# The worst name in recent history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 29, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270 "2015-03-29T14:00:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/1 "2015-03-29T14:00:40Z")
Okay, so I was browsing the book reviews and there’s a new one out about the Korean pilot who flew a MiG from North to South Korea, right in the fury of the early war. Guy’s a hero, and is still alive, under an Americanized name. But I read his original Korean name with something like bewilderment, wondering if I was reading MAD magazine, or an old NatLamp. It’s especially bad for a military man… The guy’s name is (was) No Kum Sok. Makes you understand why he fled - the North Koreans must have been really tight with their equipment. I mean, even our E-1 privates have cum socks. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/2 "2015-03-29T14:03:05Z")
I have to admit, you got yourself a point there. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/3 "2015-03-29T14:32:51Z")
I have met a woman whose name is pronounced: Oh Snot Penis (And I was told that she speaks English…but, being a true gentleman, I preferred not to let her know that I did.) 🙂 ---
**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:** [March 29, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/4 "2015-03-29T14:49:45Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > I have met a woman whose name is pronounced: > Oh Snot Penis That’s nothing compared to talk show host Guy Penis, who has, on repeated occasions, used his name to embarrass foreign guests. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/5 "2015-03-29T14:55:07Z")
My son had a classmate named Michael Hunt. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/6 "2015-03-29T15:29:33Z")
I had a roommate named Lipson Wang. He pronounced it Lips-un, not Lips On. He was pretty much alone with that… ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/7 "2015-03-29T15:41:57Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > My son had a classmate named Michael Hunt. His parents were fans of _Porky’s_ ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/8 "2015-03-29T15:53:25Z")
My mother taught high school during the huge influx of Vietnamese refugees, and had more than one classroom crisis when a new student, barely literate in English (and sometimes illiterate in Vietnamese or Hmong) insisted, angrily, on the correct pronunciation of “Phuc.” It often took family services counseling, with native linguist translators, to get the family to pronounce it “fook” - which apparently had some connotation in the original, making it even more difficult than just a perceived insult. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/9 "2015-03-29T18:39:44Z")
I’m still voting for “Hitler” as the worst name ever. Just TRY and find one in the phone book, these days. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/10 "2015-03-29T19:15:37Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > I’m still voting for “Hitler” as the worst name ever. Just TRY and find one in the phone book, these days. I knew one, once. She insisted it was pronounced “Height-ler,” though. And I knew her parents, and grandparents (old enough to remember the war, and the Holocaust, although the family had been in the US for quite a long time by them). Hey, it was their name, and they weren’t going to let some stupid dictator take it away from them. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/11 "2015-03-29T19:22:18Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I knew one, once. She insisted it was pronounced “Height-ler,” though. And I knew her parents, and grandparents (old enough to remember the war, and the Holocaust, although the family had been in the US for quite a long time by them). Hey, it was their name, and they weren’t going to let some stupid dictator take it away from them. …okay, you’ve got me. Even I never met anyone who still wore the name. And for some reason, all I can imagine is Gene Wilder, saying, “FRON-kun-steen. The name is pronounced FRON-kun-steen.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/12 "2015-03-29T21:35:50Z")
My favorite was Astrida Penis, pronounced exactly like “astride a penis.” ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/13 "2015-03-29T22:27:33Z")
Let’s not forget baseball! How could we all forget Kosuke Fukudome? For me, nothing will beat that one. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/14 "2015-03-29T22:59:04Z")
“Dole” is the Farsi word for “penis”, so one can imagine all the guffaws in Iran during the 1996 Presidential campaign. 😛 And Viagra wasn’t on the market until 1998. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/15 "2015-03-29T23:00:59Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > > [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > > > I’m still voting for “Hitler” as the worst name ever. Just TRY and find one in the phone book, these days. > > I knew one, once. She insisted it was pronounced “Height-ler,” though. And I knew her parents, and grandparents (old enough to remember the war, and the Holocaust, although the family had been in the US for quite a long time by them). Hey, it was their name, and they weren’t going to let some stupid dictator take it away from them. It’s Sunday and I’m bored. So I checked the Social Security Death Index. It shows an even dozen people with the last name of Hitler dying in the US between 1965 and 2009. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/16 "2015-03-29T23:08:49Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > It’s Sunday and I’m bored. So I checked the Social Security Death Index. It shows an even dozen people with the last name of Hitler dying in the US between 1965 and 2009. Is there a way to check on the number of people who changed their name FROM “Hitler” since 1938? I’ve heard Hitler has living relatives in the US who not only changed their names, but swore never to reproduce. Although this may be an urban legend. Another story which may or may not be true: The “Happy Days” spinoff, “Joanie Loves Chachi” was supposedly the highest rated series premiere in the history of Filipino television. Ratings dropped off sharply between the first and second episode, though. Turns out “chachi” is Tagalog slang for “penis.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/17 "2015-03-29T23:18:18Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > …okay, you’ve got me. Even I never met anyone who still wore the name. > > And for some reason, all I can imagine is Gene Wilder, saying, “FRON-kun-steen. The name is pronounced FRON-kun-steen.” If my name were Hitler, I think I’d pronounce if FRON-kun-steen too. (Or FRONK-un-steen.) ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/18 "2015-03-29T23:25:12Z")
Harold Dick. He was a grade school principal and intentionally went by Harry to make things worse. Not a single name but two names making the sports section headlines…awkward. A couple years back the Tigers. The biggest names on a multi-player trade between the Tiger and Mariners were the pitchers Charlie Furbush and Doug Fister. Yes it was the Fister Furbush trade. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/19 "2015-03-30T00:05:11Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > Harold Dick. He was a grade school principal and intentionally went by Harry to make things worse. Close friend – Richard (Ricky) Dick. But its better than Dick Dick. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/20 "2015-03-30T00:14:13Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Let’s not forget baseball! > > How could we all forget Kosuke Fukudome? For me, nothing will beat that one. Or stock car racing. Dick Trickle [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270.md?page=2)