# Weirdest name you've encountered lately?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 2, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744 "2016-09-02T00:54:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/21 "2016-09-03T14:24:16Z")
> [@hogarth](#):
>
> There’s a Chinese person at work with the first name “Fenwicks”. “Fenwick” would be an unusual first name, but multiple Fenwicks?
Maybe he’s too big to be singular?
---
### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/22 "2016-09-03T14:28:56Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#):
>
> Abcde, yes that is really what her parents named her.
You did not meet this person, nor actually see the name.
Why do people constantly bring up these same tired urban legends in every name thread?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/23 "2016-09-03T15:06:31Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> You did not meet this person, nor actually see the name.
>
> Why do people constantly bring up these same tired urban legends in every name thread?
From [here](http://www.vocativ.com/culture/society/people-named-abcde/):
> [@](#):
>
> According to the Social Security Administration database, 328 babies, all girls, have been named Abcde in the United States. Since 1990, we’ve had Abcdes born every year except 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996. The name was given to an all-time high of 32 babies in 2009, though the number has slightly declined each year since then. The median age of Abcdes is 7.5, and all but 11 of them are minors.
I don’t know how to find all occurrences of a name on the SSA database, but I did download a folder of text files from [this Social Security page](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html) and found occurrences of the name Abcde.
ETA: OK, I see how to read it now. In the 2009 file there is ‘Abcde,F,32’. So this confirms the quoted article that there were 32 females named Abcde in 2009.
.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/24 "2016-09-03T15:25:16Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#):
>
> I work with a database of generally low income people. One set of new twins were Mazerati and Lamborghini.
I once new a pair of twins named Peaches and Pumpkin. They were big black guys and star basketball players in their very small school.
If I gave you my real name, you could probably use it as a nomination as well. People that know me get used to it but most people assume it isn’t real until I produce ID (I don’t generally go by Shagnasty in real life).
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/25 "2016-09-03T15:42:38Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> I once new a pair of twins named Peaches and Pumpkin. They were big black guys and star basketball players in their very small school.
>
> If I gave you my real name, you could probably use it as a nomination as well. People that know me get used to it but most people assume it isn’t real until I produce ID (I don’t generally go by Shagnasty in real life).
You’re outed, Butterpopcorn.
---
### Author:  [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/26 "2016-09-03T17:17:57Z")
I worked with a young lady named Patty Pickles. That was bad enough, But she married a gentleman with the last name of Ham. That made her Patty Pickles Ham. Maybe not all that funny really, but it never fells to crack me up when someone says it aloud.
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### Author:  [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/27 "2016-09-03T21:48:58Z")
A teenager once called into Loveline with Dr. Drew and Adam Corolla on KROQ roughly over ten years ago. I distinctly remember him complaining about his name:John Seaman.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/28 "2016-09-03T22:22:13Z")
There’s a studio-type business near here (think music or art, I don’t want to be too specific), that has many local kids as clients, run by Miss Angie. She’s called that because otherwise they’d have to call her Miss Horr.
Dear god, what a name for woman.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/29 "2016-09-03T22:33:09Z")
I know of a woman who works in an elementary school. Her surname is Pigee (pronounced, believe it or not, ‘piggy’). The kids occasionally hear ‘Miss Piggy, please come to the office’ over the intercom.
mmm
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/30 "2016-09-03T22:56:32Z")
As a temp mailman during college I delivered mail to Anil Shitole.
---
### Author:  [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/31 "2016-09-03T23:03:49Z")
> [@garygnu](#):
>
> I see hundreds of names each day. Today’s that’s-gotta-be-fake name was “Eliza Doolittle.” Not long ago there’s was “Bonnie Parker.”
Some people are totally ignorant when they give kids names like these. little Bonnie Parker’s parents may have been blissfully unaware of the outlaw.
I read a newspaper article about a baby who had been in the NICU, and was the only baby one day who had survived a horrendous mistake with some mislabeled heparin. His parents talked about how they had chosen a special name for him that was all his own (I think it came up because the father was a jr. who had declined to make the baby a III). The baby’s name was Zachary Taylor.
