# I met a person today whose first name is Virus. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 20, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795 "2012-06-20T22:38:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/41 "2012-06-21T19:28:07Z")
My gf gets some amazing names at her work. The winner this year: L-a Pronounced leh Dash uh. :eek: My gob was smacked, my flabber was well and truly gasted. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/42 "2012-06-21T19:30:03Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > That’s basically how Oprah Winfrey got her name; her mother wanted to name her after the Biblical character Orpah but misspelled the name. Don’t you think here mom was aiming for “Ofrah”, which is Hebrew for “Fawn”? It’s a common name in these parts. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/43 "2012-06-21T21:06:25Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > A woman had to be talked out of naming their daughter Chlamydia, she heard it somewhere around the hospital and thought it was a beautiful name… :rolleyes: > [@MikeG](#): > > My gf gets some amazing names at her work. The winner this year: > > L-a > Pronounced leh Dash uh. :eek: > My gob was smacked, my flabber was well and truly gasted. Can there \*ever \*be a thread on names on this board that doesn’t include the same standard urban legends? I don’t understand how people still believe some of these. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/44 "2012-06-21T21:14:42Z")
Just don’t tell him he makes you sick. > [@Alessan](#): > > Don’t you think here mom was aiming for “Ofrah”, which is Hebrew for “Fawn”? It’s a common name in these parts. She comes from different parts than you do. 😉 In any event the story has been told very often. [Winfrey says the name on her birth certificate actually is Orpah](http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/win0int-1): > [@](#): > > I was born, as I said, in rural Mississippi in 1954. I was born at home. There were not a lot of educated people around and my name had been chosen from the Bible. My Aunt Ida had chosen the name, but nobody really knew how to spell it, so it went down as “Orpah” on my birth certificate, but people didn’t know how to pronounce it, so they put the “P” before the “R” in every place else other than the birth certificate. On the birth certificate it is Orpah, but then it got translated to Oprah, so here we are. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/45 "2012-06-21T21:14:45Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Don’t you think here mom was aiming for “Ofrah”, which is Hebrew for “Fawn”? It’s a common name in these parts. [I’ve found a cite that says we’re both wrong, though I was a hair closer than you.](http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/win0int-1) [QUOTE=Oprah Winfrey, in the link above] I was born, as I said, in rural Mississippi in 1954. I was born at home. There were not a lot of educated people around and my name had been chosen from the Bible. My Aunt Ida had chosen the name, but nobody really knew how to spell it, so it went down as “Orpah” on my birth certificate, but people didn’t know how to pronounce it, so they put the “P” before the “R” in every place else other than the birth certificate. On the birth certificate it is Orpah, but then it got translated to Oprah, so here we are. But that’s great because Oprah spells Harpo backwards. I don’t know what Orpah spells. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/46 "2012-06-21T21:36:20Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Can there \*ever \*be a thread on names on this board that doesn’t include the same standard urban legends? I don’t understand how people still believe some of these. And from a 99er, no less. ---
**Author:** ![jeepus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeepus/32/3593_2.png) [@jeepus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeepus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/47 "2012-06-21T21:52:41Z")
I have a friend of a friend whose kids are called Sam and Ella. Nothing unusual about either name, but sounds like Sam an’ Ella when she talks about the two of them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/48 "2012-06-21T22:38:41Z")
> [@jeepus](#): > > I have a friend of a friend whose kids are called Sam and Ella. Nothing unusual about either name, but sounds like Sam an’ Ella when she talks about the two of them. 🙂 We have friends with an oldest who goes by TJ. When they were pregnant with another son, they contemplated Max until my wife pointed out the connection with TJ Maxx, the discount store chain. They went with a different choice. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/49 "2012-06-21T23:07:40Z")
In a similar vein, I had a math teacher named Dr. Sprows. He told us that he had considered naming his son after famous mathematician Bertrand Russell, until he realized that that would make the kid B. Russel Sprows. I’m still not sure to what extent he was joking. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Vlad\_Igor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Igor)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/50 "2012-06-21T23:25:15Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Drug resistant? In this case, I think the odds are against it. ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/51 "2012-06-21T23:45:51Z")
I interviewed a girl two days ago named Genesis. Pronounced “Hen-uh-see.” Smart kid, rough name. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/52 "2012-06-22T00:23:41Z")
> [@Astral\_Rejection](#): > > I interviewed a girl two days ago named Genesis. Pronounced “Hen-uh-see.” Smart kid, rough name. If we’re collecting data on whether intelligence is inherited, this would go in the “no” column. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/53 "2012-06-22T00:37:35Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > “Og” is actually a legitimate Biblical name. Not one people actually use, but still. > > Was he very large? There is (or was; he died in 1996) a fairly well-known author named Og Mandino, but his actual first name was Augustine. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/54 "2012-06-22T02:28:16Z")
A friend of mine met a woman and a little girl in the park the other day while he (my friend) was walking his dog. The little girl’s name was Wasabi. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/55 "2012-06-22T15:56:40Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > If we’re collecting data on whether intelligence is inherited, this would go in the “no” column. Not necessarily. Genesis’s parents could have been intelligent but cruel. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/56 "2012-06-22T15:57:49Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Not necessarily. Genesis’s parents could have been intelligent but cruel. True. Meanwhile I am wondering if Virus has a twin sister named Vera. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/57 "2012-06-22T16:00:31Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > True. Meanwhile I am wondering if Virus has a twin sister named Vera. 😕 Other than the frequent use of alliterative names for twins, I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/58 "2012-06-22T16:02:07Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > 😕 I can imagine someone thinking Virus and Vera sounds like a male-female pair of names. I can’t imagine a lot of people thinking that way, but if you’re the kind of person who thinks naming your son Virus is a good idea, you’re already in a very small minority. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/59 "2012-06-22T16:19:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I can imagine someone thinking Virus and Vera sounds like a male-female pair of names. I can’t imagine a lot of people thinking that way, but if you’re the kind of person who thinks naming your son Virus is a good idea, you’re already in a very small minority. Fifteen or twenty years ago I briefly dated a woman with two little kids named Sunshine and Shadow. Sadly, Sunshine was the little boy. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/60 "2012-06-22T16:47:57Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > A friend of mine met a woman and a little girl in the park the other day while he (my friend) was walking his dog. The little girl’s name was Wasabi. She’s _saucy!_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795.md?page=4)