I have a friend who went to school with a girl whose last name was Raper. To make matters worse, her parents named her Nita. (I still wonder if he was just BSing me and my other friends when he told us this.)
I went to school with a girl named Raper as well. (Her first name wasn’t quite so unfortunate. It was very, very common for our age group though.) I didn’t even know why it was so bad until years later.
There’s a real estate agent in my town named Pistol Tingen. When I first saw his name on a “For Sale” sign I thought it was a joke. Then I saw the television ads… :eek:
The wife of one of my former classmates works for the neonatal unit at the local hospital. Once she attended the birth of Luscious Cox. I wish I was making that up.
A former co-worker of mine know a family named Turdo. Can’t imagine all the kids didn’t chage their names upon moving out, but she said they didn’t.
Slutsky and Slutsker are not uncommon last names; Russian, I think. I knew a girl named Slutsker in college who wasn’t slutsker or even slutskest, she was quite demure.
There are many people with the last name “Lipschitz”. At least one had the first name of Harold which led to the unfortunate combination of Harry Lipschitz. If you say it fast like a New Yorker it does sound terrible. Actually it sounds pretty bad, no matter what.
It is apparently an old Jewish name, but I would think it does make it very hard to live in an English speaking country.
Ah, yes, Lipschitz. Who among us has not crank-called a Lipschitz with the time-honored “Hey! If you lip shits, what does your asshole do?”
My little sister’s second grade teacher was Mrs. Dump. She was very insulted when our dad called her Mrs. Durr (his favorite term for a moron). I’d rather be Mrs. Durr.
It make it hard for those with embarrassing names to live in a different century from when the names originated as well. Changes in the English language over time have left many names as ludicrous to our ears today. A guest speaker recently at my historical society’s meeting told us about British surnames which time has not treated well. Some of those he described:
Raper - originally a rope maker
Large - originally meant generous (as in largesse)
Spittle - apparently a shortening of “hospital”
Crap - a cropper, someone who grew crops
Stiff - tough, obstinate person
Death, Virgin - characters in Middle Ages plays
And the classic Bottom (Longbottom, Sidebottom) - just another term for valley, as in someone who lived there