a girl called Ben

An old chestnut.

On the Herts / Essex border there are two villages called Ugley and Nasty.

Of course there is the Ugley Women's Institute. But it is said that there was an occasion when a man from one village married a woman from the other and the report in the local paper was headed "Nasty man marries Ugley woman".

PP

And there is Ripe in Sussex. My friend Jeannie was a member of the Ripe Ladies Keep Fit Club.

a ripe lady called Ben

Although my RL name isn't particularly daft, my initials are PVC, I went through school know as Polly!

I was at school with a girl whose surname was 'Moody', her father's initial was A, he was a butcher and above his buther's shop in Hampshire the sign read "A Moody Butcher"

There was a boy at my ex-husband's school called Robin Hood and he WAS the captain of the school archery team.

When I was burgled last year the policeman who came out was a PC Plodd.

I used to have a gardener called Mr. Green, a friend had a chauffeur called Mr. Driver and I live on a private estate where the head of the building dept is of course called BOB!!

For all examples of nominative determinism check out New Scientist magazine's Feedback section...
FOr anyone who doesn't read it, in this week's issue there's a fantastic example::

DIRECT QUOTE!!:

"Foot & Mouth Update"

"It has been proposed that two on-farm burial sites, one at Hamsterley and the other at Tow Law, were to be exhumed and incinerated at a site near Knitsley Fell. However, an in-depth risk assessment by the Environment Agency has concluded that they should remain where they are.
"'Leaving the animals where they are will have a minimal effect on the environment or public health,' Rebecca Cowburn from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at Kenton Bar has reported to Charles Anderson, chief executive of Teesdale District Council who chairs the Teesdale Foot and Mouth Task Force."

When I was at school there was famously two people who started going out and resolved to become engaged. It was quickly realised by those with far too much free time, that if Jenna "Wilson" and "John" Tailior were to wed. She would become Jenna-Tailior!

This is true.

Also my Gran nee. White. Lived on a road that also had a Green and a Black and Brown as well as a Mrs Lamb who had residence beneath Mr Butcher!

This is also true.

I once met a farmer called Old Macdonald.

This isn't true.

A friend's aunt and uncle, last name of Beach, named their daughters Sandy and Shelly. For you (American) football fans, there's a town here in Montana named Joe.

You've reminded, I had a neigbour once called Jenny Taylor. I loved "Rebecca Cowburn" she probably never thought her name had any meaning before now....

I know some people who live nearby whose surname is 'Miller-Mundy', the mother is called Mandy and their daughter is called Molly.

Try saying THAT name three times really fast! Mundy Molly Mandy Miggly Moopy Miller....

munday molly mandy
munday mully maly
moonday molamanda

mop.


I give up.

I have a close relative who's initials are A, G, R, O

I've come across the following books -

-Treatise on Madness by William Battie (1758)

-Punishment by Robin Banks (1932)

-Motor Cycling for Beginners by Goeff Carless (1980)

-Sexual Desire and Love by Eric Fuchs (1983)

-Common Truths from Queer Texts by Rev. Joseph Gay (1908)

-Industrial Social Security in the South by Robin Hood (1934)

Also I once met someone called Hazel Knutt.

176645

Why did my 8s turn into strange smileys? I don't even know how to make smileys!