# Too many Daves - legality? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 3, 2001, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499 "2001-09-03T08:01:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DaveW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DaveW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveW)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499/21 "2001-09-04T15:06:06Z")
I don’t think that any hijack about funny names is complete without a pre-emptive reference to [Snopes](http://www.snopes2.com/spoons/fracture/names.htm). ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499/22 "2001-09-04T15:50:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DAVEW0071 \* > FTR, my parents named all their kids in alphabetical order – Alan, Barbara, Craig, David, Edward. Have a friend whose mother and father took a similar tack. The youngest is “Phil.” Sometimes I perform subtle calculations leading me deeper into the mystery of having that many children; it is somewhat alchemic, and some day I’ll invent my own sacred geometry off it. Their reported motivation for this was to avoid some other family custom of naming kids after relatives, though I’ve always found this answer a bit cryptic as having that many kids, even if naming them alphabetically, will lead to a case where the letter in question can be represented by naming someone after a family member. As they are Catholic I suspect something nefarious, like a secret ritual. If I find anything I will keep you posted 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499/23 "2001-09-04T15:59:23Z")
> [@](#): > > quote: > > * * * > > ## Originally posted by Mangetout …And one Soggy Muff… > > Just out of interest, does this bit cause red faces over there in the US? (It means something cough, splutter quite, errr… well, you know, over here in the UK) I always thought a muff was one of those little tubelike pieces of fur into which ladies inserted heir hands on cold winter days to keep them warm. As for freaky names, my mother once had a student named Positive Wasserman Jones. ---
**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 4, 2001, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499/24 "2001-09-04T16:30:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Otto \* > **I always thought a muff was one of those little tubelike pieces of fur into which ladies inserted heir hands on cold winter days to keep them warm.** The OED defines **muff** as: ‘A womans fur into which both hands are thrust, to keep them warm’ I kid you not. ---
**Author:** ![gtzaskar00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@gtzaskar00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gtzaskar00)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499/25 "2001-09-04T17:06:12Z")
Another Dave here checking in… ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499/26 "2001-09-04T17:06:15Z")
[Otherwise unrelated article](http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0289/8902015.htm) > [@](#): > > [former secretary of state] Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger added a narcissistic twist to the family tradition by naming his three sons, respectively, Lawrence Scott, Lawrence Andrew, and Lawrence Jason Eagleburger. I couldn’t find it online but I remember hearing that he did this to his kids “as my own personal attempt to screw up the social security system.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499/27 "2001-09-04T17:34:28Z")
Among Muslims in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, everybody and his brother — and for once I do mean, _literally_ everybody _and his brother_ — has the first name Muhammad. I am not making this up. We’re looking at (at least) 100 million individuals here all with the same first name. The result is that nobody is actually called Muhammad; everybody is called by whatever middle name comes after. There are amusing encounters when an Indian Muslim meets, for example, an Arab named Muhammad: —What’s your name? —Muhammad. —Err, no, I mean what else is your name? —Just Muhammad, that’s all. —??? (cannot process this information) ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499/28 "2001-09-04T18:02:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OxyMoron \* > \*\*My middle name is Peter and my last name is Johnson. > \*\* I know a Richard Johnson. (He goes by _Rick_, of course.) He is married to my sister-in-law. When she started dating him, SIL told us that his middle name was Peter–unfortunately (or fortunately), that’s not really the case. ---
**Author:** ![Corrvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499/29 "2001-09-04T18:09:50Z")
Otto writes, “As for freaky names, my mother once had a student named Positive Wasserman Jones.” Am I showing my age and naivete here, or isn’t the Wasserman a test for syphilis? Corr, who has a co-worker nicknamed Bunny Killer [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-daves-legality/79499.md?page=1)