There were none in primary school but we did have some other names I've rarely heard since.........like Melvin and Neville and Roderick.
When I got to Grammar school there was only one Colin who was in my form right through the 5 years and I'm sure his middle name was also the same as my Col. I was "madly in love" with that Colin- as you are at age 11 and 12 ......and 13. Goodness knows why, as I think he found me totally annoying and I remember him being very rude about me in my hearing. I also remember getting to sit in the desk right in front of him one year......which was tremendously exciting! I left school after O levels in 1971 but he stayed on for A levels.
When we had our school reunion in 1988 and I was trying to track down addresses for the 90 people in our year who were by then spread far and wide, I managed to find his address from his parents who still lived in the same place, by then he was deputy head of a primary school on the Suffolk/Essex border but sadly he didn't come to the reunion. At sometime in the 90's I saw on the now defunct Friends Re-united site that he was teaching in Dubai. No idea where he is now although he has a Facebook page that he doesn't use..................I'm not stalking him.......honestly!
I met the Colin I'm married to in about 1974 or 5 and we got together in 1978 and married in 79..... goodness me..... it's our 40th wedding anniversary next year!
There was just one other Colin, he would have been my Uncle except he died when he was just a young boy, a late baby for my Gran as he would have been just 10 or 11 years older than me. He had leukemia............ no cures for that in the early 50's.
As for my name......Susan.........we are just so common! There were 5 Susans out of the 45 girls in our year at Grammar School. There were at least 3 who were mums of other children when our lot were at primary school and now there are many blogging Sues too. My Mum always said she wanted to call me Jane but was persuaded not to by my Gran.........who said " Oh No Not Plain Jane"..............I don't know many Janes anywhere.........would have been much more interesting!
Thank you for comments about the "vintage kitchenalia". It's rare to find anything similar in a charity shop nowadays...........think it's all on ebay.
Welcome to another follower.....guess what.....another Susan!
Back Tomorrow
Sue
I've known a few Sues over the years but no Colins. It's interesting how names change and also how it can be all the thing for a couple of years and then drop off the radar almost completely. Sometimes it is a celebrity thing, I think.
ReplyDeleteJ x
I've been told that Susans in the 1950's were named after the Queens favourite corgi!
DeleteNo Sues, Janes or Colins on school registers these days although the names of Elsie and Martha are making a come back!
ReplyDeleteOur two grandchildren - Jacob and Florence - both lovely names from the past which wouldn't have been used at all in the 1970' to 1990's
DeleteMy step father is called Colin! Facing his own health issues right now, so have been wishing both Colins well.
ReplyDeleteHope your stepfather is getting on well.
DeleteInteresting post on names. I was the only Penelope at my school, always the odd one in later generations. Always called by my full name at home but my husband and close friends call me Pen but now I am more commonly known as Penny.
ReplyDeleteNo Pennys in our year at school but I knew several just a wee bit younger
DeleteI don't know any Colins at all. Good luck to yours!
ReplyDeleteThank you - he is gradually feeling better week on week
DeleteOne Colin and several Susan/Sue's. It isn't quite so strong these days, but when I was a child I would perceive names in colour, which my parents thought was just an affectation. It was years later that I discovered it is something called synesthesia, where senses are linked. So, allowing that to happen again, I can tell you that I 'see' Sue as a red name and Colin is a kind of mushroom/beige colour, my own name is a different red. It has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not I like a name by the way, they are what they are. It only ever happened with names, luckily!
ReplyDeleteI've heard of that - very odd and interesting. Red was my favourite colour when I was younger
DeleteWell when i was at school in the 60s there was one Colin and one Neville..Had a brief fling,lol,with a boy called Melvin when I was 15...and now Im pondering if Rod Stewarts real name is Roderick,lol.Debi,xx
ReplyDeleteor maybe Rodney? don't know any of those either
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DeleteThere were very few Rachels in the 1950s. We had three Susan's in our class of 24.
ReplyDeleteOur daughter in law is Rachel - born in the 1980's
DeleteHad a Colin Young in my secondary (modern) class who was late for school one day because "I could not find my shoes,Sir" and he got away with it. Whenever Jane comes to mind it is either Doris Day on the stagecoach or the
ReplyDeleten strip cartoon many years ago in the Daily Mirror, neither of who could be considered plain!
I would have loved to have been Jane but have put up with Susan for 63 years now!
DeleteLots of Carol's at my school. I was the only one who had an e on the end of my name, that is only because the registrar said it had to be Carole, as that was the girls way of spelling it.Carol he decided was the boy's spelling. Not met a boy called Carol - only Carol Reed, the film director. Incidentally, in my young dating years I went out with two young men who were both called Melvin! Never met any since though, it is a terrible name!
