Goodbye John, goodbye Betty. (Argus).(personal names)(Brief Article)

TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN names are under threat and will soon be a thing of the past unless something is done to rescue them, according to the newly formed Forename Defence League.

"Where are all the Matthews, Marks, Lukes and Johns, the Annes, Elizabeths and Marys?" asks impeccably-named FDL spokesman Richard Patrick Cavendish. "All you ever hear nowadays are surnames used as Christian names in the silly American fashion--Tracey and Brooke (with or without the e), Kelly, Taylor, Murphy, Bradley and so on, all used indiscriminately for girls or boys."

Mr Cavendish said the greatest incidence of surname-forenames was among "the commercial television-watching classes". He said that "ABC viewers and parents with aspirations to gentility" tended to avoid surnames in favour of older-fashioned Christian names like Hugo, Will, Rupert or Henry for boys and Emma, Harriet, Jemima or Nellie for girls. "This is encouraging, but unfortunately these names are seen as having `snobby' associations which put ordinary folk off."

Mr Cavendish said he hoped the Howard government, "which seems sympathetic to tradition" would fund if re-elected a massive public education campaign extolling the "aesthetic and euphonious advantages" of what he called "nice names".

"Cavendish's ideas are ...