# Movie stars with funny names. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2003, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940 "2003-12-19T09:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/61 "2003-12-30T21:42:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CadburyAngel \* > \*\* . . . Drew Barrymore. Not weird names in themselves, but odd to attach to lovely young women like those two. \*\* Not odd at all when you consider that she is a scion of both the [Drew](http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article?eu=388408) and [Barrymore](http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article?eu=381960) families, American theatrical royalty. ---
**Author:** ![chicksdigscars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@chicksdigscars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicksdigscars)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/62 "2003-12-31T00:25:43Z")
Keanu is a popular name in Hawaii. This particular one was named after his great uncle, Henry Keanu Reeves. ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/63 "2003-12-31T03:44:51Z")
Orlando Bloom, I guess its not really funny, just different, I mean how many peolpe do we know called Orlando? ---
**Author:** ![Patr100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Patr100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patr100)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/64 "2003-12-31T04:16:11Z")
Joey Buttofuco ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/65 "2003-12-31T11:15:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dav01 \* > \*\*I believe Ringo Starr’s real name is Richard Starkey, and I’m pretty sure I’ve read somewhere that Chevy Chase is a stage name as well. \*\* Cornelius Crane Chase–named after his grandfather, Cornelius Crane, the founder of Crane Plumbing Fixtures, maker of toilets and urinals. I’m not kidding. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2004, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/66 "2004-01-04T14:13:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dr. Rieux \* > \*\*Cornelius Crane Chase–named after his grandfather, Cornelius Crane \*\* That’s even funnier than “Chevy Chase.” I keep thinking of Chevy Chase in wrinkling his nose in ape make-up. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/67 "2004-01-04T14:32:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jehovah68 \* > \*\*What about [Yahoo Serious](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000635/)? \*\* Years ago I was looking up a phone number and came across a listing for **Serious, Yahoo** which made me laugh. From the address it seemed to actually be his office. ---
**Author:** ![Baggins111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@Baggins111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggins111)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/68 "2004-01-04T17:32:45Z")
**Delly,** I actually work with an Orlando. I’ll go along with Viggo. Is that short for something? ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/69 "2004-01-04T23:43:12Z")
Yes, but coupled with his surname, its quiet different… Maybe his name (Viggo) is dutch, I think I read his parents or grandparents were dutch. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/70 "2004-01-05T00:34:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Delly \* > \*\*Orlando Bloom, I guess its not really funny, just different, I mean how many peolpe do we know called Orlando? \*\* Or Viggo, for that matter? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/71 "2004-01-05T00:58:07Z")
Judging by his surname of Mortensen, I’d guess Scandinavian. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/72 "2004-01-05T11:24:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > \*\*Judging by his surname of Mortensen, I’d guess Scandinavian. \*\* Baah, anyone would know it’s Carpathian - as in "[Viggo The Carpathian](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097428/) " - wherever the hell Carpathia is… (Okay, so it’s listed on imdb as “Vigo”, but what’s a G between friends? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/73 "2004-01-05T12:39:02Z")
Viggo’s half-Danish. He’s trilingual in English, Danish and Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/74 "2004-01-05T12:49:18Z")
Someone one here mentioned Neve Campbell. Neve is an phonetic Anglicisation perfectly ordinary Irish given name for girls, Niamh. It is pronounced with a long e by most people, to rhyme with Eve, but should, more properly, be given a discrete (English language) e-a sound. Not a dipthong. I have never met anyone in Ireland who spelled her name Neve. But as has already been pointed out in this thread - this being the SDMB, someone will pop along shortly to correct me, no doubt! ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/75 "2004-01-05T13:05:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Ummmm, I don’t think Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious and Carrot Top are their real names (says **Eve** , for, what, the third time? Doesn’t anyone read OPs anymore?) \*\* The OP asked “What stars today do you think have weird, silly or funny names?” Didn’t specify that they _had_ to be the original names. As for Chevy Chase, I’d always heard he named himself after the Maryland town, but I might be wrong there. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/76 "2004-01-05T20:29:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by curly chick \* > \*\*Someone one here mentioned Neve Campbell. > > Neve is an phonetic Anglicisation perfectly ordinary Irish given name for girls, Niamh. > It is pronounced with a long e by most people, to rhyme with Eve, but should, more properly, be given a discrete (English language) e-a sound. Not a dipthong. > > I have never met anyone in Ireland who spelled her name Neve. > But as has already been pointed out in this thread - this being the SDMB, someone will pop along shortly to correct me, no doubt! \*\* _Neve_ is also the Italian word for “snow” and, according to an interview I once read with Ms Campbell, this is the source of her name. Its similarity to “Niamh” is purely coincidental. ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/77 "2004-01-06T12:28:34Z")
Actor M. Emmett Walsh apparently stuttered when giving his name at an audition, otherwise we’d just know him as Emmett Walsh. [sup] No. I don’t have a cite. I heard this on TV many years ago.[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/78 "2004-01-06T15:47:27Z")
Pardon me, **ruadh** - I heard that on the radio and like a sap I believed it. ---
**Author:** ![Dryga\_Yes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Dryga\_Yes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dryga_Yes)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/79 "2004-01-06T16:22:47Z")
_Paprika Steen,_ hahaha! What a name! (birds chirping) ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940/80 "2004-01-07T14:34:14Z")
**Ellis Aponte** and **wolf\_meister** That whole “Kam Fong as Chin Ho” and “Zulu as Kono” thing always confused me. Wasn’t that a lot like saying, “John Smith as Bob Jones” and “Al as Pete”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-stars-with-funny-names/219940.md?page=3)