ReplyDeleteOnly 1 Carol in our year at Grammar, otherwise I don't think I know any others
DeleteWe had a dear funny friend called Colin, who always lit up a room when he entered, hubbies BIL is Colin. As for Sue's we have loads, our daughter is Suzanne, but calls herself Su. Can't think of a Sue/Su we don't like.
ReplyDeleteToo many Sues gets complicated!
DeleteI have a cousin called Colin and there was one Colin in my class at junior school ... along with two other Susans.
ReplyDeleteI have alwsys seemed to have a preponderance of Steve's in my life, but I went on to marry the first Alan I had ever known😊
My uncle in that picture was an Alan and one or two I remember from primary and secondary schools. Many Many Stevens or Stephens all over!
DeleteI have a cousin Colin who emigrated to Australia after he got married. Haven't seen him in over 50 years. I've known lots of Sue/Susans over the years, but I can't remember any in school.
ReplyDeleteMy eldest brother is called Derek and you don't see many of them either, although my daughter's partners father is called Derek. My youngest brother is called Charles after my grand-dad. These days the name Charles has become Charlie, but not in my family as we were brought up to call him Charles as my mum hated it if anyone called him Charlie. I remember hearing her tell our school-friends off if they called him Charlie. She only called him Charles to appease my grandma because I hadn't been named Louie after her. I'm glad she didn't give me that name. My own name of Joan has been lengthened to Joanne/Joanna/Johanna etc and it was my dad who gave me that name. he told me he chose Joan because it was short, couldn't be shortened and was easy to spell. My mum on the other hand told me he named me after an old girlfriend of his. I never have minded my name although it is a bit old-fashioned now.
Sorry I've gone on for so long, but memories came flooding back.
Joan (Devon)
My mum had a cousin Joan and best friend Joan perhaps it will come round again soon. No Dereks anywhere that I know
DeleteThe only Colin I know is a chap who writes crosswords for a living.
ReplyDeleteArilx
That's clever
DeleteWe had a cat called Colin, he found us as a tiny kitten and stayed for many years, but one day he just disappeared, rather sad. One of my middle names is Luella, don't hear that one very often xcx
ReplyDeleteColin the cat sounds sweet!
DeleteLuella is certainly a very unusual name
My dad's name is Colin.
ReplyDeleteI detest my own name. It's a male or female name and all my life I've had problems with it!! Our poll tax bills used to be addressed to Mr & Mr ..., one day at the dentist the receptionist called me in, card in hand, and then said "oh sorry, it's not you I called, it's a gentleman"... Grrrr! There are hundreds of women with my name - it's not just a man's!! (The 2 I can think of of my era are Lee Remick the actress and Lee McKenzie (broadcaster) from Formula 1. How I wish I was named Susan!!!
The only Lee's I know are male...........sorry
DeleteI have a very good (female) friend called Lee :-)
DeleteThat's funny that it's considered a male name - I only ever think of Lee as a female name! (Sorry to the men out there named Lee)
DeleteMy one and only brother is a Colin x
ReplyDeleteGood Name!
DeleteNo Colin, here. But, my middle name is Sue.
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Our youngest's middle name is Deborah - she hates it and said why? we said why not!
DeleteMy names Debra and all through my life others have written Deborah!,Debi,xx
DeleteThe opposite - we have a Deborah who gets spelt Debra! And her twin, Joanna, is often called Joanne!
DeleteDeborah can't bear Debbie, but is known as Deb!
We're all different!
On boy's names, my son is Martin, and I'm sure he's grateful that I didn't call him after my grandad - Zenas (as in Zenas the lawyer in the book of Titus in the Bible.)
Doing the family tree, we've found several Zenases, going right back to the 1700s, all in that one branch.
Got to use the name in the end though - I named my two young cats after my grandparents - Zenas and Florence!
I have met three of my son's neighbors in the U.K., and they are ALL named Margaret!!!
ReplyDeleteI was the only Tania in my school it was always misspelt as Tanya. It's my 40th wedding anniversary this October, let's see if he remembers!
ReplyDeleteJames is common on my side of the family and every other male born seems to have been called Thomas on Mark's side - including my own boy! I always wanted to be called Julie when I was little - think my older glamourous cousin had something to do with that. Not many people call me Suzanne - I'm mostly referred to as Sue. Hope you're keeping warm in your part of the world. xx
ReplyDeleteHi Sue,
ReplyDeleteI never knew that I could be so thought-provoking! I think that we are an endangered species as I do not think that there is a Colin under 30 in the Country. I was born in 1945 and there were a few about of a similar age to me in my youth- Colin Cowdrey the famous cricketer being one.
Best wishes to you and my namesake .
Thank you for giving me the idea for a post! it has proved very popular :-)
DeleteWe named our oldest son Colin. Not so common where we live and sometimes it was pronounced like it is in Jamaica.
