Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious. Brendan Gill

Few people know that the name ‘Bronte’ which was the esteemed surname of those famous writing sisters was infact a fudged moniker.
The father of the writers having found himself at somewhat of a disadvantage as in Irish man in England with the decidingly more plebian last name of Brunty assumed the aesthetically pleasing Bronte and the rest is history. Its funny people now name their girls Bronte as it has romantic and creative connotations but where does that leave the more earthy Brunty?
Shakespeare said “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, he was trying to say that it is the real essence of something that matters not what it is called. We all know that’s not true. Think of that testosterone laden movie star of those he- man western movies John Wayne, well he was named Marion Robert Morrison at birth -it doesn’t have quite the right ring does it? Or what about Elle macpherson the long legged Aussie so called supermodel who was formerly known as Eleanor Nancy Gow. I’m visulising a someone plump and short are you?
Names are funny things they are our label so to speak, which is probably why so many parents are so anxious to pick the right one. Supposedly boys have to have strong masculine, hard names like Connor or Jake to truely know they have a corrupted chromosome. Girls on the other hand should have names ending in soft vowel sounds like Aimee and Kirsty aaah! how sweet. This all brings to mind one Greek family I knew which had a family of five brothers. All those five brothers had wives who gave birth to sons within a couple of years of each other. Tradition had to be followed and those five sons were named after the paternal grandfather bringing about five cousins with the name of Christos! It was a ridiculous scene when the boys grew up and started going out together to pick up chicks.
In my own family tree my mum told me about her grandfather who was named Adolf after the Captain of the boat they immigrated on. Supposedly he changed his name to Henry in about 1939- I wonder why?

Add a comment September 2, 2010