Phil Warn wrote: > [ From the BBC News web site] You beat me to it :)) The link to the news story is : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10239623.stm > I see that thanks to the generosity of Hewlett Packard donating > several scanners to them, that Bletchley Park will be able to put on > line documents and pictures stored there. It's a long term project according to the article with the first phase expected to take at least three years. > There may well be items of interest to family historians among them. It should be interesting anyway but especially so for those with someone involved > I did not find out until very recently that the headmaster of my > secondary school in Croydon worked there as a code breaker. And there were the students wondering how he knew what was going on, despite the secret messages being sent ;)) Now you know <G> > Mind you, I am not sure how the documents avoided getting to The > National Archives! Possibly because of the nature of the work being done there, plus the government makes its own rules from time to time. > Indeed, it raises the question of how many other articles of national > Interest avoid archives. Probably a lot more than we realise or would wish. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk

Hello all, [ From the BBC News web site] I see that thanks to the generosity of Hewlett Packard donating several scanners to them, that Bletchley Park will be able to put on line documents and pictures stored there. There may well be items of interest to family historians among them. I did not find out until very recently that the headmaster of my secondary school in Croydon worked there as a code breaker. Mind you, I am not sure how the documents avoided getting to The National Archives! Indeed, it raises the question of how many other articles of national Interest avoid archives. Phil

Hi Liz, Julian was a female name for a very long time - I don't recall a male Julian in my Somerset transcribing from the 1500s to the late 19th century. Yvonne -----Original Message----- From: bristol_and_district-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:bristol_and_district-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Liz Never heard that before Janet but nothing ever surprises me as I have a Julian and that is definitely a girl as she married!

Hi Janet, I have seen a number of female names recorded as 'son of' and male names as 'daughter of' in my FreeREG transcribing. Some of them (very few though) have a note to say the clerk made an error and the name should be something else. These are names that have never been usually associated with the other gender, unlike names such as Basil, Christian, Denis etc. I transcribe these entries as they appear, with a Note to confirm this is as the register states, because there is no knowing whether the error is in the name or the gender given. Yvonne Scrivener Canberra ACT Australia -----Original Message----- From: bristol_and_district-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:bristol_and_district-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Janet Cuff Can someone please tell me if it was common for Sarah to be used as a boy's name. I have a note of a baptism in a Somerset parish register  which I am sure I copied correctly and it reads - Sarah (son) Cuff,  son of William and Jane 1793.

FROGLEY COX - an ancestor of mine. Who has an MI in the churchyard at East Ilsley in Berkshire. FROGLEY was a family name. Vera Lennard

In my lines Frances and Francis occur fairly often. As used by my ancestors, Frances is female, Francis is male, and usually pet-names as Frank. Happy hunting!   Diana Robinson (nee Gardner) Now in Rochester, NY, USA Message: 4 Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 11:24:52 +0100 From: robert williams <robert.williams94@gmail.com> Subject: [B&D] Unusual Names? To: bristol_and_district@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <AANLkTim-aF5ECETPemJaL3pJqkKYNVKwOEENqaLnMh67@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 A Neighbour of ours has just ahd a baby boy. They are naming it "Sonny". I don't know if they are boxing fans,and have named it after "Sonny LISTON?" or like Pop Music,and have named it after Sonny BONO,of "Sonny & Cher"fame. Another neighbour of ours called their son "Francis". He hated it,and went through the rest of his life as "Frank!" How about Romeo BECKHAM,and his brother Brooklyn. And not forgetting Marion Michael MORRISON better known to all as "John WAYNE". And how about "Spangler Arlington BROUGH", aka Robert TAYLOR. Graham.

