Latest Update- August 24, 2022
This pancocojams post presents information about and examples of the rhyme "Puddin Tane" (or similarly sounding words).
This post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/more-examples-of-whats-your-name-puddin.html for Part II of this pancocojams series "More Examples Of "What's Your Name?" "Puddin Tane. Ask me Again, I'll Tell You The Same" (Part II)". I added that post on October 1, 2025.
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COMMENTS ABOUT THE RHYME "PUDDIN TANE"
These comments are presented in chronological order according to their posting date online, with the oldest comments given first.
COMMENT #1:
From: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0110A&L=ads-l&P=R5702 [link no longer working]
Subject: Pudding tame
From: "Douglas G. Wilson"
Reply-To: American Dialect Society
Date: October 4, 2001
"Of course in researching the history of "poontang" I came upon remarks to the effect that this word seems to be reflected in a children's rhyme (still current, I think) along the lines of
What's your name?
Pudding tame.
[Ask me again and I'll tell you the same.]
In fact "pudding tame" and variants (pudding/puddin' [and] tame/tane/tang) are used today with the sense "I won't tell you my name" (e.g., often as a 'handle' or pen-name on the Internet, = "Anonymous"). The expression was used in the "X-files" TV program in 1999.
The rhyme appeared in the US by 1895, when it was cited in "Dialect Notes". Already we're out of the "poontang" milieu, I think; but in case there's any doubt, I find quoted from 1861 a version supposedly from ca. 1825 (apparently from Sussex?):
What's yer naüm?
Pudding and taüm.
Back a little further (ca. 1590), I find reason to believe there was approximately:
[What is your name?]
Pudding of Thame.
Now at least the expression has some surface sense, maybe. Thame is a place-name -- in particular a town in Oxfordshire, I believe. So "pudding of Thame" might have been the name of a food, perhaps similar (or at least analogous) to Oxford sausage, say. Still the expression is meaningless in the context, and I wonder whether
(1) it might even earlier have been something else ("pudding at home"? "Pudding Tom"? "pudding time"?) which maintained the rhyme in some early or regional pronunciation, and whether
(2) there is some recognizable double-entendre or other joke here in16th-century (or earlier) English.
Any ideas?
-- Doug Wilson
-snip-
This is the complete post from that site. It was referenced in a discussion of the word "poontang" by the "take my word for it" website http://www.takeourword.com/pt.html "The Etymology of Slang Sexual Terms." That take my word for it page included a hyperlink [that is now broken] to the comment that's given above along with this statement: "He [linguist Doug Wilson ] concludes that the two [poontang and Puddin Tane] are not related, and he gives some good evidence."
-snip-
I've re-formatted this post to make it easier to read
Update: August 24, 2022
Here's the complete reprint about "pudding of Thames" from https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2001-October/017775.html
"Pudding tame
Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Fri Oct 5 04:20:26 UTC 2001
Previous message (by thread): Pudding tame
"According to Iona and Peter Opie _Lore and Language of Schoolchildren_ (the
best UK study, albeit published in 1950s, of such material), who quote therhyme as 'US' and specifically 'Maryland' my earlier suggested link todialect 'pudding time' is wrong. They trace the term to Sussex and add -
I saw 2-3 US instances from different states from ca. 1900. I think this rhyme must have come from England, though; the resemblance to "Pudding of Thame" [this is how it is printed in Harsnett's book, at least in the 1603 edition which I reviewed] is too strong to be coincidence IMHO.
I think "pudding time" is apt. It is probably old enough (1546, OED), it was not narrowly limited in dialect AFAIK, and it makes a good-enough joke, the sense presumably "No need for my name, just call out 'pudding time' [i.e., 'time to eat'] and I'll appear." Cf. the 20th-century [and probably earlier?] joke: "You can call me anything, as long as you don't call me late for dinner." However, I would like the rhyme to be maintained. Was "time" pronounced to rhyme or nearly rhyme with "name" in ca.-1500 England, perhaps? Or could it be regional? Can we do without the rhyme?
If one reads only Opie's footnote (above), one might think
that the expression in question was perhaps a conventional ca.-1600
epithet for Satan, like "Old Scratch" maybe. But this is not the
case at all: rather,
in Harsnett's book (seemingly a skeptical and sarcastic
review of some contemporary 'exorcisms'), multiple devils during exorcism
identify themselves with various whimsical names (some recognizable
from slang, contemporary songs, etc.) (some of the names were later used
by Shakespeare in "King Lear"), and this one was recognized
from/as an already existing joke, which I suspect was simply the same rhyme still known
today.
