# Weirdest names you've ever heard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 19, 2020, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747 "2020-07-19T12:05:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/221 "2020-09-08T10:01:31Z")
I wondered with an Asian man whose name was pronounced “Sin Sin”, I forgot how he spelled it but his first name was Sin and his last name was Sin. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/222 "2020-09-09T01:26:03Z")
There’s a realtor in the town I grew up in named Rose E. Kuntz. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/223 "2020-09-09T01:44:28Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > > [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > > > **Vice Admiral Ronald Smoot** USN in WWII > > Not the only amusing use of the name **Smoot**. Worth reading the Wiki squib. > > The smoot is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. It is named after Oliver R. Smoot, a fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha, who in October 1958 lay down … [Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot) > > Imperial/US units: 5 ft 7 in > > SI units: 1.702 m > > 1 smoot in: is equal to > > Named after: [Oliver R. Smoot](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS856US869&hl=en-US&sxsrf=ALeKk01A2sevvugQMrs9cGuLC_fN7Dq0_w:1599418345559&q=Oliver+R.+Smoot&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgVuLUz9U3MDKrSMtdxMrvn5NZllqkEKSnEJybn18CALNx8cUfAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjP29XSmdXrAhXEGM0KHaEDBdMQmxMoADASegQIAxAC) > > The **smoot** [/ˈsmuːt/](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Help:IPA/English) is a nonstandard, [humorous unit of length](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement) created as part of an [MIT](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology) fraternity prank. It is named after [Oliver R. Smoot](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Oliver_R._Smoot), a [fraternity pledge](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Fraternities_and_sororities#Joining) to [Lambda Chi Alpha](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Lambda_Chi_Alpha), who in October 1958 lay down repeatedly on the [Harvard Bridge](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Harvard_Bridge) (between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts) so that his fraternity brothers could use his height to measure the length of the bridge. And then there is Sen. Reed Smoot, responsible for the [Smoot-Hawley Tariff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot%E2%80%93Hawley_Tariff_Act). The Smoot-Hawley Tariff is famous both for its name being used repeatedly in Dave Barry’s farcical history of the United States (_Dave Barry Slept Here_) because he just loves the sound of it, and for significantly worsening the Great Depression. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/224 "2020-09-09T01:47:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > There’s a realtor in the town I grew up in named Rose E. Kuntz While that’s a very unfortunate name, I’d expect it to be pronounced “Koontz” rather than Kuntz. Not that it would stop anybody… ---
**Author:** ![I.Dunno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I.Dunno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I.Dunno)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/225 "2020-09-09T23:55:58Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > There’s a realtor in the town I grew up in named Rose E. Kuntz. Reminds me…there is a former ballplayer and I think still a coach with the KC Royals whose name is Rusty Kuntz. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/226 "2020-09-10T00:21:15Z")
Spangler Arlington Brugh - Real name of actor Robert Taylor Herbert Fux - Prolific Austrian actor Dr. Hertz - Dentist Smilax P. Sandau - Chiropractor whose office was next to a revival theater I used to frequent. Dick Shiner - NFL quarterback, 1964-74 Yuja Wang - Classical pianist ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/227 "2020-09-10T00:43:12Z")
Can’t believe I forgot… Johnny Bizzarro, boxer ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecccb3/32.png) [@Old\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Wench)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/228 "2020-09-12T12:25:35Z")
Silvestri Silvestri was a Common Pleas Court judge in Allegheny County, PA in the 1980s and 1990s, then became a judge on the PA Commonwealth Court. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/229 "2020-09-12T12:27:55Z")
> [@Old\_Wench](#): > > Silvestri Silvestri Yes! I remember him. What were mom&dad Silvestri thinking? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2020, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/230 "2020-09-17T23:18:16Z")
There’s a crooked, suspended lawyer in my hometown named Thorn Thorn. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/231 "2020-09-18T15:33:18Z")
In the past couple of weeks, I have met two different women, both born in the 1980s, named Kyrie. I even had occasion to check ID on one of them. Sure enough, her middle name was Eleison. But she was born 3 years before the Mr. Mister song! ---
**Author:** ![Latimera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/latimera/32/497_2.png) [@Latimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latimera)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/232 "2020-09-18T19:02:56Z")
When I was young I knew a kid named Jay Walker, and another named Sandy Lane. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/233 "2020-09-18T19:07:36Z")
Wait for it… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8TWt8P8LCkw/maxresdefault.jpg "The Two Funniest Names in Portland, Rusty Nail") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TWt8P8LCkw) Eggly Bagelface ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/234 "2020-09-18T20:14:35Z")
And a Cardinal Law here in Boston. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/235 "2020-09-18T20:19:34Z")
(Shoulda quoted the post I was replying to – which was the one about Cardinal Sin of the Philippines.) _A propos_ of nothing, I actually worked with a guy named Hannibal Scipio. (That’s a Punic War reference, for those of you who don’t find it blindingly obvious, and made by one of his ancestors – he was Hannibal III or IV, as I recall.) ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/236 "2020-09-18T20:53:58Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Having what’s usually a last name as a first name isn’t super rare. Anderson Cooper, for example. Another one is Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame. IIRC, Meriwether was his mother’s maiden name. I’m sure we could find other examples. It’s a New England WASP thing. Old joke, from Calvin Trillin: > When I went to college, I met my roommate, Hatcher Thatcher Baxter III. Then I started dating his sister, Thatcher Hatcher Baxter. Or something along those lines, anyway. I haven’t looked it up, I just remember it from something or other. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/237 "2020-09-18T21:01:03Z")
236 posts and no menion of [Reality WInner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner)? Also, there was a guy in my high school named Robin Sherwood. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/238 "2020-09-18T21:31:05Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > > [@Miller](#): > > > > There’s a realtor in the town I grew up in named Rose E. Kuntz > > While that’s a very unfortunate name, I’d expect it to be pronounced “Koontz” rather than Kuntz. Not that it would stop anybody… I worked with a guy named Kuntz. And every time we’d get a new sergeant and he’d be taking the roll call, we’d reach a point where the new sergeant would suddenly stop… And Kuntz would say “It’s pronounced koonts.” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/239 "2020-09-18T21:38:11Z")
You may not believe this, but it’s the honest to God truth. Our school had a family whose last name was “Piggie”. They had twin girls named “Ima” and “Eura”. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@Mona\_Lott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lott)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/240 "2020-09-18T21:56:16Z")
The doctor who delivered me was H. E. Bonebrake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747.md?page=13)