We watched the film Away We Go last weekend. (I liked it. A bit forced at times, but a nice little film.)
When Bert and Verona go to visit his “cousin,” Verona looks at the name on the office door that reads “L.N. Fisher-Herrin,” and says, "L.N.? I thought you said her name was Ellen." Then she seems to realize something and apprehensively says “Oh” or “Oh, no” or something like that.
I don’t get it. 
Haven’t seen the movie. Could it be as simple as “L.N.” and “Ellen” sound the same when spoken?
There are so many usernames here that work that way.
Examples:
Hugh Jass
Shirley Ujest
Ellis Dee
My sister had a cat named Ellis, for ‘Little Shit’.
L. N. sounds like Ellen. Presumably when Bert referred to his “cousin” as “L. N.” Verona thought he was saying Ellen.
I seem to recall that Lee J. Cobb’s real name was Lee Jacob.
A buddy and I used to have a thing for names, mostly made up, for people at work, taking their first names and creating surnames that would fit well.
Jim Nasium
Billy Club
Marie Zoniz
Steve Adore
Tara Ramboomdeay
Pam Flett
Jess B. Cozz
Tim Plate
and my all-time favorite, Patty O’Furniture.
I’m lost…
My reason is
Of course I get that.
But it also seemed from Maya Rodolph’s reaction that she was realizing some other meaning behind it. The pacing of the scene felt like the audience was supposed to realize it too.
I’ll see if I can find a clip.
Indeed. Garrison Keillor has a bunch of good ones, too. I didn’t check for dupes on the Car Talk list, but a couple I remember from APHC:
Amanda Reckonwith
Sara Bellum
You and I clearly have very, very different accents…
Might just be.
Was L.N. the woman who didn’t believe in baby strollers?
The way I took Verona’s comment was that the woman’s name really was Ellen but that she spelled it L.N. to be unique. Her reaction was similar to how many Dopers react to unique name spellings – being different for the sake of being different.
I didn’t see the first part of the movie. Did they ever talk about what to name the baby? Any comments about trendy names?
Yep, that was her.
I don’t believe there was any discussion of the baby’s name (they know it’s a girl, though).
I think your take is close to what they were going for; kind of “Oh, no, you mean she’s one of those pretentious ultra-non-conformist earth-mother weirdos?”
But if that’s the case, it’s a big stretch to get that from two letters on a door.
They might not get the earth mother weirdo part (they hadn’t seen her breastfeeding the four-year-old yet), but I think L.N. for Ellen is a clue for pretentious and ultra-non-conformist.