- Doug Wilson
-snip-
Here's a tweet (with a reply) that mentions the devil "Pudding of Thame"
from https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/811209249409921024?lang=en
Tom Holland
@holland_tom
Lusty Dick, Hob, Pudding of Thame, Haberdicut, Cocobatto,
Delicate, Cornercap, Motubizanto, Lusty Jolly Jenkin - names of Jacobean demons
8:58 AM · Dec 20, 2016·Twitter for iPhone
**
Jessie Childs
@childs_jessie
Dec 20, 2016
Replying to
@holland_tom
Not forgetting Flibbertigibbet! Many originally Elizabethan
- from the 1585-6 exorcisms."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
Given this information about the name of the Jacobean devil (demon), my position is that the name "Puddin Tane" derived from "Pudding Of Thame" [the river Thames in England] and later "Puddin Tame".
COMMENT #2:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=94034 Origins: Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky, posted by Jim Dixon, April 11, 2009
The quote from McDougal* reminds me of a parallel smart-alecky reply:
"What's your name?" – "Puddentain. [However you spell it.] Ask me again, I'll tell you the same."
I learned that from a "Little Rascals/Our Gang" comedy that was shown on TV when I was a kid in the 1950s. (Who said it? Stymie?)
– but it goes back at least to –
From The Beulah Spa (a play) by Charles Dance (London: John Miller, 1833):
MAG. ... What is her name?
HEC. Pudding and tame—if you ask me again I shall tell you the same.
-snip-
*The words "the quote from McDougal" refer to a blogger's comment that is unrelated to this subject.
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COMMENT #3:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=104417 "Folklore: Puddin Tane & Other Rhyming Sayings" [hereafter known as Mudcat: Puddin Tane]
- posted by Lighter, September 16, 2007
Alice Kane was born in 1908 and grew up in Ulster. Her book, Songs and Sayings of an Ulster Childhood, written with Edith Fowke, includes the following:
"What's your name?" - Mary Jane.
"Where do you live?" - Down the lane.
Her mother knew,
"What's your name?" - Curds and cream' (pronounced crame)
"What they call you?" - Pudgy dolly.
I suppose "call ye" sort of rhymes with "dolly."
-snip-
“Uster” is a province in the northern part of Ireland.
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COMMENT #4:
From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, posted by kytrad*, September 15, 2007
Well I'm older than all of you, and our KY mountain village was quite isolated until just after the turn of the last century, early 1900s, thereabouts. We had never heard the word 'poontang,' but we did have the rhyme under discussion. Here's how it goes:
What's your name?
Puddin & Tame
Where d'you live?
Up the lane
Where d'you go?
Go to school
What d'you sit on?
Sit on a stool
What d'you look like?
Look like a fool!
There may have been one or two other rhymes in there- can't remember it all just now. It was said only for the fun of the rhyming, and sometimes for tricking someone into saying, "look like a fool," when all the gang would laugh at the joke.
-snip-
*”kytrad” is the Mudcat forum screen name for the acclaimed American folk singer Jean Ritchie
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COMMENT #5:
From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, posted by Azizi, September 1, 2007
The following examples are from this resource: Western Folklore, Vol. 13, No. 2/3 (1954), pp. 190-198 - "Children's Taunts, Teases, and Disrespectful Sayings from Southern California," by Ray B. Browne.
{h/t to Joe Offer for pointing out this article in his post on Mudcat's "Depression Era Children's song" thread}
[Note: the numbers ascribed to these examples by the article's author]
27a.
What's your name?
Pudd'n Tame.
Ask me again
And I'll tell you the same.
27b.
What's your name?
Pudd'n Tame.
Where do you live?
Down the lane.
Ask me again
And I'll tell you the same.
[footnotes: from California, also from Alabama, ca. 1935; cf. Musick, 432; for one version same, and one: "What's your name / John Brown / ask me again / and I'll knock you down."]
27c
What's your name?
President Monroe
Ask me again
And you still won't know.
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COMMENT #6: From Mudcat: Puddin Tane - These words were first posted by Snuffy and the ending rhyme was added by Bryn Pugh who indicated that he remembered that entire rhyme from 1949
What's your name?
Mary Jane
Where d'you live?
Down the grid
What house?
Mickey Mouse
What number?
Cucumber
What street?
Pig's feet
What shop
Lollipop
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COMMENT #7
From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, Azizi Powell, remembrances from my childhood [Atlantic City, New Jersey,in the 1950s]
What’s your name?
