Names are always a source of interest, and one of my favourite categories of names is people with two surnames - like Gordon Thomas, or Jackson Jackson. Unlike most names in English, they are also reversible.
Today's word is Jay, a name and a letter. I have been reading about the tussle between Mike Rann, premier of South Australia, and Jay Weatherill (picture with family, and article about him here). Mr Weatherill was nominated by "the factions" to succeed Mr Rann, and this will happen today. I have been struck how odd it sounds to hear a name which is also an initial - Jay in this case. It only becomes less odd through familiarity. The names Bea, Dee, Kay and Em may have the same initial effect, but I have gotten used to them, attached as they are to real people.
These are the only names I know in English which sound like a single letter of the alphabet, and all but one of them is an abbreviation. There aren't any more, but I could be wrong - let me know.
2 comments:
Two more for you: Elle, which may be pronounced as in the letter and is not an abbreviation, and Es, short for Esther (which may be unusual, but by which a friend of mine is known).
Well Dana, I should have worked out Elle (although Es is more of a stretch) and on the same principles there could be others, at least theoretically - perhaps Eff for Effie.
Post a Comment