Roslyn Dee: Can you picture a 50-year-old man named River Rocket? Or a grandfather called X AE A-XII?

At my grandson’s christening last weekend, his father (my son) was asked by the celebrant to explain the names he and his wife had chosen. Which he did, succinctly: the first name was his grandfather’s name (my father) and he had meant a lot to him, he explained. The second was just a name that he and his wife liked.

Simple, straightforward, there you have it. As it happens, the two names in question, when combined with the Dee surname, present what my mother would have called “a good strong name”..