# Good Lord this poor girl is named after a yeast infection! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 8, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932 "2003-07-08T03:57:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/1 "2003-07-08T03:57:21Z")
So I’ve been watching [Canadian Idol](http://www.ctv.ca/generic/WebSpecials/Shows/CanadianIdol/default.html), just 'cus I’m that kind of girl. They’ve narrowed the field to 30 and the first 10 competitors went tonight. Well, girl number ten, who had a really super voice, and managed to belt out “I will always love you.” well enough to give Witney a run for her money, has the unfortunate name of… [Candida](http://www.ctv.ca/generic/WebSpecials/Shows/CanadianIdol/Competitors/Top30/CandidaClauseri30.html). As in yeast. I’m still voting for her, but my goodness. Perhaps it’s a family name. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/2 "2003-07-08T04:28:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by alice\_in\_wonderland \* > \*\*Perhaps it’s a family name. \*\* Or maybe her parents were [Tony Orlando & Dawn](http://www.superseventies.com/sw_candida.html) fans. ---
**Author:** ![nuthinboutnuthin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/96bed5/32.png) [@nuthinboutnuthin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nuthinboutnuthin)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/3 "2003-07-08T04:29:44Z")
Didn’t Tony Orlando record a song called Candida??? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/4 "2003-07-08T04:29:46Z")
I’d heard the name before, but always really, really hoped it was the female version of Candide, as in the book by Voltaire. (Not that I’ve ever heard the name Candide outside of that.) A quick Googling gives: “Derived from Latin ‘canditia’ meaning “white”. This was the name of an early saint who was supposedly healed by Saint Peter.” ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/5 "2003-07-08T04:31:05Z")
That’s just…wrong. I mean, really, what else can be said? Wrong, wrong, wrong. ---
**Author:** ![theendisnear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a4c791/32.png) [@theendisnear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theendisnear)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/6 "2003-07-08T05:38:26Z")
Candida is a pretty common spanish name, well maybe not pretty common but its not that rare. Candida means “candid” while referring to a female in spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/7 "2003-07-08T05:44:28Z")
[Here](http://www.ephca.com/ca_mys.htm) is a website discussing the Candida Albicans yeast thingie. From the website, > [@](#): > > Candida albicans is present in all of us not long after birth. It lives in our intestinal tract and is a yeast-like organism which in the infective phases produces conditions involving mucosal invasion or candidiasis. Ms. Clauseri is present in all of us… ---
**Author:** ![hyperjes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df705f/32.png) [@hyperjes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyperjes)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/8 "2003-07-08T10:23:28Z")
There was a girl in my high school, junior year English class named “Candida.” She got picked on a lot… ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/9 "2003-07-08T10:45:25Z")
Well, it’s better than being named “Chlamydia.” Sounds like an urban legend to me, but several people I know claim to have been working at the UK med center when a woman named her baby that. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/10 "2003-07-08T13:29:58Z")
Hell, I _like_ the Tony Orlando and Dawn song! ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/11 "2003-07-08T14:36:49Z")
My grandfather on my moms side told of growing up around Wilmington, NC and playing with an African American boy named Halitosis. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/12 "2003-07-08T15:14:44Z")
I was told by a woman who swore it was true, that she taught a girl in Houston (or maybe Dallas) named Diarrhea. She said she tried to pronounce it “Dee-airy-a” or some such, but was corrected by the girl who insisted, “no, it’s Die-a-REE-uh!” I swear this is what this woman told me, c. 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/13 "2003-07-08T17:16:19Z")
Wouldn’t naming your child **Diarrhea** constitute child abuse? Jesus. [sub]It’s pretty damn funny if it’s true, though.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/14 "2003-07-08T17:55:36Z")
I went to high school with a guy named Brian Iwata. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/15 "2003-07-08T18:24:51Z")
The Latin “candida” also gives us the word for “candidate”, of course. That \*might" tell us something about politics, if you want to read it that way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Physiognomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@The\_Physiognomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Physiognomist)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/16 "2003-07-08T18:37:45Z")
The related Straight Snopes, although it’s one of the undecided lot: [http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.htm](http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/17 "2003-07-08T18:40:09Z")
I have a friend who SWEARS she taught with a woman whose first name was Female, FEM-ah-lee, so named because when they brought her mother the birth certificate, she said, “Oh, look, they already picked out a pretty name for her!” She also said that Female had taught two girls named Syphillis (Sih-FI-lis) and Gonorrhea (Goh-NOR-ea), but I do question that. Although we ARE talking about Miami… ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/18 "2003-07-08T18:50:09Z")
I worked for an answering service that had the asccount for the Wisconsin Health Organization. This was in 1992. There were a few girls named Massengill. A few were named Tequila after Mommy’s birth control. Those are the ones that stand out. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/19 "2003-07-08T18:58:39Z")
I thought it was ‘Candid **i** a’ for the organism, and ‘Candida’ for the name. Or the reverse. Maybe we should do it that way anyways… ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932/20 "2003-07-08T19:02:12Z")
I have definitely seen a few Chardonnays, Tequilas (usu. spelled phonetically) and even a Merlot in the birth announcement column of the paper. I went to school with a Rainbow Hart and her sister Summer, and another girl named Tuesday. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-this-poor-girl-is-named-after-a-yeast-infection/186932.md?page=2)