# Famous names that your brain just refuses to get right **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999 "2012-03-06T20:04:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/1 "2012-03-06T20:04:41Z")
For the life of me, I cannot pronounce Pedro Almodovar’s name, it always comes out “Pedro I’m a Dove Bar.” And the late Benazir Bhutto? Thanks to a reporter friend with an odd sense of humor, she will always be “Bazumba Brassiere” to me, no matter how long I stop and think. And I always–_always!-_-confuse Holocaust writer Primo Levy and Big Bandleader Phil Spitalny, leading to more than once mentioning “Primo Levy and His All-Girl Orchestra.” Are there any famous names that your brain just refuses to get right? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/2 "2012-03-06T20:07:36Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Are there any famous names that your brain just refuses to get right? Mahmoud Imadinnerjacket ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/3 "2012-03-07T02:10:25Z")
OP mistakenly put this in an existing thread; I split it off with one answer. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/4 "2012-03-07T02:45:27Z")
I always mix up Sherwood Anderson, Maxwell Anderson, Robert Anderson, and Robert Sherwood. ---
**Author:** ![bunnymom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@bunnymom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bunnymom)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/5 "2012-03-07T02:49:38Z")
I almost always confuse Lee Marvin and James Coburn’s names. And I know the difference, I really do! Lee Marvin: Our Man Flint James Coburn: Paint Your Wagon Lee Marvin: rowr… hubba-hubba… James Coburn: not so much ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/6 "2012-03-07T02:51:41Z")
Not really a mixup, more a conflation. For several years I thought filmmakers Merchant/Ivory were one person, named Merchant Ivory. Guess I didn’t pay a lot of attention during the titles to _Howards End_. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/7 "2012-03-07T03:10:15Z")
I just realized the other day that I frequently confuse Broderick Crawford and Burgess Meredith. No, I have no explanation for it. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/8 "2012-03-07T03:11:03Z")
I don’t know how famous this is, but Houston Astros pitcher Wandy Rodriguez. Even in my head, it’s “Wandy Wodweeguez.” If I attempt to say his name out loud, I have to stop the sentence, say his first name, think about the motor actions necessary to say “Rodriguez,” and then enunciate it slowly while thinking about what my tongue is doing the whole time. If I don’t do all of these steps, I will inevitably mess up his name and have to back up and try again. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/9 "2012-03-07T03:15:45Z")
OK, mine is so simple, I look like a moron next to your polysyllabic stutters… Steve Jobs. My brain will not accept that it’s “Jobs,” as in vocations, but wants it to be “Jobs,” like long-suffering victims of a Divine gambling problem. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/10 "2012-03-07T13:48:17Z")
> [@bunnymom](#): > > I almost always confuse Lee Marvin and James Coburn’s names. And I know the difference, I really do! > > Lee Marvin: Our Man Flint > James Coburn: Paint Your Wagon ??? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/11 "2012-03-07T13:51:25Z")
I can’t remember who is who amongst Ryan Adams, Brian Adams, and Brian Ferry. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/12 "2012-03-07T14:01:42Z")
Elie Wiesel and Simon Wiesenthal. What can I say? Shave their heads and starve 'em down to 70 pounds and they all blend together. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/13 "2012-03-07T14:08:29Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > I don’t know how famous this is, but Houston Astros pitcher Wandy Rodriguez. Even in my head, it’s “Wandy Wodweeguez.” If I attempt to say his name out loud, I have to stop the sentence, say his first name, think about the motor actions necessary to say “Rodriguez,” and then enunciate it slowly while thinking about what my tongue is doing the whole time. If I don’t do all of these steps, I will inevitably mess up his name and have to back up and try again. I have no idea who this man is, but Elmer Fudd just said that entire quote in my head.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/14 "2012-03-07T14:14:05Z")
Tom Selleck, Tom Skerritt and Burt Reynolds are all the same person as far as I’m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/15 "2012-03-07T14:15:29Z")
Stephen Fry is the voice actor on Futurama, right? Oh wait… ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/16 "2012-03-07T14:20:43Z")
For some reason, I always want to put an ‘s’ at the end of Stephen Hawking’s last name. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/17 "2012-03-07T14:25:24Z")
[Albert Finney](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4163156224/nm0001215) and [Brian Cox.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004051/) I always have to ask was he the one in Super Troopers or the one in Big Fish? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/18 "2012-03-07T14:26:06Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > OP mistakenly put this in an existing thread; I split it off with one answer. \*Thank \*you! Every time I click on “start new thread,” it hops back instead to the last thread I was looking at. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/19 "2012-03-07T14:28:32Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Steve Jobs. My brain will not accept that it’s “Jobs,” as in vocations, but wants it to be “Jobs,” like long-suffering victims of a Divine gambling problem. I thought it was pronounced “Joe-bs” till he died and I heard it as “Jah-bs” on the newscasts! ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999/20 "2012-03-07T14:30:09Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Not really a mixup, more a conflation. For several years I thought filmmakers Merchant/Ivory were one person, named Merchant Ivory. Guess I didn’t pay a lot of attention during the titles to _Howards End_. For years when I heard the name Hall and Oates, I always thought it was one person named Holland Oates. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-your-brain-just-refuses-to-get-right/614999.md?page=2)