Why the name Jenny? (1 Viewer)

[Pam_m]

The Wren has been a lot more visible in my garden for the last few days and this morning whilst watching the Wren I wondered how did it get the name Jenny Wren? My thoughts lean towards a Navy connection, I am probably way off the mark!! Can anyone enlighten me? :brains:

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I think that 'in the past' (a bit vague I know) it was common to give different birds a Christian name e.g. Jenny Wren, Robin Redbreast, Willy Wagtail, Tom Tit etc. Interesting that with Wren we've kept the 'surname' and with Robin we've kept the first name.

 

[Ruth Daniel]

Interesting too that the Wren is the only female one??
I wonder if there is a reason for that too?? :brains:

 

[Fat Rat]

Hi Ruth

Could it be that like the wren, women are small and cute, loud and never sit still for very long?

3

only joking.

 

[Ruth Daniel]

Hi Ruth

Could it be that like the wren, women are small and cute, loud and never sit still for very long?

3

only joking.

:clap: :clap: :clap:
Very good David!!
We never sit still for very long because we're always running around after you men!!!! lol!!! :t:

 

[Fat Rat]

touché

:t:

 

[bill moss]

Hi folks,

Information from 'All the Birds of the Air' (Francesca Greenoak).

Nothing to explain why 'Jenny' but note that the Wren is also called 'Bobby' 'Kitty' and 'Sally' in various parts of the country (plus another 33 other names).

And it's not the only bird called 'Jenny', there are Jenny Crow, Jenny Heron, Jenny Hoolet/Howlet/Owl (both Barn and Tawny), Jenny Jay, and Jenny Redtail.

As for other 'girls 'names there are Bessy, Betty, Jill, Joan, Kate/Katie, Madge, Maggie, Mavie/Mavis, Meggy, Olive, Peggy, Polly, plus I've no doubt some that I've missed. Lots of 'boys' names too, look them up (chuckle).

Then you can start again on the American local names (for a starter includes 'Alice')

It's an interesting area to read about.

Bill.

 

[Pam_m]

Thanks Andrew,Ruth, David and Bill, I have just been googling for about 30 minutes and I have been fascinated with some facts on bird names.

Dated to the late middle ages personal names were applied to various Birds, with some birds these names were added to existing names, the Daw became Jackdaw ( apparently Jack was used to describe either male or small, hence Jackdaw being the smallest of the british crows, and Jack-Snipe a small European species of Snipe ).

The Pie became the Magpie ( Mag is short for Margaret )

Quoted from 'Take our word for it' , the Wren became known as the Jenny-Wren, a name that doesn't seem to have taken but it survives in the cryptic English folk jingle " The Robin and the Jenny-Wren are God Almighty's cock and hen "

Well it certainly is an interesting area to read about Bill, and I'm sure will be good to pass an hour or two in the deep dark winter months !!! :brains:

Happy Birding

 

[Linda Beaumont]

The Pie became the Magpie ( Mag is short for Margaret )

Hi Pam!
Interesting for me, too: "pie" is the French word for "magpie" (it also means a "chatterbox"!).
One learns something new every day (of course, Bill teaches US a few facts per day... he should appear on that TV series QI with Stephen Fry!) 3
Warm wishes from sunny Brussels!

 

[Bea]

I notice in Bill's list the name 'Peggy' - Peggy Whitethroat was a common term when I was a child.

 

[chris3871]

The Wren has been a lot more visible in my garden for the last few days and this morning whilst watching the Wren I wondered how did it get the name Jenny Wren? My thoughts lean towards a Navy connection, I am probably way off the mark!! Can anyone enlighten me? :brains:

What about the witch connection? Wrens are related to witches in some way aren't they?

Another interesting thing i heard about was a pagan(i think) ritual were a wren was killed and two strong men had to carry it and pretend it was heavy. Again, as usual, i only know half the story.

