Ash, Russell

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

St. Martin’s Press:
New York: 2009
First edition, Hardcover, New in dust jacket,
255 pp
Cover artwork by: Lisa Marie Pompilio

“In this book, you'll find an insanity of nomenclature that beggars belief. Russell Ash has trawled birth, marriage, and death certificates, phone books, and censuses going back centuries to compile a compendium of breathtakingly unlikely-but-true names. Why on earth would Mr. and Mrs. O'Shea name their son Rick? What were the Fants thinking when they named their child Elle? Or Mr. and Mrs. Royd, for that matter, when naming their daughter Emma? Or how about Everard Cock, Page Turner, or Sally Forth? In this painstakingly researched, utterly true, riotously entertaining collection, readers will discover real-life examples of some of the most unusual, crude, and shocking names ever, presenting a laugh-out-loud overview of eccentricity through the ages.”   #42505