# Weird surnames **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877 "2014-04-24T17:48:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [April 28, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/61 "2014-04-28T02:23:12Z")
> [@jerez](#): > > Finding out you were assigned to Mr. Kill’s class for the next year’s course was extremely bad news. We had a teacher named Mr Love. He was nice. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/62 "2014-04-28T02:55:40Z")
> [@Batistuta](#): > > Yeah, that’s correct. That’s why there are no stupid surnames in Iceland (they retain the -sson and -dottir system). > > Interestingly, the Swedish army gave its soldiers different names because with several Johnssons and Anderssons per regiment they needed something to tell them apart. Thus, soldiers ended up being called according to their physical or mental attributes (blunt, strong, tall…) or military equipment (shield, lance, sword…). Many of these surnames remain today. Reminds me of this exchange from _Zulu_ > [@](#): > > **Pvt. William Jones:** What’s he up to, 593? > \*\*Pte. Robert Jones:\*\*Oh, I think he wants to be hero, 716. > **Cpl. Frederic Schiess, NNC:** Haven’t you rednecks got names instead of numbers? > **Pte. Robert Jones:**'Tis a Welsh regiment, man! Though there are some foreigners from England in it , mind. I am Jones from Bwlchgwyn, he is Jones from Builth Wells, and there are four more Joneses in C Company! Confusing, isn’t it, Dutchy? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/63 "2014-04-28T03:00:40Z")
Here’s one I knew of only vicariously, via a third-party story. There was this kid who went through elementary and high school by the name of “Colby”. Actually, his name was Colbjornsen, but everybody called him Colby. Fresh out of high school, he joined the Army. When the sergeant called roll (and y’all know how erudite drill sergeants are at pronouncing peoples’ names), he called him out as “Col-ba-jurg-a-son”. So that was what everybody called him in the Army. Colbajurgason. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/64 "2014-04-28T04:19:31Z")
My maternal grandfather was named Sickmiller. About 30 years ago, I knew a family of Klopfensteins. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/65 "2014-04-28T04:23:22Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > We had a teacher named Mr Love. He was nice. I had a teacher called Miss Fullalove. Not a good name for an all-boys high school. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/66 "2014-04-28T04:44:53Z")
Not all that weird really, But in a medical database I came across a Pulmonologist named Dr. Edema. ---
**Author:** ![delsina363](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@delsina363](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delsina363)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/67 "2014-04-28T14:50:26Z")
I work with doctors, who have come to work here from all over the world. There are some different names out there for sure. One doctor I work with has the same first and last name. He goes by his nickname Tony. But everytime I type his name, I wonder what the name is all about. I have a really, really common first and last name. Almost as common as John Smith. I like having such a common name, I do not know why. This is my married name, my maiden name gave away the fact I was Irish. I love Italian surnames, they always sound so cool to me. I am a bit strange. :o ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/68 "2014-04-28T15:03:53Z")
There’s also US General [Normal Schwarzkopf](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Schwarzkopf,_Jr.), whose last name means “blackhead” in German. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/69 "2014-04-28T15:08:47Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > There’s also US General [Normal Schwarzkopf](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Schwarzkopf,_Jr.), whose last name means “blackhead” in German. [Yeah, but. . . .](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17308261&postcount=12) ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/70 "2014-04-28T15:15:09Z")
“Carsick” is a real last name. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/71 "2014-04-28T15:19:18Z")
> [@Why\_Child](#): > > … > For bad combinations - in my high school there was a boy whose name was “Phillip Dick.” Being teenagers, we never failed to call him “Feel up dick.” Poor kid. When he grew up he moved to Intercourse, Pennsylvania. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/72 "2014-04-28T15:35:09Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > I had a teacher called Miss Fullalove. Not a good name for an all-boys high school. The large, blonde, busty, nice as all-get-go teacher in my former HS on whom every student of every gender and sexual orientation has had a crush for oh, the last 25 years? Her lastname means Perfectbust. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/73 "2014-04-28T16:05:49Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > There’s also the last name Smellie. I’ve never met anyone with this last name Oh, I have. A young woman called Jill Smellie came to work in the office where I worked in my 20s. She was very young and very pretty. I think she may have come to work there straight out of high school, or nearly so. She had only been working there a couple of weeks when she announced her engagement. I am guessing most Smellie women try to get married as soon as they possibly can. 😃 The medical practice my mother used to use was staffed by Dr Hayter, Dr Rough, and Dr Scar. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/74 "2014-04-28T23:40:59Z")
When I was a kid working in a supermarket I bagged groceries weekly for a customer named Sumner Pecker. and there was a Chinese tailor named A Ho. Goldfinger (not my proctologist, but it fits) ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/75 "2014-04-28T23:53:02Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > **Schweinsteiger** doesn’t mean “pig mounter.” It means “person from the village of Schweinsteig.” [Source (in German)](http://www.ndr.de/ndr1niedersachsen/programm/nnds894.html) Awww. Now you’ve gone and ruined all my fun! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/76 "2014-04-29T04:58:10Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > In this context, the normally unremarkable “Dickinson” also sounds weird. Heaven help anyone named Dickindottir. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/77 "2014-04-29T13:56:22Z")
A common last name in the hills of Western Pennsylvania is “Queer.” You could look it up. Jimmy Queer had a terrible crush on me in 8th grade. But he was short, besides. I had a cab driver once whose nametag read Clyde Fluker. Yeah, he had a hard time in boot camp, he told me. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/78 "2014-04-29T14:56:42Z")
British actress Diana Dors original last name was Fluck. I don’t know how it was pronounced, though. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/79 "2014-04-29T17:11:16Z")
I know a man whose last name is Glasscock. I’d never heard of that surname before I met him, and I thought he made it up for Facebook until I saw his driver’s license one day. I knew a doctor whose last name was Cappuccino. In my family tree there are Hoares (my great-grandfather was a son of a Hoare) and Fureys. My own last name is unusual and lends itself to two obvious jokes (not dirty jokes, thank goodness!), but I will decline to reveal it here. 😃 A few years ago I worked with a young guy named Michael Hunt. His parents should have known better! :smack: ---
**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:** [April 29, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877/80 "2014-04-29T17:32:54Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > There’s also US General Normal Schwarzkopf, whose last name means “blackhead” in German. Yup. Stormin’ Normal, we call him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-surnames/686877.md?page=5)