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Original poster

To think this attitude to names like Fanny in old books is silly?

210 replies

Carla786 · 28/04/2026 12:49

I've seen posts here agreeing with the new Enid Blyton editions that changed Fanny to Franny and Dick to Rick, some even saying she must have meant it as a double entendre.

 Just seems silly & narrow-minded to me. Not everything was always meant as a double entendre. Should Fanny Price in Mansfield Park also be changed? Or other characters called names that mean different things now?

I remember my mother passed down a minor Blyton book with a kitten called Bimbo in. Was that Blyton being rude, or just due to the fact that Bimbo was slang for 'kid' then?

OP posts:
ElenOfTheWays · 29/04/2026 13:30

TerracottaBowl · 28/04/2026 21:30

Yes, but also big and burly -- which of course he needed to be as the master of disguise of the Five Find-Outers, who needed to be able to dress up as an adult.

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That wasn't until the later books. In the first book Fatty, Larry and Pip were 12. Daisy was 11 and Bets was eight.
The disguises started around book 3 and adult disguises even later after Fatty's voice broke.
I know these books really well lol

ElenOfTheWays · 29/04/2026 13:21

RedBullBlood · 28/04/2026 21:12

Fatty’s real name was Frederick Algernon Trotter, so the nickname came from his initials. Can’t remember if he was overweight though.

He was. They called him Fatty because he was fat. The initials were a jokey coincidence. In the first book it's mentioned that at boarding school he had other nicknames related to his weight.

Monty36 · 29/04/2026 08:50

Doone22 · 29/04/2026 06:56

You said yourself it's wrong to change books written in the past but actually started with slagging off little black sambo and hunting .
For starters it was a childhood classic. And fox hunting has been a tradition in this country for centuries before being banned. It's always featured in historical novels. Make your mind up!

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I did not say little black sambo should be re written. I said it simply would not be published today. Which is an accurate assessment.

TerracottaBowl · 29/04/2026 08:33

MyBraveFace · 29/04/2026 08:18

I think Darrell Rivers was very much Enid Blyton's tribute to her husband - with her surgeon father who was basically Darrell Waters. If you compare the way Malory Towers is structured with St Clare's, MT is very much Darrell's story all through whereas St Clare's drifts away from its original main characters, the twins, who only feature peripherally in the latter half of the series - I think EB created Darrell in honour of her new husband and MT was a way of playing that out. So, in short, she had to be named after him.

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This.

I mean, it’s a reminder that EB was an absolute monster in how she led her personal life. She had endless affairs, including with her daughters’ nanny, and when her first husband wanted a divorce, she worried that her infidelity would impact her professional reputation and, despite agreeing with him that if he allowed her to divorce him for infidelity she would facilitate him having an ongoing relationship with their daughters, in fact refused to let him see them, immediately changed their surname to Darrell Waters, and ensured that he never worked in publishing again, meaning he became bankrupt.

MyBraveFace · 29/04/2026 08:18

Carla786 · 29/04/2026 02:45

On the topic of Blyton names..did anyone else who read Malory Towers think Darrell Rivers could have had a better name? Not rude obviously in any interpretation, but named after the middle name of Blyton's husband Kenneth Darrell Walters. Why not just give her a girl's name?

Edited

I think Darrell Rivers was very much Enid Blyton's tribute to her husband - with her surgeon father who was basically Darrell Waters. If you compare the way Malory Towers is structured with St Clare's, MT is very much Darrell's story all through whereas St Clare's drifts away from its original main characters, the twins, who only feature peripherally in the latter half of the series - I think EB created Darrell in honour of her new husband and MT was a way of playing that out. So, in short, she had to be named after him.

Doone22 · 29/04/2026 06:56

Monty36 · 28/04/2026 13:21

I remember seeing a book Little Black Sambo goes fox hunting. In a National Trust house.
It wouldn’t be allowed now. Wrong in so many ways.

But it would be to me OTT to start changing the way stories that were written in the past. Language and meaning of words change. Gay is one example. In the fifties it was a word used in the normal sense of someone being happy. Now the meaning quite different. Should all films and books using it be changed ? No. Educate yourself about times past and the world they were made for. Do not try to ‘amend’ them.

You said yourself it's wrong to change books written in the past but actually started with slagging off little black sambo and hunting .
For starters it was a childhood classic. And fox hunting has been a tradition in this country for centuries before being banned. It's always featured in historical novels. Make your mind up!

ChocolateCinderToffee · 29/04/2026 05:45

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 28/04/2026 13:30

Of course changing the names is appropriate. I don't want my children exposed to filth. It's no longer acceptable to say all manner of things - that's progress!

‘Filth’

I think you’re the problem here.

FernsInValley · 29/04/2026 05:33

Things like that drive me insane!

CurlewKate · 29/04/2026 05:22

If a few name changes make stories accessible to new generations then I say go for it. But frankly, I have bigger issues with Enid Blyton than the names she gave the vile children she created!

divineinspirations · 29/04/2026 03:04

If we are to start tidying up names that cause sniggering, can someone please do something about Humpy-Rumpy in Road Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile?

Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 02:48

piscofrisco · 29/04/2026 02:47

My Dad was called Dick his whole life, real name Richard of course. It was never commented on in life except by my mums hairdresser who was a bit younger and who always referred to him as Richard as she couldn’t bare to say it. He died last year aged 95. At his funeral the celebrant insisted on referring to him as Richard as she also felt it to be problematic and It absolutely infuriated me.

