# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/41 "2020-07-20T02:39:32Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I’d never make that connection just by hearing the name on its own. It’s more along the lines of eating/eaten peters. Sophmoric humer. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/42 "2020-07-20T02:47:25Z")
Kids on a tax return: Bambi and Thumper. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/43 "2020-07-20T02:57:25Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > This was at the height of R.E.M.'s career. 1. That’s a common name 2. It’s not even the same name 3. Relatively few people would be familiar with any of their names, and those that knew one would only know Michael Stipe. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/44 "2020-07-20T02:58:26Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > > I’d never make that connection just by hearing the name on its own. > > It’s more along the lines of eating/eaten peters. Sophmoric humer. I still don’t get it. It’s starting to sound like a stretch to me. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/45 "2020-07-20T03:21:23Z")
There’s an ObGyn in northern Virginia named “Harry Beaver”. Actually there may be two of them, Harry H and Harry C. (Google shows both.) I imagine he got to med school and the other students said “You’re an OB. Like it or not.” ---
**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:** [July 20, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/46 "2020-07-20T03:23:56Z")
He or they have been bandied about an awfully long time. I’m starting to wonder if they’re real. That said, if my name were Harold Beaver, I would definitely go by Harry if I became an ObGyn. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/47 "2020-07-20T03:43:36Z")
This isn’t all that weird, but as I have a familial connection I thought I’d bring it forth anyway. My brother’s mother-in-law is\* Alison Ellison. \*was. Late brother. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/48 "2020-07-20T06:35:05Z")
Come on, people, focus! Edie, William, Calvin, Ozzy (Osmond, Oswald, Oscar, … ), Cat, Harry, Algy, and so on are not weird names, especially if you speak English. Bring on the genuinely weird names! Maybe my bar is set pretty high. Sunshine, Happy, Saoirse, Philo, Atlas don’t ping weirdness for me. Marijuana Pepsi is getting there, though. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/49 "2020-07-20T08:35:09Z")
Surprised no one’s mentioned Elon Musk’s latest kid’s name. Originally, it was X Æ A-12. But that ran afoul of California’s rule that all names must be alphabetic characters only, so they changed it to X Æ A-XII. Is that weird enough for you DPRK? As for the Abcde name, there used to be a Ab C Defghi in the (IIRC) Vancouver BC phone book. Of course, you don’t have to use your real name in the phone book. Or on Facebook, which also has a person of that name. It looks like a dead entry, though. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/50 "2020-07-20T09:09:02Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > X Æ A-12 He has a wife, you know… ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/51 "2020-07-20T10:27:57Z")
I’m sure I must have mentioned this in some previous thread, but when I was teaching at the University of Toronto, there was a student named Adolf Hitler. He wasn’t in any of my classes, though some of my colleagues did teach him. He was apparently a very nice young fellow from India. I assume he came from that part of the country where people tend to get named after famous leaders. (Here’s [a Reuters article](http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2013/03/19/vote-stalin-in-india-you-can/) that discusses some famous Indians with unusual namesakes, including a Stalin, a Napoleon, and another Adolf Hitler.) His name triggered all sorts of complaints at the beginning of each school year, usually from new students who saw “Adolf Hitler” logged into the compute servers or posting on the departmental mailing lists and assumed that someone’s account had been compromised. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/52 "2020-07-20T10:34:55Z")
Oh, and I’m surprised that no one has yet mentioned Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, the name of a Swedish child born in 1991. The Swedish authorities refused to allow registration of this name, which the parents had argued was “a pregnant, expressionistic development that we see as an artistic creation”. The parents then submitted the single-letter name A, which the authorities also refused to accept. A while back I wrote [an article all about the world’s shortest personal names](https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5327&context=wordways). It covers the aforementioned A as well as many other interesting and unusual examples. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/53 "2020-07-20T12:06:27Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > > [@dtilque](#): > > > > X Æ A-12 > > He has a wife, you know… X Æ A-XII is way too young to be married… OK, you obviously meant Musk. No he’s not currently married, although he’s been married three times before to two different women. The mother of X is a Canadian singer who goes by the single name of Grimes. She helped come up with the name, so I probably should have mentioned her too. But she’s not nearly as well known. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/54 "2020-07-20T12:56:10Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > The mother of X is a Canadian singer who goes by the single name of Grimes. She helped come up with the name, so I probably should have mentioned her too. But she’s not nearly as well known. And according to wikipedia, Grimes’s nickname among her friends is “c.” That’s lower-case c, as in the symbol for the speed of light. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t think typical everyday names are a priority in this family. As an additional example of an odd name, we must look to history. Specifically to the history of the Kennedy administration, where we will find National Security Adviser **McGeorge Bundy**. Or to the history of NASCAR, where we will find everyone’s favorite racing driver, **Dick Trickle**. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/55 "2020-07-20T13:31:46Z")
The man who owned our house before us had the first name [Swepson](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/190439624/swepson-anchous-east). I think that counts as unusual, if not weird. Many years ago, I there was a welder where I worked named General Lee. His first name was General. One of the engineers I worked with had the first name Major. Personally, I thought both were out of place on a Navy base. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/56 "2020-07-20T14:21:15Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Many years ago, I there was a welder where I worked named General Lee. His first name was General. One of the engineers I worked with had the first name Major. Personally, I thought both were out of place on a Navy base One of the feral children next door is named Major. Every time his mother screams bloody murder at him I think, “Major pain in the ass, more like.” ---
**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:** [July 20, 2020, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/57 "2020-07-20T14:35:35Z")
The A/P contact at a company that my company paid bills to in the 1990s was Dick Pickler. À friend says she went to elementary school with Myron Stands-At-The-Door. I’ve never been able to verify it, though. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/58 "2020-07-20T14:44:36Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > As an additional example of an odd name, we must look to history. Specifically to the history of the Kennedy administration, where we will find National Security Adviser **McGeorge Bundy**. > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > The man who owned our house before us had the first name [Swepson](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/190439624/swepson-anchous-east). I think that counts as unusual, if not weird. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/59 "2020-07-20T15:06:08Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > X Æ A-XII is way too young to be married… It’s a _Life of Brian_ reference, I’m guessing. I once met an African gentleman whose first name was “Wonderboy”. His parents clearly had high hopes for him. I didn’t ask his surname. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747/60 "2020-07-20T15:24:01Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > > > Many years ago, I there was a welder where I worked named General Lee. His first name was General. One of the engineers I worked with had the first name Major. Personally, I thought both were out of place on a Navy base > > One of the feral children next door is named Major. Every time his mother screams bloody murder at him I think, “Major pain in the ass, more like Never met any of those military-themed kids, but I have met a ‘Royal’. Upon reflection, that didn’t seem any weirder than ‘Malik’ (a somewhat common name), just more in English. > [@Gyrate](#): > > It’s a _Life of Brian_ reference, I’m guessing. That’s right [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-names-youve-ever-heard/915747.md?page=4)