House names - nice or naff?

I'm probably with you. older, largish house set in reasonable size piece of land, or alternatively a small cottage that's in a row of similar or something...fair enough

but just adding a name seems a bit pointless

House names on old houses which have had that name for many years = nice

House names on estate houses built last week and assigned a number = a bit naff

But I guess it's each to their own really. When we lived on an estate we were just plain old No 41. Now we live in 300+ year old house and it has a name which i wouldn't dream of changing as i've no need to meddle with something that's been in existance for so long.?

I was going to say naff until I remembered that h's late grandparents house is called inglenook (although it is a rather old house so i think it's allowed).

Agree with you. My parents live in a 300+ year old house, which has a name and its lovely. my 15 year old house would look stupid with a name IMO

The Pinery - ffs ?

Naff, imo.

WEES - if it had a name before numbers were usual, then great; if it had a number first then naff.

My in-laws live in a lovely semi. Their next door neighbours have named their house osocozi (or some similar dreadful spelling of a hideously twee name).

I live in a 300 year old stonemill that never had a number, just a (lovely) name that really suits the building.

In new houses and developments where all houses around them have numbers, it is naff.

New names = utterly naff

Old names = nice.

Our house isn't that old - late 1930s but is one of four on our small cul-de-sac with similar names. Fern Bank, Fernlea etc. There are lovely ferns in each garden

My parents live along a road which has no house numbers, only house names. Their house was built about 20yrs ago, and has become a recognised house (for its name) along the street. However, we live on an estate, and there is no way we'd name our house. Too tacky.

oh good lord! ?

I'm a firm believer that if a house has a number, it's just affectation to give it a name. Which means, of course, that new houses plus names = naff

My parents used to live n a newish development and their neighbours called their house 'Dun Roamin' ? They were 100% tacky - type people anyway.

I agree, I think names on older established properties, or where the house has always had a name rather than a number, or on an old country pile, is fine.

As for "The Pinery" - they appear to have a small Christmas tree type thing in their garden. That's the only thing even approximating a pine tree that I can see!

WEES.

Many years ago, we met some people on holiday, who were nice enough and who insisted on pressing their UK address upon us in case we "were ever passing". The address was along the lines of:

"Quo-ome"

23 Acacia Ave

Suburb of Northampton or similar

- etc

- and when we asked of the meaning behind the name, they said it was because they were massive Status Quo fans and that this was their home - hence: "Quo-ome".

?

So, if names as well as numbers are naff, made up names are even worse, in my book.

(Wasn't there, apocryphally, a house name along the lines of "PhilnDaff", home to, yes, Philip and Daphne?)

Hecate - I like the ferns naming convention. And I love 30s houses, too.

I love the bit in Terry Pratchett where he reveals that the very twee Discworld gods live in a des res called Dunmanifestin ??

?

Fab.

Brilliant ?

I know of a house called MalJen.....

We live in a new house - well, it's nearly 7 years old now - which we have been the only occupants of. We had to give it a name as none of the houses our way, old or new, have numbers. Bizarrely, we have no street name either (which confuses the hell out of on-line forms which demand you give your street name before allowing you to proceed ... we have received several letters addressed to us with Street Has No Name written in as the address!

Don't much see the point of giving a name to a home in an estate where everyone has numbers.... I know the emergency services prefer numbering systems as it makes it easier for them when attending call-outs.

waaaaaahhh! ?

in that vein that i'll think i'll call our house 'the weedery' got a certain ring to it. ?

Wouldn't dream of it at the castle, even though it's very old & has a bit of history. It's still just a wee end terrace in a block of three.

When I retire to the country however, I shall name my domicile. "Farqya Hall" is the current favourite.

Naff if the house also has a number, eg Dunroamin, 55 Acacia Avenue

Fine (and necessary) if it doesn't, eg Quim Cottage, Horton-***-Studley.

Ours would be "The Cat-Turdery" ? Grr, still never got to the bottom of who's cat is the culprit of that! ?

I think it's fine to name your house if you want to. If you pay the mortgage - do what you want.

It is a bit naff though to name a newish house and then use the name as part of your address. Just having a name plate is fine though.

We named our 1950's house in a way that honors my parents as they gave us money for the downpayment. We never use it on mailing and there's just a small wooden plaque thingy by the door.

I used to know a family called the rudmans, and they named their (new build) "The Ruddery" I thought thats was quite funny.?

That aside I am pretty much with everyone else- only good if you actually have an old house with a name. We used to own a house in Ireland, and its pretty common there to have names as in rural areas you won't really have "street" structures to number in a lot of areas- its not a sign of wealth at all, quite the opposite really. so I've never understood this very English idea that you somehow have money if you name your house something.

MILs has named her house something which is a mixure of her two dead dogs names ? clueless.

Oh dear ours has a number too ? It is however named in the original indenture so I'm happy that I'm not naff!

Its pretty useful actually as there is another road with exactly the same name about 2 miles away so it means we don't get post mix ups (as other people further down the road where the newer houses are do)

I know of one that was called durtohl until the occupants moved (and their new place is probably called that too!), and one on the newish estate where my parents live called Shir-Ray (owned by Shirley and Ray). The name plate itself is just as bad - it's done on a yellow car numberplate. It stands out from the white walls though, I'll give them that!

Old houses with names are nice though, and tend to be on nice plaques.

Waaaah - it's not my ILs is it??? ?

We found an old rusty house name plaque in our garden and I keep meaning to tart it up and put it up somewhere as it's a nice piece of the house's history (although it's a 1930's semi ?)

That said, it's Braeside, and as roobarb who has climbed the many steps to our house knows, it's quite an apt name ? I wouldn't dream of using it in any official capacity though as our address has a perfectly adequate street number too!!

People with a name and a number- what does the Royal Mail list your house as? Do they list it by number only or by name and number?

Well, if your FIL is an airline pilot who looks like Gary Glitter in the Vietnam days, and your MIL looks like a bad Tina Turner tribute act, it might well be ? either that or they nicked it off your ILs house ?

I'm with pretty much everyone else - number + name = naff

We have a house on our (small, built about 10 years ago) estate called 'The Moorings' - the sign even has a nice jaunty sailing boat on it, which really makes me chuckle as we live in a small village approximately 3 miles from the nearest waterway ?

My ex's barrister father changed the name of their house to 'chancellors' which I thought was a bit naff as the house had already had a perfectly nice name for the last 150 years or so...

Changing names can be good too though - some friends changed the name of their house from Mount Pleasant (sounds like an institution) to VillageName House - much better IMO.

Name and number - its always been that though so I guess that's the reason?

Its listed as

Ferntypename

12345 Our road

You can get post here by just name too

I just spent a couple of minutes wondering what a fernty pename was ?