Putting your name on the front door of the house.

[ThanksForAllTheFish]

I’ve just found out today this is a Scottish thing and the rest of the U.K. doesn’t do this. We all (well most of us) have little nameplates on our front doors that have our surname, occasionally first initial(s) of the adults living in the house.

Is this really just a Scottish thing? Do you guys in England / Wales / N. Ireland (or indeed anywhere else in the world) not have them?

We have a lovely little plaque with our surname over our front door.
DH really wanted to do it after visiting a friend in the US who had one.
I live in a housing estate in Dublin.

Ahh I remember this when I lived in flats in Scotland. I've occasionally seen it on flats in England but only for older people.
We don't share a surname so it would just be confusing I think.

Growing up a childhood friend had this, and they were from Scotland! I thought this was just a little oddity of theirs but quite a sensible one. Never realised it might have been a Scottish thing. They were originally from the Glasgow area.

I'm Scottish, although now live in the South. Never done it. It does make a kind of sense where flats are involved, maybe.

Although, saying that, the neighbours a few doors along have their name outside.

As in, a plaque which says ' The *s'

Almost like 'beware of the dog' sign

Nope never seen that in England

Seems like a bit of mix then even in Scotland. I’ve always lived in a house with a name plate on the door. My neighbours all have their names in the door. It’s just the done thing where I live. I have only just realised it’s not something everyone does.

I do remember back in my student days that flats never had names (or the right name up anyway) but most of that was due to short term rentals and most people just had Mail still delivered to their parents houses. Occasionally people would write the name on a sticky label and put that up on the door - particularly in tenement flats.

For the question of where to buy them - key cutting places do them. (Timpsons and the like). Generally in a choice of silver or brass Charles Rennie Macintosh font and decoration are quite popular. Mines a just plain old brass.

Yes I remember it in Scotland in the 80s, especially as we lived on the side of a close - all the flats definitely had one.

Weirdly, I went back to my old house a while back and one of the names on the close was the same - she was a scary old lady who would NEVER give you your ball back. She must be about 300 now 😂

I’m Scottish, grew up in a tenement, every one had their name on the door, never seen it done in an actual house though.

@Mychitchatdays

I'm in Scotland. We have one. Most of my street do too.

Same here

I'm from Glasgow and it was always done when I was a wee girl. When I bought my first flat, I remember my dad bought me a name plate for my front door. I've loved in England now for 20 years and never seen it anywhere here.

*lived

In the 80s some people had those doorbells with a light at the bottom and a tiny piece of card with their surname on. I used to think they were posh.

Wow, mind blown! Didn't know the rest of the UK doesn't have their name on the door! Everyone where I live (Scotland) has name plates, completely normal.

Yeah our family homes in Glasgow always had one. Everyone’s did.

I see them less frequently now as I guess they’re harder to attach to upvc doors

I'm in England and have never seen names on doors.

We had this in the close we lived in and my Grandma and all the neighbours displayed them when they moved to a new built set of modern apartments. Outside London/Home Counties lucky to find a door number let alone a Family name plaque.

I can think of one place where you see the equivalent in England — college staircases at Oxford and Cambridge.

I’m my Scottish and we had a door plate with my dads initials and surname as back then my mum was just addressed under his name . Most neighbours had their surname on a plate on the door.

When DH and I first lived together the girl next door was single and had her surname in bc a wee plate on the door. When she got married her new husband spent hours prying it off and putting his name on the door (she took his name). The nice front door was an utter mess after that.

@Fullofthejoysofspring

I'm Scottish and nobody does this where we're from.

Same here.

We're in Scotland and we used to have it on the door of our old house (Initials and surname). A lot of neighbours had theirs too. We took the wee plate with us when we moved but I have no idea in which box/bag it ended up, couldn't' t find it any more and we haven't got around to order a new one yet, even though it's been a few years now since we moved. At least one of our neighbours has a name plate on their front door as far as I could notice.

Almost everyone in my native country (Easter Europe) does it, and I notice the same in Italy and Scandinavia too.

I've never seen it in England. When I lived in Brussels you had to have your nameplate on your doorbell by law, apparently. The police administrative would come and check, apparently.

I live in a flat, and labelled my doorbell with the flat number and my surname. That said, I only bothered to reduce the number of times delivery drivers just mashed the entire set of doorbells when they really wanted a neighbour.

I've not seen it in either England or Scotland

Completely normal where I am. It’s a bit of a right of passage when you buy your first home and go to Timpson’s to get your name plate

My sister is a lot younger than me and she bought a flat with her boyfriend last year. She was so proud when she got their nameplate done.

I'm in Italy and everyone has their name up. There are six different flats with our address so it's necessary. I didn't love it when my husband had a stalker!