Click to ENLARGE & read here. From ‘Quora‘ via ‘Google’.
As some of you know names intrigue I. I came across this while reading this month’s “Reader’s Digest“. It caught my attention. It was new to I. I first thought that it must be a joke, an alias — a pen name. But, of course, I had to look it up. I did. Now WE know. Wow. Kind of neat. Still not sure where the ‘holder‘ part comes in. Definitely wouldn’t appear to be the one who holds right to a house. But, we have a clue as to where the name comes from.
Appears that around 4,200 people in the U.S. currently have that name. So, it is not very common.
Click to ENLARGE & read here. From ‘Google’.Click to ENLARGE & read here. From ‘etymonline.org‘.
I came across the name in my ongong reading re. the construction of the ‘Transcontinental Railroad‘. I am on my THIRD book, in succession. At least one more to go. Had been on my READING bucket list for many years. The building off it & ALL of the machinations that was involved has intrigued me. Now, finally, I am getting to learn about it, slowly but steadily.
George Francis TRAIN (1829 — 1904), eccentric or not, was quite the character. He had made a vast fortune when he was still in his early 20s. His FIRST (of 3) trip around the globe is supposed to have been the basis for Jules Verne’s classic ‘Around the World in Eighty Days‘.
That HE, with that last name, was a key backer & promoter of the ‘Union Pacific Railroad‘ cracked me up. A ‘train’ helping build a train line. I had to look it up.
Interesting that the name & its application when it comes to transportation have TWO VERY DIFFERENT origins. See above. This is the stuff that intrigues I.
Cute. Chief Meteorologist named ‘Danielle Breezy’. She did the national news for ABC’s ‘Good Morning America‘ today. That is how I happened to see her. Funnily & atypically none the GMA hosts even tried to make a joke (or reference) to her name. It must be known, among the circles that she moves in, that it is not cool to bring this up. But, it amused me.
That said, her name is still NOT good enough as that of ‘Ken Weathers’ who is also a Chief Meteorologist at another ABC affiliate. Does ABC affiliates go looking for weathermen with appropriate names? I had come across Ken 5-years ago. So, Breezy reminded me of him. I just had to look him up again — & it wasn’t hard.
The name ‘weather’ as I discovered when I came across Ken in 2017 has the most intriguing origins. But, I won’t go into that now because this post is about Danielle Breezy. So, I had to look it up. I came across this quite quickly. Can’t confirm its validity but it sounds vaguely plausible.
I cannot recall how I came across the name, i.e., ‘Glasscock‘. It was a few months ago. But, I had (predictably enough) found it intriguing enough that I had created an electronic note with just that name.
Today, I had a few minutes to look it up. Interesting indeed. Both geographic & occupational, i.e., from a place, ‘Glascote’, believed to have been a place where a glass blower lived. Incredible. Names are so intriguing.
I am glad I got to share this with you. Enjoy.
NO. Not a name I would have wanted to have. SMILE.
Click to ENLARGE. I took this picture this morning, at our beach.
Click to ENLARGE & read here. First results from a ‘Google’ search.Click to ENLARGE & read here. From my old blog from 13-months ago!
Well, the picture directly above tells much of the story.
I had seen this white GMC SUV, at our beach, last year. I LOVED that number plate. After I realized that it didn’t say ‘venal’, I was SO impressed that someone was clever enough to use that name — especially since the SUV (unbelievably) was a GMC ‘Equinox’. I KID YOU NOT. So, it was ‘Vernal Equinox‘ (i.e., the Spring (or March) Equinox). WOW.
Yes, Vernal is Latin for Spring.
Last year, though the SUV was parked by the beach there was no one at the beach.
NOT so today. There was a young lady — & she was the only one who was there at that early hour.
I approached her & asked her about the number plate.
She KNEW about the Vernal Equinox BUT disappointed me by immediately pointing out that the number plate does NOT allude to that. Instead, ‘Vernal’ is her step-dad’s name & it was his SUV! Oh!
But, it was still cool. Never heard of anyone with that name. So, that intrigued I.
I looked it up. There is no consensus as to the origins of that name. It could obviously have been for folks born at or around the Vernal equinox. Some, however, think it is the result of a corruption to a geographic name. But, as the middle graphic attests there are indeed Vernals around. Now you know.
