The Enid Blyton Society

The thing I wondered about most was why Wish's parents had called her "Wish"

Maybe they had wished for a boy...

There are many (mainly foreign) names for a girl that mean wish or desire. Maybe Wish's parents went straight for the name.

Thanks, Anita, I'll seek that book out on Ebay.

I too thought Wish was an odd name, really, but as the author hadn't explained many things in that book, I wasn't expecting her to explain the name of Wish either!

Well, Sorrel isn't exactly a usual kind of name either - not least because it's from a sour herb (and literally means "sour"!)

I've never heard of anyone in real life called Wish, but I can imagine "creative" parents picking it as a name. Names like Faith, Hope, Charity, Grace and so on were quite common years ago (when sounding appropriately churchy was more popular). I knew a couple once who named their son Dragon, and another couple who named their son Phoenix - both of which, to me, are just too cruel for a child to have to grow up with, but oh well...

I heard more recently of a lady (from the US) called Stormy, which apparently was her real name... if so, I can only imagine what kind of baby she must have been for her parents to call her that!

Oh yes, and years ago, I knew of a girl about my age whose first name was Precious - I never met her personally, but have always wondered how she must have endured the inevitable Gollum jokes.

One of my possible ancestors (I can only trace my ancestry back to 1700 for definite) who lived in the 17th. Century, had the delightful first name of Doubtnot. I think she must have been a Puritan.

Dave