I’m not necessarily a huge fan of hers but I give her credit for admitting that she screwed up. She says she wanted to give him a middle name after her friend Dave Attell. The original name:
Gene Attell Fischer
They have now apparently changed the middle name to Dave.
(I realize that the whole thing may be a publicity stunt but at least the kid won’t be punished for life),
Love this - do you have a cite for it not dated April 1? 
It’s just too perfect - even the first two names would be bad enough, but combined with the surname…
I didn’t see any reports from April 1 but maybe it was a joke that just got picked up Link
Here is a link from last year giving the kid’s name.
n i remember seeing something on yahoo or MSN where they regretted the name a few weeks after the kid was born and she even said it’s possible they’ll change it even had the bit about her mom pointing the obvious out …
“Gene Attell Fischer.”
I don’t get it.
Wait, I’m supposed to get from “Gene Attell” to “genital?”
That’s an even further reach than Weird Al rhyming “deserved it” with “unheard of” in Amish Paradise.
You should listen to Gangsta’s Paradise maybe.
It took me several minutes to get it too. I was thinking, “what’s wrong with ‘Attell’?” Definitely a prank or publicity stunt. Kind of weak.
It’s certainly not a prank or a publicity stunt.
You don’t quietly drop the news on a podcast a year after the baby was born as a publicity stunt. You don’t change the name of your baby as a prank.
There has been snickering about the name in the comedy word ever since. This is the NYC comedy scene where Attell is king and anything that is considered hack will get you eviscerated. If there was a hint she did this as a bit her comedy heroes Attell and Colin Quinn would never let her live it down.
Oh.I have no knowledge whatsoever of the comedy world so I’ll take your word for it. It just seems so hard to believe. I mean, I had to say it “aloud” several times to get it but once I did, it seems so obvious. You’d think new parents would have said it over and over again out loud, or at least once. “There he is! Gene Attell Fischer! Wait…what?”
Anyway, if you ask me they should have lost the Gene, or switched the first and middle names around.
I had a math professor in college named Dr. Sprows. He told us once that when his first child was born, he was considering naming him after a famous mathematician, such as Bertrand Russel. But then he realized, well, Bertrand is a very uncommon name, and Russel is much more common, so the kid would probably end up going by his middle name. Which would make him B. Russel Sprows.
He ended up going with a different name.
I had a math professor in college named Dr. Sprows. He told us once that when his first child was born, he was considering naming him after a famous mathematician, such as Bertrand Russel. But then he realized, well, Bertrand is a very uncommon name, and Russel is much more common, so the kid would probably end up going by his middle name. Which would make him B. Russel Sprows.
He ended up going with a different name.
The office admin at my first job’s name was Tina Rial. She was getting married to another Portuguese fellow who’s last name was Gonya. We asked if she was going to hyphenate their names and we all thought a second.
Gonya-Rial
Probably not a good idea.
She names her kid after Dave Atell and then worries his name might sound like ‘genital’? Dave Atell resembles a genital. Who would name their kid after that freak? What’s the matter with traditional names like Dahmer and Gottfried?
Yeah, I guess it is a bit too similar to genital fissure.
Take that class twice, did ya?
When Tom Cruise was dating Penelope Cruz, a reporter asked her, “If you get married, will you take his surname, or hyphenate?” She chuckled, then changed the subject.
Jeez Kira Nerys…I understand wanting to avoid giving the child an embarrassing name, but I always thought avoiding the obvious blunders was good enough. Like “Seymour Butts”, or “Hugh Jass”, or “Amanda Hugginkiss”. (C’mon, we’ve all watched The Simpsons! :)) Now we have to watch out for legitimate medical terms?? Do you have any idea just how many terms covering all the diseases, dysfunctions, disorders, imbalances, malforms, adverse conditions etc. etc. etc. there freaking are?? I took one little medical transcription course once, and by the end I felt like I’d been through three seasons of Chicago Hope.
And what’s with the judgement? “HOW could she have possibly missed THAT?” Well, perhaps it’s because she honestly had no freaking idea what a genital fissure is, and it sure as hell isn’t a matter of intelligence or worldliness because I didn’t know either. How far is a parent expected to go? Should she bring in experts? Run everything through five Internet databases?
Maybe it’s just my work in public housing. Believe me, if you don’t learn to get used to funny names very quicckly, you won’t last a month.
(My mother once had a professor named Charles Barclay. Every time I think about it, it strikes me how that’s actually a much more appropriate name for a quiet white middle-aged academic than…you know.)
“Let’s see…Bart, cart, dart, e-art. Nope, can’t see anything wrong with that.” 
Just like Wesley Snipes.
Yeah, but her kid’s first name is still that of a 90-year old man, so…