Today’s WordPress prompt is Say Your Name and the guidance given is: “Write about your first name: Are you named after someone or something? Are there any stories or associations attached to it? If you had the choice, would you rename yourself?”
This sounded very familiar, so I did a little checking and found that I had posted to an almost identical prompt on 1 June 2013. On the assumption that most of my followers weren’t here all those years ago and won’t therefore have read that post I decided to rework it for today’s prompt. Well, if WordPress can recycle their prompt why can’t I recycle my post? 🙂
As you’ve probably noticed my name is Clive, which according to every source I can find means ‘cliff’ or ‘slope’ and is usually believed to refer to someone who lived near one of these. The name is of English origin, and was first found around the 11th century. I feel old already! It is apparently quite uncommon as a first name, but is more in use as a surname. The most famous example of this is probably General Sir Robert Clive – or ‘Clive of India’ as he is more widely known. I’ve always understood that my parents chose the name as it couldn’t be abbreviated – an approach they seem to have abandoned by the time my duo-syllabic sister came along. However, I was born in Dover, which has a few White Cliffs nearby, so maybe they knew something? I also found that there is or was a parliamentary electorate called Clive in the Hawke’s Bay Region of New Zealand. I would imagine that this is more likely to be something to do with the General than me though. And something I never even thought possible: I’m an acronym! Yes, CLIVE stands for Computer-aided Learning In Veterinary Education. So, after all this time, I finally have proof that I really am the mutt’s nuts! My parents’ plan met with debatable success. Whilst I was always ‘Clive’ at home, apart from the times when I was ‘Clive Howard Pilcher!!!!’ – usually a signal to make myself scarce – no one at school ever managed to shorten my name. They simply didn’t use it at all! I answered most to ‘Chip,’ which of course came from my initials (see above) and also to Pilch – if they couldn’t abbreviate my first name, why not go for the surname instead? And thanks to a major TV advertising campaign of the 60s and 70s I was also known as ‘Glen.’ The clue is in the picture! You may have spotted that I’m attached to ‘Chip,’ which has also been a pet name for me for a number of people, not just in my schooldays. I keep it to this day as part of some of my various online incarnations.Would I change my name? For what is probably an old-fashioned reason, i.e. that it is what my parents chose for me and I feel it would be disrespectful to them to change it, No I wouldn’t. Anyway, I’ve had 62+ years with it and I quite like it. It feels a little special to me, particularly as I rarely come across another with the same name. It’s not as if I’ve been lumbered with something embarrassing anyway. Never have I been more grateful that my parents have only been celebrities to me, not in the wider world! Calling your son ‘Marion’ for example? What would he do with that? The reverse seems to be true of modern-day celebrities, many of whom seem to be competing for a ‘most stupid child’s name’ prize.
It isn’t just a recent trend, either. Going back to the 60s there was Frank Zappa, whose four children delight in the names Moon, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva. Er, right. It’s not as if dear old Frank was strange at all, is it? One sounds like an insect repellent, while another appears to have been some kind of advance personality diagnosis. Into the 70s and along came Zowie Bowie, who understandably prefers to use the ‘Duncan Jones’ part of his full name in his film industry career. Another product of the songwriter’s ability for rhyming is Rolan Bolan, whose real surname is actually ‘Feld.’ I guess Held Feld or Smeld Feld were just too silly.
More recently we have many wonderful examples of celebrity parental idiocy. So many in fact that I could do a whole piece on them. But I’ll content myself by just making fun of a couple of the more obvious ones! The Beckhams’ reason for choosing Brooklyn as the name for their first born perhaps shows a love of the 60s TV series The Likely Lads and the 70s follow up (remember ‘Robert Scarborough Ferris’?). It’s probably as well that the act didn’t take place in Peckham. But Beckenham might have been nice.My other obvious example is Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, who thought it a good idea to call their children ‘Apple’ and ‘Moses.’ It’s a real shame that they have consciously uncoupled, as now we’ll never get ‘Microsoft’, ‘Android’ or ‘God,’ will we?
And if you’ll indulge my diversion a little longer, I wonder where this could go next. Maybe we could get children’s names being sponsored by advertisers? ‘Churchill Biggins’ perhaps? Or ‘Direct Line Keitel?’ ‘Nespresso Clooney?’ ‘EE Bacon?’ And even without celebrity appearances and voiceovers, I’m looking forward to the first kid called ‘Moonpig’ or ‘MoneySupermarket.’ And we mustn’t forget the practice of choosing names based on favourite TV programmes and characters – anyone for Sherlock, Downton, Strictly or, simply, Who?
