# "Lord Peter Wimsey" - whence the title? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708 "2008-04-24T17:04:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708/21 "2008-04-25T20:03:53Z")
In one of the books, I think “Murder must Advertise” where Lord Peter uses that name extensively, he comments that most people who have been cursed with it by their parents rhyme it to “teeth”, but that he prefers the more recherché pronunciation of “death” as in the Grim Reaper and all. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708/22 "2008-04-25T20:14:44Z")
Thanks, that’s one of the books I haven’t read yet. I was reading them in order until I got to _Have His Carcase_, then I got caught up in the Peter/Harriet story and skipped ahead to _Gaudy Night_. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708/23 "2008-04-25T20:33:13Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine] While we’re on the subject of Lord Peter, something I’ve wondered: is his second name, “Death”, pronounced like “Heath”? I’ve never seen that name anywhere else. [/QUOTE] [It’s not that uncommon.](http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6246) And in real life, it appears to be normally pronounced de-ath, with two syllables, to avoid death’s sting, I suppose.. Affected, pretentious, foppish Peter naturally wouldn’t do this. :rolleyes: His other middle name is Bredon, BTW. Peter Death Bredon Wimsey. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708/24 "2008-04-26T00:54:33Z")
Found it - in chapter 14 of “Murder Must Advertise” [QUOTE=Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey] It’s Death. Pronounce it any way you like. Most of the people who are plagued with it make it rhyme with teeth, but personally I think it sounds more picturesque when rhymed with breath. [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708/25 "2008-04-26T03:21:09Z")
The Churchill example is a precise real-life parallel. Sir Winston’s paternal grandfather was Sir John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough. His eldest son, George Charles, was honorary Marquess of Blandford until succeeding to the dukedom. Sir Winston’s father was Lord Randolph Churchill, the “Lord” being honorary and Lord Randolph being a prominent 19th Century politician in the House of Commons. Churchill himself was purely a commoner, though of aristocratic lineage (and for the first six years of his life third in line for the dukedom, after his Uncle George and father); his knighthood was bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II in honor of his services to the U.K. in, IIRC, 1953. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708/26 "2008-04-30T16:38:03Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] And there’s [Princess Michael of Kent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Michael_of_Kent), whose name does sound very odd. [/QUOTE] You’re not kidding! She should have stuck with “Baroness Marie-Christine Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz”. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708/27 "2008-04-30T17:32:45Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine] Thanks, that’s one of the books I haven’t read yet. I was reading them in order until I got to _Have His Carcase_, then I got caught up in the Peter/Harriet story and skipped ahead to _Gaudy Night_. [/QUOTE] You’ve got to read it. It’s probably my favorite Sayers’ mystery. It’s a really fun look not just at the Bright Young Things, but also at the working schlubs at the advertising firm where Wimsey goes undercover. (IIRC, Sayers worked in advertising herself for a little while.) ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708/28 "2008-04-30T18:05:47Z")
[QUOTE=burundi] You’ve got to read it. It’s probably my favorite Sayers’ mystery. It’s a really fun look not just at the Bright Young Things, but also at the working schlubs at the advertising firm where Wimsey goes undercover. (IIRC, Sayers worked in advertising herself for a little while.) [/QUOTE] I will. I also have an unread copy of _The Nine Tailors_, which is supposed to be excellent. I’m almost reluctant to read them, because then there will be no more to look forward to. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708/29 "2008-04-30T19:17:26Z")
In this same vein, Trollope wrote a novel about a baby referred to as Lord Popenjoy (or just “Popenjoy”), because he was the heir to the Marquis of Brotherton, and that was the title that such heir always carried. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-peter-wimsey-whence-the-title/446708.md?page=1)