Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Is Tarquin a real name?

101 replies

littlepetit · 18/01/2022 16:25

I always hear ‘tarquin’ as a bit of a joke ‘posh’ name but thinking about it I have NEVER met or encountered a single tarquin or even heard of any friends-of-friends-of-friends called tarquin.

Is it actually a real given name or a myth?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
Purpleboo22 · 19/03/2023 09:53

Yes, Tarquin is a real name and yes it’s a posh name…but I’m on a one woman mission to change that perception as I called my kid Tarquin and we’re certainly not posh!

He was Tarquin all through my pregnancy and whilst I had a wobble at the end my friends and family said they couldn’t imagine him called anything else and so I stuck with it and Tarquin he is, and I really can’t imagine him being called anything else - although weirdly St John was on my list!

He would have been Rupert which was my ‘boy’s name’ through childhood but when I was told I couldn’t have kids I gave the name to my next dog, then discovered I was pregnant so needed an equally cool name.

Anyways, just to confirm there has been a Tarquin in the past 10 years - mine, and he was born in 2016. He’s fabulous, funny, kind, caring and clever. And I couldn’t care less if people don’t like his name, he does, and if he doesn’t when he’s older then he can change it.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 19/03/2023 10:00

I went to school with one.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 19/03/2023 10:01

**he definitely wasn't posh,this was 40 years ago.

SirVixofVixHall · 19/03/2023 10:03

I knew a Tarquin, I have lost touch with him now. He was very nice, so that colours my view of the name.

ElizabethinherGermanGarden · 19/03/2023 10:05

There was a boy called Tarquin at university who gave quite a lot of people scabies.

SirVixofVixHall · 19/03/2023 10:06

I also know a StJohn (in his fifties) a Ptolemy (teenager) and a Crispin (about forty).

Tal45 · 19/03/2023 10:36

Tarquin is just awful but oh my I wish I'd called DS Crispin now, for some reason I just love it, but I'd forgotten it existed as you just don't hear it - maybe my love for it is coloured by knowing a rather hot one back in the day!

CharitySchmarity · 19/03/2023 12:49

I've never met anyone called Tarquin, but then I don't move in those circles. I meet people called Steve and Andy and Kevin. I know my place! 😉

SertralineAndTherapy · 19/03/2023 12:55

cafedesreves · 18/01/2022 22:14

Yup I taught one known as Tarka. My friend also had a boyfriend called Tarquin. Ludicrous!!

I also taught one known as Tarka. Might even be the same one if it was recent. Are we colleagues?

rattlinbog · 19/03/2023 12:56

@SertralineAndTherapy a good while ago!

WorkingItOutAsIGo · 19/03/2023 12:57

I know a Tarquin: very nice and very posh and very titled.

Berlinlover · 19/03/2023 12:58

I worked with someone called Tudor years ago.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 19/03/2023 13:10

Tudor is a Welsh name, isn't it?

On the subject of unusual names, I once met a woman called Innogen. She was clearly utterly fed up with explaining why her parents had saddled her with a name that was going to be read/heard as Imogen nine times out of ten. I think the explanation was something to do with Imogen in Cymbeline being a mis-spelling of Innogen, which is a very old name. Fascinating, but tiresome for her.

Inkypot · 19/03/2023 13:11

Sockpile · 18/01/2022 16:40

According to this article no babies have been named Tarquin in the UK in the last 10 years.

Perfect for the people who want an unusual unique name!

TheShellBeach · 19/03/2023 13:34

I know a woman who went out with a bloke called Hereward.
A few months after they split up she started going out with another bloke - whose name was also Hereward.
I mean, what are the chances?

SertralineAndTherapy · 19/03/2023 13:37

TheShellBeach · 19/03/2023 13:34

I know a woman who went out with a bloke called Hereward.
A few months after they split up she started going out with another bloke - whose name was also Hereward.
I mean, what are the chances?

Was that a wake-up call for her?

TheShellBeach · 19/03/2023 13:41

SertralineAndTherapy · 19/03/2023 13:37

Was that a wake-up call for her?

Show quote history

It took me a couple of minutes to work out what you were getting at there.
Grin

TheShellBeach · 19/03/2023 13:43

I was at school with a Simeon, whose brothers were Pyramus and Tobias.

AlwaysGinPlease · 19/03/2023 13:51

I worked with a Tarquin many years ago. He was a pompous twat.

MyGrandmaLizzie · 19/03/2023 13:53

Went to school with a St John (double barrel surname too). He was quite posh but not as posh as the Viscount's son in the year above.
Doesn't use both parts of his surname now. He's late 50s.

AmberGer · 19/03/2023 13:56

Definitely a real name.
I have never met one but if I did, I'd imagine him to be late teens, dark floppy haired surfer from Australia with a goatee 😆

Riverlee · 19/03/2023 14:00

TheShellBeach · 19/03/2023 13:34

I know a woman who went out with a bloke called Hereward.
A few months after they split up she started going out with another bloke - whose name was also Hereward.
I mean, what are the chances?

How are? My son was at school with a Hereward, aged around twenty two now.

Riverlee · 19/03/2023 14:06

There was a Tarquin in the town I grew up. He was a few years older than me. I remember the name because he went missing and was found by the local sports centre.

Phinneas will become more popular now, as Billy Eilish’s brother, also a singer and producer, is called Phinneas/Finneas.

In Schmigadoon, Alun Cummings plays Aloysius Menlove, the mayor. Aloysius deserves a revival (and just realised what his surname was - if you watch this you’ll get the joke).

Riapia · 19/03/2023 14:09

Was Tarka the otter’s name Tarquin?

Tarka just a nickname.

caringcarer · 19/03/2023 14:17

I know an adult Tarquin, we call him Quinn and I did not realise his real name was Tarquin for a couple of years. I also know an adult Tristan. Both nice people and actually not too posh but both do have posh parents.