# You know what they sat about people with Two first Names?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595 "2001-09-25T00:32:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/21 "2001-09-25T17:02:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lockfist \* > \*\*I can’t believe you are leaving out our 2nd favorite loafered vice cop, Phillip Michael Thomas. Three first names ! Amazing ! \*\* What about JAGster David James Elliott? Of course, that’s a made up stage name. His real name is David (W.) Smith. ---
**Author:** ![Nonny\_Mouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5e9695/32.png) [@Nonny\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonny_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/22 "2001-09-25T17:09:57Z")
I’ve thought Jennifer Jason Leigh was a little shifty ever since I saw her in Single White Female 😉 Nonny ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/23 "2001-09-25T18:11:39Z")
Then there’s Jan Michael Vincent. ---
**Author:** ![FloChi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58956e/32.png) [@FloChi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloChi)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/24 "2001-09-26T00:08:36Z")
Good to see that so many of you know about Famous people who use two first names. However, the saying was about people whose last name could also be a first name. So like Paul Simon. Good to see that other people have heard of it too, although they all seem to be Australian too. IS this only an Australian thing? ANyone have any idea where it comes from? Thank you all for responding. FloChi PS **Gaspode** , I like your double barrel name thing, and I know alot of people who would agree with Bjelke-Petersen being a perfect example of a bastard on unknown parentage. (Australian Political Joke, much like the man) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/25 "2001-09-26T00:55:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Another Primate \* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by dtilque \* > > Besides the police report, the media uses the full name of notorious criminals to **disambiguate** them from other people with the same first and last names. > > Dear **dtilque** , > May I please adopt that word you just birthed? Or, at least, be a godmother to it? I love it, and I promise to feed it often. > -Sue I’d love to take credit for it, Sue, but my good friends Merriam and Webster say it’s been in use since 1963. -Dan ---
**Author:** ![Another\_Primate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Another\_Primate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Primate)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/26 "2001-09-26T01:03:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dtilque \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Another Primate \* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by dtilque \* > > > Besides the police report, the media uses the full name of notorious criminals to **disambiguate** them from other people with the same first and last names. > > > > Dear **dtilque** , > > May I please adopt that word you just birthed? Or, at least, be a godmother to it? I love it, and I promise to feed it often. > > -Sue > > I’d love to take credit for it, Sue, but my good friends Merriam and Webster say it’s been in use since 1963. > -Dan \*\* Dan, Well, dog my cats. I thought about looking it up, but then thought, no WAY is that a real word. Nifty; I can use it without feeling like I stole it, then! Sue ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/27 "2001-09-26T03:47:21Z")
dtilque, have you studied linguistics? “Disambiguate” is a standard technical term in that field. I remember in the '70’s discussing with other linguistics grad students what an odd word it was. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/28 "2001-09-26T03:59:24Z")
How about Jon Claude? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/29 "2001-09-26T04:43:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wendell Wagner \* > dtilque, have you studied linguistics? “Disambiguate” is a standard technical term in that field. I remember in the '70’s discussing with other linguistics grad students what an odd word it was. A few classes, back in the 70s. But I don’t recall where I picked the word up. If not in one of those, then possibly in a computer science class of which I took more than a few. And **kniz** , shouldn’t that be Jean-Claude (as in Killy, the skier)? Or did you mean someone else? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/30 "2001-09-27T05:14:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Somehow “Mary Ann” or “Betty Lou” seems normal to me, but “Joe Bob” or “Billy Ray” sounds foreign To match kniz’ story, I work with a man named Joe Bob. And like kniz, after meeting him I asked what his last name was and was told “Bob”. ---
**Author:** ![holyfire001202](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@holyfire001202](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/holyfire001202)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/31 "2014-04-25T21:56:08Z")
**So, for the extent of this post consider the pre-19th century world**. First, not all cultures used surnames. One of my professors explained to me today how in his travels to somewhere I’ve forgotten, he was referred to as “Teacher-Name” (forgive my forgetting of the actual Islamic terminology). Not “name-surname” or “surname” because they did not practice surnames, men were named after their father. Basically what I’m going to save some time getting at is perhaps two first names are historically indicative of a cultural ‘outsider’, unaware of the format problem in their name, attempting to work their way into a surname-practicing society. This, of course could be due to an amalgam of different circumstances. Another theory I thought of is that surnames generally represent(ed) ones social class, either literally (names like carpenter, bowman, cook) or through family (family name is associated with a certain social class). In places like Europe, I imagine that if one did not have a surname, it implies a lack of acknowledged social class for whatever reason. Each thought implies either a lack of known identity, the coming from of an outside culture, or the lack of a personal history. Still considering the pre-19th century world, distrust is a suitable reaction to someone with no [surname]\*. \*Interchangeable with whatever a surname meant to the culture you may be thinking of ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595/32 "2014-04-26T01:30:26Z")
**Moderator Action** Since the original thread dates back to 2001 and is actually discussing the use of multiple first names and not surnames, I think it is best just to close this. Feel free to create a new thread if you wish to discuss the origin and use of surnames. Thread closed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-they-sat-about-people-with-two-first-names/83595.md?page=1)