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Help[Opinions] Tuppence & Temperance
I've been reading, and loving, the Tommy & Tuppence stories by Agatha Christie. And with it their names. Thomas/Tommy has a good boy feeling and is very useable, but what about the nickname Tuppence?
In the book Tuppence is a nickname for Prudence (she's a parish daughter), but in reality it's used as nickname for Temperance as well.
What do you think of the names Tuppence & Temperance?
In the book Tuppence is a nickname for Prudence (she's a parish daughter), but in reality it's used as nickname for Temperance as well.
What do you think of the names Tuppence & Temperance?
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Replies
Tuppance is an old timey UK slang for lady bits. It just is.
I've heard tup-pance and too-pence and being born after the time of the two-penny-bit by quite a bit, I have no idea which it is. The former screams tupperware and the latter makes me thinking of 'having to spend a penny' (pee).
Either way I really dislike it, I think it's very cutesy with potentially unfortunate connotations and only really fit as a slightly embarrassing nickname that the owner eventually grows out of when they're no longer seen as a 'little girl'.
Temperance is ok in that it is dourly Puritan but can be subverted to be cooly witchy and unexpected. I like it in combos with unexpected names but don't think I'd like it any more in real life. I have met a Temperance, she was a strange girl who laughed about her dog killing animals but preached weird American-Puritan-style values rarely seen here in the UK, she never cut her hair and was very conservative. She went by Tempy, which I think is a weirdly lumpy nickname. It soured me on the name in practice, but I still like it put with things like Hecate and Alecto and Lilith to make something over the top Puritan-witchy.
I've heard tup-pance and too-pence and being born after the time of the two-penny-bit by quite a bit, I have no idea which it is. The former screams tupperware and the latter makes me thinking of 'having to spend a penny' (pee).
Either way I really dislike it, I think it's very cutesy with potentially unfortunate connotations and only really fit as a slightly embarrassing nickname that the owner eventually grows out of when they're no longer seen as a 'little girl'.
Temperance is ok in that it is dourly Puritan but can be subverted to be cooly witchy and unexpected. I like it in combos with unexpected names but don't think I'd like it any more in real life. I have met a Temperance, she was a strange girl who laughed about her dog killing animals but preached weird American-Puritan-style values rarely seen here in the UK, she never cut her hair and was very conservative. She went by Tempy, which I think is a weirdly lumpy nickname. It soured me on the name in practice, but I still like it put with things like Hecate and Alecto and Lilith to make something over the top Puritan-witchy.
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I've never heard Tuppence spoken. I did assume it was pronounced like tup/Tupperware when I saw it originally, years ago, but now I assume the U is "oo" as in Prudence or tupelo? I don't like it, either way. It does have a derogatory connotation of cheapness/lack to me (like two-bit, as RoxStar said, or more affectionately like calling someone half-pint) even though I am only vaguely aware of what pence means (maybe that makes it worse, like I recognize it as a word name, but it's a foreign seeming word), and I don't like that tup is slang either. I wouldn't feel weird calling someone it, but I wouldn't want to be called it, which makes it about like Dulcie...
I like Temperance. It has a steady vibe to me like Prudence but less straitlaced and more modern, similar to Patience. It also sounds more new-agey/secular to me than some virtue names, because I associate it with (various artistic interpretations of) tarot. Occasionally it does also seem woodsy or rare & old-timey to me the way Tennessee sort of does, but I don't dislike that.
A friend has a niece named Temperance (sisters are Violet and Natalie), and the mom was a Bones fan but didn't name her kid after the character, just liked the name. I think in the US kids are named Temperance about as often as Honor, Honesty, Patience (I have met a gen Z person named each of those) - slightly more than Prudence but something like 10 times less than Harmony.
I like Temperance. It has a steady vibe to me like Prudence but less straitlaced and more modern, similar to Patience. It also sounds more new-agey/secular to me than some virtue names, because I associate it with (various artistic interpretations of) tarot. Occasionally it does also seem woodsy or rare & old-timey to me the way Tennessee sort of does, but I don't dislike that.
A friend has a niece named Temperance (sisters are Violet and Natalie), and the mom was a Bones fan but didn't name her kid after the character, just liked the name. I think in the US kids are named Temperance about as often as Honor, Honesty, Patience (I have met a gen Z person named each of those) - slightly more than Prudence but something like 10 times less than Harmony.
This message was edited 10/8/2023, 9:43 AM
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I enjoy Temperance for its witchiness - I think of the tarot card rather than Puritans. The issue with Temperance was always what it could be shortened to. Tempe? Temp? Maybe Tem could be cute.
Tuppence is an archaic word where I'm from, and I wonder if younger people would even know Tuppence IS a word and not just nonsense sounds. It's a Hobbity sort of word, very twee as Mirfak says! And that's satisfying in a way. I think it would be cute on a character for sure. Or a pet.
Tuppence is an archaic word where I'm from, and I wonder if younger people would even know Tuppence IS a word and not just nonsense sounds. It's a Hobbity sort of word, very twee as Mirfak says! And that's satisfying in a way. I think it would be cute on a character for sure. Or a pet.
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Tuppence is too close to Tupper for me ,but in a historical fiction or something like that it could fit
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Tuppence is too close to Tupper to me
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What does Tupper mean? The only thing I can think of is Tupperware, but I haven't heard anyone talk about Tupperware in years.
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This is what I meant! Where I live Tupperware is just the word for that kind of reusable plastic container and it's often shortened to Tupper
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I grew up in a place where Tupperware was used as slang for all reusable plastic containers so it still comes to mind easily!
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I don't know about tupper, but tup/tupping is slang for sex.
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Ah, that's unfortunate
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dont like either especially Tupperence
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I like virtue names and rather like Temperance, Tuppence is ridiculous.
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Tuppence might be the tweest name that has ever existed. Yuck!
Temperance is quaint, and would seem droll given to a child today, but it could be cool for a fictional character in another setting.
"-ntz" names sound kinda bad, to me. Better as middle names.
Temperance is quaint, and would seem droll given to a child today, but it could be cool for a fictional character in another setting.
"-ntz" names sound kinda bad, to me. Better as middle names.
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Tuppence is cute as a nickname. I like the sounds and dourness of Temperance, though it's not my favorite Puritan name.
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Tuppence and Temperance are both awful, in different ways. Tuppence is, well, two pence. Two cents. Less even than two bits, and to call someone a two-bit anything is to pretty thoroughly insult them.
Temperance is just one of the Puritan virtue names that didn't stand the test of time. It's pretty much like naming someone Abstinence or Teetotal.
Temperance is just one of the Puritan virtue names that didn't stand the test of time. It's pretty much like naming someone Abstinence or Teetotal.
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