I recently met a lady, a married lady, whose last name is ‘Hooker‘. Given my fascination with names, I had to ask. She had obviously had the question before. She had an answer down pat — & it cracked me up:
“I got married and became a hooker. I wasn’t a hooker before that.”
Since this was her second marriage & she had done that later in her life she could not, alas, tell me what it was like to grow up as female whose last name was Hooker.
I kind of had guessed that the name must be associated with ‘hooks’ — possibly to do with weaving. Well, I was close.
When I thought about it more I remembered the infamous Civil War General Joseph Hooker (1814 — 1879). I, however, had NO IDEA that some think that the prostitution connotation of the word is (erroneously it would appear) attributed to him. See below:
I guess I would opt for 3) — the snagging or HOOKING of men.
I can’t be 100% sure, but I don’t think ‘hooker’ in the pejorative manner was used in the U.K. in the 1960s or 1970s. Given how American culture has now overrun Britain (especially via movies & songs) I am sure that things have changed & all Brits will know what a ‘hooker’ means.
The words we used were: scrubber, tart, slag, slapper & sometimes crumpet (though that was also used to describe ‘nice’ (but possibly somewhat ‘easy’) girls.
Well, I guess it must be quite the burden to live with the name ‘Good’ & always try to live up to it. This guy obviously failed to do so. So a Good that went bad.
Interesting name. Not one that I would particularly want. Would have crimped my inimitable style when I was young (or maybe even till I reached 50). Hhhmm. SMILE.
Saw this on Facebook. The BLURRING OUT is my work. It is Facebook so it could be fake. IF IT IS NOT, I sure did not want to cause the lady anymore ‘grief’. But, I checked it out. There are over a 1,100 people in the U.S., right now, with that last name. So, some have, just per the stats, have to be female.
Not a name I have ever come across prior to seeing that top image on Facebook — & yes, it was in a group devoted to humor. So, I wasn’t sure whether it was legit. But, of course, I had to look it up.
As I already mentioned, on the top caption, the name is indeed real. Over 4,000 folks with that name worldwide, & around 1,100 in the U.S. per the 2020 census. Wow. So, there has to females, in the U.S., with that name.
OK. I even logged onto ‘LinkedIn’ & had a look. Yep, there are ‘Swallows’ & at least one female, though she (cleverly) includes an initial prior to that surname. That at least breaks it up.
Interesting name. Not one I would like to have had. I feel bad for females that have gone through life with it. Couldn’t have been easy. I am sure many jumped at the chance of changing it when they got married. Why folks held on to that name, in the first place, is also intriguing. Good for them.
If I am near one, & have the time, I like to amble through cemeteries studying the headstones. Yes, am drawn to the names. I then try to find families & determine relationship. The dates & history are also sources of intrigue. Then, there is the shapes, design & architecture of the stones & monuments. That interests me too — &, of course, they are great for taking pictures of. Hence, the headstones above … & these also, from that same visit.
I do not recall ever coming across a ‘Sleeper’. I think I would have remembered. Interesting. Interesting name. Not one I would like to have had. Just imagine going through school or the armed services with that name. Teachers would find it hard to resist. So, I it is not a name I covet. ‘Darling‘, yes. ‘Woodcock‘, maybe. ‘Sleeper’, NO.
Even before I looked it up I knew that some would claim that it was a name given to sleepy people. I don’t buy that.
I think ‘sword-slip’ was old English for a scabbard. That makes sense.
Yes, of course, it is a surname I have encountered before.
But coming across two ‘Darlings’ a few days apart got me thinking. The Facebook joke cracked me up. Classic. So, I had to look it up. I had kind of suspected, but I wanted to make sure. The one thing I am always left puzzling with names like this is whether these folks had prior surnames. In other words, did they not have a surname prior to people calling them ‘Darling’ or did they, over time, adopt ‘Darling’ as their preferred surname because that is what most people called them. This aspect is never made clear. Nonetheless, a great name. Darling. Must be fun to go through life with it. Maybe a tad awkward for young ladies. I am sure the young lads were kind of happy to deal with it. I will have to ask the next time I meet a Darling.
