by Dubh (guest)
12/9/2011, 12:09 PM
Hi
Your message caught my eye as I know of an English family (they were English but had S African associations) who emigrated to South Africa several years ago, and their eldest son was (is) called Searle (this spelling). I have no idea where his name originated, but he has two brothers with "funky' names, so always assumed that his parents just liked names which were more unusual. Presumably you saw the spelling; if you don't know the prononciation, then did you only see it written down? If that's the case then you spelt it without the final 'e', so I suppose that's what you saw. Interesting, though, as I've never come across another Searle (and it's said to rhyme with "girl". Obviously in English we don't over-accentuate the "r", so it's more like "Suuuhl", iyswim). What was he on the news for? Was he very old? The one I know is in his late 20s, and as I said they had previous associations with South Africa so I suppose he could have been named with an older "Searle" in mind. Intriguing!