---
### Author:  [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/32 "2016-09-03T23:10:25Z")
Not really that strange, but I know a Mr. Beane. Nice guy too.
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### Author:  [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2016, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/33 "2016-09-04T06:28:13Z")
I play the piano (unfortunately not very well) and lately I have been teaching my self [this piece](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOrY7zTAHGo) written
by a composer named Harry Guy. Also, while wandering around the internet a few
weeks a go I found a genealogy record for a [Ray L. Rhodes](http://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/Virginia/Ray-L-Rhodes_mv1nm). Since I don’t
have a [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) membership I can’t find out if he worked for a railroad or not.
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### Author:  [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2016, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/34 "2016-09-04T08:42:36Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#):
>
> Some people are totally ignorant when they give kids names like these. little Bonnie Parker’s parents may have been blissfully unaware of the outlaw.
>
> I read a newspaper article about a baby who had been in the NICU, and was the only baby one day who had survived a horrendous mistake with some mislabeled heparin. His parents talked about how they had chosen a special name for him that was all his own (I think it came up because the father was a jr. who had declined to make the baby a III). The baby’s name was Zachary Taylor.
One of the senior people at a one-time workplace of mine, asserted in all seriousness that he had had business dealings in the USA, with a Mr. Donald Duck.
---
### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/35 "2016-09-04T15:11:58Z")
In the world of using far-overseas call centers, usually in India, the idea of giving the agents westernized names comes and goes. I think sometimes it’s maliciously done.
One guy called me about something, and in a charming but very pronounced accent gave his name as “Graham Davis.”
This was just as California governor Graham “Gray” Davis was being recalled, to eventually be replaced by circus-election winner Ahnold.
---
### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/36 "2016-09-04T16:45:54Z")
I saw [Dansby Swanson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dansby_Swanson) take an at-bat. Plays shortstop for the Braves. His real first name is James but he goes by his middle name (and mother’s maiden name).
His father is known as Cooter Swanson.
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/37 "2016-09-04T17:08:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> From [here](http://www.vocativ.com/culture/society/people-named-abcde/):
>
> I don’t know how to find all occurrences of a name on the SSA database, but I did download a folder of text files from [this Social Security page](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html) and found occurrences of the name Abcde.
>
> ETA: OK, I see how to read it now. In the 2009 file there is ‘Abcde,F,32’. So this confirms the quoted article that there were 32 females named Abcde in 2009.
>
> .
If this were a real thing, don’t you think there would be some boys? Even one?
I think it’s an artifact of the data entry or keeping. “Abcde” is a placeholder, and Female is the default gender. Something like that.
---
### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/38 "2016-09-04T17:19:24Z")
> [@ftg](#):
>
> I saw [Dansby Swanson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dansby_Swanson) take an at-bat. Plays shortstop for the Braves. His real first name is James but he goes by his middle name (and mother’s maiden name).
Not too unusual. I have an entire book of people who have dropped or rearranged given names but not their family name.
---
### Author:  [@storyguide3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyguide3)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/39 "2016-09-04T20:18:25Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#):
>
> If this were a real thing, don’t you think there would be some boys? Even one?
>
> I think it’s an artifact of the data entry or keeping. “Abcde” is a placeholder, and Female is the default gender. Something like that.
This girl, at least, does not seem to be a database placeholder:
[http://hiloathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp\_id=2404](http://hiloathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=2404)
[http://hiloathletics.com/news/2015/9/26/WSOC\_0926155550.aspx?path=wsoc](http://hiloathletics.com/news/2015/9/26/WSOC_0926155550.aspx?path=wsoc)
---
### Author:  [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waltzes_with_Cacti)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-name-youve-encountered-lately/764744/40 "2016-09-04T20:35:36Z")
The Rev. John Tebaggy is the pastor of an Eastern Orthodox church a couple of miles from my house.
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