Morecock, Fartwell, & Hoare: A Collection of Unfortunate but True Names

By Russell Ash
St. Martin’s Press, $14.99, 256 pages

In this gleefully written volume are some of the silliest English names in history. I know of some silly-but-true names already, so when I see a volume like this I imagine it’s filled with names not too far off from those I’ve already encountered. That said, author Russell Ash has done a fine job crafting this book, and it’s organized so as to explain much prior to diving into the lists of various genres of ill-considered names. I didn’t expect to get as many laughs out of this book as I ultimately did get, and confess to having laughed myself to tears once or twice. Despite the fact I didn’t find anyone named Hammond Egger in there, and clearly some of the names wouldn’t be funny if not for the advent of something over time to make it so (e.g. the name Minnie Cooper wouldn’t be funny prior to about 1970) there was no shortage of really incredibly silly names in this book. Some names were painfully embarrassing. This book could be a very dangerous thing in the hands of a pubescent boy a la Bart Simpson so I’d recommend keeping it away from the ‘tweens in the house. Short of that, especially over cocktails or coffee, this is a great little book to have strategically placed for a little conversation-making.

Reviewed by John Cloutman