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Baby names

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Original poster

Dickon - yes really!!

104 replies

inconceivableme · 08/12/2014 18:15

Today at work I came across a 30 something guy called Dickon. Who would do that to their child??!!

Hid surname didn't exactly help either, though not sure any would?

(Having looked it up, apparently Dickon is Old English for Richard.)

OP posts:
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Imperial · 08/12/2014 20:17

Did you meet the Dickon an ex boyfriend of mine was good friends with - surname 'Head'

TimelyNameChangey · 08/12/2014 20:18

I love the name Dickon....wouldn't call The Secret Garden "cute" though. Moving maybe.

justjuanmorebeer · 08/12/2014 20:19

Did his surname begin with P? I went to school with him if so, and you are right about a bad choice of first name with that surname.

Viviennemary · 08/12/2014 20:19

I've never known one. It's dire. Gives me a vision of a Victorian child in silk knickerbockers.

LouiseBrooks · 08/12/2014 20:20

Has no one ever heard of Richard III (he is in the news a lot lately? He's often referred to in books as Dickon. I think it's a lovely name and a million times better than quite a few boys names.

BikeRunSki · 08/12/2014 20:21

I went to school with a Dickon. He'd be early v late 30s or early 40s now.

VainVulva · 08/12/2014 20:32

It's a beautiful name, stop being so small minded op!

Original poster
inconceivableme · 08/12/2014 20:49

Since when does having an
opinion constitute being small minded??!!

Crikey, anyone would think this was a discussion forum or summat....

OP posts:
Romeyroo · 08/12/2014 21:02

There is a Dickon at my work, no idea how old he is, only read the name. Had not really thought anything of it, tbh.

Lottapianos · 08/12/2014 21:22

I know a Dickon and he's an utter pillock as it goes. I do think its not a great name to give a child

DealForTheKids · 08/12/2014 21:24

I know a Dickon who is lovely, so I guess it varies!!

FamiliesShareGerms · 08/12/2014 21:37

I know two Dickons - one in his sixties, one in his thirties. It's a strong name that needs a bit if character to carry off

Sophronia · 08/12/2014 21:49

I know a Dickon in his early twenties, he was in the year below me at school. His brother has a very unusual (and literary) name too.

KatieKaye · 08/12/2014 22:31

It's a great name.
Not sure why some people hate it so much?

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 08/12/2014 22:34

I quite like it, just because it reminds me of The Secret Garden!

ExitPursuedByABear · 08/12/2014 22:34

I know one in his fifties.
I know several Dicks.
Rests case

pasbeaucoupdegendarme · 08/12/2014 22:59

I went out with a Dickon. He'd be about 35 now. Maybe not quite that old, but 33/34/35 for certain.

TheCraicDealer · 08/12/2014 23:47

I imagine a Dickon to look like a character from a Jilly Cooper novel. This is a very, very good thing. Same with the name Gabriel. They're a bit Sexy Agricultural Worker to me, probably because of TSG and Far From The Madding Crowd.

I was like 12 when I last read TSG so that's not as pervy as it sounds.

moxon · 09/12/2014 03:56

Sorry but I'm just wading in to say I've campaigned for Dickon for, like, ever. It's a great name.

shoobidoo · 09/12/2014 07:08

I know a Dickon. What's wrong with it?

Tonacata · 09/12/2014 07:16

God, I love the name Dickon. It brings to mind a strong jaw and rough, muscled arms and the smell of lanolin and hard work.

wanderings · 09/12/2014 07:28

The Secret Garden, though a lovely story, was from a very different era. I remember my shock when I read the following from it (instead of the more sanitised Ladybird book version I read as a child):

"Her mother cared only to go to parties and amuse herself with gay people."

Or as said by Martha or somebody else: "No wonder India is so full of blacks instead o' respectable white people."

No way could such things be said now, or the first would mean something very different!

Alisvolatpropiis · 09/12/2014 07:30

Quite amazed so few posters see that naming a son Dickon might prove problematic.

Tonacata · 09/12/2014 07:53

Well, it's not that I don't see it. It's more that...okay: there's a general conviction on baby names that one must avoid any possible innuendo because of the life-ruining trauma that is being made fun of at school. But you know, thinking back to school, there were plenty of people with potentially mockable names who were never mocked at all (because they were well liked I suppose) and plenty of those mocked had perfectly "safe" names. Children will bully other children for anything - they'll find anything! If it's not the name it's the hair, or something they said once, or being too fat or too thin or too brainy or slow or booby or flat chested or...honestly. It's not ever actually about those things, right? We know this.

My (sur)name was mocked at school, and it's not a...it's not a thing! But people would say it in a funny voice, because I was a bit nerdy and odd. But I had friends who, I don't want to out myself but imagine their surnames were basically Nobs and, er, Plonker. And they were never teased for it at all. I don't think it ever occurred to anyone to mock, let's call her Sarah Plonker, because she was honestly beautiful, clever (but not TOO clever), and really nice and everyone (including me!) was rather in awe of her.

I knew a boy at school whose name shortened to Nits, and he was absolutely lusted after. So I think it might be a correlation/causation error.

shoobidoo · 09/12/2014 08:35

William/Will/Willy is far worse in terms of the teasing aspect and yet it's often not an issue.