 

[Pam_m]

OOOOOH Spooky or what Chris ! :eek!:

 

[walwyn]

Jenny is used as the female of an animal Jenny-ass, Jenny-hooper, jenny-howlet, jenny-long-legs. The wren was considered to be the female of the Robin Redbreast, and you can find such references in folktales and nursery rhymes where the wren is the robin's wife.
http://fairytales4u.com/fable/cockrobi.htm

 

[Pam_m]

Thank's for the link Walwyn, I can remember 'Who killed Cock Robin' as a nursery rhyme, but I have never read the Wedding part to it before. Very interesting, thank you.

 

[BazR]

Another name.

I notice in Bill's list the name 'Peggy' - Peggy Whitethroat was a common term when I was a child.

Hi Bea and all.

When I was a boy, we used to call the Whitethroat, Nettle Peggy. Don't ask me why. It is possibly because we used to see Whitethroats in and around great beds of nettles on the old allotments, but I think it must have been given that name long before I appeared on the scene.

Regards to all.
Baz.

 

[PeterK]

Hi The Rev CC.E.Johns offers no explanation for jenny Wren, but interestingly states that Wrens in the West were called Wrans and quotes an old doggerel :-

Whoso kills a Robin or a wran
Shall never prosper boy or man

The Isle of Man has a legend of a wicked enchantress who transformed herself into a wren to escape burning, she then flew through the fingers of the executioner. But every year on Christmas day she is compelled to appear on the Island in the form of a Wren, and has to escape her fate all over again.

Wonderful that such a small bird has such a place in Mythology, a place which it shares with the Robin which is invested everywhere with a form of sanctity.

Yours PeterK

 

[walwyn]

Thank's for the link Walwyn, I can remember 'Who killed Cock Robin' as a nursery rhyme, but I have never read the Wedding part to it before. Very interesting, thank you.

A Scottish tale:
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php3?author=treadwell&book=first&story=weerobin

Unrequited:
http://ingeb.org/songs/littleje.html

 

[Allen S. Moore]

The Isle of Man has a legend of a wicked enchantress who transformed herself into a wren to escape burning, she then flew through the fingers of the executioner. But every year on Christmas day she is compelled to appear on the Island in the form of a Wren, and has to escape her fate all over again.

Wonderful that such a small bird has such a place in Mythology, a place which it shares with the Robin which is invested everywhere with a form of sanctity.

Yours PeterK

Only a day out (but what's that between friends?), but the wren was actually hunted here on St Stephen's Day, Dec. 26th. There again, if a witch turned herself into a wren on Christmas day, how could we tell? A version of "hunting the wren" is still practiced, but the wren used in the decorated "wren bush" is now a cat- or traffic-casualty. We have a dance (the wren bush is used in this) and song for "hunt the wren."
Wrens were also hunted in the west of Ireland. A University friend from Omagh, Co. Tyrone told me (1977) that his Dad used to beat the sh*t out of a wren as part of the tradition.

 

[Eider-Duck]

Only a day out (but what's that between friends?), but the wren was actually hunted here on St Stephen's Day, Dec. 26th. There again, if a witch turned herself into a wren on Christmas day, how could we tell? A version of "hunting the wren" is still practiced, but the wren used in the decorated "wren bush" is now a cat- or traffic-casualty. We have a dance (the wren bush is used in this) and song for "hunt the wren."
Wrens were also hunted in the west of Ireland. A University friend from Omagh, Co. Tyrone told me (1977) that his Dad used to beat the sh*t out of a wren as part of the tradition.

Edward Armstrong, who wrote both about wrens and folklore, described annual wren hunts, often to coincide with the twelth night and the tradition of Lord of Misrule when all the usual order of things was set topsy-turvey. Armstrong reckoned there was a cult of the wren from pagan times and its ritual slaughter was a sign of the death of the old year and ensured the fertility of the new. In most circumstances however it has been seen as bad to harm a wren; it was the Druidic bird of Augury, and in Cornwall they say 'hunt a Robin or a Wren, never, prosper man or boy'.