Janet Cuff wrote: > > Can someone please tell me if it was common for Sarah to be used as > a boy's name. I have a note of a baptism in a Somerset parish > register which I am sure I copied correctly and it reads - Sarah > (son) Cuff, son of William and Jane 1793. SARAH is a West Country surname, so it's possible Jane's or another family member's, maiden name was SARAH and the parents didn't think beyond honouring that family member. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk

Never heard that before Janet but nothing ever surprises me as I have a Julian and that is definitely a girl as she married! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Janet Cuff" <bgmjcuff@yahoo.co.uk> To: <bristol_and_district@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 7:41 PM Subject: Re: [B&D] Unusual names and our reactions to them Can someone please tell me if it was common for Sarah to be used as a boy's name. I have a note of a baptism in a Somerset parish register which I am sure I copied correctly and it reads - Sarah (son) Cuff, son of William and Jane 1793. Janet ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRISTOL_AND_DISTRICT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Can someone please tell me if it was common for Sarah to be used as a boy's name. I have a note of a baptism in a Somerset parish register  which I am sure I copied correctly and it reads - Sarah (son) Cuff,  son of William and Jane 1793. Janet

On 4 Jun 2010 at 11:24, robert williams wrote: > How about Romeo BECKHAM,and his brother Brooklyn.< Apparently Posh and Becks' first-born son Brooklyn was so named because that is where he was conceived. I have often wondered what might have happened if Manchester Utd had been playing an FA Cup game at, say, Grimsby or Hartlepool! -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE

Just hope "Sonny" is a boy! Does the GRO issue guidance to Registrars about the appropriateness of given names? For instance I was born on 2nd August 1945 in Leeds. [ My parents had been ARP wardens in Bristol. ] Could they have registered me as Aug21945 WARN? I had one of those buff National Registration Cards. On the question od numbers as names, we already have numbers. We have an all numeric NHS number - in the past it was alpha numeric. We have an alpha numeric NINO. Natwest Bank know me by my 8 digit number + a 6 digit sort code. My on line number is my 6 digit DOB + a unique 4 digit number Swansea know me as a driver by an alpha numeric code. etc...... Phil

A Neighbour of ours has just ahd a baby boy. They are naming it "Sonny". I don't know if they are boxing fans,and have named it after "Sonny LISTON?" or like Pop Music,and have named it after Sonny BONO,of "Sonny & Cher"fame. Another neighbour of ours called their son "Francis". He hated it,and went through the rest of his life as "Frank!" How about Romeo BECKHAM,and his brother Brooklyn. And not forgetting Marion Michael MORRISON better known to all as "John WAYNE". And how about "Spangler Arlington BROUGH", aka Robert TAYLOR. Graham. -- Graham Williams.of Canton,Cardiff. Chairman,"Canton & Riverside Local History Group" Glam;FHS;#551.

liverpud wrote: > Of course, we have to remember names such as > Evylan, Vivian, Beverley, Somerset... And Lyn(n) All boys names that are generally regarded as girls names now - with the exception of Somerset. Vivian, Beverley and Lyn(n) are still in use though. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk

Have the members of this list forgotten Bristol's own "Archibald Leach aka Cary Grant", what does the inscription on his statue read. As I live here in sunny Brisbane Qld Aus and have not been back to visit Bristol since 1996, I am not able to look at it to see Barbara BNE QLD ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendy Evans" <wev70950@bigpond.net.au> To: <bristol_and_district@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 6:53 AM Subject: Re: [B&D] Unusual names and our reactions to them > And don't forget that John Wayne's real name was Marion Michael Morrison. > > Regards > Wendy > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Roy Stockdill" <roy.stockdill@btinternet.com> > To: <bristol_and_district@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 4:41 AM > Subject: Re: [B&D] Unusual names and our reactions to them > > >> On 3 Jun 2010 at 12:10, Diana Robinson wrote: >> >>> I wonder if the advantage of an unusual names when the person was >>> grown may have been counter-acted by the emotional damage done to many >>> of them during their school years - children can be so cruel. > >> >> Well, if you believe the supposed theory behind the famous Johnny Cash >> song, A Boy >> Named Sue, it simply made them tougher! >> >> Over here we had a famous wrestler called Big Daddy, a 24-stone >> Yorkshireman >> whose real name was Shirley Crabtree. When he died a few years back the >> national >> papers claimed in his obituary that his father had called him Shirley >> because it would >> make him a fighter. This was rubbish! I knew him when I was a young >> journalist and >> Shirley was a family surname used as a forename - it was his dad's name >> as >> well. >> >>> I noticed that someone included Shannon as a name that could cause >>> problems, but that is a quite common name for girls in the U.S. > >> >> The 1881 census of England and Wales has only five people with the >> forename >> Shannon and four of them were male. >> >> -- >> Roy Stockdill >> Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer >> Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: >> www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html >> >> "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, >> and that is not being talked about." >> OSCAR WILDE >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> BRISTOL_AND_DISTRICT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BRISTOL_AND_DISTRICT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

