# 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:** 18
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/342 "2021-05-02T18:52:48Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > I can only imagine the British reaction to the Hall-of-Fame pitcher Randy Johnson There was a certain amount of tittering over a member of ?Bill Clinton’s staff called Randy Bumgardner. And somewhere there’s a high school yearbook entry for a young lady called Ginger Minge. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/343 "2021-06-21T10:12:14Z")
-Mr & Mrs Usain Bolt just had twins. **Thunder Bolt** and **Saint Leo Bolt.** ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/344 "2021-06-21T17:45:30Z")
Years ago I was visiting a Sunday School class and the topic was about someone they knew named Harry Boner. He was a police officer in Nashville (it’s easy to find him). ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/345 "2021-06-23T19:59:23Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > (it’s easy to find him). I guess he really sticks out. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/346 "2021-06-23T21:42:41Z")
> [@chasole](#): > > I had a friend when in the Air Force many years ago who had the last name Imhoff, first name Jack. Seriously. I always wondered if his mom and dad were aware of how Jack Imhoff sounded out loud. If they were aware, I would say “Bravo.” I used to work with a guy named Hans Hof. One of our other coworkers asked him why he didn’t use the nickname Jack (she said it was a common substitute for Hans). He told her to say the entire name out loud. I worked with another guy named John Case who named his son Justin. ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/347 "2021-06-23T22:22:54Z")
Joey Jo-Jo Junior Shabadoo ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/348 "2021-06-24T03:55:54Z")
And it’s pronounced “phook” or “pook.” At least, it is in the English speaking world. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/349 "2021-06-24T03:57:14Z")
I used to have an insurance agent who shared his office with another agent named Dick Cox. There was also a “John Holmes Meat Market” in Des Moines back in the day. A kid I grew up with got in trouble for taking a picture of the sign and sending it to a porno mag, which printed it (and paid him for it, too). ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/350 "2021-06-24T04:16:09Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > And it’s pronounced “phook” or “pook.” > > At least, it is in the English speaking world. Yeah, I once explained to a driver in Thailand how “[Phuket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phuket_Province)” would probably be (mis)pronounced by an English speaker. He got a good laugh out of it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/351 "2021-06-24T04:26:24Z")
Thanks to the 2004 tsunami, everyone knows how to correctly pronounce that city’s name. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/352 "2021-06-24T04:27:30Z")
Yeah, but the Thai guy didn’t know how to correctly butcher it, so I obliged. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/353 "2021-06-24T05:19:13Z")
I was looking up the bios on Wiki of some old friends/acquaintances/colleagues. One of them, a Rhodes Scholar led to his mother, whose maiden name was Edith Butt, and then to a grandmother whose maiden name was Phoebe Freake. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/354 "2021-06-24T05:46:58Z")
There is a family of ant-eating birds in South America, whose English names are Ant-wren, Ant-tanager and Ant-vireo, depending on the habits or appearance of well-known eponymous genera. I hope someone named their daughters Wren, Tanager and Vireo, so their grandchildren would have an Aunt Wren, Aunt Tanager and Aunt Vireo. There are also Ant-shrikes and Ant-thrushes, which lend themselves less well. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/355 "2021-06-24T06:12:35Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I once knew a guy, Laotian I think, named Phuc. That’s a Vietnamese name. Pronounced “Fook.” (Although there are some ethnic Vietnamese in Laos, so he still could have come from there.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/356 "2021-06-24T06:25:33Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Yeah, I once explained to a driver in Thailand how “[Phuket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phuket_Province)” would probably be (mis)pronounced by an English speaker. He got a good laugh out of it. I heard a story about a Thai restaurant opening with that name in New York City, and the city made them change the name. Possibly apocryphal. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/357 "2021-06-24T11:16:19Z")
I had a coworker who made a joke that another coworker’s last name sounded like “lesbian” (it wasn’t that close). I asked if she really wants to go there when she had her last name. Her last name is Cox. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/358 "2021-06-24T11:16:20Z")
Come to that, one of the poshest restaurants in Paris is Fouquet’s. A romantic young man from Le Touquet Wrote a poem to praise Madame Bouquet. She thought it so fine That she asked him to dine At his choice - to which he said “Au Fouquet’s’” ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/359 "2021-06-25T10:56:33Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Come to that, one of the poshest restaurants in Paris is Fouquet’s. In the Philippines, one of Cebu’s best known dining rooms is Tolits, very conspicuousness signed. House specialty is Bellychon, roasted pork belly. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2021, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/360 "2021-07-02T07:04:21Z")
Saw a guy on LinkedIn named Harsh Shah. Which is how we got Iran. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/361 "2021-07-03T03:43:19Z")
The late, great mathematician Katherine Johnson had a daughter named Joylette, named after her own mother. Turns out Joylette Hylick is a respected speaker, mathematician, and author in her own right. > **[Daughter of ‘Hidden Figures’ mathematician speaks at library event - The Sun...](https://thesunpapers.com/2021/05/11/daughter-of-hidden-figures-mathematician-speaks-at-library-event/)** > > Katherine Johnson took her last flight into space on Feb. 20. The S.S. Katherine Johnson, a supply satellite currently docked at the International Space Station, was named for the late NASA mathematician featured in the film “Hidden Figures.” On... You can imagine how it was mispronounced over the years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747.md?page=19)