# Virus Variant Naming **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 16, 2021, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047 "2021-03-16T22:06:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047/21 "2021-03-17T16:58:52Z")
We could name the most annoying variant Karen, the one from Canada could be Gord… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047/22 "2021-03-17T23:40:17Z")
Scientists still do not know for sure where the Spanish Flu originated, though theories point to France, China, Britain, or the United States, where the [first known case](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-cases-reported-in-deadly-influenza-epidemic) was reported at Camp Funston in Fort Riley, Kansas, on March 11, 1918. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047/23 "2021-03-18T01:45:44Z")
Did folks in Naples resent that? There was bad hygiene in some areas of the USA at the time, polio, hookworms and TB come to mind. I’m sure there was much more. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047/24 "2021-03-18T10:03:15Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Did folks in Naples resent that? I have zero idea. I’m not sure why you posted your first question, but I assume you’ve been informed now that naming viruses after where they (didn’t) originate from is a bad idea, right? Missing from your list of possible places was Spain anyway, so it was really a poor name for it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047/25 "2021-03-18T11:05:00Z")
It seems silly to resent “Spanish flu” when the Spanish named it after Naples. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047/26 "2021-03-18T11:28:13Z")
Since you’re a plant, you may not realize this, but people are like that. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047/27 "2021-03-18T15:02:17Z")
How can you say that? Now that Spain’s hypocrisy has been laid bare, we have no choice but to start calling covid-19 the “China virus”. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047/28 "2021-03-18T16:15:47Z")
Haha! ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047/29 "2021-03-27T08:10:56Z")
The British media is calling it “B 1 1 7” now. I suppose they are probably sensitive about it, but also you don’t go around calling things “American Baked Beans” and “American Lettuce” and “American Bread” when they are just the Beans and Lettuce and Bread that you get in the shops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-variant-naming/938047.md?page=1)