# How bad would your name have to be to make you change it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 7, 2006, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588 "2006-10-07T04:34:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/1 "2006-10-07T04:34:31Z")
This came to mind while watching Deal or No Deal. A contestant came on named Himmler. Now I can understand family pride and all, but jeezuz? Himmler? I’d have to say thanks for the name dad, but I think I’ll go with mom’s name. Unless, course mom is named Bin Laden. I can see some courage in keeping the name, but at the same time it’s hard not to be reminded of horrific things just upon mention of it. What would it take to make you change your name? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/2 "2006-10-07T04:39:15Z")
It would have to be Lipshitz. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/3 "2006-10-07T05:03:10Z")
I don’t like my name a whole lot and I’d be more than happy to change it. It’s not horrible, but it’s very very French, and English-speaking people manage to twist and mutilate it horribly when trying to pronounce it. I’m tired of correcting people, especially since you really do need to speak French to say it right. I don’t hate it quite enough to go and pay for a name change, but I’ll happily toss it aside and take on a new name when/if I get married. Unless he’s a Lipshitz. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/4 "2006-10-07T11:59:29Z")
Swett or Weeney. Both of them people I’ve encountered. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/5 "2006-10-07T12:18:00Z")
Barney Gumble ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/6 "2006-10-07T12:39:03Z")
I knew a guy named Harry Arms. Eeeew…that’s definitely not a keeper. I also knew a Shirley Shirley. She married into that one. I can only shake my head… ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/7 "2006-10-07T12:52:47Z")
There is an Australian politician called Richard Face. Somehow, he’s not a terribly high-flying politician… ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/8 "2006-10-07T13:25:18Z")
There’s a woman in some of the meetings I’ve had to attend lately whose last name is Getzoff. I thought that name only existed in immature jokes. ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/9 "2006-10-07T13:29:54Z")
I knew a girl in middle school whose lase name was “Hoarhouse”. That one would have to go… However, I’d also change my name if it were something really common like Smith. I 've often wondered why more people don’t do that - if your name is Bob Smith, that’s almost like not having a name at all. ---
**Author:** ![Fragster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ec9cab/32.png) [@Fragster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fragster)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/10 "2006-10-07T14:24:57Z")
There is a veterinarian in my town who kept her maiden name when she got married, presumably to avoid being known as “Sandy Hoar”. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/11 "2006-10-07T14:33:35Z")
Now, though, generic names like “Bob Jones” and “Jennifer Smith” offer the advantage of privacy. They’re Google-proof; any search will result in thousands of links for hundreds of different people that share the same name. Personally, I’d change my name if it was something that just about everyone would snicker at, like “Michael Hunt” or “Richard Hertz”; if it was strongly associated with some negative trait (“Elmer” = elderly, “Percy” = wimpy, etc.); or if it was the same as a well-known criminal or dictator. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/12 "2006-10-07T14:48:37Z")
Sorry for the followup post. I was thinking about converts to Islam and Judiasm with names that sound too Christian: “Mary [something]”, “Maria” and “Christian” come to mind. In the US, one often hears stories about family names that were Americanized after immigration, but I still encounter a lot of people with long Polish names that are literally unpronouncable by those who aren’t Polish. Many of them get very upset when you butcher their pronunciation, or even if you ask “Uhh, how do you pronounce that?” If my name was constantly butchered by everyone who said it, I’d consider changing it. What about Iranian-American women named “Nazi”? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/13 "2006-10-07T14:48:56Z")
[QUOTE=PharmBoy] However, I’d also change my name if it were something really common like Smith. I 've often wondered why more people don’t do that - if your name is Bob Smith, that’s almost like not having a name at all. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard that a good alias for criminals should be a common and uncommon name together, if you wish to avois suspicion: GOOD: Bob Oysterhouse Cadwallader Brown BAD: Cadwallader Oyserhouse Bob Brown ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/14 "2006-10-07T15:07:57Z")
