To think this attitude to names like Fanny in old books is silly?

[Carla786]

I've seen posts here agreeing with the new Enid Blyton editions that changed Fanny to Franny and Dick to Rick, some even saying she must have meant it as a double entendre.

 Just seems silly & narrow-minded to me. Not everything was always meant as a double entendre. Should Fanny Price in Mansfield Park also be changed? Or other characters called names that mean different things now? 

I remember my mother passed down a minor Blyton book with a kitten called Bimbo in. Was that Blyton being rude, or just due to the fact that Bimbo was slang for 'kid' then?

It actually shows the adults as the more childish ones as they're the ones sniggering over it and unable to control themselves

I agree op. It perpetuates the juvenile sniggering, rather than assuming that adults can behave like adults.

My mother had a Great Aunt Fanny who she remembers quite well. Are we not supposed to talk about her, or refer to her by an alternative name that she was never known by in her lifetime?

Titty Walker in Swallows and Amazons was based on a real person, Mavis 'Titty' Altounyan. The nickname is from the story Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse.

Exactly. It's disrespectful to the many real people who were and are called that.

BTW, thanks for the info. So the characters were based on an Anglo-Armenian family who lived in Syria - very interesting. And the mouse story link is nice too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-37049314

Mavis Altouyan's niece was understandably angry when the BBC series changed the name!

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/24/swallows-and-amazons-titty-renamed-tatty-in-bbc-film#:~:text=Altounyan%2C%20daughter%20of%20the%20real%2Dlife%20Titty's%20younger,risk%20of%20leaving%20audiences%20ignorant%20of%20the

I am juvenile enough to have a little smile to myself at names like Fanny and Dick (hence my username which is actually one of my real ancestors - gggg aunt or something) but I am totally against changing them in classic books. Understanding that society changes and books (and I guess now, films/TV) are of their time is important for children to learn. I mean, how many children nowadays are allowed to mess around in boats and go camping all by themselves! The world has changed but we still need to understand our past.
I do think some updates are ok though, like changing the title and wording of "And Then There Were None" from it's original as that's a whole different thing.

I'm convinced Willy Wonka is a double entendre

I love Mansfield Park, but it would be a brave exam board that proposed it for GCSE, or even, alas, A-level. ‘It was Fanny all day long and at night, his dreams were all of Fanny.’ ‘0hno! I cannot do without Fanny!’

I have loads of Fannys in my family. All seemed to marry Albert’s too. We’ve Grand old Fanny (she was very grand), Little Fanny, Bad Fanny (she got cautioned for going out and forgetting to shut her curtains during a blackout whilst the embers burnt in the fireplace).

I think it’s a nice sounding name. If I couldn’t say Fanny I wouldn’t be able to talk about my relatives.

However, the Americans saying fannypack rather than bumbag gives me the ick.

I liked Fanny Price. I know she's controversial and seen by some as a bit of a damp lettuce. But when the chips were down she was resolute in her morals: despite her Uncle's displeasure she was not about to marry Crawford!

😂

Has anyone mentioned Fanny Blood, Mar Wollstonecraft’s great friend?

That was the one that occurred to me, if people can't cope with old names it says more about them! Will the same pathetic attitude be applied to Karen in future, because someone decided it had an alternative meaning?

I love Mansfield Park, but it would be a brave exam board that proposed it for GCSE, or even, alas, A-level.

I did do it for A Level, and yes we did think Fanny was a wet lettuce and Edmund was a bore and a prig.

But we also read Persuasion, which I love. Forget your Darcys, Wentworth all the way.

I think the Dicks in fiction do get off more lightly. Dick Hannay, Dick Bettany (in the Chalet School books) and Dick Callum don't get messed with.

Does anyone still enjoy Cockburns?

I actually know of a Gaye. I don't know her personally, godmother of my friend's sister, who gets a mention often. She can't be that old either given the details I do know of her. Early 60s at most.

There was an Irish chat show host and presenter called Gay Byrne (really Gabriel) who died in 2019.

Also a moment's silence for anyone called John Thomas.

That's a Mansfield Park reference too - Mary Crawford, when praising Edmund's name, says that a Mr. Edmund is better than a Mr. John or a Mr. Thomas. And this is on the back of her having earlier mentioned her uncle the admiral's naval mates at dinner, and saying that she saw plenty of "rears" and "vices" - and she hopes Edmund and Fanny didn't suspect her of making a pun.

Jane Austen had a wonderfully naughty streak in her at times.

Yes, I like her too. It's quite a brave choice when she comes from a much poorer background and relies on marriage.

A lot of people criticise Austen for being blind to non-mc people but if you read carefully quite a few characters are in in-between positions (Harriet Smith is another).

I worked with a Gaye and she woukdnt be more than very early 50s now. No one batted an eyelid after they'd seen the name written down and first been introduced. We also had a Dick in the office too funnily enough! Again, I don't remember any jokes about it - i think you just get used to names once you know the person and it just becomes perfectly normal.

Yes, that shows Austen was hardly naive. People forget she grew up in the bawdy Georgian era.

Yes, that's how it should be with sensible people..

I had an Aunty Fanny.
I think it's OK to change the names as language evolves. Hearing kids snigger over Master Bates in Oliver Twist still has me trying to keep a straight face!

Yes I can't stand Edmund. It's also creepy that he & Fanny are first cousins, it's even noted at the start that growing up 'like brothers and sisters' should make romance impossible.
'Emma' is arguably worrying too, when Mr Knightley claims to have been in love with her since she was 13 'at least'!
Agree on Persuasion & Wentworth.

Language evolves but does that mean we change older books & names? By that logic we'd change classic authors' books every time they use words we no longer use or use for a different thing

Interesting, esp Bad Fanny!
Fannypack sounds odd to me too..I suppose we have equivalents they feel the same about...

This!

Yep & he was affectionately called "Gaybo" 😆My auntie loved him