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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

169 replies

MerryMarigold · 13/12/2011 17:43

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?

OP posts:

RiceBurner · 15/12/2011 14:00

House by me is called "The Mad House", according to the plaque next to the front door. (Can't argue with that sort of name I think?)

TeWiharaMeriKirihimete · 15/12/2011 16:14

Oh yes, I always get phone calls from couriers pissed off at getting lost on our road.

It is not just a mix of names and numbers, the numbers are all over the place in little batches of total non-sensical order.

mrsrawlinson · 15/12/2011 16:58

There's a house near us in the deepest darkest Midlands called 'Tide's Reach'. I always find myself thinking, "I bloody hope not" every time I drive by.

When DH and I retire and have our lovely stone cottage in the Lakes, we're going to call it 'Foxholes', to disprove the old saying about atheists.

EuphemiaInExcelsis · 15/12/2011 18:26

In our street the numbering goes 2, 4, 6, 8, 22 ... 10 and 12 are up a wee inshot; 24 onwards come later and there's no 14!

DD and I are convinced we live in Grimmauld Place and you just need to know where to stand to find 14.

We're so glad to be moving as we've had 10 years of no-one being able to find our house, and moaning about the numbering in the street, as if it's our fault.

Shutupanddrive · 15/12/2011 19:01

My gran took the name of her house with her every time she moved house! Which was only 3 times (in the same village!) to be fair!

redwineformethanks · 15/12/2011 20:50

Ok, beat this for cheeky - my grandparents (who I loved dearly and naturally I can comment on this, but would be mightily upset if strangers on the internet criticised) - moved into a house, loved the house (beautiful house, pretty village) discovered their neighbours' house was called X cottage, liked the name, so called their house X House!

Cheeky or what?! Funny thing is, all those years we visited, lady from next door frequently dropped in to say hello, never crossed my mind that she would care about sharing her house name until long after all of them died. As an adult now, I find that quite surprising.

Happy to share, feel free to snigger, but please don't slag off my granny as I loved her dearly

GrendelsMum · 15/12/2011 21:10

I don't think it's that bad, Redwine!

Or if it is bad, we have much worse. Say our house is the original and is called Providence House, next to us is a set of new builds called 'Providence Barn', 'Providence Cottage' and (my particular favourite) 'Providence Nook'. Then to top it all off, we have 'Old Providence Business Park'. All of them are in 'Providence Close'.

Barking or what? Post appears to be distributed at random among everyone's houses / offices.

redwineformethanks · 15/12/2011 21:13

Hey GrendelsMum nice of you not to be too judgemental. You are clearly nicer than me. I wouldn't like it if our neighbours copied our house name

PreviouslyonLost · 15/12/2011 22:23

HecateGoddessOfTwelfthNight There's a 'Wits End' in the West End of Glasgow...named for being at the end of Whittinghame Drive.

I knew someone once who built their own house, and called it 'Llamedos'...took me forever to work out the meaning

ujjayi · 15/12/2011 23:55

Ciske Dh and I are having a little giggle at your local "Neuk" house :o

ClicksArse · 16/12/2011 10:52

We have a house near us that is directly opposite a petrol station. I recall being greatly entertained throughout my childhood by the name plaque above the door that said "Esso View."

When I was about seven my grandparents had a new shed erected at the bottom of their garden. I was very taken with this shed and managed to convince them to have a plaque made up above the door that proclaimed it to be "Hedge View."

It continues to be there to this day And they continue to tease me about it to this day

BalloonSlayer · 16/12/2011 13:23

Can I nominate "MILs finally tuned snob cerebellum throbs with excitement when she refers to it" as my favourite MN phrase statement of the year month please?

Blatherskite · 16/12/2011 14:14

My Mum's house is 150 years old and has a built in plaque between the upstairs window with a name on. It's never been addressed as anything but XX roadname which is a bit of a shame really but being that the Woodland it's supposed to have a view of is now houses, it's probably for the best.

I knew some boys at uni who named their shared house "Mos Eisley"

And while tempting for a bank once, inputting peoples Insurance quote requests, I had to put in someone's address as "The Fluffy Bunny Love Palace". I hope they were taking the piss!!

seenbutnotheard · 16/12/2011 14:26

This thread has made me as it inspired me to look up PIL's address - officially, it has a number, not a name.

I dare not tell them, but may take delight in sending post-Christmas thank you cards to the 'correct' address!

SenseofEntitlement · 16/12/2011 14:27

There was a trend for shared houses to have a name, just because calling it "X's house" makes no sense if there are six people living there, but you don't want to put your actual address on fb invites and forums and so on.

So houses would be called things like "house of " or " central", and you could say "did you know that such a person has moved into house of x?" rather than "did you know that such a person has moved into 194 High Street? You know, the house where john, jane and sarah live. No, not the one where sarah had that party, she split up with bob, and mark had just moved out of number 194, so sarah moved in" which makes no sense.

There were about 10 houses, with a revolving cast of housemates, many of whom lived in most of the houses at some point.

My parents house has a name painted on the gatepost. It is, coincidentally, DH's exW's surname. Not for that reason (but it helps) it also has a nickname, because it has up to about 7 people living there depending on what is going on in people's lives (and six people own the house, two of whom don't live there, and out of the owners who live there, there is no clear "main person") so it makes sense.

None of the above names are used on actual post, mind.

housemum · 16/12/2011 16:15

There was one I used to pass on the way to school called, "Llamedos". I used to think it was Welsh, until as a teenager I heard of Dylan Thomas and realised it was similar to his place name, "Llareggub". (Read them backwards)

I live in a house on a modern development. No one here has named their house, I'd find it cringeworthy if they did. DD3 goes to preschool in a little village nearby, houses have names that make sense eg "Old Post Office", "Old School House", "Corner House" etc.

Unless your house is individual or historic I don't think names make much sense, but the humour is so British that it makes me smile .

PreviouslyonLost · 16/12/2011 19:21

housemum I thought it was Spanish originally...something derivative of Glenn Medeiros (Nothing's gonna change my love for you)...owner was a tad rumbustious and wanky.

Live in a 300 year old house (original part) and it was most recently a holiday let. Neighbours have XYZ HOUSE (Their's was built later in the 18th Century) and pee'd off when our Cottage was holiday XYZ Cottage ...they were very relieved when we changed it back to original historical name. Wankers.

They are currently blocking planning application for house on land near them owned by dyed in the wool farming locals...did I mention wankers?

JaneTheCake · 16/12/2011 23:04

Ours was originally called "KensJoy" - I refused to move in until it was changed!

Gran22 · 17/12/2011 09:35

There's an ordinary mid terraced house near me called 'The Old Rectory'. Every time I see it I wonder if it is a Jack & Vera name, or if its tongue in cheek humour. As there is no cladding in sight, and it looks fairly classy, it surely can't be the J&V one. Or could it?

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