Private/public School

[sherrardk]

Watching Harrow on TV reminded me of something. Himself went to private/public school (can't remember the difference for the life of me) and he has told me in the past that children from the same family were known as surname maximus, surname minimus, etc but he didn't know what five children from the same family would be known as (not that I would send my kids to boarding school - hell, if I had that much money I would move somewhere hot and sunny).

[jno]

secundus, tertius, quartius perhaps? I'm just guessing, some old boy will be along to tell you

[sherrardk]

Himself is an old boy, maybe people with lots of sprogs don't send them to private/public school. Or maybe the boys and girls go to different schools.

[jno]

expensive business if you want to send all eight kids to Eton. jno jnr quite liked the idea of going boarding (probably been reading too much Harry Potter) but we didn't.

[mac44]

I've found 4 children -maximus, major, minor, minimus

[Jeza]

I went to a convent school and would not wish that on anyone. Doesn't answer your Q though. Sorry.

[jeffa]

Doesn't it depend on the individual school? Not all schools have shells and removes like Harrow, and I think it's the same with siblings.

[sherrardk]

Jno, I haven't got eight (might have if I had started younger!), 'just' the five.

[jno]

oh, I thought you might have a few more in you yet, sherrardk, didn't want to go suggesting you were barren...

[sherrardk]

Shells and removes are the year groups, like year 9 and year 10.

[sherrardk]

Far too old for anymore, I'm cured now, x

[jeffa]

Yes they are but shells in Harrow are the new boys, the equivalent of year 9 whereas e.g. in Winchester the lower and upper shells are years 10 and 11, and the remove is year 13.

[sherrardk]

Sorry, obviously haven't been very clear. Pupils are referred to by surname so more than one child has a Latin bit added to the end of their name, maximus, minimus, etc. We can't get last the Latin bit for more than four children.

[jeffa]

No, I get that, but what I'm trying to explain is that the nomenclature isn't the same across all the country's public schools. And what happens with twins or triplets?

[sherrardk]

That's why I am asking, I have five children the youngest of which are twins. It's not like they are going to boarding school. I'm just curious.

[FredPuli43]

[surname] maximus, major, minor, minimus, then we run out of diminutives so we'd have to go quintus (fifth) and sextus (sixth).Quintus and Sextus were both Roman names, suggesting that that the original bearer was a fifth or a sixth child. Oddly , Septimus (seventh) was not, yet it has been used as a name.

[stewey]

Well, actually, having read at Oxford, attended Sandhurst (twirls one's mustache), and then ascended to become a Rhodes scholar, I would suggest that it all boils down to vulgar Latin, wot:)