# Swear words used as names
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 6, 2001, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171 "2001-08-06T20:19:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kwc27](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwc27)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/1 "2001-08-06T20:19:16Z")
The other day i started to wander if there would be anything that keeps people from giving there kids cuss words for names. I always thought that sh\*thead for a name would be cool.
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### Author:  [@therealblaze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/therealblaze)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/2 "2001-08-06T20:39:32Z")
[This thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=72670) can give you a clue.
This story is from R.L. Trask: Language The Basics(p. 103-104).
“But my favourite example is a story told by the American linguist Charles Hockett, who reports that at least one Filipino father, during the American occupation of the Philippines, named his son Ababis - after the patron saint of the United States. But no such saint exists. So what happened?
Well, before the Americans arrived, the Philippines were a Spanish colony, and Spanish was (and is) widely spoken. In Spanish, the word ‘saint’, when it occurs in a male saint’s name is San - hence all those California place names like San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego. The Filipino father had noticed that American soldiers, in moments of stress, tended to call upon their saint by exclaiming San Ababis! - or something like that.”
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### Author:  [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/3 "2001-08-06T20:39:50Z")
“…anything that keeps people from giving there kids cuss words for names…”
A modicum of common sense?
Why not just name your son “Sue”?
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### Author:  [@Jargent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jargent)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/4 "2001-08-06T20:40:30Z")
I don’t know that there would be anything to stop you.
One of the result of the Bill of Rights is that you’re generally free to be an idiot.
There was a couple a few months ago who named their kid “ESPN”. Pronounced “ESS-pen”. But you need a license to own a dog…
My dad always wanted to call me Assingear, as in “Get Your…”
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### Author:  [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/5 "2001-08-06T20:57:05Z")
IIRC, in some of the European countries their have been defined “acceptable” names so that the kids don’t have to be tormented their whole lives with names like sh\*thead just because their parents have no common sense.
Yours faithfully,
Aswipe
BTW, I actually have mixed emotions on this one, since I always liked Dweezil and MoonUnit
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/6 "2001-08-06T21:00:41Z")
IIRC some surname prefixes (Kil- I think) can be translated to mean ‘the bastard son of’ - is that close enough for you?
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### Author:  [@RickQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickQ)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/7 "2001-08-06T21:03:08Z")
I have often wondered about people who call thier kids odd names. It is not fair on the kids at all. They must get so much grief at school.
There was a story in a paper over here (UK) about a year ago about a man who has named one of his daughters 21a as her middle name. His reason was that it would help her to become famous when she grew up (he specifically referred to being a pop star). I can’t find a cite cause it was just a filler on one of the inside pages.
I guess there is nothing against calling your kid a swear word for a name, but I suspect the kid would be pretty pissed off when they grew up (maybe divorce/sue their parents). There might be some objection from officials who did not want to announce or write a swear word on a birth certificate, for example. I don’t know if they can actually refuse though.
Rick
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/8 "2001-08-06T21:03:54Z")
So one day, I’m out playing in the rain, and my father yells “Dammit, would you get in here!”
And I said, “But Dad, I’m Jesus Christ!”
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/9 "2001-08-06T21:19:38Z")
Only tangentially related is pro skiier Picabu (sp?) Streak (sp?) whose hippie parents named her that because she liked to play peek-a-boo as a baby.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/10 "2001-08-06T21:22:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jseigle \*
> \*\*Only tangentially related is pro skiier Picabu (sp?) Streak (sp?) whose hippie parents named her that because she liked to play peek-a-boo as a baby. \*\*
Actually, it’s Picabu Street. And according to Uncle Cece, she was born Baby Girl and she named herself around the age of 18.
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### Author:  [@Spyderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spyderman)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/11 "2001-08-06T21:35:02Z")
[But when she was three years old, the family took a trip to Mexico, and immigration authorities said that a passport with the name Baby Girl on it just wouldn’t work. So her mother, Dee, chose Picabo, a Creek Indian word that means “Shiny Waters” and is also the name of a tiny town in Idaho. The name also was appropriate, Picabo says, because she loved to play peek-a-boo with her mom.](http://www.franklinquest.com/priorities/vol2issu1_picabo.html)
[/sh]
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### Author:  [@Renton\_lvr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renton_lvr)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2001, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/12 "2001-08-07T01:01:19Z")
It seems that here in Quebec we have not only the language police but the baby name police as well…
[http://canada-acsus.plattsburgh.edu/cannews/star5798.htm](http://canada-acsus.plattsburgh.edu/cannews/star5798.htm)
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### Author:  [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/13 "2001-08-07T02:17:30Z")
I’m actually kind of glad someone in Quebec has the power to stop stupid names. I mean, Spatule?!?!?! Although the article cited mentions some stupid cases, like Ivory and Tomas, I think its worth it if we can prevent kids being named Spatule and Kaka. Some name originality is good - but you can go too far. A bit more name education for the Registrar, and it could be a pretty decent department, I think. I’d rather have that than the OLF.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2001, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/14 "2001-08-07T05:37:14Z")
Not a name chosen by his parents, but I recall the case of a man whose petion to have his name legally changed to Jefferson Fuck Poland was denied.
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### Author:  [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2001, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/15 "2001-08-07T05:48:15Z")
Therealblaze, I don’t get it.
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### Author:  [@therealblaze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/therealblaze)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2001, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/16 "2001-08-07T05:59:51Z")
Ok here’s a hint: moment of stress…San av abits…Get it?
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### Author:  [@Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Eyed_Stranger)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2001, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/17 "2001-08-07T06:06:51Z")
I always wondered what topic would force me to de-lurk.
Anyway, when my college roommate was born, his mother asked his father what his name should be. So when his father suggested “John Thomas”, and didn’t have the heart to tell his mother what it meant after she declared it was a lovely name…
He goes by Tom.
Of course now thinking about it, I wonder at what point perfectly good names become vulgar. I’m thinking specifically of “Dick” (Nixon perhaps?), but I’m sure there are others.
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### Author:  [@Conti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conti)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2001, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/18 "2001-08-07T06:17:53Z")
I’m not sure I get it green eyed stranger. Whats wrong with John Thomas?
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2001, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/19 "2001-08-07T06:46:47Z")
I have a young female cousin nick-named “Cunny” by her religious parents who have no clue as to what it means to most people. The rest of us are too embarassed to tell them.
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### Author:  [@TruthFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruthFinder)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2001, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swear-words-used-as-names/75171/20 "2001-08-07T07:06:41Z")
I am new to Hk and I’ve yet to come to terms with the names here.
The other day I called up our software vendor’s customer service hotline and the guy introduces himself as ‘Shat’.
I hung up … Coz I was laughing so hard.
I still haven’t made that call.
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