Is "Hal" short for something?

admin

Retired Administrator
I was wondering whether Hal is short for another name, or is is a name on its own. I remember Hal called Lois, Louise once so I assume thats what Lois is short for... any ideas?
 
I'm really not sure although it is quite an interesting question and 'mystery' to solve. There are some possibilities of what he could be called like Albert which samboo1 kindly suggested. I think, as there many possibilities there will be an answer. Here are some names i've suggested on the list of Hal's name!!:
- Harold
- Halman
- Herbert
- Harvey
These names are all i can think of to go with Hal but unfortunately, if you look at it technically, we will never find out unless we personally write to Linwood Boomer (Director of MitM)
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
As far as I know in American names, Hal and Lois are both full and complete names, neither is short for anything.
 

samboo1

New member
I remember Hal called Lois, Louise once so I assume thats what Lois is short for... any ideas?
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Ive heard Hal call her Louise when he said 'jeez Louise' as in the phrase. @yg.Ive never heard of the name Hal before mitm though, must be an american name. Id heard of Lois as a full name but never Hal.
 

admin

Retired Administrator
I'd never heard of Hal before, is it particulary common in the states? Also is "Dewey" a common name in the states, I don't think anyone here is called that! :D.
 

samboo1

New member
Yeah and i dont think Reese and Malcolm are popular names here. Out of all the names id say Reese is the most popular name (of the family).
 

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
in the uk dewy is a werid name......as far as hal goes i heard it about but not comman here either.
 

ReMoss85

New member
Hal called himself "Halbert" in Company Picnic when the new boss thought he was Bert, the head of the company, and he was trying to confuse everyone with throwing out out the names he could possibly go by. Other than that, he has never been called Albert, I'm quite sure. And if he has a full name, it has also never been revealed. Although would we really expect it from this show? I'm surprised they've been so revealing with their ages as of late.
 

Emrysgirl

New member
To my knowlegde, Lois isn't short for anything. I'm almost completely sure it's not short for Louise. The only doubt I have is because Southern nicknames are weird eg Jack for John, Polly for Mary...they're just so unpredictable.
So, that must just have been the phrase, as samboo1 mentioned.

I'm not sure if Hal is short for anything. While rarely found, it isn't an unusual name. I've seen it before. I think there was a movie a few years back called "Shallow Hal"...well, it was "something Hal".

Francis is a common name.

I haven't met or heard of anyone named Reese other than Reese Witherspoon. That was the weirdest name to me.

Malcolm is also common.

I've never heard Dewey before either.

Jamie is also a common name.
 

Garbage Kills Megan

parties with your mom
Well, I looked up "Hal". It is a name on it's own; it doesn't have to be short for anything. It was originally a short form of Harold, though.


And apparently "Megan" means "soft and gentle". That doesn't match me at all.
 

Niels

New member
In the "Robbery" episode, one of the actors playing the robbers is named Dewey (Weber) but I never heard about this name before MitM, first i thought it was spelled "Douie", then i saw it written correctly and now that's even my cat's name ! :)

The son of Dr Benton (i think) in "ER" is named Reese, but "Hal" and "Lois" don't surprise me a lot. Maybe the characters' names are quite unusual but keep in mind the creator of the show is named Linwood ! :D
 

samboo1

New member
Good point! Its like today in english we were writing stories and the teacher said that its better to find interesting and uncommon names, even if it means no-one has heard of them, and i suppose MITM has done that. I must admit it does sound better having umcommon names rather than something common like James (no offence, i like the name im just saying that its a popular one:cool: ).
 

allison

New member
I´ve never heard most of the names before mitm, either. Lois, Jamie and Francis seem common names though. By the way, did anyone else notice that 3 of the boys have names which are also girl names? (Francis, Jamie, Reese)
I was wondering about that "Per" in Erik´s name. Is that a middle name or is it part of his surname?
 

Niels

New member
Per is Erik's mother's name, his father is named Fred Sullivan and Erik has the name of both his parents but he said one day in an interview that his name was actually Per.
 

ReMoss85

New member
allison said:
By the way, did anyone else notice that 3 of the boys have names which are also girl names? (Francis, Jamie, Reese)
And in two of the cases, the show has made reference to that fact. Francis having the same name as a girl in If Boys Were Girls, and not revealing whether Jamie was a boy or a girl.
 
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