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People

As the jazz buffs amongst you will know, Thelonious Monk is the name of a famous jazz player. A little while ago I heard on a radio programme that the way that he got his forename was as follows.  Before his christening, his mother, Mrs Monk,  had (mis)heard the term "felonious monk".  She didn't know what it meant, but thought that it had a good ring about it and would be a good name for a boy.  At the subsequent ceremony the officiating priest asked her how to spell the name she wanted bestowed on her son.   She obliged with what she thought she had heard.  The rest is (jazz) history.

I haven't had any success in locating a literary source for what Mrs Monk (mis)heard.  Does anyone else known of one?


Ron Hornsby