I once knew a young woman whose married name was Pigg, but she was divorced. I asked her why she hadn’t reverted to her maiden name when she divorced, but she told me she kept it because of her children. Since the kids were preschool aged when she divorced I think it would have bee easy to chage their names also, but I didn’t say that to her, I just dropped it. ---
**Author:** ![Electrical\_Storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@Electrical\_Storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electrical_Storm)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/15 "2006-10-07T15:53:42Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] There is an Australian politician called Richard Face. Somehow, he’s not a terribly high-flying politician… [/QUOTE] Oh, you got it all wrong. It’s pronounced FAH-chee. 😃 But his staffers secretly laugh behind his back at old Dick Face. I knew someone with that exact surname and he tried to snow everyone by telling us it was an Italian surname pronouced FAH-chee. 'Course, he didn’t have an interesting first name that would have sealed the humor. It was a pretty common first name that didn’t lend itself to any funny shenanigans with his last name. Boo. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/16 "2006-10-07T22:59:30Z")
[QUOTE=Antigen] I don’t like my name a whole lot and I’d be more than happy to change it. It’s not horrible, but it’s very very French, and English-speaking people manage to twist and mutilate it horribly when trying to pronounce it. I’m tired of correcting people, especially since you really do need to speak French to say it right. I don’t hate it quite enough to go and pay for a name change, but I’ll happily toss it aside and take on a new name when/if I get married. Unless he’s a Lipshitz. [/QUOTE] If you plan to get married in Québec, I’m sorry to tell you that this isn’t a possibility: > [@](#): > > In marriage, both spouses retain their respective names, and exercise their respective civil rights under those names. From Article 393 of The Civil Code of Québec. Unless you want to pay for the full legal name change, you’re SOL. I suppose you could use your husband’s name socially, but on all legal documents, you gotta keep your own. Though I seem to remember that your SO is in the States… still, there are a few hurdles to overcome there, though, aren’t they? My husband’s name isn’t one that would be a dealbreaker for me, though I’m not sure I could handle having it as mine, either. It’s just somewhat unusual and gets a lot of “Really?!? _That’s_ his name? I didn’t think it would be a family name!” reactions. So in a way, I was kind of relieved when we decided to marry in Québec (we were living in Ontario, but knew we’d move back anyways) to discover that it wasn’t even an option, so I didn’t have to make the choice! ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/17 "2006-10-07T23:11:39Z")
[QUOTE=mnemosyne] If you plan to get married in Québec, I’m sorry to tell you that this isn’t a possibility [/QUOTE] Well, maybe that’s not my plan! 😛 I know that’s the rule here (too many divorces - I guess it’s just easier), but I guess that I’d pay for the change in the context of marriage. There would be a reason for it, and a reason for me choosing to switch to a _specific_ name. What I mean when I say I wouldn’t bother paying for a new name is that I wouldn’t do it now, choosing a random new surname, just because I’m sick of what I’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/18 "2006-10-07T23:27:31Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] In the US, one often hears stories about family names that were Americanized after immigration, but I still encounter a lot of people with long Polish names that are literally unpronouncable by those who aren’t Polish. Many of them get very upset when you butcher their pronunciation, or even if you ask “Uhh, how do you pronounce that?” If my name was constantly butchered by everyone who said it, I’d consider changing it. [/QUOTE] My maiden name is one of those long Polish names. 13 letters, completely unpronounceable. I was always very nice and helpful with people trying to say it…except for telemarketers. No one who can’t pronounce my name needs to be calling me on the phone! (OK, there were exceptions, and I was nice to them, but basically, yeah.) Come to think of it, I have never encountered anyone with a similar name who’s been surly to me. It’s unfortunate that you’ve had a different experience. I changed my name when I got married but made my maiden name my middle name. It’s kind of cool to have a name shared with only 11 other people. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/19 "2006-10-07T23:42:07Z")
I did, in fact, change my name legally, but not because it was bad. It just wasn’t my name. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588/20 "2006-10-08T00:08:17Z")
Then there was the guy who wanted a vanity license plate, but it cost too much, so he changed his name to 435BEV [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-would-your-name-have-to-be-to-make-you-change-it/375588.md?page=2)