When I was a teen there was another in our church, a couple years older, whose legal name was Chip. The family was a perfectly ordinary family, with an ordinary surname; so why he got that name I don’t know.
Harry and Hal have both been diminutives for Henry. How that came about I don’t know, as Harold would seem to be good for Harry. My father Harold had two middle names and one was Harry. Harold Harry Herbert Surname. Strange. But sometimes when the family on my mother’s side was together his BIL would refer to him as “H. H.”
A high school friend swore she knew of a family where the first son was named (say) Cuthbert Swogglingham Jones, Jr. But he went by “Chip” and the parents really, really wanted a Cuthbert, so they named their second son Cuthbert Swogglingham Jones III.
I’m not entirely sure I believe it, George Foreman’s kids notwithstanding (this was a while before that), but it’s amusing to think about!
The Molly (plural Mollies) is a common pet aquarium fish. From its former genus name Mollienisia.
A sally (plural sallies) is a military sortie, a witty remark, and a few other things.
I think if I were to refer to multiples of the girls’ name I would write Mollys, Sallys … if they were spelt with a y.
I knew a guy called Dolph. His full name was Adolph, he was born in 1948… and he was Jewish. Apparently “Adolph” had been his grandfather’s name, and his mother, who apparently was a real piece of work, decided that there was no reason not to give it to him. He had an interesting childhood.
Incidentally, Dolph, a native of Seattle, went on to become a successful psychiatrist and - I’m not kidding - the inspiration for the character of Frasier Crane from Cheers and Frasier.
My entire family (7 aunts and uncles), my brother, sister and I were all raised Catholic, all named after either saints or major bible (New testament) figures.
All my cousins, all my nieces and nephews, and both my children hold Catholic saints names, even though only my brother is religious, but he’s not Catholic any more. I’m a strong atheist, my sister is agnostic.
It is probably that the Catholics played such a large part in European history and have so many saints that it is hard to find an English name without an attached saint.
Mine is St. Anthony, patron saint of lost causes. You may pray for me!
Also my preferred diminutive is “Ant” rather than the more common “Tony”. But I’d not call my child that, he’s already “James” which we extend rather than shorten, to “Danger James”
I’d contend there are a lot of “generational things” at play here, both in the naming and in the annoyance factor. And cultural things as well.
My aunt (born 1925) didn’t like any “plain name”, and there would be pearls clutched as she’d make pronouncements like "Never name a child Edward. Ed sounds like… like a garbageman!"
She has a grandson Ed.
On the other end of the age/class/race demographic, as a teacher I had to learn to pronounce (and not judge) a variety of names, and I had a college student whose first name was HendrixLover.
We’ve reached the age where we check the obits. And the massive number of people who aren’t sure anyone will know their dearly departed dad make for some inadvertent humor:
In loving memory of Robert (“Bob”) Reynolds…
or Jonathan (“John”) Jacobs, born in Long Prairie, Minnesota…
or William (“Bill”) Wilson (Febuary 19, 1934 to October 11, 2023)…
Is there ANYone who’ll be reading that obituary and think "Hey, that’s my old friend Bill Wilson! That’s his picture, and yep, he was Sergeant-at-Arms of the East Verona Rotary Club…
I’ve had a few friends who have died, leaving us all perplexed about their names. Pittsburgh tattoo legend Moose was known as Moose his entire career. When he died we were all sad but we were also surprised that he had a “real” name (Robert Rutter).
Nope - but I’ve mostly seen obits without a photo… And some people so totally go by nicknames of various types that people don’t actually know their names - I remember being on a trip once, and the hotel clerk was calling out names to check us in. The last name called was “Marc” - and someone said something to the effect that there was no “Marc” i n our group. At which point I said " What , do you think his mother named him “Bucky”?" Or my Uncle Jimmy - whose actual name was Vincent. (long story having to do with Italian immigrants.) You would think that “Bill” for “William” or “Bob” for “Robert” are obvious - and they are to me but maybe it’s not so obvious to my 22 year old niece. Who might recognize “Will” or " Rob" but not the "B’ names.
Our daughter Maggie is formally Margaret, which we did to give her options as an adult, so as not to be the parents in the OP. When we floated the idea of naming her Maggie, my Mom said “there’s no St. Maggie.” That was not the reason for choosing Margaret, though.
There doesn’t appear to be a St. Colleen (daughter 2) but Mom might have been quiet about that because it is a diminutive of her name, Colette.
My husband’s mother hailed from tidewater Virginia, where there is apparently an old-money tradition of ancestral surnames as first names. Which are then never used. One of his cousins (female) was named Beauchamp ('Beechum"), but everyone knew her as Muffy. Her sister I only knew as Widget.
Excuse my ‘Not A Catholic’ brain, but why the need to name your child the same as a random saint?
My Catholic friends have plenty of stories where words or some object will impart magic to the owner… is there a belief that the child’s life will follow that of the chosen saint?
And do they consider that most of those saints were tortured or crucified (even upside down)?
.
eta: Peter was reportedly crucified upside down, and Saint Andrew diagonally (hence the X-shaped flag of St. Andrew, I assume).