I’ve sidetracked myself some way from where I began. But apart from taking the chance to have a pop at idiots, there’s a serious point in here somewhere. I wouldn’t change my name – it’s part of me, my identity, who I am. Why should I or anyone want to change that? We all go through difficult times now and then, when we may well wish we were someone or somewhere else. But if we were able to conjure ourselves into another persona we’d be giving up our identities, wouldn’t we? Our names are part of us, part of our culture and heritage. And giving up on yourself is something no one should ever do.
Oh, I almost forgot! That boy named Marion. If you didn’t know, he was born Marion Morrison but became John Wayne. Hardly surprising, really, as “Kindly dismount and have a cup of camomile tea” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?
You have one interesting name Clive! Loved the post!
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Thank you! My surname has some small history too, thinking about doing a follow up 😊
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I think that would be interesting and I love the name Clive so different and so much to know about it!
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Watch this space……
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Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? (WS) Great post.
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Thank you, glad you liked it. And no, I don’t think we would think of a rose in the same way if it was called something else – like ‘drain’ perhaps? 😉
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I never knew a person named Clive. So Hello! My parents named me well but ended up calling me by my second name which has caused a lot of confusion in the minds of people who don’t know me well. I guess Shakespeare was right,”What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
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Hello to you too! We Clives are a select bunch! I guess you mean that Joy is your second name, or Joyful?! I tried to look at your blog but got security warnings – you might like to have a look at that!
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Joyful2bee is just the name of my blog. My name is Melodie Elaine . My parents wanted to call me Melodie but grandmother said it would sound funny calling for me in the yard. So Elaine it was. Thanks for the security warning. I use Norton security and since the blog is through WordPress, I don’t know what the problem is. Thanks. I’ll check on it though!
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Update: Just found you via the Salon link, so now know that you are M. Elaine! Still have no idea why I got the security warnings though!
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Joyful2bee is just the name of my blog. My name is Melodie Elaine . My parents wanted to call me Melodie but grandmother said it would sound funny calling for me in the yard. So Elaine it was. Thanks for the security warning. I use Norton security and since the blog is through WordPress, I don’t know what the problem is. Thanks. I’ll check on it though!
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I use WordPress too, but just the free version. I can only guess that it is something to do with your hosted version. Good luck in finding it!
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It always surprises me to know that there are several Madeleine Butchers in this world. As any long-time viewer of East-enders would know, Butcher is a jolly good English name. At least it would be if it weren’t for the awkward fact that it quite likely originated in Germany as Boucher and was changed when it reached East Anglia! Yes I have been called the Mad Butcher many a time, to which my only response can be “Where’s my knife?”
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Not a common combination, I agree. Boucher sounds as much French as German to me! My surname, Pilcher, is very much an East Kent name, with an East Anglian variant of Pilch – the name of a department store in Norwich, no less! A Pilch was a kind of furry loincloth and the Pilcher was the guy who made them. Isn’t history wonderful!
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It is! Nothing to do with pilchards then? 😉
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Absolutely, totally, completely, entirely, definitely, utterly not! 😊
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Great post! I was always called ‘Curly’ at school. I hated my curly hair, and still do. It was worse when a chocolate bar called Curly-Wurly came out in 1970 – my life wasn’t worth living after that…..
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Thank you! Good to know I wasn’t the only one who suffered from food!
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Sponsored first names. We had that happen in Australian Football when a player changed his name to “Whiskers” for a week. It didn’t catch on thankfully!
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Just a week? He should have done it for life! Could have been worse though: at least it wasn’t Durex. General Motors would have a nice military ring to it though 😊
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Really enjoyed this, and yes, I think we should all grow comfortable in our birth names…unless, of course, it is from a dummy naming us something like “Twinkle” or “Jedi.” (true names found via Google)…maybe then, just change the name. Legally. and feel better about your life! 😉
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Thank you for your kind comments and for following my blog. I’ve returned the compliment! Fortunately, neither your parents or mine were dummies!
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Amen to that! 😉
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My name is Ellen and as a child at school I was slapped across the palm for dropping my H’s, when there wasn’t on on it to drop? The only people who had my name at the time were an ageing aunt or were dead… I believe it is a manipulation of Elizabeth, which was my Grandmother’s name, but I’d be lying if I said my mother realised this.
Aunt Ellen played the piano accordion and lived in Lanarkshire, i met her once, she wasn’t remarkable as I had dreamt, she didn’t have a love for words as I hoped, she didn’t seem to like anything much. I remember thinking we had the same eyes and a Celtic name. If I could change my name… as a child I pretended I was Elenore as it was a Queens name and at the very least I was going to be a princess. Thanks for your post it was fun. 😇
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It’s good to be nearly unique isn’t it! Not sure about the physical stuff tho! Glad you enjoyed the post – you should turn what you’ve said here into a post of your own. You can follow the link in my post if you’d like to see the WordPress set up 😊
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