By R.R.Williams, 2 Pen Lôn, Menai Bridge,
Gwynedd LL56 4TX Most of the readers of this Journal, I’m sure, have been present many times at a meeting when elections have taken place in order to appoint officials of a society or some other organised group of people. Amongst the candidates’ names would, in all probability, be a JOHN JONES. In such a case one would sense the audience feeling uncomfortable; the chairman appeared to have lost control: whispers were heard up and down the meeting and the people present seemed to be confused. Someone in the audience is brace enough to enquire – "John Jones who?". Suddenly the whole atmosphere changes to a feeling of relief; there are genuine smiles to be seen and an air of happiness and understanding is about when the chairman replied that the man concerned was "JOHN JONES SIX". At long last our friend has been clearly identified from other known John Jones’ as THE REAL John Jones in question, living at Number Six, High St. Nicknames are to be found almost everywhere but Wales has a mass of nicknames and are given as a matter of course in order to distinguish a Jones, Williams, Davies etc. from another. Some of the ‘unofficial’ names are humorous in the extreme, many are wonderfully descriptive of the individuals’ character or behaviour while others are unprintable even in this so-called permissible age! In many cases the persons’ real name is not known as, for example, when the writer was intruded to HUGHIE GADGET of Llandudno. He had been so named because of his continuous practise of describing modern telecommunications equipment as "New Gadgets". A person’s home and occupation feature prominently in the never-ending list of nicknames. TOM TY MAWR (Big House), WILL TY CANOL (Middle House), BOB MYNYDD (Mountain), JACK FAR END. BILL LIVERPOOL lived in Anglesey but hailed from that City, WILLIAMS MANCHESTER HOUSE, JANE DOLGELLAU moved to Bangor from Dolgellau. JOHN GOG (Short for Gogledd i.e. North) formerly from Caernarfon worked in S.Wales. JONES THE FISH etc. are familiar ‘names’ to most people. DIC PILOT of the Pilot Boat Inn. WILL GOF (Will Blacksmith), TWM SAER (Tom Carpenter), HUGH CIPAR 9hugh the Gamekeeper), JONES THE STITCH (a Tailor), BILLY THE NAILER (A Shoemaker), ROBAITS BARA (Roberts the Baker), JOHNNY DWR (Johnny the Water worked with the Water Board), HUGH JONES BLOCK (A blockmaker). NED TROWSUS GWYN (Ned White Trousers – a miner who wore white trousers made of calico to reflect what little light came from their lamps). TWO FOOT JONES was not a dwarf but was used to working in a seam of coal just two foot high. HARRI CHWECH A DIME 9 Harry sixpence and a half) ran bus trips from Bethesda to Bangor, Caernarfonshire at a cost of 6½d per passenger. The buses were known as MOTORS CHWECH A DIME (Motors sixpence halfpenny) for many years. A man who opened a bingo hall in Wrexham was instantly ‘recorded’ as WILLIE BINGO. A person’s unusual physical appearance is a favourite target for nicknames. TOMMY NELSON had only one eye, whereas Dai’s leg was slightly shorter than the other and he walked with a limp only to be known as DAI UP AND DOWN. A World War victim as GEORGIE ONE BALL because it was alleged he lost a testicle after being wounded. WILL STRAIGHT BACK and JOHN CHEST walked as erect as the smartest guardsman, and TOM BOGAL HAEARN (Tom Iron Navel) anchored the British Legion ceremonial standard firmly and smartly onto his tummy during the parade. A member of a big family is very often liable to be nicknamed. A family was known as PLANT GOLAU DYDD (Daylight children) because their father worked permanent nights. WILL POPULATION was the father of 13 children. Families may be known according to a nickname given to a member. A schoolchild had his shirt collar covered with flea droppings (Baw Chwain) hence The Flea Droppings Family. Another were know as TEULU BAW HENS (the Hen Droppings Family) because the family had a habit of letting hens and their chicks peck the crumbs from the kitchen floor and left their droppings in return. TEULU MRS JONES NURSE (Mrs. Jones Nurse Family). Mrs Jones was the local visiting nurse; her husband would be referred to as MR JONES NURSE and the son as WILL NURSE. IFAN FULL PELT was always in a rush and only had time to say ‘hello’; while JAC STOROM (Jack Storm) always spoke in a rush with flurry of words. Richard was a big burly man who was attacked by a big black dog. He punched it down and killed it and from then on he was known ad DIC CI DU (Black Dog Dick). DAI QUIET WEDDING got married in plimsolls and BILLY NEVER NEVER was a confirmed celibate. Welsh people on the whole hate class distinction and snobbishness. We have MARY SNOB, ANNIE ARISTOCRAT, LADY DIN GRON 9The swinging buttocks lady), DANNY SEL, NELLIE STUCK UP and MARY TUPPENCE who always paid two pence extra to go into the better seats in the cinema before the war. BOB PINCI PONC is a curious nickname, but he had two kittens, one named Pinci and the other Ponc. TOMMY MY RABBIT was a schoolchild when he cried his heart out on the death of his pet rabbit. He was stuck with that name for life, and a local joker started a rumour that he had died of myxomotosis! A newsagent and a highly respected member of the community never hear to swear nor seen to drink or smoke was mistakenly delivered a consignment of girlie magazines much to his embarrassment as well as to his customers. Once the story got around he was, from that day on, known as JONES THE FILTH. Twin brothers were Bangor newsagents and who had never been known to speak to each other when serving in their shop and hardly any conversations overhead with their customers, were given the apt nickname of SILENT BROTHERS. JONES THE SPY was so called because he was always looking from behind the front room curtains at people passing by. MAGGIE HUGHES CATALOGUE was an agent to a mail order firm and MRS THOMAS PAY CASH disliked hire purchase. JANE NEWS OF THE WORLD was the local gossip; LIZZIE MACHINE GUN spoke at a terrific speed. An Englishman, a Mr. Wilson, who migrated to Wales and loudly, declared that he would not be given a nickname by the locals. "I’m too clever for that" he said. The family are still known as CLEVER WILSONS. Another newcomer said, "They’ll have to be early birds to catch me". So they called him JIM EARLY BIRD. There are countless nicknames around in Wales. Indeed, more often than not, it is easier to identify and connect families by their nicknames than the laborious task of constructing a family tree. How often one has heard in Wales the expression when referring to a family "Mae’n perthyn I DEULU MUL" i.e. he is related to the DONKEY FAMILY. The genealogical relationship with the family may be may be very distant indeed, but the nickname given to a person who carried seaweed from the beach on a donkey, ages and ages ago, has remained implanted in peoples memory. The DONKEY family group are real people and not the nondescript Jones, Hughes. Williams etc. conjured up by the formal registers of many a local or other government organisation over the past two centuries in Wales. Many of the examples of nicknames quoted in
these notes have been abstracted from a publication entitled WELSH NICKNAMES by D.
Leslie Chamberlain. Published in 1981 by Cyhoeddiadau Mei, 40 Stryd y
Wyddfa, Penygroes, CAERNARFON, Gwynedd. |