# Time again for....unusual names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 5, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984 "2009-09-05T19:30:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/41 "2009-09-09T22:40:03Z")
Fictional or non-serious names: My daughter has two gerbils, named Magical Trevor and Norman Stanley Fletcher (I am well aware of the references) Many years ago, we bought a couple of goldfish which she named Five and Six .People just assumed there had been four now-deceased previous goldfish (there hadn’t). There was also a water snail in the tank which she named Mister Booby. Finally, she had an imaginary friend - a small invisible giraffe that lived down the plug hole in the bath, named Chunther. Real names (dull story): I work in IT - part of my team’s function is to respond to requests for new user accounts. we’ve just reached the stage here in England where a big rash of kids with surnames-as-firstnames has reached adulthood and entered the job market. Unfortunately, the process that feeds user information to us assumes the distinction between first and surname will be obvious, but it just isn’t any more. So we invariably have to keep querying whether it’s Mackenzie Burton or Burton Mackenzie. ---
**Author:** ![atlantic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@atlantic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atlantic)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/42 "2009-09-09T23:13:47Z")
My cousin named her daughter Ire Joyce … yes, she and her husband are incredibly religious. Also just saw online that Nicole Richie & Joel Madden named their newborn son Sparrow. That just seems cruel. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/43 "2009-09-10T00:12:03Z")
If we’re going for unusual pet names, I got to name the fish in the fish tank. Originally, we had a bunch of fish who have either committed suicide or got old and died. However, they (and the ones that surivived-- most of them) had some pretty silly names. We had: Lord Buttpluggington’s Tuffy Rumblebutt III Chocolate Jesus Aloysius Pendergast Bartleby Hoover/Bissel (a pair of plecos?) The Von Pinschenfingers (a “family” of crawfish) I haven’t kept up with naming the others, but my names have gotten a little more normal as time went on. I generally keep the rule that, if I have to mention the name out loud on a regular basis (kids, furry pets, etc.), I can’t name it something goofy/embarrassing to say. [sub]I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense or has spelling errors. I’ve got bronchitis and am on hydrocodone-based cough syrup at the moment. What a weird feeling…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/44 "2009-09-10T05:16:03Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Tangent for an unfortunate product name – antiacid called AcipHex. But the way they pronounce the “A”, it totally sounds like Ass Effects. In the commercial for it the announcer gives it’s name and then says, “That’s right, AcipHex”, in a tone of voice that makes you think the next line will be, “Want to make something of it?” * * * My SO operates a preschool for about 60 students. I don’t think more than five or so have names I recognize as traditional. My favorite is an infant named Maximus. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/45 "2009-09-10T14:08:59Z")
Don’t forget the unfortunately named [Ayds diet plan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayds), which eventually withdrew from the market for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/46 "2009-09-10T15:08:11Z")
> [@atlantic](#): > > Also just saw online that Nicole Richie & Joel Madden named their newborn son Sparrow. That just seems cruel. **Sparrow** James \*\*Midnight \*\*Madden. Joining Harlow Winter Kate Madden. Their first names rhyme! Whee! ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/47 "2009-09-10T19:41:54Z")
A contact for one of our clients has the surname **Growcock**. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/48 "2009-09-10T20:01:27Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > They are a very interesting family. He has 3 younger brothers who are triplets. These triplets are also attorneys. They are the first set of triplets to graduate from the University of Mississippi School of Law. They also all passed the state Bar exam, and on October 12, 2004, they were sworn in as the first set of triplet attorneys in America. I don’t know why, but the idea of triplet attorneys makes me grin crazily. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/49 "2009-09-10T20:03:19Z")
> [@Telperien](#): > > I don’t know why, but the idea of triplet attorneys makes me grin crazily. The residual effect of all those “Dewey, Cheatem and Howe” type jokes, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/50 "2009-09-10T22:25:31Z")
Just today, I got a business email from someone in Thailand whos first name is: Watchareeporn The way my MS Outlook is setup, all I could see in the “From” field was the first name. I came very close to deleting it without reading, figuring it was spam. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/51 "2009-09-10T23:25:52Z")
Well, as long s we’re covering pet names… I’ve always had a perverse sense of humor when it came to naming things (except my kids). For example, we have two almost identical large stuffed bears in our house. The main difference between the two is that one is white and the other is brown. So I named them Chocolate and Vanilla – except that I purposely named the brown one Vanilla. When we came home with our latest hamster, the kids each had a name for him, but my name was the one that one out because I put a sign on his cage with the name. The hamster’s name? Gargantua. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/52 "2009-09-11T01:14:37Z")
I went to school with a Jack Knoff. One name that still makes me giggle: Chiu Sum Chow. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/53 "2009-09-11T01:22:52Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The residual effect of all those “Dewey, Cheatem and Howe” type jokes, perhaps. I believe we once had a user of that name (or similar). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/54 "2009-09-11T03:17:16Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > Just today, I got a business email from someone in Thailand whos first name is: > > Watchareeporn > > The way my MS Outlook is setup, all I could see in the “From” field was the first name. I came very close to deleting it without reading, figuring it was spam. And was she wanting you to help her access several tens of millions of dollars using your bank account, for which you’re promised a healthy fee? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/55 "2009-09-11T13:59:32Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > A contact for one of our clients has the surname **Growcock**. First name Bob? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/56 "2009-09-11T15:07:05Z")
It’s not an inherently weird name, but I just learned that a new student in my grad program has the exact same name as one of the characters in the Harry Potter books. I am wayyyy too amused. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/57 "2009-09-11T16:49:49Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > First name Bob? Nice, benign first name, fortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/58 "2009-09-11T21:17:07Z")
I guess this kind of fits in here. When the University of South Carolina plays Southern Cal, it is USC vs USC. But even more interesting is the fact that it’s the Cocks vs the Trojans. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/59 "2009-09-11T22:14:02Z")
As far as odd pet names go, our pet duck was named John Deere, after the tractor. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984/60 "2009-09-11T22:28:19Z")
The weirdest _legitimate_ name I ever heard (as opposed to character names or contrived show business names) has to be [Admiral Cloudesley Shovell (1650-1707)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudsley_Shovell) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-again-for-unusual-names/508984.md?page=4)