'I had to put a name forward' = I had to nominate/select/choose someone(for something) It is easiest to understand with the following scenario: You sit at a desk and in front of you are 3 name cards laid in a straight line across the desk. Someone asks you to choose a person to be fired. You then proceed to push one of the name cards forward. What you have just done is 'put a name forward'. You have 'chosen/nominated/selected' a person.

Hello Chole: It means that something needed to be done, and some specific person needed to be scheduled to do something. So, the person saying "you are not going to like this" is about to say that he give another person's name. Not his own name mind you, but gave someone else's name, thus "volunteering" the other person for some duty or job of some sort. It is the equivalent of me offering your name as the person who would happily volunteer to do some task. .