Are silly names an impediment?

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Chris Green
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 08:02 PM

I went to school with a boy called Michael Wankling. I assume he's changed it by deed poll since then!

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Mary
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 12:58 PM

My name is Mary Allen if I had $1 for each time Ive been asked "Are you shy Hairy Mellon?" Id be a millionair.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Slag
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 03:49 AM

I knew a fellow in the Air Force by the last name of Clapsaddle and another of German extraction, last name Ditterlizzi. I went to highschool with a Dusty Rhodes and another young lady, Sandy Poole. In JC I met Sandy Beech. Ronald Glappenski was just known as "Glapp". Of the football player variety I always liked Balldinger! Villapiano was interesting but rather mundane when you translate it: Littleton (or "Little Village").

Names can make you or break you. Johnny Cash (and Carry?) demostrated this with the song "A Boy Named Sue"!

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: *Laura*
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 08:30 AM

There was a teacher at a school near where I live called Gail Gale - it was her married name though so she could have not used it! And she continued to use it after her divorce.

A teacher of mine (first name Pebbles) names her son Bede. When I told my friend her response was "What!? but the kid's got to go to school!!!"
It could be worse than Bede but you'd have thought growing up being called Pebbles was enough to get you to name your kid John.

Also have had an orthodontic surgeon called Doctor Skinner, and also Miss Attack.
Very reassurring!

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 08:22 PM

I've told this here at Mudcat AT LEAST once before, but it's too good to pass up.

When I was in the Army, oh, those many moons ago, there was a sergeant surnamed Faddiss. And you just KNOW what he was called (although not to his face).

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 08:27 PM

Oh, and another one.

Someone above mentioned knowing a Donald Duck.

I'll see yer "Donald Duck" and raise you a "Donald Duck III!" He was (and is) a successful lawyer here in Indianapolis. And just to prove that some families are extremely slow on the uptake, my son Ted went to nursery school with Donald Duck III's son, and guess what HIS name is! Yep, that's right. It fair t' boggles the mind!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Don Firth
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 09:03 PM

I always thought that the parents of Clarence Clapsaddle didn't do their kid any favors. They made what was already a bad start much worse.

I once took about a year's worth of lessons from a very fine classical guitarist named Edward (Bud) Hern. His wife's given name was Fern. Lovely woman.

My wife knew a couple of brand new proud parents who were about to name their baby girl Claire Annette. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Gweltas1
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 01:46 AM

I used to know an Annette Curtain.
There used to be a Doctor Kneebone in the local medical practise in Liskeard, Cornwall.
In the same town there was a Dental Practise called Smelley Boiles and Price
In Leamington Spa,UK, there is a Firm of Solicitors called Wright Hassall & Co. and a similar firm in Ireland called Hassall and Argue !!

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 12:39 PM

A friend of mine was at college with a girl called Chris Lear, who rocketed to local fame when her name was called out at her graduation ceremony: Chrystal Shanda Lear. Really.

I knew a girl who hated her surname, Hawes. She married a Mr Balls.

UK Immigration Officers used to be vigilant in case a certain Pakistani illegal immigrant tried to re-enter the country. Whilst waiting in a Belgian port to cross to the UK, he made the mistake of asking a Scottish sailor in a bar to suggest a name which would pass unnoticed at passport control. He was given 'Willie McWaterpipe'. It didn't work.

My son is less than grateful that he was named Matt White. (Damn, I've let it slip that Rusty Dobro isn't my real name!)

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 06:30 PM

My son and daughter both took lessons from a Mrs. Tittscowski which is in itself bad enough but the other kids turned it around to be Cowtittski (although they all say they really like her).

I can't remember the first name of the man but his last name was Hunter. He insisted that he be called by his nickname "Bud". Considering that he was in an agency that was involved in the war on drugs he might have thought it funny to be known as Bud Hunter. Unfortunately everyone used to mispronounce the "d" as a "t" making him Butt Hunter.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Don Firth
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 07:37 PM

One of the factors that first got me actively interested in folk music in the early 1950s was that I was keeping steady company with a lovely young woman whose grandmother had given her a fine old parlor guitar which she no longer played, and she set about avidly teaching herself how to play it while learning folk songs and ballads from John and Sylvia Kolb's A New Treasury of Folk Songs and John and Alan Lomax's Best Loved American Folk Songs. Her name was Claire Hess.

She thought her name was not particularly euphonious. "Claire Hess!" she would say. "Plunk Plunk! I'm going to be sure to marry a man with a last name that's two syllables at least!"

I found this a bit disturbing because it occurred to me that "Claire Firth" would not be that great an improvement. Some time later, we parted company. Amicably, fortunately. Our lives simply took us in different directions.

Some time later, I heard that she had married a man named Jerry Huff.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: frogprince
Date: 24 Jul 08 - 12:17 PM

From Yahoo news:

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A family court judge in New Zealand has had enough with parents giving their children bizarre names here, and did something about it.
Just ask Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. He had her renamed.
Judge Rob Murfitt made the 9-year-old girl a ward of the court so that her name could be changed, he said in a ruling

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Acorn4
Date: 24 Jul 08 - 03:46 PM

Don't think anyone's mentioned this on the thread as yet but when Elvis Presley started out didn't a music critic say "He'll never get anywhere with a name like that!"

