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Original poster

Unusual surnames.

267 replies

RuthTopp · 04/08/2023 18:11

For some weird reason I have heard two unusual surnames today , Younghusband and Gotobed . Which ( in a light hearted way ) could be used to formulate a sentence -
" Gotobed younghusband !
What unusual ones do you know ?

OP posts:
Cheezecake · 04/08/2023 19:14

@PerspiringElizabeth there is a cockburn street in Cambridge which I have been told is very definitely co-burn.

RecklessBlackberries · 04/08/2023 19:15

I knew a Lemon family who insisted it was pronounced LeMon despite admitting they had no French ancestry.

user2468101214 · 04/08/2023 19:16

Also know a few people with the surname Salmon which i think is quite unfortunate... (sorry if you have this surname!)

Namechangedagain3 · 04/08/2023 19:18

I went to school with a Bytheway

Coronationstation · 04/08/2023 19:19

PerspiringElizabeth · 04/08/2023 19:00

There was a girl at school with the surname Cockburn which she insisted was pronounced co-burn… don’t blame her!
And a Higginbottom which we had to pronounce -botham apparently.

I like Popadec and Pendergast but not sure how unusual they are!

That is how you pronounce Cockburn!!
ive never met anyone other than immediate family with my surname either although there are now a couple of others in my company directory but based in Canada.

IHeartGeneHunt · 04/08/2023 19:21

I've known a Scattergood (she did not), a Margeryson, a Drown, and a Christmas.

IHeartGeneHunt · 04/08/2023 19:21

Oh and a Bytheway

TotallyOutingName · 04/08/2023 19:23

https://forebears.io/ is a fun website to see how common names at around the world

SerendipityJane · 04/08/2023 19:23

Wasn't there a Mary Whitehouse Experience riff on "Shufflebottom" being pronounced "Shoe-flay-botham" ?

Featherstone to you.

PepsiMaxLime · 04/08/2023 19:23

I went to school with a Snowball

Simonjt · 04/08/2023 19:24

PepsiMaxLime · 04/08/2023 19:23

I went to school with a Snowball

So hard not to make a weather based joke

DudeItsPrawns · 04/08/2023 19:24

My neighbours are the Healings, which is nice.

threebean · 04/08/2023 19:24

My maiden name was totally unique to our family. I was sad to say goodbye to it.

MyMachineAndMe · 04/08/2023 19:25

I was going to say Bytheway like Bob Mortimer's Sgt. Bytheway lol

Shufflebottom. DC had a new teacher join their school and he did a while assembly in his name and what it means and where it came from. He must have heard allllllll the names 😂

GreenMarigold · 04/08/2023 19:25

I know a lady who used to be Mrs Orgy!

My doctor is Dr Rainbow.

Seasideanticscanleadtosandybuckets · 04/08/2023 19:27

At school there was 2 dc with surnames Fleminggale and Goldfingle

MyOtherCarIsAPorsche · 04/08/2023 19:31

My mum used to call the man next door to us Mr Giggles and I thought it was a joke name (because he was always laughing - or so I thought).

It was his real name.

Also used to joke that Mr Willy the chemistry teacher had the first name Ivor. We used to sit sniggering through lessons - Ivor Willy. We found out, after the chemistry store burned down, that his name was actually Richard Willy (reported in the newspaper). His parents had named him Dick Willy.

Peppermint81 · 04/08/2023 19:32

Mr Bastid. Everyone said it how you think!

Belcher is another one that tickled me

SouthCountryGirl · 04/08/2023 19:34

IHeartGeneHunt · 04/08/2023 19:21

I've known a Scattergood (she did not), a Margeryson, a Drown, and a Christmas.

I seem to remember reading somewhere about a person with the surname Christmas marrying someone with the surname Merry.

StrawberryPavlova · 04/08/2023 19:35

I've got Barnacle in my family tree.

I also know of a Grewcock, and have come across surnames such as Rainbow and Darling through work.

EducatingArti · 04/08/2023 19:36

mrstea301 · 04/08/2023 18:27

I don't want to reveal my own surname, but it's so rare that anyone else with it is either a relative of my husbands or married to one!

Similar for me. There are probably less than 50 people in the UK with my surname and most, if not all, will be related ( maybe some generations back) to me.

WhatdidIdoyesterday · 04/08/2023 19:37

There was a Christmas family at my primary school.

I used to work for a charity and we would have fun looking up people in our list of donors. Mr Glasscock was a generous benefactor, as was Mr D'Eath.

WanderingWitches · 04/08/2023 19:40

We had neighbours with the surname Jump

MaggieBsBoat · 04/08/2023 19:41

threebean · 04/08/2023 19:24

My maiden name was totally unique to our family. I was sad to say goodbye to it.

Why did you not keep it????

MaggieBsBoat · 04/08/2023 19:42

PerspiringElizabeth · 04/08/2023 19:00

There was a girl at school with the surname Cockburn which she insisted was pronounced co-burn… don’t blame her!
And a Higginbottom which we had to pronounce -botham apparently.

I like Popadec and Pendergast but not sure how unusual they are!

You do know Cockburn IS Co-burn right? Strange….

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