# Why would you name your kid... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559 "2008-12-10T15:33:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/41 "2008-12-11T01:51:48Z")
No shit I worked with a Sergeant James James. He was a nice guy but odd. I also knew a _ **SGT Rambo** _. He told me he caught hell in basic training. I think the two funniest were \*\*\*Sergeant Sargent \*\*\*and _ **Sergeant Major** _. He was an E5 when I knew him but his last name was _Major_. Imagine the shock when someone says \*\*“Sergeant Major is pissed and he’s coming in here now!” \*\*and this guy walks in. We were like "Oh, _THIS_ guy…we thought you meant the _REAL Sergeant Major."_ ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/42 "2008-12-11T02:30:30Z")
My grandfather’s name was Harry, and it’s never even occurred to me that someone could pronounce it differently than “hairy”. Now I have to rewatch the Harry Potter movies to see if the kids pronounce “Harry” and “hairy” differently. If they do, I never noticed it. ---
**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:** [December 11, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/43 "2008-12-11T02:41:43Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > If Harold gets shortened to Harry, you’d be Harry Dick. > This would not be a problem for people who live where you live or where I live, but in some parts of America Harry and hairy sound the same. > [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](#): > > Wait, how does “Harry” sound in your part of the world? They’ve always been pronounced the same with me. In fact, I’ve never heard that they could be pronounced differently. But anyway, I give you [Ima Hogg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ima_Hogg), daughter of Texas Governor James Stephen “Big Jim” Hogg. (A popular Urban Legend has it that she had a sister named Ura, but no, she didn’t.) ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/44 "2008-12-11T02:47:47Z")
My dad went to school with a kid named Richard Fuchs. The “ch” is hard, so the poor lad was called Dick Fucks. I can’t think of anything worse than that. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/45 "2008-12-11T02:50:53Z")
I was at the hospital last week and there was a little girl named Babygirl Jones. It wasn’t a sign on the end of her bassinet like Baby boy Smith or Baby girl Johnson. This was in the emergency department where people sign in and then get called by name. When it was her turn the nurse called out “Babygirl Jones” and then the mother said “come on, Babygirl”. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/46 "2008-12-11T02:58:46Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > Now I have to rewatch the Harry Potter movies to see if the kids pronounce “Harry” and “hairy” differently. If they do, I never noticed it. They pronounce it the, er, continental way. Har-ee. Har-ee Powe-tah. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/47 "2008-12-11T03:16:14Z")
> [@freekalette](#): > > My dad went to school with a kid named Richard Fuchs. The “ch” is hard, so the poor lad was called Dick Fucks. I can’t think of anything worse than that. I went to high school with a Fuchs. His was pronounced Fyoosh, but announcers at away games occasionally and hesitatingly said Fucks. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/48 "2008-12-11T04:08:52Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > These words all rhyme to the vast majority of Americans. I understand New Yorkers distinguish, but it’s such a subtle distinction that I don’t get the fuss. Those words don’t rhyme north of NY, either. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/49 "2008-12-11T04:22:20Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Those words don’t rhyme north of NY, either. Unless you go North enough to end up on the other side of the Canadian border, that is. Harry/hairy sound the same in every Canadian accent I’ve experienced (including Newfie). ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/50 "2008-12-11T04:34:39Z")
There’s a guy at my company (I don’t know him, but he’s often paged) named Frank Wiener. I thought that was a pretty funny name, but I guess it could be worse. Someone told me that he has two brothers named Peter and Dick. I wonder if the next kid would have been named Oscar Meyer. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/51 "2008-12-11T05:12:29Z")
I am American and my Harry and hairy sound the same. The husband who is British (from the North) pronounces them more like “Hahree” and “hare-ee,” if that makes any sense. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/52 "2008-12-11T06:28:06Z")
One day at work not long ago, I encountered the birth certificate of a baby boy named Courvoisiervalentino. All one word. He had an older sister named Hennessy. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/53 "2008-12-11T08:18:32Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Funny you should say that. My first college roommate had the last name Dick, and he swore he’d never name his kid Harold. > > His first name was Peter. Hey, [Harry Peter](http://lambiek.net/artists/p/peter-hg.htm) did all right! He never married, tho’. Hhmm. ---
**Author:** ![grey\_ideas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@grey\_ideas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grey_ideas)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/54 "2008-12-11T08:41:04Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > I am American and my Harry and hairy sound the same. The husband who is British (from the North) pronounces them more like “Hahree” and “hare-ee,” if that makes any sense. Best way I can show how it’s pronounced, same as in [harry](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/harry)…that’ll make no sense until you click the link 🙂 As the example on the link, “We shall harry the enemy…”. Of course this isn’t going to help if the US pronounces that version of ‘harry’ differently! But I’m guessing it’s an uncommon enough word that the pronunciations may have stayed the same. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/55 "2008-12-11T08:48:22Z")
> [@freekalette](#): > > My dad went to school with a kid named Richard Fuchs. The “ch” is hard, so the poor lad was called Dick Fucks. I can’t think of anything worse than that. Unless he decided to get into porn, in which case I’m sure he had a spectacular career. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the\_deuce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71e660/32.png) [@What\_the\_deuce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the_deuce)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/56 "2008-12-11T08:57:35Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > It’s to do with the oft-heard refrain that in some (all?) American accents, merry, marry and Mary sound the same, where as people from other places have different pronunciations for all three. The merry/marry/Mary merger is incomplete in some regions of America. For example, in my dialect, I pronounce marry and Mary the “right” way (the way people with the full 3-way separation do it), but I pronounce merry like Mary. I’m from the Philadelphia region. Here’s a map of the United States with areas marked out indicating the progression of the merger: [http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q\_15.html](http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_15.html) You can see that the northeast USA (where I come from) is one of the relative strongholds for the distinction, but it’s a bit of a wildcard even there. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the\_deuce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71e660/32.png) [@What\_the\_deuce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the_deuce)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/57 "2008-12-11T09:05:18Z")
> [@What\_the\_deuce](#): > > …in my dialect, I pronounce marry and Mary the “right” way (the way people with the full 3-way separation do it), but I pronounce merry like Mary… On second thought, maybe I’m pronouncing “merry” the right way, and pronouncing Mary like merry. It’s hard to tell when you say them the same way anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/58 "2008-12-11T09:10:13Z")
The proper way to pronounce “Harry” (meaning the way I pronounce it, of course) is demonstrated at 1:35 of [this clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikynTH9oJg8&feature=related). I dare you to pronounce “hairy” the same way. I also pronounce merry/marry/Mary completely differently. Interestingly, while I speak English perfectly, I was raised outside the U.S. Perhaps pronounciation has changed in the past few decades? ---
**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:** [December 11, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/59 "2008-12-11T13:28:34Z")
Raised in Texas, and merry, marry and Mary all pronounced the same. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559/60 "2008-12-11T14:10:04Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Johnny Awesome. I likes. [Mr. Awesome has great You Tube clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3gW_91bjkg) :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-you-name-your-kid/476559.md?page=4)