The directors of the First National Building Society could be forgiven for having second thoughts about its proposed new name.

The society, which will convert to a public company this autumn, will then be known as First Active. But the title leaves a lot to be desired in the eyes of many society members.

"How did you get First Active?" Ms Ruth Shanahan earnestly inquired at its annual general meeting yesterday. "It's not appealing to me at all. It suggests it's tied with sexually active." Judging by the applause, she was not the only dissatisfied customer. First National chairman, Professor Michael McCormac, asked if he could deal with her question later. Other members made sure that he did.

The three and a half hour meeting was certainly active.

One woman criticised the society for taking 10 months to approve a mortgage, while claiming that she knew a man who had been given approval within four days.

The managing director, Mr John Smyth, said this should not have happened and stressed that the society had been the first to offer mortgages to single women in Ireland. Despite its largesse to women over the years, another member noted that only one woman had managed to make it to the board of directors. Apart from Mrs Carmecita Hederman, the other 12 directors were men.

There was no shortage of members who wanted to address the meeting. Many highlighted personal grievances, about the society's interest rates and the way they applied to their accounts.

But the bulk of questions raised concerns about the affect of the flotation on the society's members.

Mr Joe McEvoy told the meeting he was concerned that members would be forgotten in First Active. But undoubtedly it was 81 year old Mr John Barrett who stole the show.

Having travelled up from Mallow, Co Cork, specially to attend the meeting, Mr Barrett made sure he got everything off his chest. "How safe is our money when this change comes and why are we changing course? We have a society of large standing. It has proved itself and is a reasonably wealthy society. When I heard of the changes I said what is going to happen to our society. Why are the whiz kids in Dublin changing course?" Mr Barrett said he had given the proposal a great deal of thought, and particularly the impact it would have on his day-to-day life. "When I left home this morning I said to my lovely dog Sandy, when I come back, I'll either have very good news or very bad news. If it's very bad news we'll have to tighten our belts but if it's good you and I can look forward to a good life."

Mr Barrett asked the board about the likely financial success of the new company - the name of which escaped him. "Will Anne Doyle be telling us in her own lovely way on the news that what's it called has gone up 5p?" After some prompting he asked: "How active is First Active going to be?"

Other members bemoaned the difficulties that faced those who wanted to become members of the society's board of directors. Mr Kevin Devlin, said he had asked many times about how he would go about securing such an appointment but had always been given "the run around".

On the same subject, Mr John O'Riordain said that directors were appointed without consultation with the society's members. "You have developed the arrogance of bankers long before your time," he told the board.

Members repeatedly extolled the virtues of mutual societies, reminding the board that they had been established to help people to buy their own homes.

Mr Henry Murdoch, a former dissident at these meetings but now is a non-executive director of First National, empathised with these sentiments, but insisted that conversion was now the best option for the society.

"I have been a strong supporter of mutuality. It has worked well in many countries including Ireland but it is no accident that many have now converted to plcs. I like to think of a building society as being like a teenager, while a plc is an adult. As a teenager you can only do what your are permitted to do by your parents. An adult can do what you wish provided it is not prohibited." Mr Murdoch stressed that the society could no longer compete with other financial institutions until it got rid of this burden.

After much prompting, Mr Smyth finally defended the company's proposed new name. "I know it takes time to get used to a new name, but a name is what you make of it. We plan to be very active in your interest, to achieve a greater return for you and your money."

Despite the largely negative tone of the meeting, when it came to voting in favour of conversion and free shares, members overwhelmingly approved.