# What name is an insult in two languages? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 13, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863 "2008-08-13T17:08:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/1 "2008-08-13T17:08:21Z")
from _Dear Abby_, August 13, 2008 > [@](#): > > My husband and I are expecting our first child and selected names some time ago. If it’s a boy, we’ll name him Ethan; if it’s a girl, we’ll call her Ardith. > > My father sent us a nasty e-mail telling us he’s praying we have a boy because he couldn’t imagine “saddling a child with a name like Ardith.” This from a man who named his son “Seymour Herbert” and stuck with a last name that is an insult in two languages. (My brother and I grew so sick of being reminded of it that we changed our last name.) It wasn’t even our original family name, but a badly Americanized name-gone-wrong that was laid on our grandfather when he came to this country. Anyone have any idea what surname this could be? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/2 "2008-08-13T17:32:21Z")
No idea, but I thought it was mildly interesting that all that part about the surname was edited out of our paper. For space, probably (poor Abby only gets a small space every day). Roddy ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/3 "2008-08-13T17:35:18Z")
Douchebag? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/4 "2008-08-13T17:41:42Z")
The given names of the grandfather’s son suggest an English (British) heritage, at least to me. Apart from that, I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/5 "2008-08-13T18:07:23Z")
Maybe Raper? ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/6 "2008-08-13T18:27:43Z")
cox? dix? wiener? butts? cumstien? focker? I’m out. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/7 "2008-08-13T18:42:17Z")
Glasscock? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/8 "2008-08-13T18:54:49Z")
I knew a guy with a last name of Fink. Is fink an insult in a language other than English? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/9 "2008-08-13T19:21:38Z")
I met someone with the last name Putz. Could that be it? ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/10 "2008-08-13T20:21:05Z")
Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/11 "2008-08-13T20:44:56Z")
Kuntz? ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/12 "2008-08-13T20:47:11Z")
Same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/13 "2008-08-13T20:50:17Z")
Lipschitz ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/14 "2008-08-13T21:07:39Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] The given names of the grandfather’s son suggest an English (British) heritage, at least to me. Apart from that, I got nothin’. [/QUOTE] How about “Dick”? “Dick” is an anglicized version of “Disch,” which is “fat” in German. A bit of a stretch, but it’s a common English name and I would be surprised if it doesn’t have a negative connotation in at least one other language. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/15 "2008-08-13T21:17:29Z")
My first thought was Pratt, but English and American English are both still English. I am betting it is a Jewish name that’s been mauled, Putz or Schlitz or something. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/16 "2008-08-13T21:59:12Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] I am betting it is a Jewish name that’s been mauled, Putz or Schlitz or something. [/QUOTE] Or perhaps [Schmuck.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schmuck) Poor Peter’s surname is so “offensive to public decency” that he can’t sport it on a vanity plate! ---
**Author:** ![ignis\_glaciesque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@ignis\_glaciesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignis_glaciesque)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/17 "2008-08-14T10:37:06Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] How about “Dick”? “Dick” is an anglicized version of “Disch,” which is “fat” in German. A bit of a stretch, but it’s a common English name and I would be surprised if it doesn’t have a negative connotation in at least one other language. [/QUOTE] The word in German is actually ‘dick’. There is no word ‘Disch’ in German. ---
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/18 "2008-08-14T11:54:05Z")
[QUOTE=Punoqllads] I knew a guy with a last name of Fink. Is fink an insult in a language other than English? [/QUOTE] It’s a small bird in Swedish. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/19 "2008-08-14T12:05:14Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] Douchebag? [/QUOTE] actually, the verb ‘douchen’ means to take a shower in Dutch… Dick - spelled ‘dik’ means fat in Dutch. Not very nice. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863/20 "2008-08-14T12:08:14Z")
It is a finch in German. Steve Allen claimed credit for making fink and ratfink into funny words. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-is-an-insult-in-two-languages/459863.md?page=2)