# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/21 "2015-03-30T00:34:53Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > And for some reason, all I can imagine is Gene Wilder, saying, “FRON-kun-steen. The name is pronounced FRON-kun-steen.” When my mother was a kid, she knew a family named “Dracula,” pronounced Druh-KOO-lah. Apparently that was the correct way to pronounce it in whatever country they were from. I went to high school with a kid named Toby Dick. It’s not as bad as Harry Dick, or something, but still, what were his parents thinking? I hope it was something like mom’s uncle Toby is a billionaire who will leave the kid more money than most people see in a lifetime if he’s named for his uncle. I also went to high school with a kid named Doris Morris. Her middle name, I am not making this up, was Louis. At least according to the yearbook. I don’t know whether she was related to the kid next to her in the yearbook, but he had a name that was just stupid. Not obscene, not eye-rollingly cre8tive, just stupid: Meallie Mack Morris. I went to junior high with another kid whose name must have been some kind of inside joke. He was named Oak Base. Like, you might put a sculpture on an Oak base, or maybe granite. Oak Base. ---
**Author:** ![funky\_little\_lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@funky\_little\_lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funky_little_lee)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/22 "2015-03-30T01:59:59Z")
Harry Baals, former mayor of Fort Wayne, IN. They were building a new convention center and wanted to name it after him. He pronounced his last name with a long A, like “bales,” but still…c’mon. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/23 "2015-03-30T02:18:05Z")
> [@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’ve known of a Cameroonian named Hitler. German colonialism is somewhat fondly recalled there, especially in comparison with French rule. This has translated into some people having an unusual interpretation of French WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/24 "2015-03-30T02:39:20Z")
Certainly not worst, but: I had a classmate named _Duk Whing_ and a neighbor named _Anita Hickey_. I was also friends with a couple with the last name, _Head_. I didn’t tease them with the cheap and obvious word-play, just mild riffs like, _“Heads are going to roll”_ and _“two Heads are better than one.”_ They took it in good stride, but probably spit in my cocktail glass when I wasn’t looking. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/25 "2015-03-30T02:48:04Z")
I saw a yearbook from the 1940s once, and there was a guy named Dick Head. I guess that expression is more recent than the Second World War. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/26 "2015-03-30T03:26:04Z")
This isn’t a bad name, really, but it’s a genuine case of [nominative determinism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism) (living up to your name). There’s a Bulgarian hurdles champion called [Vania Stambolova](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vania_Stambolova). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/27 "2015-03-30T04:37:48Z")
Bill Lear, creator of the jet that bears his name, has a daughter named Shonda. Yep, that’s right. Shonda Lear. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/28 "2015-03-30T14:18:38Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Let’s not forget baseball! > > How could we all forget Kosuke Fukudome? For me, nothing will beat that one. > [@Morgenstern](#): > > Or stock car racing. > > Dick Trickle That the one I was gonna mention. I can’t see how it gets worse than that… wouldn’t you insist on being called Richard!? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/29 "2015-03-30T14:44:34Z")
Obviously “dick” hasn’t always meant dick. It must be fairly recent. The earliest reference I find is British English in the 1890s. It may not have crossed the pond until WWII (it may not have been common enough to do so by WWI), and that would explain why men who were born before about 1960 are so commonly called Dick to the exclusion of other names, while there seems to be an abrupt switch to Rick or Rich after that. Dick Tracy probably kept the name somewhat safe from ridicule for a while. But year, when paired with something like “Trickle,” you’d think even if he was born in 1945, he’d go by Rick or Rich. Even Rick Trickle sounds kind of funny because of the rhyme. That guy’s kind of out of luck whatever he does. Trickle is kind of a funny last name no matter what your first name is. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/30 "2015-03-30T14:52:20Z")
I went to school with a Constance Cummings. She was hot enough that it would have been a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Weirofhermiston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e274bd/32.png) [@Weirofhermiston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirofhermiston)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/31 "2015-03-30T15:15:04Z")
I used occasionally to work with an editor called Dick Pull, he was supremely unembarrased by it. [He’s even got a listing](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4069152/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/32 "2015-03-30T15:34:20Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > When my mother was a kid, she knew a family named “Dracula,” pronounced Druh-KOO-lah. Apparently that was the correct way to pronounce it in whatever country they were from. Heh. Some of my wife’s relatives retired to a town in Georgia called Dacula. I’m constantly wanting to say they live in Dracula, Georgia 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/33 "2015-03-30T15:40:02Z")
I worked with a girl named Edie Denzel who married Mike Peters. :eek: I just got an announcement today that Ms Cumbus was joining the company. I’m wondering if they didn’t tell us her first name because it’s Ima. ---
**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 30, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/34 "2015-03-30T15:53:06Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Let’s not forget baseball! > > How could we all forget Kosuke Fukudome? For me, nothing will beat that one. Merkin Valdez always made me wince. BTW, as OP I meant “worst name an ordinary person has had to live with.” No duh that “Hitler” does and probably always will top the list as the worst name to have, period, and that there are others worse than “Mustafa Kunt.” MAD has been here, of course. They did a piece on being a household name for good and bad reasons. One was “Being a household name because of your quality.” The other was “being a household name because of your name.” The illo for both was of the “Bobbit Sausage Company.” ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/35 "2015-03-30T16:13:47Z")
> [@Weirofhermiston](#): > > I used occasionally to work with an editor called Dick Pull, he was supremely unembarrased by it. > > [He’s even got a listing](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4069152/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) And yet no one has added anything to his discussion link “Discuss Dick Pull” where you can “Track Dick Pull’s work”. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/36 "2015-03-30T17:35:49Z")
_Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt_ had a funny bit on this. In Kimmy’s GED class, she is introduced to her Vietnamese classmate, Dong. She giggles. She introduces herself to Dong, and HE giggles, because “ki mi” is “penis” in Vietnamese. (I don’t think it’s actually true, but it’s a nice subversion.) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/37 "2015-03-30T18:03:43Z")
For my money it’s going to take some real effort to beat > **[Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz Survives His Mother Susan Atkins - Ground Report](https://www.groundreport.com/zezozose-zadfrack-glutz-survives-his-mother-susan-atkins/)** > > Yesterday, former ‘Manson Family’ member and convicted murderer Susan Atkins died, leaving behind 41-year-old son Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz. Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz was taken away from Atkins shortly after her imprisonment, when Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz... ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/38 "2015-03-30T18:36:47Z")
I watched a little bit of the Daytona 500 this year. I had never heard of the guy who sang the national anthem, Phillip Phillips. I was like, “Dude, your parents are dicks.” ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/39 "2015-03-30T18:45:13Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Bill Lear, creator of the jet that bears his name, has a daughter named Shonda. > > Yep, that’s right. Shonda Lear. It’s [Shanda](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lear). ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270/40 "2015-03-30T18:48:34Z")
Shiloh Pitt. Surely his classmates wouldn’t be so cruel as to mix it up a little. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-name-in-recent-history/716270.md?page=3)