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Original poster

Is anyone actually called Manus??

54 replies

BarbaraVineFan · 22/09/2025 22:20

I’ve just finished watching Amandaland, and the boys’ names are really bothering me! Darius Is one thing (although I really don’t think Anne’s character would have named her son Darius) but MANUS?!

and also… the siblings don’t even match. If it’s supposed to be a ridiculously pretentious name, then why isn’t Amanda’s daughter named Calliope or something, not Georgie? Does anyone have any answers?

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Tiredofwhataboutery · 23/09/2025 09:22

I don’t know a manus but in Latin it means hand. There used to be two types of marriage in Roman times cum manu when you came under the authority of your husband and sine manu when you legally stayed under the authority of your father.

Despite if being several thousand years ago it still irritates me that women were seen as being the property of men. Also that it continues today.

HauntedHero · 23/09/2025 09:15

I know quite a few Mortens but they're all Danish

HadEnoughOfBears · 23/09/2025 09:14

Yeah I had a boss years ago called Manus, he’d be retired now

SomersetBrie · 23/09/2025 09:13

Fairly popular Irish name, men in their fifties as people have said above.
My schoolfriend's brother was Manus McManus. I think he went by the name Mick in general life.

Emanwenym · 23/09/2025 09:08

There's McManus son of Manus.

Elektra1 · 23/09/2025 06:03

I knew a Manus at uni. He’d be about 50 now. He was a lovely boy.

StrongLikeMamma · 23/09/2025 05:51

BarbaraVineFan · 22/09/2025 22:30

It’s also just occurred to me that Morten is not, as I thought, a Scottish girls name.. I was thinking of Morven . So Morten is really weird as well!

Morten Harket 💛

beadystar · 23/09/2025 03:46

Also Irish. I know one Manus. A friend’s brother. He’d be late 50s now.

RobertaFirmino · 22/09/2025 23:56

I had an Uncle Manus. I'm from an Irish family.

sofiamofia · 22/09/2025 23:14

I know four men called Manus, one of them since childhood. It suited him as a boy and now as a man. I wouldn't say its common in Ireland but nobody would raise an eyebrow at it and none of the ones I know come from notiony families.

I have never made the anus connection until this thread.

Househassles · 22/09/2025 23:08

I thought it was an Irish/alternate spelling of Magnus; the surname McManus is pretty common in Scotland. (Edit: oops, a PP already said this bit!) It doesn't seem pretentious to me. Could Georgie be short for something - Georgia, Georgina, Georgiana, Georgette, Georgeline?

NuffSaidSam · 22/09/2025 23:00

MaybeIf · 22/09/2025 22:58

Maybe you have to be the kind of person who hears Orla and thinks ‘Oral’. It must be like living inside an episode of Benny Hill.

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Probably.

Iwontlethtesungodownonme · 22/09/2025 22:58

I knew a Manus. He would be late forties now. Irish family.

MaybeIf · 22/09/2025 22:58

NuffSaidSam · 22/09/2025 22:56

I think it was probably a joke...based on the written form of the names.

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Maybe you have to be the kind of person who hears Orla and thinks ‘Oral’. It must be like living inside an episode of Benny Hill.

stayathomer · 22/09/2025 22:58

Irish and I know a manus too.

whatisthegoddamnholdup · 22/09/2025 22:57

Yes, I know a Manus.

DaylesfordBroccoli · 22/09/2025 22:56

It’s like the little girl in Outnumbered being called Karen all over again!

I think Amanda’s children would have been called Oscar and Amelia, and Anne’s boy would’ve been Cillian or Jude.

NuffSaidSam · 22/09/2025 22:56

MaybeIf · 22/09/2025 22:55

Apart from the fact that that’s not how it’s pronounced?

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I think it was probably a joke...based on the written form of the names.

MaybeIf · 22/09/2025 22:55

bozzabollix · 22/09/2025 22:48

Has to be done!

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Apart from the fact that that’s not how it’s pronounced?

MaybeIf · 22/09/2025 22:54

It’s an ordinary enough name in Ireland, though the Manuses I know are all fifties or older. I’m not sure what the comedy is all about. It’s a cognate of Magnus/Manuel in other languages. The surname McManus
is common. I mean, it’s an AI agent these days too, but there are plenty of Siris and Alexas in the world..l

Snugglemonkey · 22/09/2025 22:54

I know a 1 year old and also a 6 year old Manus. We are in Scotland.

bozzabollix · 22/09/2025 22:48

Arlanymor · 22/09/2025 22:42

If someone had twins they could have Manus and Uranus!

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Has to be done!

elgreco · 22/09/2025 22:47

I went to college with a manus. Irish, in his fifties now.

KilkennyCats · 22/09/2025 22:45

It’s an Irish name.

I think the writers got it wrong, tbh, Anne is far more likely to have used Manus, and Darius is much more Amanda.

Arlanymor · 22/09/2025 22:42

bozzabollix · 22/09/2025 22:41

Please nobody do. My brain just conjures up m’anus.

If someone had twins they could have Manus and Uranus!