My father sometimes used the expression Samuel Herbert Ibbotson Townend instead of a rude word. I used to imagine this presumably fictional man carrying a briefcase with his initials on it.
People do give their children names you wouldn't necessarily want. When as a youth I worked in a bank and we had a customer called Peter Brain. As was customary he was issued with a cheque book printed with his initial and surname. What were his parents thinking about?
In Houghton, Cambridgeshire, there is in the centre of the village a statue of an erstwhile worthy called Potto Brown. That wouldn't be too bad - memorable at least.
|