It's All In A Name

It’s All In A Name

Some time ago, I called on a darts friend who is getting on a bit and saw him playing on his new computer. He had just bought a CD from a car boot sale that contained information on all the local births, deaths and marriages as he was researching his family tree. He told me how fascinating it was finding out all the history attached to local families. I was not really interested, but it set me thinking about the variety of surnames that we have in this country, how most of them originated and the unusual associations that some of them have.

Most English surnames came from places or occupations. Take for example one player in the Rugeley League - Paul Fletcher of the Chase Pub. A “Fletcher” was someone that made arrows in the olden days and obviously if you went back far enough one of Paul’s ancestors must have had that occupation. He is sort of continuing the tradition with the fact that he is making a name for himself locally as quite a respectable darts player.

Other surnames have interesting connections such as mine. Quite often when I am playing darts and have what seems to some as a lucky finish, someone will shout out “You Jammy Sod,” too which will be added the comment, “You’ve got more jam than Hartley’s.” After this there will be a ripple of laughter, because as some of you will know my surname is Hartley and a manufacturer called Hartley makes, amongst other things, preserves or jams. The joke is getting a little thin now after being given the nickname “Jammy” in school about 40 years ago.

Another player in the team I play for has a surname which has become legendary in the field of darts and that is of course “Taylor.” Geoff Taylor gets quite a few references to his namesake when playing and I must admit that I am probably more guilty than most of this crime.

Even our illustrious leader Graham Jellyman has an interesting surname, not that I’m saying he turns to jelly with nerves when he is playing a match.

When you start thinking about the surnames of darts players that you know you can start making all sorts of interesting and sometimes amusing darting connections.