Is it pretentious to give a house a name?

[SarahAndQuack]

Just that really. We live in a village where the majority of houses have names. A few have just numbers, and some have both. We rented the house for a while but now we've bought it and we like the idea of giving it a name. But is that weird? Do you only get to name a house if it's had a name already?

Yes it is a tiny bit pretentious but it didn't stop me. However the house we bought was really old and grand and just really felt like it needed a name. Also I wouldn't use it on postal correspondence - just have a lovely sign outside. It makes the house looks nice. In those circumstances I think it's acceptable!

What I think it fully pretentious is naming a house and then insisting on using the name and not the postal address, especially when the house is on a street with consecutive numbers,

Loving the reference to casa Bevron haha.

I never knew you had to apply to the council to name your house.
Our house has a name (according to the deeds) but just a number on the outside now. It is a semi. We are considering having a sign made with the name and number on, I don't think it would be pretentious as the name was already there, but next door has the same name, with a number as well but they have the name up on a plaque on the wall. Other houses also have names, if semi detached the same name but one side eg 'surname 1 Hawthorne' and the other side 'surname 2 Hawthorne'.

I don't see anything wrong with it, although definitely keep the number as well, as it's horrific for delivery people and first-time visitors when there's a long road with 100 houses on it and they all only have names - unless they're in strict alphabetical order, I suppose! In fact, whatever you do, whether number, name or both, always make sure it's prominently visible from the street

Oh, if only! There aren't 100 houses in the village, and as most of them have names, we spend our lives dealing with delivery drivers asking where so-and-so is, or why number 3 is nowhere near number 4. We would always keep the number - we also keep a map of the village to show puzzled drivers.

I think it's a wee bit pretentious, but as long as the name isn't totally daft, or with delusions of grandeur, you can get away with it.

I've seen a modern looking new build house (nothing wrong with that) that the owners named XX Manor. Utterly ridiculous, I wonder what their neighbours think of it/them 🤣

This!

There's a village up on the North Yorks coast where all the houses seemed to have names. The same place had an alarming volume of plastic lawns, cheap garden ornaments and the occasional union jack. Pretty much a whole village full of brexit supporting chavs.

Naming your house could not be further from pretentious, it's just really naff.

I saw one in Newquay called Nigel.

@catsonahottinroof it's not the council it's Royal Mail who agree to names.

I'm an odd lane, RM asked for the houses to be named and the asked for the previously unnamed Lane to be named.

They check names against other properties so you don't end up with two houses with the same name.
They also lettered everyone in the village to use the village name rather than treating it as a section of the nearby town.

Yes pretentious sorry

The road where I grew up, the houses only had names. It was an unmade country road that led to the river, and was a nightmare for deliveries, as there was no way of knowing if Bessie was anywhere near Malabar or The Meadows.

Go back in time and loads of terraced houses had name plaques built in from the start, naming a house isn't dependent on it being detached!

Was it a new build? I am picturing the architect making plans for Nigel.

making plans for Nigel

Nice 😃

Where I live every house has a name, so I don't find it odd at all. There are some that are a bit overused- you can't go more than three streets without seeing both a 'Soleil' and a 'Papillon', but most names work fine. A lot are named after people's favourite places, some are named after occupations of people who originally named them, there was a trend a few years ago for smushing your children's names together to make a house name as well. I appreciate I'm used to it as tradition, but I think it adds a lot of character to a house and it also makes your address way easier to remember than just being one number among many

It’s very Hyacinth Bucket to name a house that has an allocated number. I know someone who moved into a regular semi on a new-build estate and insisted everyone send mail to “Apple Blossom Cottage, 24 Whatever Road…”. The house was as far removed from a cottage as you can get.

I much prefer the American house numbering system. So easy to find an address without needing to drive slowly past each house as you strain to find a tiny number on the door like the UK.

Ours has a name and had it when we moved in, but we never use it when giving out the address.

Depending on what post we get and from who, the name maybe used, as they could have got the address via the PAF or Council land and property gazetteer.

I can see how they named the house what they did, but it makes it sound like something grand, when it's a Wimpey 3 bed house.

Please retain your number as post and couriers cannot find a house without a number..also ambulances have great difficulty with this.

We have a (clearly signed!) name and a non consecutive number and live on a road with no name- just a B number. I spend a lot of time talking drivers in. I wish there was a better system for this e.g. facilities to routinely add directions or a map when booking deliveries.

The one time we had an ambulance come I had to leave ill DH in the house alone and go and wave down the lost driver.

I feel like what3words should be useful but when I've given it to delivery drivers they still just deliver to the house at the corner.

But in answer to your original q I think it's fine as a rural thing, or a big old houses /cottages thing - but definitely pretentious on a modern estate!

Lots of the houses where I live have names so it doesn't seem strange. Ours has a number and a name but the name is something like The Elms but there are no elms in the garden and there never have been. So I don't know where they got the name from!

There's a terrace house near me that overlooks the recycling plant. It has a very ornate sign outside reading "Tip View". I like that.

A mid terrace in an ugly road in the midlands (ie v far from the coast) being called Seaview Cottage is what is wrong with having houses named.

My mum tried this in the country - the name never stuck though and caused all sorts of hassle with post! Was a while ago so hopefully easier now.

It depends on the house and the location.

A friend bought a house with a number and a name, she dropped teh name but then found out the road it was on had 2 houses of every number!.

You went down a road to a T junction and the numbers all started there going in opposite directions.

If you are in a victorian terrace built for miners or mill workers it might seem a bit odd.

not the council it's Royal Mail who agree to names

We’ve just changed the name of our house it we definitely had to do it through the council. They then deal with Royal Mail.

It's an end terrace in a row of three, but they are cottage-y as fuck. They were built in around 1730

Lots of houses like this near us- originally fishermen’s or agricultural workers’ cottages, now very chi-chi homes. They’re all called things like Rose Cottage, Hawthorn Cottage etc.

Our house had a crap name and I don't ever use it just the number. Feels pretentious.