What's in a name?

One of my dear readers alerted me to an article about Alfred the Great and Ragnar Hairybreeks which made me think how colourful those old characters are in our minds, largely because of their titles. Ivar the Boneless, Ethelred the Unready and Edward the Confessor all paint a picture, although not necessarily an accurate picture. Ivar was said to be Boneless not because of impotence but because he had a cartilage problem and had to be carried everywhere. Ethelred was unprepared for the Vikings but "Unready" meant that he lacked advisers and Edward didn't confess to anything specific, he was simply devout. Now that the Commons wants to restructure the Lords, it should bring back titles like these: much more fun!