# Getting Shafted in the Name Department **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 24, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400 "2005-01-24T12:37:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/161 "2005-01-26T19:38:22Z")
> [@Ashes](#): > > **Bob** , I’m giving you The Look. Ol’ Bob gets the stinkeye. I’ve done my job for the week. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/162 "2005-01-26T19:50:29Z")
What a chatty thread. Anyway, I just wanted to join in and say, HI, **FAIRY CHAT MOM**! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, **FAIRY CHAT MOM**! One of the nicest people I ever met on the Internet, she is. I don’t even have that many dealings with her and I know it. Oh, and I got shafted in the name department too…I like my name but it’s so exotic in the States & I’m pretty tired of the blank looks. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/163 "2005-01-26T19:55:43Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > What a chatty thread. That’s what we’re here for… ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/164 "2005-01-26T19:56:59Z")
> [@Ashes](#): > > Veronica! > Veronica Veronica Bo Bronica > Banana Fanna Fo Fronica > Fe Fi Mo Meronica > Veronica! Well, my question is - how many times have people sang the Elvis Costello song to you? Bet it gets annoying. As for me - a little PO’d today because I still don’t have my car back. Fix it, darn it! But on the good side, tonight I get to have the last brownie from the batch I made on Saturday. Susan ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/165 "2005-01-26T20:08:54Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > What a chatty thread. Anyway, I just wanted to join in and say, > > HI, **FAIRY CHAT MOM**! > > and > > HAPPY BIRTHDAY, **FAIRY CHAT MOM**! > > One of the nicest people I ever met on the Internet, she is. How very perceptive of you! Yes, as a matter of fact, I am nice. Truly nice. It’s not just my schtick. Even **swampy** and **VunderBob** and **Shibb** have to admit that I’m just as nice in person and I have never been know to inflict serious bodily harm on any Doper as far as anyone knows. Because I’m nice. Dammit. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/166 "2005-01-26T20:16:11Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Oh, and I got shafted in the name department too… Uh, no you didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/167 "2005-01-26T20:23:16Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > That’s what we’re here for… I didn’t say it was a bad thing. 😉 **FairyChatMom** , ego aside, you certainly are nice! (Where’s the money for saying this?) **Exgineer** : either this is a compliment, in which case, thank you, or you are much more miserable over your name. Anyway, I was talking about my full/legal name, not the one I usually go by. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/168 "2005-01-26T21:08:20Z")
I don’t really think of myself as being shafted in the name department. I like the fact that I have a different name from everybody else. And, I do know one other person with my name. He’s from my hometown. Hmmm… maybe it’s my hometown that’s actually weird. They still have a huuuuuuuuge banner strung up because the local high school won the state AAA football championship. Also, at one time 3 out of the 10 people that were in the so called “Criminally Insane” ward at the state hospital were from there. They missed me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/169 "2005-01-26T22:11:06Z")
> [@Tupug Anachi](#): > > Mmmmmm, some mayo and catsoup and you are there. 🙂 You know I’ve eaten horse, monkey, dog, and snake, and even some bugs, but I don’t think I’ve ever eaten cat (that I know of), Is it any good? Do they put veggies in the soup too? I’m sorry, I can’t help myself. I used to be a proofreader in a previous life. I searched on the internet for my real-life name (first and last) once and found that there are at least 17 other people in the U.S. with that same combination. I just googled my name again, and so far I’ve found a sportswriter, a preacher, a clothing manufacturer, a pulmonologist (he even has the same middle initial) , and a company president. I also found a couple of sites written in what appears to be some scandinavian language. I wonder if they’re all as easily amused as I am? ---