I'm sorry 🫂 That sounds awful behaviour. People should be referred to by the name they wish..and at a funeral someone definitely shouldn't be imposing views on what their name should have been.

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piscofrisco · 29/04/2026 02:47

My Dad was called Dick his whole life, real name Richard of course. It was never commented on in life except by my mums hairdresser who was a bit younger and who always referred to him as Richard as she couldn’t bare to say it. He died last year aged 95. At his funeral the celebrant insisted on referring to him as Richard as she also felt it to be problematic and It absolutely infuriated me.

Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 02:45

On the topic of Blyton names..did anyone else who read Malory Towers think Darrell Rivers could have had a better name? Not rude obviously in any interpretation, but named after the middle name of Blyton's husband Kenneth Darrell Walters. Why not just give her a girl's name?

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Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 02:43

mathanxiety · 29/04/2026 02:42

@Carla786

Ass means donkey in British English just as in American English.

It has the other meaning in American English based on traits ascribed to donkeys.

Sorry, I meant that ass doesn't mean bottom in UK English, only donkey!

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Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 02:42

mathanxiety · 29/04/2026 02:40

There's also a huge bakery conglomerate called Bimbo in the US. It's a Mexican company with holdings in North America. The Bimbo brand is known for its sliced pans. Pronounced Beem-bo.

Interesting, why is it called that I wonder? Is it the founder's name?

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mathanxiety · 29/04/2026 02:42

@Carla786

Ass means donkey in British English just as in American English.

It has the other meaning in American English based on traits ascribed to donkeys.

Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 02:41

YankSplaining · 29/04/2026 01:54

Once on a baby name forum, I came across a young woman who really, truly didn’t know that Dick as a nickname for Richard predated dick as a slang term for penis. She was trying to figure out why people used to call their sons a name that meant penis, and how anyone had ever thought that was okay.

Changing the names of fictional characters just contributes to ignorance like that. YANBU.

Agree totally.

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Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 02:40

mathanxiety · 29/04/2026 02:35

We are not at all prissy about 'fanny' over here.

Hence 'fanny pack'.

We also have public loo cubicle doors that horrify many British tourists.

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Yes I think some people on Mumsnet think all Americans are very Puritanical. They forget how much diversity there is as it's such a big country. I do think SM US rules about showing breast pictures etc (a comic I follow on IG got censored for showing breasts non sexually) are more prudish but that's one particular thing.

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mathanxiety · 29/04/2026 02:40

There's also a huge bakery conglomerate called Bimbo in the US. It's a Mexican company with holdings in North America. The Bimbo brand is known for its sliced pans. Pronounced Beem-bo.

Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 02:38

greyweek · 28/04/2026 21:52

And I feel uncomfortable every time my child names a blue tit or talks about a cock(erel). There was a picture book about an arse (as in donkey) in the library we came across… How are these words so normal but also vulgar slang.
Anyone else know about similar examples in other languages?? (Sorry, for derailing the thread..)

Edited

Probably double entendres with a word meaning an innocent thing (not a name) and a sexual/genitalia thing occur in all languages?
I see what you mean but I think it's important not to let sexual meanings take over words entirely. Before they seemed to be able to coexist... we can't exactly remame the blue tit, the great tit, Cockerel, ass etc And anyway ass is a US term, the UK term at least doesn't mean donkey.

Shakespeare has loads of sexual puns coexisting with innocent meanings: 'light' meaning not heavy but also sexually immoral, die meaning orgasm (and 'cock ' ' ' ' had that meaning then too) etc... but crucially back then they didn't swamp and totally take over the usual meaning.

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mathanxiety · 29/04/2026 02:35

Cheesipuff · 28/04/2026 13:13

Fanny means bum in the US and I can imagine they are more prissy about this over there -it could affect sales of Magic Faraway Tree

We are not at all prissy about 'fanny' over here.

Hence 'fanny pack'.

We also have public loo cubicle doors that horrify many British tourists.

Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 02:32

pinkstripeycat · 28/04/2026 21:56

My FIL was called Dick. Only my kids laughed. My childhood cat was called Bimbo named after Jim Reeves' "Bimbo" (1953) a cheerful, upbeat novelty song about a playful, charming little boy.

Ah that's interesting- shows 'Bimbo' could still be a nickname in the 50s so makes sense Blyton used it in the 40s.

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Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 01:57

greyweek · 28/04/2026 21:43

I’ve always wondered that. Also - Willy?

I speak two other languages fluently and no proper names are used as euphemisms for private parts in either.

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Can I ask which other 2 languages you speak?

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YankSplaining · 29/04/2026 01:54

Once on a baby name forum, I came across a young woman who really, truly didn’t know that Dick as a nickname for Richard predated dick as a slang term for penis. She was trying to figure out why people used to call their sons a name that meant penis, and how anyone had ever thought that was okay.

Changing the names of fictional characters just contributes to ignorance like that. YANBU.

Original poster
Carla786 · 29/04/2026 01:50

greyweek · 28/04/2026 21:43

I’ve always wondered that. Also - Willy?

I speak two other languages fluently and no proper names are used as euphemisms for private parts in either.

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Yes, it's unfortunate : there may be other examples too.
I suppose the key thing is that until recently the double entendre was there but didn't overwhelm the word. Arguably language etc & norms became more openly sexual post 60s which is part of it...

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