Achne pine skum – spelled Achneepineskum but pronounced ak nee pin es cum.
Let’s see…
[ul]
[li]sat next to Mike Hunt in 8th grade math class[/li][li]backed into Lacy Cotton’s car when I was a sophomore in college[/li][li]was friends with Leia Hogg, also in college[/li][/ul]
My mother works with lots of children. One is named Deonate. On paper it looks like it rhymes with “neonate,” but it’s pronounced “Dee-ON-tay.” I once tried to explain this name to my friend Laura, and she kept screaming at me “BUT THERE’S A SECOND A! IT CAN’T BE DEE-ON-TAY!!”
Mild hijack: our local newspaper recently ran a report about Virginia Beach’s efforts to combat racism in the classroom. The number one concern cited by African American students? That teachers mispronounce their names, or take longer to learn their names than the names of white students.
Shit, I forgot my cousins!
Dirk Wood on one side of the family, Kalel on the other. I don’t know why Dirk is named Dirk, but Kalel was named specifically for the Superman connotations.
When I was in 4th grade, the teacher, Mrs. Pomplun, overheard some students teasing another student about her name. Mrs. Pomplun got quite perturbed at this and told the whole class that her maiden name was ‘Shit’. She never showed us documentation, but she was otherwise a good teacher and I don’t recall any other potential untruths. I still don’t know whether I believe her or not. I want to. I really want to…
I had a good friend named Richard Cocke. He refused to allow anyone to use the name ‘Dick’ as a nickname for Richard; he claimed it would be redundant. He simply refused to answer to anything but Richard, or in some cases, Rick or Ricky.
I would venture a guess that her name would actually be written as… Whang, Mi Suk were she to talk to anyone chinese
which is at least marginally better
An older lady passed through my checkout yesterday. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t think why. Then she offered me her credit card to pay for her purchases and I glanced at her name: Cougar (Something)-(Aquatic Mammal). Oh right! That’s why I remember this customer.
Plaxico!
No longer on an NFL roster. 
Plus, he doesn’t really fit the method- I can’t think of any name his might have been based on.
I was just joking. Also, typing Plaxico! makes me smile. But, since you brought it up, what the heck names do D’Qwell, Tiquan and Montavious come from?Not that I expect you to be the resident name expert but you do seem to be on to something and I can’t figure these out.
That’s weird. I knew a Dirk Woods (with an ‘S’ at the end) growing up. I have never heard of another one let alone with an almost identical last name.
Placido Domingo, spelled badly, I figured. He was popular around then.
I actually worked with a guy who was named Richard Head. Only he pronounced the last name as “heed” and you did not call him “Dick” twice. He was a tad touchy about it.
Based on my lengthy study of affected fake languages, I would classify “Oranjello” (or more precisely, Oràngelo) as closer to fake Italian.
Phony French offers some nice ultimate-syllable alternatives, though, such as Orangel (or Orangelle, for a baby girl). Reminiscent of Orangina, which of course would rhyme with “vagina.”
We had a foreign exchange student in high school, Long Wang. Really.
I went to school with a Shitel Patel.
From the MPSIMS thread on the Moon, I find astronomy research scientist Jessica Sunshine:
http://www.astro.umd.edu/people/jess.html
(Only awesome as a research scientist’s name)
Here where I work I’m on the Terms list meaning that when someone leaves the company for any reason, I get the notification email. This week someone named Holly Wood left the company. No, I never met her. Maybe she’ll go on to be famous.
And I have direct personal knowledge of a couple with two young girls named Eboknea (eb-oh-KNEE-uh) and Ivoreah (eye-vo-REE-uh). Yep, Ebony and Ivory.
I used to go to school with a girl called Charity Case.