NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

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BobP
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by BobP »

Used to go to School with a guy at St Peter`s called Kevin Philips Bong and I met him years in a brothel in Kuala Lumpur, as one does and asked him where his family name originated from

Fascinatingly, he told me that his mothers surname was actually fatang fatang and his dads was oolie biscuit barrel

Seems that his primary school St Marys, did not have enough room to write this on the class register so they foreshortened it to Bong so, in fact his full surname was actually Kevin Phillips Bong Fatang Fatang Oolie Biscuit Barrel
Not a great name for your confirmation, no wonder he was in in Kuala Lumpur :-)

As to the the location , well draw your own conclusions !!!!
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by reggie james »

This is for Gerry Cunningham.
I got my original posting wrong so this is my second one. The other day I was thinking of friends that I knew from the Public School and one of them was a Stanley Irvine from Saltcoats. There were a few of us boys an girls including Stanley and his then girlfriend Sally Retzbach hanging around together in the summer of 1961. I commented to Sally about her German sounding name and asked her if she was born in Germany and she replied that she wasn't, but that her grandfather was. He was a POW during WW! and rather than go back to Germany he remained in Scotland. I remember Sally as being a very pretty girl with an infectious laugh.
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by Jim McCreadie »

Went to St. Mick's, Irvine with Martin Kostigov/s (?) but I don't think he was a 3Ter at that time.
I believe he used to pal around with wee Kevin Thomas.
Last edited by Jim McCreadie on Sun Apr 05, 2015 11:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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brian f
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by brian f »

Meg wrote:I went to school with someone called Olsen - obviously of Scandinavian descent. One of the reasons we dont have a lot of Polish or Lithuanian names - although there were lots of immigrants from those places who came to the three towns - was because their names were seen as mispronounceable so the men were lined up and renamed. So if you know families called North South East West Brown Black Green White etc. they are probably of Polish or Lithuanian descent.

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Wow, would never have known that , another lesson from the threetowners !
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by Hughie »

Penny Tray wrote:I think there may also have been a family in Firth View Terrace, Ardrossan, called Vidimus which sound Eastern European?
This is an older topic worth looking at again. Yes, I believe they were from Poland. The family lived in McDowall Avenue when I was growing up. Josephine Vidimus was a scunner ... no, no, She was a nice girl and a real stunner - red blooded Scots lads tend to notice both scunners and stunners... :lol:
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by michaelm »

Having worked in a shop for a number of years, I got to hear many different surnames.
One I remember well and which I don't think has been listed here is 'Conti' or 'Conte' not quite sure of the spelling there.
They were a well known family from Stevenston, although I believe the name itself is of Italian origin.
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by brian f »

I worked on Dino Biondi's ice-cream van for a while early seventies it used to go round the squares in Pennyburn .He made a fortune and opened up Trattoria Toscana Restaurant in Kilwinning. A fruit and veg shop 49 Dockhead street Saltcoats is owned by the Biondi's could well be the same family.
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by Penny Tray »

michaelm wrote:One I remember well and which I don't think has been listed here is 'Conti' or 'Conte' not quite sure of the spelling there.
Michael,

Family intimations in the A&S Herald BDM database suggest the spelling is Conti - Greenhead Avenue, Stevenston.
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by morag »

In the mid / late 60's we had a lot of Italians, American italians at st. Mike's, One girl married Lou Macari. A lot of surnames in U.K. you'd think are foreign but they aren't. But when you think of the various alliances U.K. had over the years, not really surprising. Then take into account surnames were often based on appearance, trade...take my hat off to those who manage ancestry!
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by michaelm »

Penny Tray wrote:
michaelm wrote:One I remember well and which I don't think has been listed here is 'Conti' or 'Conte' not quite sure of the spelling there.
Michael,
Family intimations in the A&S Herald BDM database suggest the spelling is Conti - Greenhead Avenue, Stevenston.
Thanks PT, I knew it was one spelling or the other and that both are definitely of Italian origin. :)

morag wrote:A lot of surnames in U.K. you'd think are foreign but they aren't...take my hat off to those who manage ancestry!
morag, are you referring to some of the names listed in this topic?
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by morag »

michaelm wrote:
Penny Tray wrote:
michaelm wrote:One I remember well and which I don't think has been listed here is 'Conti' or 'Conte' not quite sure of the spelling there.
Michael,
Family intimations in the A&S Herald BDM database suggest the spelling is Conti - Greenhead Avenue, Stevenston.
Thanks PT, I knew it was one spelling or the other and that both are definitely of Italian origin. :)

morag wrote:A lot of surnames in U.K. you'd think are foreign but they aren't...take my hat off to those who manage ancestry!
morag, are you referring to some of the names listed in this topic?
No, just surnames in gen. My maiden name Rogers I was told was the Irish version of Rodgers...? It seems, as I remember anyway, mostly Scots / Irish names and a few English and as I got older lots of Italian surnames in the three towns. Only a few foreign sounding names otherwise..boy at St. J's think his brother is a member here, Schenkel, class mate Pllu.
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Re: NON-SCOTTISH/BRITISH SURNAMES

Post by glenshena »

What about Benedetti?. The famous violin player Nicola, although she does not live in the three towns, her father Gio had two or three shops in Saltcoats in the sixties, boutiques and laundry business. He then opened a glove cleaning factory along the Stevenson bypass road which he sold and became a multi millionaire. Interstingly he did not follow the usual Italian trade of ice cream and fish and chips.
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