ReplyDeleteIs that Co-lin? ( As co in comb)
DeleteYes wrongly pronounced Coe lin rhymes with bowlin - Colin Powell grew up in Harlem but his parents were from Jamaica and of course once all the news people started pronouncing it this way and that was the start of it being wrongly pronounced. He doesn't run into that so much these days.
DeleteI know one Colin and one Sue. There were six Fionas in my year at grammar school. I'm a honeymoon baby and my parents honeymooned in Scotland and I've always assumed I was Fiona as it is a Scottish name. But there are an awful lot of Fionas who are around my age that it may have been just a fashionable name at the time ( 1964 )
ReplyDeleteGoodness 6 Fionas must have been complicated for the teachers
DeleteA friend of a friend has a grandson named Colin. That's the only one I know of, though. My name was super common while I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. Jennifers are legion around here!
ReplyDeleteWe have a proliferation of Elizabeths in our family, but just one Sue, she's my eldest cousin Peter's wife.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I'm a Col, it's an abbreviation of my (French) name, I have only ever met two more of 'me'!
On my maternal grandfather's side, the names John and James alternated down the generations, the eldest boy being given one of the names. My Grandad was James, his dad was John, his grandad was James, his great grandad was John, and so on. It was really easy to trace the family line back as they had a very unusual surname, I went back to 1736 before I found no John or James, but I found a Peter! The tradition seems to have died out when all my Grandad's children were girls!
It was only after our grandson had been registered that I discovered he had been born 101 years to the day after my Grandad's brother Dean had been killed at Gallipolli. If that had been known he would have had yet another middle name!
My Dads family had Edwards, Edwins, Georges, and Winifreds repeated quite often
DeleteI don't think I've known any Colins but I have known some Susans. They are both very good, strong names. I have only known a couple of others with my name (Bonnie). I was named after my great aunt who was born on St.Patrick's Day and her father said that was a good name for the date. Funny how we come about our names!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is a Colin, the only one I have known, no Colins at school. When my daughter was pregnant with her second child she decided on the name Oliver, as in 15 years teaching she had never taught an Oliver, now it is really common in our area.
ReplyDeleteI've never known a "real" Colin. :-) Way out here in the wild American West, then name just never made it this far. I'm glad you married a good one.. the school one sounded rather mean. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteMy ex BIL is a Colin, nice chap actually. One of my sons has Colin as his middle name and he hates it!!
ReplyDeleteI know one Colin and a few Susans; I like the good solid names that have been around for awhile!
ReplyDeleteI hate my name of Susan otherwise known as Sue. I always say go in any supermarket and call Sue and fourteen women will turn round! All elderly now I might add as it was a big favourite in the 40s and 50s
ReplyDeleteI have known quite a few Colins over the years including my nephew. There were loads of Sues at school. John was the most common boys' name. My name Jean is very common among people of my age and older. It was a very popular Scottish name and my dad was Scots.
ReplyDeleteColin is one of my favorite names and both my son's and granddaughter's middle name.. My youngest son is Geoffrey Colin and his oldest daughter is Claire Colin.
ReplyDeleteOur school was full of Lynda, Linda, Lynne and Lins but Susan probably a close second. I now work with Carols of both spellings! I have surprisingly known many Colins - neighbours, friends and relatives but only ever one Melvin who I played with in Infant School (because I liked going to his house it was ultra modern like an Ideal Home showhouse!).
ReplyDeleteI have always been the only Vivien whatever group I am in - School, college, work, church etc and many foreign countries cannot even pronounce it like Spain where I have to be 'Bibian'!!
As a child I hated my name - there were three other Sharons in my year at school. It was horrible.
ReplyDeleteI was a child of the early 1950s and there were lots of Linda/Lyndas too, lots of Patricias (including my dear best friend), several Susans, Rosies, Anns, Christines, Maureens, a couple of Judiths, a couple of Elizabeths, a couple of Diane/as, a Brenda, a Norah (poor girl), a Shelley, an Alison, a Janice, a Jane, nothing really exotic though I did know a girl called Ivy (after her gran perhaps?) but she didn't go to our school.
ReplyDeleteMy brother's name is Colin. He was born in the late 1940s
ReplyDeleteMost all Linda’s are now in their 60s. I wonder if it will become popular again?
ReplyDeleteI've never really liked my name: Sandra. It seemed old fashioned to me in the 1970s and I have since changed it to Sandy. I have never really known many Sandras. I knew lots of Deborahs/Debras, Susans, Marys, Jennifers, Carolines, Carols and one Colin :) James is a name that has remained popular through the years .... I gave my son that name and luckily he is pleased about it! Won't allow anyone to call him anything other than James, forget Jim.
ReplyDelete