To refuse to use my parents' made-up name for their house...

[MerryMarigold]

OK, so they used to live in a house which didn't have a number and had a name. My kids would get excited about going to blah blah cottage., Now they have moved somewhere where the house does have a number. But they miss having a name for their house, so they've given it a name. I just feel naff using the name. I mean, the house already has a number! And it's not like a massive road, there are only 6 houses in it, and it's a 'court' so it sounds quite nice anyway.

AIBU and should I just swallow my pride and call the house by it's new 'name'? Or should I just say we're going to visit blah blah court and address post to no.6 blah blah court?

at the bungalow names, sue

mummycar, i will live in hope!

There's a house near us called Wits End.

It's not terribly funny but it does make me smile.

There was one opposite us once called Thisledo

Having a good at some of these names.

Yes, it is a barn. Does that make it ok then? No, it's not utterly naff as names go (loving the joy den!). But really, if the house has a number do you need to make up a name?

oh, i so didn't want it to actually BE a barn, that would have been totally nuts!

Going against the flow here, but I think that since it actually is a barn, within a small cluster of barns, then giving it a name isn't particularly naff. Totally different if it was actually a 1930s semi.

Our house is called Deep Heights.

It's fitting.

We named our 1840's EoT, despite it already having a number.
It was a descriptive name, and purely because we lived at No 333 and were sick of our post ending up at No 33!

OK. IABU. I will swallow my pride.

My folk's house is caller 'Sinbad' ffs! Count yourself lucky. I use the name on letters/cards etc., but always puts a (!) after it, it acknowledges the house has a name, but also indicates I think its naff.

this reminds me, my mum tried to name our family house , she even made her own sign from slate and painted the name "Woodlands" and I think some foliage.. It was very pretentious and we never referred to it by any such name..

Must remember to ask my brother if he has the sign, now my parents have passed away, it's someone elses family home

My parents house has a made up name, it amuses me immensely as they named it after a particular location which turned into an extreme sports destination... they are the least extreme sports people ever.

TeWi, get off MN and get on with having that baby!

There is a house down the road from my parents called "Llamedos" - It reads "Sod 'Em All" backwards. FFS.

I know of a Dunroamin and Dunfinally

There are two detatched houses side by side on my way to work, expensive village location, both 1970's or '80's. One has been painted white and is named 'the old post office'. If it wern't for the other one (original brick etc) you might be fooled into thinking it had been there longer. Why though?

My sister lives in a vilage with no numbers at all. The rose/rosemary/juniper/little/bramble cottage addresses are a bit of a hassle for a non-regular postman. I think that posties used to grumble about house names, as opposed to numbers, but now they go by post code.

It is a system that guarantees that you will meet some of your neighbours.

There's a Dunvegan near here

I'm not very keen on the name they have chosen but I would just humour them.

I think Providence Barn is lovely, for a barn. You can't have a barn called 'No 6', surely?

My in laws live in an England hamlet where none of the houses have numbers, just names. I think it's quite quaint and Olde Worlde. And as spikeymikey said, there is a very close knit community there. Elsewhere in the world, other in-laws live at BrySon.

OP, very nicely YABU, do humour them, it clearly makes them happy.

Ermmm...what's 'dunvegan', crotchflakes? (hideous name btw )

I think it is OK for unique/one-off or historic houses to have names, but pretty daft if it's in a row of identical semis. A barn sounds fairly "unique", so I'd go along with it, if it were me.

Our house has a name, which is on a plaque outside, but no number, but it is registered with the council as having a number but no name (I guess the previous occupants who named it never got around to registering the change). Just to add to the confusion, some address searches (Land Registry, for example) come up with the name, and some (Royal Mail) with the number.

So, naff or otherwise, we use both - it avoids confusion. And I am planning to buy a nice new plaque with the name AND number on it.

BTW, it's the council who are in charge of naming, not the Royal Mail.

No.6 in a cluster of barns. And let's just say the 'Something' in 'Something Court' is not v imaginatively named! It's not even a whole barn, only half a barn. Perhaps the neighbours will object as it does imply the WHOLE barn is named. I'm sure there must be a party wall or something about that.