**Author:** ![Kallessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@Kallessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallessa)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/170 "2005-01-26T23:25:52Z")
I would get lots and lots and lots of hits if I googled my name, it’s white bread all the way. Even in Alaska there was another lawyer with the same name, and there’s even another lawyer working for the same union, and we share a name down to the middle initial (although she spells Ann with an “e”). My name is so common that for several years I kept an obituary written about one of my namesakes. Not only did we share a name, we shared a vocation–just as I was getting into labor law career, her career as a labor activist and educator (as well as a lawyer) was cut short by her death. In addition to having a rather distinguished career, she seems to have been surrounded by friends and family, active in the community, well-travelled and generally an all around good egg. There’s a certain power/magic/appeal to an obituary, under your name, that details a life well lived. I kept it in hopes that it would help me live my life in such a way that I would have as good an obituary! Morbid? Me? Darlin’, I’m just wearing black until they come up with something darker. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/171 "2005-01-26T23:31:37Z")
You know **susan** , only once has someone even mentioned that song. Where I live, it would have had to be a Guns ‘n’ Roses song for anyone to know it. Elvis Costello-- that kind of music could earn ya a beatin’! Besides, I read somewhere that Veronica was supposed to have been a prostitute! Wow, seventeen **Bumbas**. There’s nobody with my name and evidently never has been, at least as back as 1720. Once you hop to Germany, I can’t read that stuff. I do know that my last name means something like “winery or vinyard worker” which tells you something. What? I dunno, I’m not enough of a smart aleck. Calling all smart alecks; come make fun of this! I’m not going to Mexico [sub]today[/sub] and you can’t make me! I’m going home and making lobster pot pie, instead. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/172 "2005-01-27T02:35:14Z")
Why do you need to go to Mexico? I’m intrigued. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/173 "2005-01-27T03:05:16Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > **Exgineer** : either this is a compliment, in which case, thank you, or you are much more miserable over your name. Anyway, I was talking about my full/legal name, not the one I usually go by. I’m just going by what shows up with your email. I’m probably pronouncing it wrong, but it looks pretty good on paper (or in pixels, whatever). Maybe you should try another Albany meet-up in favorable weather, just so you can take me to school. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/174 "2005-01-27T03:32:44Z")
> [@Rue DeDay](#): > > There’s the head guy Nicholas II (Electric Tsar-a-loo), his wife Alexandra and his boy Alexi and Nic and Lexi’s girl children Anastasia (the guy who invented the stuff to make you numb so you can have surgery and dental fun named it after her), Marie and Olga. They didn’t include Tatiana in that pcture? ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/175 "2005-01-27T04:14:09Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Oddly enough, I’ve known a lot of Asian people who took very unusual English names, such as Ludwig, Cedric, Ingrid, Wayson, Sewell… I’ve met: Maverick Winson Meloney Minerva Begonia Genora Colosander Fresno Fresnona Fedora Linus (two kids with this name in a month) Maurice (pronounced as “Morris”) Holan Delia Maureen Zita Rainbow Cherry Diamond Majestic Moni Sylver Golden Mimosa Tilia Ficus Citrus Cordia Benedict Felicia Sherman Charis Hugo Ringo Moony Pew Jerome Kalena Isidro Vera Verena Fulton Ena Roanna Kent Vicson Gladys Vance Allyn (pronounced as “Eileen” would be) Bessy Ada Winston Echo Kevin Kimberley Gertrude Bertha Rowena Zonia Ase Denni Fonda Maisie Jade Dara Audrey Laurens Lindy Pretty Princess Iris Ivy Selwyn Whitman Olivier Ronne (pronounced as “Ronnie”) Sohan Georgiana Georgia Carina Daisy Clement Fidela Pinky Stellar Clementine Ursula Jessie Louisa Temmy Samkie Jacky Vania Chalaine Careena Acer Charmaine Drina Taryn Delson Lana Edna Rosanna Eliana Stanley Oska (no, not “Oscar”) Samuela Hilary Lawrence Dominique Angelique Angelina Angel Enoch Moses Otto Luke Hansel Queena Wailson Wilsie Bridgette Bowen Isabel Iliana Queenie Quinnie Rex Cliff Gordon Betsy Polly Angus Kaily Faith Rosa Amos Christin Kareen Rocky Frances Fou Hien Cissy Cissie Melia Freeman Shirley Shirly Samson Lydia Jecky Miriam Bella Violet Estee Hia Eugene Eugenia - and a whole slew more that I can’t remember right now I’m not saying that all these names are unusual at all… it’s just that you don’t often see them nowadays. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/176 "2005-01-27T04:24:38Z")
**HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FAIRYCHATMOM!!!** Approximate Phonetic Chinese Version of “Happy Birthday”: (thanks, Nathan!) “Guung juuk nay fook sow yuen teen tsai, hing hong nay sun sun fie lok. Leen leen doe yao gum yut, suuy doe yao gum jzew, guung hay nay! Guung hay nay!!!” Approximate English Translation of Above: “Congrats on this good day of fortune, where we can all gather together. Wishing you a very happy birthday. Every year, this wondrous day arrives; Always, this wondrous time comes. Congratulations! Congratulations!” Hope you have a good birthday, and a great year to come! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/177 "2005-01-27T04:43:02Z")
> [@Ashes](#): > > Our very first kitten was named Cali, short for Calico, because she was a calico cat. What can I say? I was five and my previous naming effort was a canary named Pinkie, so really, Cali was a great improvement, though lacking a certain charming surreality. My first cat was a calico Angora, who I named Princess Alexandra of Denmark (Sandy to her friends). I have no idea why, but this was when I was free and single. The next calico was named Calico, Cali for short. In this case Mrs B. was to blame. She also named our two tabby cats Tabby and Tabby Too, our pale orange cat Peach, and our black cat Onyx, although to be fair, her lack of imagination in their official names is more than made up by the multitude of variations on their names that she actually calls them by, some of them connected to the original names only through long and twisted chains of variations (how does Tabby turn into Pweeb?). She was better than my family as a child, though, when we couldn’t agree on a name for our new cat and he ended up officially named The Cat (TC for short). Later we added Little Cat (LC). We were on a roll. I just Googled my own name and came up with only 22 hits, all but one of which seem to be geneological references to my ancestors and relatives, or to the father of one of Jack the Ripper’s victims :eek: . ---
**Author:** ![Etherman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@Etherman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Etherman)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/178 "2005-01-27T06:18:31Z")
> [@Kallessa](#): > > I would get lots and lots and lots of hits if I googled my name, it’s white bread all the way. Yeah me too, but see below. > [@Kallessa](#): > > There’s a certain power/magic/appeal to an obituary, under your name, that details a life well lived. Well, I have the same name as a famous musician who hit the big time, as part of one of the biggest acts ever. He then died at an early age, as all good rock stars of the 60’s/70’s should. Choking on his own vomit while unconcious. A life well lived to some, I guess. 😃 I can’t believe my very first post in the MMP was about vomit. ---
**Author:** ![Kallessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@Kallessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallessa)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/179 "2005-01-27T08:06:11Z")
> [@Etherman](#): > > \ > He then died at an early age, as all good rock stars of the 60’s/70’s should. Choking on his own vomit while unconcious. A life well lived to some, I guess. > > 😃 > > I can’t believe my very first post in the MMP was about vomit. Don’t worry, **Etherman** , someone’s first post in the MMP has to be about vomit, so it might as well be yours. Welcome to our pride and joy–the second (or is it the third) week in a row with a 4 page MMP. And it’s only Wednesday! I hope the SDMB at-large doesn’t think we’re getting too big for our britches–I’d hate it if they came to _rue the day_ that this all started. 😃 How long have I waited for an appropriate moment to type that phrase? Face it, you all knew it was coming, you just didn’t know when. With that in mind: I shook a can of beer and opened it over the stove–I wanted to be foam on the range. Did you hear about the mathematician who turned off his heating because he wanted to be cold and calculating? Zebra: Let’s switch roles for awhile. Lion: OK, I’m game. :eek: Did you hear about the raisin that was cheating on his wife? It was in all the papers–in the current events section, of course. Yesterday I met a man who had fallen into an upholstery machine. Fortunately, he’s fully recovered now. :smack: Somebody better stop me . . . . . ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/180 "2005-01-27T11:00:24Z")
Is it safe yet? Has **Kallessa** punned herself into a stupor? Yes, 'tis I in the early morning - 'cause I have a radiology appointment at 8:15, which made a ride to work at 6, followed by departure at 7, seem a waste of time, gas, and stuff. So I’m posting from my comfy desk chair, wearing my fleece robe and comfy slippers. I haven’t showered yet, so you may not want to get too close, although I did brush my teeth, so you could kiss me if you wanted. Tho how you could not get close but plant a smooch on me is one of those feats I doubt that anyone has mastered… but I digress. DryerGuy comes back this afternoon. I will be all calm and Zen and stuff, unless he doesn’t fix it. Then the doo-doo will hit the fan, by golly! Meanwhile, I need to forage in the pantry for some breakfast. Tea and bagel, perhaps? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400.md?page=10)