Bad Names

kyleb

kyleb

Final Approach
PoA Supporter
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
Messages
9,173
Location
Marietta, GA
Display Name
Drake the Outlaw
Home Airfield
Cartersville, GA
I was in the SLC airport yesterday waiting out a snow delay. The folks at the counter paged a "Harry Kent". Which of course caused me to chuckle. SWMBO was less amused. Do parents not think about such things? How 'bout Mr. Kent? Doesn't he have a middle name that might be an improvement?

Then there's a teacher at my son's school: Mr. Smallwood. I don't guess anything could have helped that guy.

So:

Harry Kent
Mr. Smallwood
Dick Trickle
Continue...
 
President of Trans States Airlines is Rich Leach.
 
Worked with a man whose first name was "Spruce." The name tag on his desk said, "Spruce (Not Bruce) Jones" (actual last name wasn't Jones, of course).

Another fellow engineer had the last name "Frankenberry."

Government engineer I worked with had the last name Butler...first name Rhett. Even more confusing, he was Black.

Ron "Then we're awake..but we're awfully confused" Wanttaja <--- *

* Should point out that my last name causes issues, occasionally. Pronounced "Wahn TIE ah," some people hear "Montoya." Plus for some reason, folks hear the name and think I'm from Hawaii or am a Pacific Islander (e.g. Samoan). My actual appearance (Scandahoovian through-and-through) tends to throw them off.

** Should also point out that there's ANOTHER "Ron Wanttaja" in the US. I have plausible deniability!
 
Mentioned that before... my buddy's aft end doctor has the very apropriate name of William Butt.
 
I once went out with a girl named Taryn Sheets

We went so far as to consider our kids initials when naming them.
 
Knew a man named John Dover. Used to ask about his brother Ben ...
 
There's a local private school with a "Sandy Beaver" Center.

My son's robotics team competes there tomorrow...
 
wanttaja said:
Worked with a man whose first name was "Spruce." The name tag on his desk said, "Spruce (Not Bruce) Jones" (actual last name wasn't Jones, of course).

Another fellow engineer had the last name "Frankenberry."

Government engineer I worked with had the last name Butler...first name Rhett. Even more confusing, he was Black.

Ron "Then we're awake..but we're awfully confused" Wanttaja <--- *

* Should point out that my last name causes issues, occasionally. Pronounced "Wahn TIE ah," some people hear "Montoya." Plus for some reason, folks hear the name and think I'm from Hawaii or am a Pacific Islander (e.g. Samoan). My actual appearance (Scandahoovian through-and-through) tends to throw them off.

** Should also point out that there's ANOTHER "Ron Wanttaja" in the US. I have plausible deniability!
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Here I’ve been, silently pronouncing your name “wahn-tah-jah” in my head for the last two decades, lol.
 
A family member once had a GYN named Dr. Bievers.
 
I know someone who's maiden name was Dawn Daun.
 
We had a young uro-gynecologist join the staff at a hospital I am affiliated with named Dr. Zipper. At least his first name was only Ralph.
 
Brad Z said:
Here I’ve been, silently pronouncing your name “wahn-tah-jah” in my head for the last two decades, lol.
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Gives me even more plausible deniability:

"Are you Ron Wahn-Tah-Jah?"

"Nope."

Ron "Portager" Wanttaja
^^^^^^^ been told that's what it translates to, in Finnish
 
My dentist is Dr. Pullen. He's the third generation of Pullen dentists, and his son is the fourth.
 
Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate toward areas of work or interest that fit their names.
 

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Bold some letters all you want, it’s still pxxxx land

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Back in the day when I lived in Tampa, there was a gynecologist named Richard N Long. High school kids would cover up the first three letters of his first name of the sign on the street in front of his office.

Not that long ago, I answer tech questions on a the web site experts-exchange.com. When they first started, they, used the domain name expertsexchange.com. Hilarity ensued.
 
Doctors are ripe for this. I have known personally (not "my sister knew a guy who guy"):
A urologist named Johnson.
A gynecologist named Box (she was the state Health Director for a while)
A general surgeon named Slaughter, who had only nine fingers.
 
In the county I grew up the sheriff's last name was Coward. His nickname was Half.

One of the gas station owners was Phillip Mittank.
 
Llewtrah381 said:
View attachment 150095
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The government should fund inaptonym training for labor and delivery nurses, to stop these things from happening.

Maybe provide some informative brochures to new parents that have, averages being what they are and all, 50/50 chances of making such an important decision based on below average thought processes.
 
I had a dentist...Dr. Payne.

With a name like that he could only have one job...
 
to add to the challenge, think about names that will sound like something else (bad) in a different language. One famous example is the Chevy Nova, which apparently didn't sell very well in Mexico.
 
This is why I come to POA, it’s like a box of chocolates.
 
Baseball has a number of these.

Grant Balfour.... A pitcher who grants ball four
Dick Pole
Catfish Hunter
Rusty Kuntz
Richard Lovelady
Coco Crisp
 
Racerx said:
I know someone who's maiden name was Dawn Daun.
Click to expand...
I know somebody who’s married name is the same (spelled differently).
I also know of a highschool with a “Richard Weed endowment scholarship” not many kids apply for it…. They use the informal version of “Richard” when they it call out the winner at the scholarships ceremony…
 
Brad Z said:
Here I’ve been, silently pronouncing your name “wahn-tah-jah” in my head for the last two decades, lol.
Click to expand...
I really can't complain about that, since *I* mispronounce the name, as well.

As I mentioned earlier, I (and all my living family) pronounce it, "Wahn-TIE-ah."

But that's incorrect. Like all Scandinavian names (it's Finnish), the accent should be on the FIRST syllable: "WAHN-tie-ah."

But my parents moved to the big city (Fargo ND) when I was young, and I grew up listening to them correct people trying to pronounce the name "Whan-Taj-ah", with Mom and Pop correcting that by emphasizing that the middle syllable was "Tie," not "Taj." Whenever I was out with my Grandmother, though, she'd correct me (it didn't take).

The interesting thing... pronouncing the name "right" leads folks to wonder if I'm Native American (say it aloud). Add it to the Samoan and Hispanic guesses.

And for those having trouble remembering...just recall the song "They Call the Wind Mariah" from "Paint Your Wagon":

Way out west, they've got a name
For rain and wind and fire
The rain is Tess, the fire's Joe and
They call the wind Wanttaja.....

Ron "Windy"* Wanttaja

* Though I should point out that my Air Force call sign was "Wojo." One of the captains when I joined the squadron was a Barney Miller fan.....
 
I have a similar issue, a Germanic last name with an au in it pronounced “ow”, not “aaa”.
 
I knew someone who had a vasectomy by Dr. Axenrod. There is a chiropractor in Kalamazoo named Dr. Bender. In the Air Force, I served with an officer named Major Minor. I screened a job application from Peter Dragon. A high school classmate was Peter Dickey. I received a newsroom audition tape from a small market news anchor, well-endowed, named Kay Ellen Titsworth. We had a receptionist named Jane Swift... her behind her back nickname was "Notso."
 
There was a urologist around here named Dr. Hurter.
 
One of the guys my wife used to work with was “Xi”. They all just called him “eleven”. They called his wife “twelve”.
 
Back in my consulting days, there was a guy that I had to meet about every 6 months. His area was pretty technical, so I would bring an analyst (entry level role) along to take notes. I would have to talk to that person the day before. "we are going to meet a client named Richard Munch, but he prefers to be called "Dick"". Go ahead and laugh now, but not in front of him. I can't imagine he had a lot of fun on the Jr High School playground.
 
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