This is utterly fitting.
Nobody’s mentioned Dick Van Dyke yet?
The only people with who go by Dick are at least 60 years old. I’m 42 and growing up among my social circle dick meant wang, exclusively. When did dick become such a ubiquitous synonym for cock that it became impossible to call anyone Dick without tittering? Sometime in the 70s I guess, because I’ve never met anyone my age who went by Dick.
My dad was called “Dicky” as a kid. Not so much as an adult.
I always wondered why the name Richard wasn’t more popular. It’s a good, strong name… and I guess the Dick effect is one reason why.
There were several profs in my grad school named Richard. Of course they are all in their 50s-60s-70s, so they are all called Dick. We would say some of the most raunchy sounding things quite innocently when discussing them: “Which of the four Dicks are you working with?” “I have a research meeting with the Dicks.” “That Dick and that Dick don’t play well together.”
Seeing Boutros-Boutros Ghali’s name reminded me of Secretary-General U Thant, whose name is also pretty silly looking by Western standards.
I wonder if Jim Bob Cooter ever met USC’s John David Booty? Maybe not. Booty is currently a backup with the Vikings.
Just as amusing is Chilean founding father Bernardo O’Higgins.
How would you forget Yinka Dare? Or, on another college basketball note, God Shammgod?
Just in case you’re not kidding, Shaquille is an Arabic name. However, it means “little warrior,” and Shaq is 7’3" and… let’s say he’s listed at 325 pounds.
Then there’s that Father Cutie guy.
There’s the unfortunately named MLB players Rusty Kuntz, Dick Pole, J.J. Putz, and Antonio Bastardo
The father of one of my aunts was named Harry Dick.
In my next life, I want to be named Magic Johnson.
Praise-God Barebone. William Makepeace Thackeray is the same kind of thing, but at least there it’s only the middle name. Mark Lemongello.
Yeah, I noticed that whilst researching them, but decided to go with what they were most known as. Besides, they dropped the more-ordinary first name and thus could have sounded less silly.
(Although William Gibbs McAdoo Jr. needed to distinguish himself from his father, and Billings Hand becomes less silly by a small margin.)
How about the Confederate general named States Rights Gist? Died at the Battle of Franklin in 1864.
Apparently his brothers were named Independence and Constitution.
There are a few with sort of silly names.
Or the inventor of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot.
Richard Swett served in the U.S. House, representing New Hampshire, from 1991-95, and was the U.S. ambassador to Denmark from 1998-2001.
Unfortunately, like so many Richards before him, he went by “Dick”.
Mungo Park,nineteenth c. explorer.
Yes.
Today I came across a few quotes from a stand-up commedian, Myq Kaplan.
I don’t know if that’s his real name or a stage name. One can only hope his brith certificate says M-I-K-E.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono current president of Indonesia. (Thank you Mam! - Parents Betty and Barney?)
I once had a whole book entitled Remarkable Names of Real People. I can’t find it now, but I found this web page with some stuff from it: Odd Names
Most of the names there (and in the book) seem to be people who (if real) are remarkable for nothing but their names, but a few might meet the OP’s criteria:
Not on the web page, but remembered from the book, and checked in Wikipedia:
I also remember from the book, but cannot now confirm, some Indian potentate or religious leader whose full name included (amongst other names) the word “Sri” (=blessed, I think) repeated over 100 times. It said he was usually known as “Sri 109” (or some other similar number).
Chad Ocho Cinco, obviously. But that’s cheating.
Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraudatifilius Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache is the best name ever. Not at all famous, I suppose, but he does have a wiki page.
I’ve always been baffled by CCH Pounder’s unusual name. Is it a standard of weight or currency… a menu item? But I just found out that it is simply an abbreviation for Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder.
Why not just Carol Pounder? My only surmise is that it was a stand apart name to attract casting directors’ attention?