Some names are not funny by just sounds but also by spelling. Dr. Dominic H ffytche certainly qualifies in this regard, in that his name…well, it just kind of looks funny.
This is doubly true if you include the professional titles that generally follow his name in directories and such, in full : BSc, MBBS, MD, MRCP, MRCPsych. He must have really enjoyed school.
Dr. ffytche is a famed neuroscientist from England, currently on staff at King’s College of London.
And no, that is not a typo, his last name really is spelled with a lower case f.
Why is that? As far as we could tell, it’s because that is the way the letter “F” used to be spelled in archaic English documents – with a lowercase “ff”. Dr. ffytche and any other folks using a lowercase double-f today are merely using this old-school style of spelling. Which is kind of badass, and certainly looks different.
UPDATE : Many thanks to Raimo Hopkins, who wrote in to clarify that “because of the fragility of certain type-cast letters in the printing trade, doubling [letters gave] greater strength than was otherwise obtainable.” This makes perfect sense, given the tools used for printing back in the day.
We’re just glad Dr. ffytche and others have decided to continue using this spelling even with today’s perhaps less fragile tools.
Mmmmm, braiiins.
