Daft names for British characters in US things

[George White]

There is the actor Gil Birmingham.

[rilk]

Mr Peanut, the Planters peanut man, has the full name "Bartholomew Richard Fitzgerald-Smythe"

[Gurke and Hare]

And Irvine Welsh is a Scot. False advertising!

As a kid I was confused by how Mike England could be the Wales manager.

[Terry Torpid]

As a kid I was confused by how Mike England could be the Wales manager.

And don't get me started on Bill Irish (1932–1992), English lawn and indoor bowler!

[IsavedLatin]

Mad Men has Guy MacKendrick, St John Powell and Lane Pryce.

[idunnosomename]

There is the actor Gil Birmingham.

again American born though. if he's born to a Comanche father and a mother of Spanish ancestry not sure where it comes from. I mean there's plenty of Birminghams in the USA

[Mister Six]

My favourite concocted British name is Japanese in origin: "Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing" (a woman) from the manga Hellsing.

Similarly, although coming at it from precisely the opposite angle, Mr Gentleman from Read Or Die.

[Autopsy Turvey]

Devon Miles in Knight Rider.

Not US, but Neighbours had an English character called Edward Buckingham. Counterintuitively, he was a black fella.

[Mister Six]

Pretty sure AD gets a pass, as they deliberately made all the British things wrong, and Rita Leeds is almost certainly a reference to something specific.

Probably that David Cross's dad is from Leeds.

[idunnosomename]

On the topic of Japanese names, Cammy White (キャミィ・ホワイト) is a fairly bizarre idea of what a British lady working for MI6 might be called. Suppose her name is Camilla or Cameron but Street Fighter canon has never established this.

although no odder than say, Marina Hyde or Susie Boniface. Perhaps British people do indeed have daft names

[Theoretical Dentist]

As a kid I was confused by how Mike England could be the Wales manager.

Also Matt Holland (born in England but played for Ireland) and Jason Scotland (born in and played for Trinidad and Tobago, although he did have the decency to play for a few clubs in Scotland). The only footballers I can think of with country-appropriate names are Stephen Ireland and Bethany England.

I'm a fan of a more niche version of this phenomenon, where mayors of one city are named after a different city. The only ones I know of are London Breed (mayor of San Francisco) and Steve Rotheram (mayor of the Liverpool city region, and I've only just noticed his surname only has one H) but I like to think they're all over the place.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

I know someone with the surname Coventry and I promise I'm not saying that just to be a dick

Is it Alistair Coventry, who founded the famous fencing contractors 'Coventry for Fencing' in 1971?

Coventry for Fencing is a family business and was formed by Alistair Coventry in 1971 in his home town of Auchterarder in Perthshire.

I've seen their trucks and their depots and their wee signs telling you that they built such and such a fence all over the place, so had thought they must be a big-shot outfit from England muscling in on the lucrative Scottish high-tensile agricultural fencing market, but it turns out that Mr C actually comes from the unlikely location of Auchterarder.

I was going to complain in this thread that Scottish characters written by people not from Scotland are often given very un-Scottish sounding names. For instance, Robbie Coltrane portrayed a character called 'Paul Finchley' in the drama National Treasure. But this Coventry guy has undermined my case by going around building fences all over Scotland while being called after an English city.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

I'm a fan of a more niche version of this phenomenon, where mayors of one city are named after a different city. The only ones I know of are London Breed (mayor of San Francisco) and Steve Rotheram (mayor of the Liverpool city region, and I've only just noticed his surname only has one H) but I like to think they're all over the place.

Can't remember if I've posted this in the American names thread before, but I saw the mayor of Okeechobee, Florida being interviewed on TV about something or other, and he bears the truly magnificent name Dowling Watford.

https://www.southcentralfloridalife.com/stories/okeechobee-mayor-celebrates-his-40th-year-as-council-member,53258

[Twonty Gostelow]

I don't know if Idris Elba's character in Pacific Rim was specifically written as English, but "Stacker Pentecost" is a completely barmy name.

His Baltimorean character's name in The Wire - Russell Bell - sounds more English than American to me.