I've met in my time:-

Cherry Orchard
Penny Farthing
Luke Lively

However, I think Teresa Jolly-Goodfellow is made up.

There was a chap in my class at school called Roger Balls (like Ed Balls -education secretary) - at our school the register was always called using surnames and the comical thing was seeing how the teachers (all of whom were Oxbridge educated) tried to get round it)

There were two horses running in a race once - one was called "Slippery Dick", the other "Fanny's Delight" -the Peter O' Sullevan commentary was quite memorable as I remember.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Jul 08 - 04:05 PM

Acorn4, I suspect that your memories of Slippery Dick and Fanny's Delight are being mistily merged with memories of urban myths of long ago.

I have followed British horseracing since 1965, my memory for horses' names is pretty good, but I have no recollection of either a Slippery Dick or a Fanny's Delight racing either on the flat or over jumps.

The singer whom I accompany from time to time did however have a classmate called Iona Dyson.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: akenaton
Date: 24 Jul 08 - 04:44 PM

Hi Murray...so you're a student o' the turf then!

I've trained greyhounds to race at most of the tracks in Scotland; and one of my best dogs laboured under the name of "Rank Bajin"

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 24 Jul 08 - 06:35 PM

Plizz 'splain" one of my best dogs laboured under the name of "Rank Bajin" for a poor iggerant American!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Acorn4
Date: 24 Jul 08 - 08:09 PM

Murray,

The horses were definitely in that race - it would have been in the early 80's - not sure how far records go back.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Ross Campbell
Date: 25 Jul 08 - 06:20 PM

DaveO -
Rank Bajin was one of Scottish cartoonist Bud Neill's main characters, See Wikipedia article
here
The name derives from a descriptive phrase "rank bad yin" that might be applied to one of Glasgow's nastier elements

rank:- awful, terrible, sometimes used as an emphatic, ie "very"
bad:- bad
yin:- one

I would guess that anyone giving a greyhound a name like that would not be having great expectations - or perhaps that was a ploy to throw the betting fraternity off the scent?

Ross

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jul 08 - 06:33 PM

And back to the thread - my English teacher at Balfron High School was

Emerson Wilberforce Eglington.

I guess he was born around 1910, so may not have had to deal with the ribbing that such a name might bring today. It certainly didn't seem to have caused him any problems.
A tall, gangly man, he was a very kind gentleman and a great teacher. His name seemed perfectly suited for an academic who had risen to Head of English and Deputy Head of the school. Sadly, none of the teachers of his generation survived long in retirement and I never got the chance to thank them for all they did for me.

Ross

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: SINSULL
Date: 25 Jul 08 - 08:55 PM

Wilberforce was actually responsible for getting hundreds of Jewish children to safety before Hitler's army could transport them to concentration camps.

Tipper Gore always made me think that it must have been one hell of a bodrhan party.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: SINSULL
Date: 25 Jul 08 - 08:57 PM

bodhran

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jul 08 - 03:18 PM

A pair of students at Massachusetts School of Art named Shackett(F) and Plunkett(M) were an item at school and ultimately wed.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,I am Luke Lively
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 09:59 PM

It hasn't been a problem. Sticks in people's memory. write me @ [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 10:31 PM

They never get to be President, or Prime Minister or King, do they?

Its like that Monty Python sketch about Mr Smokestoomuch.


You're bound to notice it.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 10:39 PM

They never get to be President...do they?

How about having Hussein as a middle name in the USA? We'll see.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Cluin
Date: 01 Nov 08 - 11:18 AM

I knew a Peter Holder and an Anita Dick and her daughter, Amanda.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,captain steamboat
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 12:45 PM

Once met a German called Herr Willigsecker. Close to being very funny indeed.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Alice
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 01:30 PM

It is cruel to give a child a weird name.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 02:05 PM

Yes.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Major F. Ing Loozer
Date: 27 Mar 12 - 10:13 PM

You have to ask?

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 02:48 PM

If you have a silly name, just change it, for heaven's sake.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 03:53 PM

I once had a pupil called Dwayne Pipe. His mum was a teacher and should have known better. I also had, both in the same class, Paul Small and Mark Clark. And (this is perfectly true) an Ophelia Balls. The oddest name was a little lad called Starshone. His proud (hippy) Dad explained that when he was born, he lifted him to the hospital window and the first thing he saw was a star in the sky. I privately thought it was a jolly good thing he didn't see a pooch doing a poo, or he'd have been called Dogshit!

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 29 Mar 12 - 12:42 AM

A young woman I know has named her daughter Taome [pronounced to rhyme with Naomi], an acronym for The Apple Of My Eye. Just thought it appropriate to mention here, tho I am far from thinking it a silly name: in fact I think it quite charming.

When I was born, 1932, my Uncle David told my parents they couldn't call me Michael Myer*, as 'everyone will call him Mickey Mouse'. But nobody did.

~Michael~

*The Grosvenor came later.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 29 Mar 12 - 06:28 AM

In the rugby world, we've had Austin Healey (England, also a sports car) and Remy Martin (France, also a brandy).

