I’ve always been fond of Lionel Tiger, who is an anthropologist.
His name, I mean.
I remember that one too. Only I think it was for frozen fried chicken:
I can across Orley Ashenfelter in the book I am reading. He is a wine guy.
Also William “Hootie” Johnson just died.
A secondhand account, but one from these very boards, and that I just happened to run across when perusing my files today…“Turnipseed.”
One time I was looking at a book of British folk songs, and I found one that was especially dirty - and then I looked up more information about it, and the author had collected the song from someone named Harry Cox.
While working in a benefits office at a manufacturing company in college:
Queenie Bobo
There were actually a bunch of Bobos. It was a big family name in that area of SC
That sounds like one of those Dirty Books and Authors jokes from when I was a kid.
The Yellow River by I.P. Freeley
The Tiger’s Revenge by Claude Balls
The Glory Hole Conundrum by Edna May Swallow-Cox
Under the Grandstands by Seymour Butts
Fifty Yards to the Outhouse by Willy Makeit illustrated by Betty Wont
I have one. My given name is a word that doesn’t always have positive connotations and becomes trendy at times and my last name is a common English word that creates a phrase when you put them together.
I am not sure if it has helped or hurt me but almost no one forgets my name once they have verified that they heard it currently the first time. I know that I have gotten jobs and girlfriends because of it because they told me the main reason they talked to me in the first place was to see if my name is real. I might have missed out on lots of others that thought it was fake but I will never know.
What can I say? My parents were long-haired Southern hippies that were trying to work within family rules for first-born sons. They just got really creative. I have always liked having a unique name. It does make it extremely hard to be anonymous however. I am the only person in the world with my name as far as I know and modern search engines can trace anything that references me directly. I have a ton of fake names that I use when I just want to blend in and remain anonymous. My daughters sometimes ask “What name are you using today?” when we go out somewhere.
In 1971 I saw a name in the San Diego obits that I’ve never forgotten: Algy Lillicrap.
For the first time, I just now googled the name and instantly found the obit, from January '71. He was in his 90’s, and of course I know absolutely nothing about him or his family, which makes me feel like a shit for ridiculing his name. But damn, it’s a beauty.
I always thought the name “Mopsy Strange Kennedy” (a well-known journalist/writer; I used to see her by-line all the time) is, well … strange.
Some guy named Augustus Sol Invictus Bolts is in the news this morning, but I have to get to the office.
Actually his name is Augustus Sol Invictus and he’s bolted from the Libertarian Party.
For awhile, I was entering census names for Familysearch.org. I kept a list of those that struck my fancy. They include:
Frederick Bull
Elida Flowe
Spurgeon Wingo
Abetina Filase
Tobias Eg
Young Oldham
Belle Bailey
Jael Bird
Sarah Sweet
Inez Dreckman
Royston Reginald Rigler
Christina Virtue
Sylvester Stepsis
Chantelle Thauvette
Sara Janet Balajthy
Monique Lamarre
Kassandra Martinchek
Ihor Myron Zapuchlak
Herman Uetz
Fredrica Ilg
Jasper Mau
Louise Deu
Sophia Mauth
Anacleta Lubay
Zartasha Samson
Misty Hyman - US Swimmer
There’s a jazz pianist named Dick Hyman.
I’ve seen him. He’s excellent.
I had heard of Judge Learned Hand many times, but that name just seems so fake that I assumed it was made up as a generic thing for a wise judge. Nope, he’s real.
Would you buy a pair of boots from R. Soles?
Ooh, ooh…dibs on Achilles Fang! (you can keep the rest)
Well, now that you’ve brought it up: your real name.
I’m just kidding. Sort of.
Any fan of unusual names should know about the song Van Lingle Mungo by Dave Frishberg. The lyrics consist solely of the names of baseball players. Mungo was a pitcher for the Dodgers (and Giants late in his career).