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submitted 2 months ago by sjmarf@sh.itjust.works to c/til@lemmy.world
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[-] radix@lemmy.world 88 points 2 months ago

There's also Ulysses S. Grant. The "S" was apparently just a mistake on his enrollment at West Point. His birth name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. He tried to switch his first and middle names, but ended up with the initials USG instead of UHG.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ulysses-S-Grant

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 37 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

And then there's the odd case of "Thomas a Becket." Thomas Beket was never called Thomas a Becket in his lifetime. He apparently went by many names, one of which was "Beket," but never "a Becket."

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2023/research/thomas-a-becket-study/

[-] degen@midwest.social 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Is this the genesis of British "humour"? Thomas, a Becket, even got the name in the time of Shakespeare.

Waiting for somebody to eviscerate me over British history, cause all I know is Monty Python.

[-] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 5 points 2 months ago

I think you're going to need some Blackadder to go along with your Monty Python.

Start with the second series though, as the first series is a little weaker (the characters and style are a bit different), and might put you off.

[-] Player2@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

Interesting, I generally prefer the first series over the others, though I haven't seen the last one yet

[-] Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Yeah, that's just odd. 'A' isn't something you'd find before a surname as part of the name, unlike 'd' or 'o' etc.

[-] oo1@lemmings.world 5 points 2 months ago

In Wales they used to use ab/ap as a patronym, a bit like Mac in Gallic. There might have been similar in parts of whatever they called England before the anglo-saxons came, but that's not likely to have influenced anything by the time of Becket, or the later time when the 'a' was added.

I don't think it has really survived in Wales either; the 'a' has often dissapeared and the p/b merged with the fathers name, like Prichard, or Bowen.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

There is a theory that America is named not after Amerigo Vespucci, but after Richard ap Meryk also known as Richard Amerike, who owned the ship that sent John Cabot across the Atlantic. I think it's mostly been refuted at this point, but the name has stuck with me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amerike

this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2024
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