The more I hear of this, I just like ~~ Edna --

Hi, The way it's going -- we'll all be numbers! (;-)) Edna - Ottawa -- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charani" <familyhunter@family-hunter.co.uk> To: <bristol_and_district@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 4:04 AM Subject: Re: [B&D] Unusual names and our reactions to them liverpud wrote: > Of course, we have to remember names such as > Evylan, Vivian, Beverley, Somerset... And Lyn(n) All boys names that are generally regarded as girls names now - with the exception of Somerset. Vivian, Beverley and Lyn(n) are still in use though.

And don't forget that John Wayne's real name was Marion Michael Morrison. Regards Wendy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roy Stockdill" <roy.stockdill@btinternet.com> To: <bristol_and_district@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 4:41 AM Subject: Re: [B&D] Unusual names and our reactions to them > On 3 Jun 2010 at 12:10, Diana Robinson wrote: > >> I wonder if the advantage of an unusual names when the person was >> grown may have been counter-acted by the emotional damage done to many >> of them during their school years - children can be so cruel. > > > Well, if you believe the supposed theory behind the famous Johnny Cash > song, A Boy > Named Sue, it simply made them tougher! > > Over here we had a famous wrestler called Big Daddy, a 24-stone > Yorkshireman > whose real name was Shirley Crabtree. When he died a few years back the > national > papers claimed in his obituary that his father had called him Shirley > because it would > make him a fighter. This was rubbish! I knew him when I was a young > journalist and > Shirley was a family surname used as a forename - it was his dad's name as > well. > >> I noticed that someone included Shannon as a name that could cause >> problems, but that is a quite common name for girls in the U.S. > > > The 1881 census of England and Wales has only five people with the > forename > Shannon and four of them were male. > > -- > Roy Stockdill > Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer > Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: > www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html > > "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, > and that is not being talked about." > OSCAR WILDE > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BRISTOL_AND_DISTRICT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

My apologies for my last post, which did not "snip" the trail, resulting in a very long email. I realized a fraction of a second after clicking "send" what I had done, but that was a fraction of a second too late. Thank you, Charani, for your forebearance. Happy hunting!   Diana Robinson (nee Gardner) Now in Rochester, NY, USA

--- On Thu, 3/6/10, Barbara Robinson <bro51909@bigpond.net.au> wrote: > Have the members of this list > forgotten Bristol's own "Archibald Leach aka > Cary Grant", what does the inscription on his statue read. > > As I live here in sunny Brisbane Qld Aus and have not been > back to visit > Bristol since 1996, I am not able to look at it to see Hi Barbara, There is a picture of the statue on Wikipedia on the page about Fairfield Secondary School, where Archie Leach was in the same class as my Dad, but you can't see the inscription. According to the same article, the aircraft designer, Archibald Russell was a contemporary of theirs at Fairfield, yet my Dad never mentioned this although the Russells lived in the same street as us in Stoke Bishop and I went to school with his son, Julian, until I was 8. Talking of strange names, my grandfather hated his name, Joseph James STOBO Hind. Jacky ======================================================================== Jacky Jackson-Cox Personal web page: http://www.btinternet.com/~jacky3/ Last updated 23/05/2010

And, do not forget the wrestler Big Daddy whose real name was Shirley CRABTREE. Phil