I have often thought that it would be fun to change my name by deed poll. The change I would make would be to alter my middle name to Danger, then I could honestly say “Danger is my middle name,”.
It’s not the strongest joke in the world but it would amuse me, even though the most dangerous thing about me is my full fat diet.
The first site I looked at rather put me off, as they revealed that they have at least one application a week to add Danger as a middle name. I was hoping to be a trail blazer rather than join a movement.
Then I read this article and started to think of the downside of a novelty name.
The original draft used the expression “final nail in the coffin”. I cut it in the final version, but it reminded me of an unusual name I once saw.
Pine-Coffin is the name. There are three Pine-Coffins listed by the Commonwealth Graves Commission, which is where I first saw the name. One was killed in the Second World, a second is commemorated on the Archangel Memorial to those killed in the North Russia campaign who have no known grave. The third died at home in 1919 aged 52 – his son had an interesting career in WW2.