[George White]

On the topic of Japanese names, Cammy White (キャミィ・ホワイト) is a fairly bizarre idea of what a British lady working for MI6 might be called. Suppose her name is Camilla or Cameron but Street Fighter canon has never established this.

although no odder than say, Marina Hyde or Susie Boniface. Perhaps British people do indeed have daft names

Emily Thornberry, especially considering her moustachioed Nickelodeon namesake Sir Nigel.

[Theoretical Dentist]

Can't remember if I've posted this in the American names thread before, but I saw the mayor of Okeechobee, Florida being interviewed on TV about something or other, and he bears the truly magnificent name Dowling Watford.

That's excellent, and sadly I doubt Watford will ever reciprocate by having a mayor called Okeechobee.

[dissolute ocelot]

Since we seem to have got onto Japanese media, the Professor Layton games are a delight. Inspector Chelmey of the Yard is presumably some variation of Cholmondley. Clark Triton. Not sure how many Englishmen are called Hershel Layton either.

[Shaxberd]

I'll accept Herschel Layton as a loose play on a name evoking similarity to Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes! Now there's an odd name for a fictional Englishman.

The Ace Attorney game that stars "Herlock Sholmes", though, that's just taking the piss.

[idunnosomename]

it's very odd because Sherlock is principally a surname

[Hank_Kingsley]

The British snacks in You're the Worst (stolen from some Reddit thread):

Shrimp-flavored crisps, Wallenger's choco-knockers, tartar biscuits, lemingtons, fluffingtons, rum Christopher's, and salted licorice knib knobs.

Rum Christophers are the standout for me, I'm sure I've eaten them even if they're fictional.

[The Late Satoru Iwata]

Have we got this far without RUPERT GILES?

[George White]

it's very odd because Sherlock is principally a surname

Hasn't there been a retcon which began in the 60s but taken up in Sherlock Holmes in New York and  Sherlock that the full name is William Sherlock Scott-Holmes...

[dissolute ocelot]

Mycroft is also a rather improbable first name. Although since Holmes was partly based on French detective Monsieur Lecoq he should have been called Sherlock Penis, no?

Back to Anglos in American shows. Charlie Hunnam played Lloyd Haythe in Undeclared. A bizarre character who everyone assumed was faking an English accent despite Hunnam being from Newcastle. Not many English Lloyds I'd have thought.

[Mr Trumpet]

Have we got this far without RUPERT GILES?

Joss Whedon went to Winchester College, so while his English names sound absurdly toffish they're probably representative of the sort of English people he knows.

[Dex Sawash]

Rupert Grint

[seepage]

Not many English Lloyds I'd have thought.

knew a Lloyd from West Bromwich at uni

[grainger]

Sherlock Holmes! Now there's an odd name for a fictional Englishman.

Conan Doyle criticised other detective fiction writers for coming up with shite names, too, so he obviously felt he was good at it. (Specifically, calling their detectives names like, IIRC, "Inspector Ferret").

[Shaxberd]

knew a Lloyd from West Bromwich at uni

Went to school with an English Lloyd. Lived on a farm, kept a taxidermied squirrel's tail in his pencil case. I met his family once and they all had exactly the same face.


Going back to "non-UK media giving British characters funny names", I'm also currently reading a Korean webtoon where the two main characters are called Lloyd and Javier. Not a combo you'd usually encounter.

It's a deliberately "generic fantasy Europe" setting, though - other characters I've encountered so far include Bayern, Arcos and Meatloaf. I love the lack of fucks given by east Asian writers about this sort of thing.

[Paul Calf]

Back to Anglos in American shows. Charlie Hunnam played Lloyd Haythe in Undeclared. A bizarre character who everyone assumed was faking an English accent despite Hunnam being from Newcastle. Not many English Lloyds I'd have thought.

Charlie Hunnam is a fucking terrible actor. I doubt many people on here have seen Green Street because it's a shit film about wankers, so behold Mr. Hunnam's cockney:

How could any director hear that and say "Yep. That's the portrayal of cockney that I want in my film about cockney football hooligans"? He makes Dick Van Dyke sound like Bob Hoskins.

Lloyd Cole is from Buxton.

[seepage]

Went to school with an English Lloyd. Lived on a farm, kept a taxidermied squirrel's tail in his pencil case. I met his family once and they all had exactly the same face.

mine had a funny moustache, was wont to wear ballet tights, and was apparently into a bit of ultra-violence at the football