Interesting things happen when I go out walking. The other morning, I was down on Lee-on-Solent’s waterfront, speeding past the dawdlers, warily aware of approaching dogs (some see my two trekking poles as a potential threat), and generally keeping my head down to reduce the impact of the cold headwind, when I noticed an old lady approaching me directly in my path. As I moved to avoid a collision, she stopped in front of me and said, “Nice to see you up and about again, Gilbert.”

I was taken aback. My middle name is Gilbert, but nobody has ever addressed me as such, and I had no idea as to the identity of this lady.

“Excuse me,” I said, “but I think you might have the wrong Gilbert. Coincidentally, my name is Gilbert, but I don’t think you and I have ever met.”

She looked more closely at me, scrutinised would be a better verb, and then said, “Ah, you are right. You are not the Gilbert I know. Sorry.”

“No problem,” I said. “I hope your Gilbert is better and that you meet him further on down the path. Enjoy your walk.” And with that, we parted ways and continued our promenades.

Roger Gilbert Bennetts, circa early 1942

Later, I reflected on being called Gilbert. My dad’s second name was Gilbert, and I assume he and my mum decided to pass the name down when deliberating what to call me way back when I was born in November 1941. You rarely hear the name used as a given name these days – Gilbert O’Sullivan is the only one that springs to my mind – but I was curious about its origin and meaning. The ancestry.com website explains as follows:

The name Gilbert traces its origins back to the English language, where it emerged during the medieval period. It is derived from the Old Germanic personal name Gisilbert, which combines the elements gisil, meaning bright or shining, and beraht, meaning famous or illustrious.

I can live with that!

Footnote. As fate would have it, nobody calls me by either my first name, Roger, or my second name, Gilbert. When not being referred to as Dad or Grandad by family members, I am universally known as Ben, a shortening of my surname. My dad too was usually addressed as Ben although I recall my mum addressing him as Gil. Given that his first name was Henry, I wonder why my mum did this but, thinking about it, shortening Henry to Hen doesn’t sound right, does it?

(^_^)