When I told my family and friends I was compiling a book of strange but true British names, almost all of them said, “I was at school with someone called…”, and fired off a salvo of highly improbable names. Some, though not many, turned out to be true, but as my researches took me into births, baptism, marriage, death and census records, and many of Britain’s county record offices, I discovered thousands of names that were completely genuine, among them those who give the book its title: Betty Potty, Mary Ann Fartwell and Nathaniel Knob – the poor devils.

Within its 256 sumptuous pages I have included the names of the 15 unfortunate children of the Rev. Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache (1826–95), who were blessed, or cursed, with 170 between them, including Lyulph Ydwallo Odin Nestor Egbert Lyonel Toedmag Hugh Erchenwyne Saxon Esa Cromwell Orma Nevill Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache, the initial letters of whose first names spell ‘Lyonel the Second’. But generally I have avoided such contrived names (the modern equivalents are the Fifi-Trixibelle-Brooklyn-Romeo-Daisy-Boo-type names celebrities inflict on their offspring) in favour of those that were accidentally strange.

The result ranges through some very rude names (you didn’t really expect me to include them here – buy the book!), everything from musical instruments (Banjo Thomas, Priscilla Trumpet, et al) to sports (Tennis Nelson and Rugby Thrower) and drinking (Betsy Binge and Mary L. Blotto), and many of my all-time favourites, including Hephzibah Gromit, Benoni Trampleasure, Philadelphia Bunnyface and Zenobia Urine. Check the Name Randomizer and Potty Poster for some examples – so long as you also buy the book...