Memories Of Pentraeth Nicknames By Ross Davies

A Memory of Pentraeth.

When I first came to Pentraeth in 1950, I became very intrigued by the nicknames attached to certain individuals. In fact, they were better known by their nicknames than by their own names.

One example was the leading male singer in the local church on a Sunday. He was known as Basso Profundo, a name that stuck to him until his dying day. I never did find out his real name.

Pentraeth, also had a fine male voice choir, in years gone by, with particularly good tenors. Their group of tuneful tenors were all related to one another, and became known as "the Sweets." Apparently, it all started when the choir held an impromptu concert in the Squre and some Americans, based at Brynsiencyn, had come over to listen to them. One was so impressed that he said, "Dang me! that is the sweetest sound that I've ever heard!"

It has always been a Welsh trait to attach people's names to their jobs, e.g. Bob Becar, Ned Gôf, Fred Chips, Will Glô, etc., but in this village it happened with families as well.  If the family became well known for any reason, whether it was good or bad, then the matriarchal name became part of each Christian name, such as Twm Nan Jones, John Charlotte, Eddie Gertie, or John Maggie Dick, or Dafydd Nell Aubrey.

The next one, for me, was a gentleman, who carried a very unusual addition to his name, for which there were two explanations. The first one was that he and his wife had moved to a house close to the former Hen Bôst, but they could only live on the upper floor. The second story was that his wife became quite ill and ailing. Whenever someone stopped him in the street to enquire as to her health, he would always answer, "Unfortunately, she's still upstairs."

From that time on, he was always known as Hugh Upstairs.

Happy Days.

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