Dearly Beloved

We are gathered here today to talk about names. My new Friend of the Cafe is a lovely man called David. He is the minister at St Andrews URC in Peterborough, and comes in to us for a coffee on his journey through the park on his bike. He sometimes stays, chatting to one of his parishioners for a while, and often chats to our staff. He also writes ideas for sermons while looking out over the lake, and passing the time of day with our customers. He wrote a sermon last month, which in part was about us.
He was discussing Abram and his wife Sarai, both of whom were made to change their names to Abraham and Sarah. He then went through our names and their meanings- Florian, meaning flower, Ollie, from the French Olivier, olive tree, Jodie is apparently a variant of Judith form the Hebrew meaning from Judea, and Charlotte means little and womanly the feminine of Charles.
I have a book that is very old, and within its pages it discusses onomantics- that is the divination of names. As it is so old, the names on the list are not seen so much these days Aurelia, Gaston, Alphonse and so on. The "meanings" of some are quite blunt, to the point of rude in some instances.
Oliver comes out as "Bearing Fruit:Delightful medieval name full of chivalrous bravery. Our Olivers still seem noble, sensitive, affectionate, reserved, always equable and sane" ( I never said the book was right!)
Judith-Jodie- means "who praises"
David comes out as "well beloved"
Charlotte is "the strong one: Judgment, good heart, energy, wisdom due to deep thought and true integrity. A Charlotte is active, hard working, a good companion, pleasant, fairly elegant. Her tastes are not very aesthetic, she is a simple and sane bourgeoise." (look at me!!)
The meaning of Andrew, the saint that gives his name to David's church means;"the conqueror. Pleasant appearance, simple manners, good company. Marries late. It has often been observed that many Andrews are bitten by animals or lose sight in one eye through some awkward person barging into them."
I don't know why Andrew was made a saint, it would be good to know if he lived up to this meaning.
There is no Amanda,Grant,Gemma or Sabrina, although I am sure we can find meanings for them all. They are perhaps too modern for my book, after all it does give in it's list of common names Hippolyte (a lover of horses) and Lucien with the ominous postscript "women don't trust them".

Familiarity Breeds Nicknames

We had a discussion front of house this morning. It was started by Cappuccino man. His name is Bob. I have known his name is Bob for some time, and he visits us at least once a day, with his wife- Jacquie- and their two huge Irish Wolfhounds -Kerry and Marnie. They have been stopping for drinks and toast every morning for the last five years. I however cannot think of him as Bob. He is Cappuccino man. They used to be "The Cappucino People", but Jacquie now drinks filter coffee. We have always made up names for people, some not as obvious as simply what they drink. We have Rockmancake. Don't ask. We have Nice hand man, Apricot jam man, Crazy Lady, Birthday Lady, Crazy Cake Lady, Takeaway man- who now signs his christmas cards to us with this alias rather than Roy- and The Cat in the Hat.
We are also more likley to know the dogs names, than the owners names. We still refer to "Storms owner" even though we know it is their sons dog and we know they are called Jacquie and Ivor. "Stitch man" is actually Gordon, another father taking his sons dog out, but if I refer to him as Gordon to my staff, they would give me a blank look.
It is a strange phenomonon, but it must happen everywhere. It is the distinguishing feature, although we sell hundreds of Cappucinos throughout the day we know who we mean.
I asked Cappuccino man if he had names for us, the new members of staff that they haven't got to know yet, but he commented with a wry smile "you wouldn't serve me again if I told you".
I know some customers do have names for us- the smiley one, the bright one, the one with the dreadlocks, the other one with the dreadlocks, the little one and the one with The Hair. The one with the hair was a waitress who had a different style and colour for every week, indeed some customers came in and their first question was "what colour is it today?"
Within the staff we have changed peoples names around. It started by reversing first names. Jodie Became Eidoj, but is now Dojie, and Gemma became Ammeg. In her case this then became Ammeg and Chips, and sometimes shortened to Andchips. Bizarrely she answers even to that!Jamie became Majie, and we have had Shakey, Browney,Greeny and Jimbob Squarepants.
We are a simple people, but we are a happy people.