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 29 Mar 12 - 06:44 AM

I thought of changing mine from Thimbles O'Hooligan to Theophilus P. Wildebeest but Lenny Henry beat me to it, so I settled for Tone-Deaf Lime Clinton.

RtS

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 29 Mar 12 - 07:28 AM

Deed poll is a wonderful thing, unless of course someone decides to rename himself/herself after all the players in a football team or favourite singers. Imagine the priest or vicar having reel all that off at a funeral and still try keep a straight face.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: framus
Date: 29 Mar 12 - 10:37 PM

I used to work in an Unemployment Benefit Office in Belfast and had, true I swear, 3 single females ;- Myrtle Turtle, Tamara Knight and Rhoda Dick.
Also had a big, nice, black guy called Moses Jammah, who turned in the queue and surprised a daydreaming elderly lady.
"Holy Jesus" - "D'you not think Moses is bad enough?"

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 30 Mar 12 - 01:55 AM

I once taught in a school where there was a pupil called Raper [not that uncommon a name, tho I am quite pleased not to have it ~ likewise Smellie!].   

A colleague said that if her name was Raper, she would soon change it.

Her name was Mrs Alcock.

~M~

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 31 Mar 12 - 01:57 AM

And a lot of people are called Hoare, but nobody seems to want to make anything of it.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 31 Mar 12 - 03:56 AM

I knew someone who was proud of the facr that his mother was a Hoare (and he did realise the implications).

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 31 Mar 12 - 05:36 AM

When I worked in an institution that, among other courses,trained teachers, we had a student surnamed Virgin. Before she went on her first teaching practice she changed it to Vernon.

RtS

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 19 Aug 12 - 03:55 AM

When it comes to performer's names, I always think the champ is Tiny LaVonda. She was a sideshow dwarf of the 1940s whose story will break your heart: http://www.phreeque.com/tiny_lavonda.html .

I always wonder if Jah Wobble would be more respected if he released his many excellent dub/world albums under his real name of John Wardle.

It was a drunken Sid Vicious who garbled Wardle's moniker into Jah Wobble, and the new name served him very well in his early days simply because it was so memorable. Dropping it now would simply confuse everyone, but I suspect many people still dismiss Wobble's records as a joke simply because of the name he releases them under.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: Musket
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 07:33 AM

A customer in Scotland back in the '80s had a works manager called Douglas Dick. After giggling over word play whilst walking over the car park, I got to their reception and without thinking, asked to see Dickless Doug....

Similarly, a customer's stores manager in Southampton was called Richard Head, but if you ever wished them to stock your products, you didn't. Ever....

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Johnny J.
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 11:18 AM

I believe Zowie Bowie has changed his name to Duncan Jones.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Bill D
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 11:40 AM

from this page http://libraries.wichita.edu/ablah/index.php/archives/231

" With the able assistance of the Dean of the College, William H. Isely; the Dean of the Academy, Clifford P. Clark; Deans Hoare, Kingsbury and Titt;"

Dean Arthur J. Hoare was retired when I started at the school. I do wonder what kids of those early days made of Deans Hoare & Titt.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 12:51 PM

Opposite the gate of Christ's College Cambridge in the 50s was a brass plate of a firm [forget of what] called "Jackson Cox - formerly Hymans & Cox". "No wonder they changed it" was was a running joke among the student body.

~M~

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Mark
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 03:42 PM

My mother had a classmate - Oliva Sutton.

I had a classmate - her immigrant parents were wise in changing the spelling of the family name to "Fewkes" from "Fuchs".

"Margarint" may be a common male name in Romania, but his parents learned quickly to get the 9-year old and his teachers (and me) to use his middle name instead.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 05:02 PM

Fuchs is actually just the German word for fox ~~ which, with cap, is a not uncommon name here also.

We used to sing a German song at school: "Fuchs du hast die Gans gestollen, Gib sie lieber her; Sonst wird dich der Leber hollen Mit sein Schiessgewehr" (Fox, you have stolen the goose. Bring her back at once, Or else the hunter will shoot you with his shotgun). Had a nice lilting tune, I remember.

~M~

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 06:15 PM

We were delighted to learn (at age 11) that the German word for father is Vater (pronounced of course farter). I had several pupils with unfortunate names: Dwayne Pipe (whose mother was a teacher and should have known better!) Mhairi Grubb, Ophelia Balls, Paul Small and Mark Clark (both in the same class) Annette Curtain, Mary Christmas, Starshone Bennett (parents were hippies, mother was called Squirrel Bennett!) Denise Bastard (no attempt to change it to B'stard) and Graham Death (no insertion of apostrophe) The latter meant I had to interview Mr and Mrs Death on parent evenings. Rather sinister. None of these seemed to be much teased, as their names were quickly accepted. Dwayne Pipe was always called Gutter by his mates. He didn't care a pin.

Subject: RE: Are silly names an impediment?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 06:24 PM

I am now covered with shame as I see I already posted almost the same facts on this thread a while back. Oh Lord, it's obvious senility has set in. What's my name again?....Where did I leave my glasses?...