Puddin Tane
Ask me again and I’ll tell you the same. [mid to late 1950s?]
[also]
What’s the word?
Thunderbird. [early to mid 1960s?]
-snip-
"Thunderbird" was (is?) a brand name for a cheap bottle of drinking alcohol.
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[Note: The last three commenters don't include any dates in their remembrances of these rhymes.]
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COMMENT #8: From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, posted by Guest, Young Buchan, October 7, 2007
As children in Suffolk, if someone asked 'What's your name?' we always eplied Puddeny Crane, from a rhyme which I always assumed was widespread, but may not have been, since I tried googling various bits of it and didn't get a huge response:
What's your name? Puddeny Crane
Where do you live? Down the lane
What do you keep? A little shop
What do you sell? Candy floss [or sometime lollipops]
-snip-
I think this blogger means Suffolk, UK.
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COMMENT #9: From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, posted by Guest Schuyer, October 11, 2010
I remember this from a song my sibling, friends, and I sang when we was in a kid. It went:
What's your name?
Puddin' Tane.
Where do you live?
Down the lane.
What's your phone number?
Cucumber.
What'd you eat?
Pigs feet.
What'd you drink?
A bottle of ink.
I believe there was also a part after saying "A bottle of ink" where we said "to make you stink" or something like that
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COMMENT #10: From Mudcat-Puddin Tane , posted by Guest Patience, September 7, 2011
When I was a child, my Dad would teach me to say:
What's your name? Puddin' Tane.
Where do you live? Down the lane.
What's your number? Cucumber.
What do you eat? Bread and meat.
Hence, my Dad and one of the next door neighbors always used to call me "Puddin'".
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COMMENT #11: [Added August 24, 2022]
From: https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/whats-your-name-puddin-tame/ Sept..19, 2018 [Applachia]
Judy Imanse: My
mother, who died last year, was 98 years old. She used to recite this when I
was little, I’m close to 77, and I believe it came from her mother. My
grandmother’s family moved to Indiana from North Carolina. What’s your name?
Puddintane. Where do you live? down the lane. What do you do? teach school. How
many students? 22. What do they sit on? little stools. ‘What do they look like?
little fools!
Quinn: What’s your name? PuddinTane! Where do you live? In a sieve! What’s your number? Cucumber! I learned it as a rhyme for jumping rope and clapping games and such. Really answering like that would have been very fresh…and probably not something I’d have tried a second time!
Bob Adcock: Down in “wiregrass country” it was common. Also, the esteemed Barney Fife used it in an Andy Griffith episode!
Bill Danner: It is from “The King of Boyville” by William Allen White, which is part of “The Court of Boyville” written in 1899. It is in response to an inquiry to the main character Piggy Pennington inquiring as to his name and the answer got the smaller new boy soundly thrashed. Well worth the read – good 1899 slang."...
#1. NANCY BIGGS, March 30, 2021 at 8:50 pm
"Hadn’t thought about Puddin Tane for a very long time. Used to recite it in north-central West Virginia ( Harrison County) as a child 1935-45. Various question/answer rhymes followed the initial question. If I recall one child asked the question, other child had to answer with a rhyme answer or get pinched.”…
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2. JOHN ADSMS, May 17, 2021 at 7:45 pm
"My Mom used both of your sayings. She lived for a short time
with my older brother in Ducktown Tennessee. Pudnin’ Tain was like a nursery
rhyme, she asked the questions and I answered. “What’s your name?” Pudnin’
Tain. Where do you live? Down the lane. What’s your phone number? Rotten
cucumber. Mom said that “A whistling woman and a cackling hen came to the same
bad end.!”
3.
..."We said it as “Puddin’-tain” ask me again and I’ll tell you
again! Also made up several following sentences with rhyming words…
Loved all these comments…
We used this little ditty for jumping rope too….and
sometimes as a clapping rhyme…"
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4. AARON PATTERSON, March 25, 2019 at 6:18 am
"Pudding ‘n tain was a record by the Alley Cats back in 1963.
Phil Spector productions ! Listen on you-tube. Cute song. I was in 10th grade
and remember it well."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
Here's a link to a sound file of the record "Puddin' N Tain" by The Alley Cats":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZrhYsW8leQ
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5. ANN APPLEGARTH, September 19, 2018 at 8:25 am
"We said that, except we said Puddintane with an n. If you
asked a boy his name, he said, “John Brown. Ask me again and I’ll knock you
down.” My mother said, “My name is Mayro sayro elizabeth jane eda beda ri-si
katherbine payne.”
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