Odd Names

[Sinlaeshel]

While creating user accounts this morning, I happened upon a new employee named He Li. I found myself typing the oddest sentence in an E-mail this morning; I thought you people may find it somewhat amusing.

"To avoid this, He’s username will be hli2."

Without proper capitalization, someone may think my grammar skills have totally disappeared on me

 

[Chopstik]

To address how to pronounce the name He Li, the "e" in He is pronounced like the "u" in umbrella. And the "i" in Li is pronounced like an "e". Knowing the characters used for the individuals name would help to definitively clarify the exact pronunciation, but that should be close enough.

Another thought, after reading SantaMufasa's story about Phillip Yu, is how many immigrants try to take on Western names after they move here. Sometimes, they do not have the help of a native Westerner when choosing a name and I have seen some very odd choices, the most obvious of which was "Horword" for "Howard". Another friend of mine was named "Sir". The list could grow from there...

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"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."
- Winston Churchill

 

[flapeyre]

The company I work for owns funeral homes and cemeteries.

One of our facilities had a receptionist with the last name of Gravely (yes, she pronounced it with a long "a").


Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[SantaMufasa]

Then there was my unfortunate dilemma when I married my lovely, innocent farm-girl wife from Southern Idaho. When she delivered our first man child, she had always dreamed of naming her first son with the name, "Michael".

With a stumbling voice, and a red face, I had to explain to her why no child of mine (or my brothers) could ever survive life with the nickname of the given name, "Michael".

Dave Hunt.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
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[CajunCenturion]

Now it's time for you to go to your room!!

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[zarkon4]

There is a local Dentist where I live, his name is
Seymore Cocain

 

[zarkon4]

I had a friend whose initals are HOG.

 

[CRilliterate]

I forgot to mention my parents friends with last names Bald and Goat.

 

[SantaMufasa]

My brother, Murray Hunt, married Mary Jo Peck...The newspaper marriage announcement, of course, read "Hunt & Peck".

Mufasa
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[Trevoke]

I see your parents' friends and raise you my family :

I blame it on my dad, but nobody's really unhappy, so..
My brother is called Gauthier; everyone in the US calls him 'Goat'.
My sisters are Sigrid and Clothilde. The first one took a nickname based on our last name, the second one goes by "Clowee" which some people understand as "Chloe".
My mother's name is Segolene (we can't blame my father for that one, obviously).

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Santa,

That reminds me of a couple of my friends who were married several years ago. Her maiden name is Schlicksup. His last name is Cox. Seriously. I couldn't make this up.

She chose not to hyphenate her last name, but the wedding announcement in the paper was great.

(Yeah, yeah. I'm going to my room.)

Also, There is a fellow who works for my company named William Michael Cocks (yes, with that spelling). He goes by Mike. Apparently his parents weren't as thoughtful about giving names as Santa.

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]

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[Thadeus]

My in-laws and I share the same last name: Lynch (and no, it's not an Appalchian thing) Many times over the years email and other IDs have bore the moniker LynchMobb

We are going to DisneyWorld next year as a large group of 20 or so and my sister-in-law suggested we get matching T-shirts stating LYNCH MOBB for easy identification while at the parks.

I had to resounding kill the idea of 20 white northerners wandering through Florida with such wording. Didn't think it'd come off neighbourly. Call me PC.

~Thadeus

 

[SantaMufasa]

ALWAYS pre-test candidate names for your children:

1) Check all the close mis-spellings and rhyming words of the full name.
2) Check all the close mis-spellings and rhyming words of any possible nicknames of the full name.
3) Check the reputations and public perceptions of all celebrities, cartoon characters, evil-doers, et cetera, that share either the same name or nicknames.
4) Check all possible acronyms, initializations, and abbreviations of all permutations of the first, middle, and last names.
5) Try to check for (undesirable) foreign meanings of the name(s). (For example, my Hispanic friend has paid a price her whole married life for marrying a fellow whose surname is (the rather popular Hispanic surname), "Romero". The problem is that a slight mispronunciation becomes "Ramera", which is "Bitch" in Spanish. There is nothing she can do to change her husband's surname, but she has certainly had more than her share of grief over it.)

This may sound extreme, but it can say your child a lifetime of grief.


On the other side of the coin, opportunistically naming your child can reap wealth and rewards: My neighbor, Jim Davidson, has a newborn granddaughter whom they named Harley. Once Harley-Davidson Motorcycles found out about it, they showered her family with gifts, emblazoned with the Harley-Davidson logo. Reportedly, she can obtain free or discounted products from HD for her entire life. Cool, HD!

Mufasa
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http://www.dasages.com:

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[SamBones]

On the other hand, I've noticed that people with very unique and different names seem to be more colorful characters. I'm assuming that by having to deal with the attention their name gets them, they have more time in the spotlight and they don't go through life like those unfortunate souls with more common names.

When I was born, the name Steve was very popular. I was almost named Steve, but ended up getting my father's name (proudly). I had one class in high school that had 17 boys in it, and 10 of them were Steves. I would think that would be worse than having a unique name, even if it were something odd.

 

[GwydionM]

I heard that the most common given name in the world is "Mohammed", and the most common family name is "Chang". Yet, I've never met anyone named "Mohammed Chang".

Try googling and there are many. Most seem invented names based on just this principle.

Also try Chang Mohammed - Chinese family names traditionally came first, though some Westernised Chinese have reversed this and also taken English personal names. (Of course every Tom, Dave or Sammy is using a name that's actually Jewish, as is every Liz, Ruth or Debbie.)

My own name is Welsh. Origin uncertain, possibly related to Wotan/Odin.

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An old man who lives in the UK

 

[elanor]

I just love to get email from two of my coworkers, both of whom work in our Beijing office, especially since my Inbox displays list last name first. One name (Yu Feng) just inspires the retort "Dear Feng, Yu...feng yu," while the other name (Chong Wang) always makes me sing "Everybody have fun tonight...everybody Wang Chong tonight!"
Hope everybody DOES have fun tonight! Happy New Year!!
Thanks!
Elanor

 

[SantaMufasa]

During my 63 dog years at Oracle Corporation, it made for some delightful e-mail IDs since Oracle's default email-ID configuration was first letter of first name plus up to eight letters of the surname. My favourite was of my colleague Wayne Abbott. Unfortunately, he didn't enjoy the humour that we all did in sending e-mail to the Silly WABBOTT, so he officially changed his id to include his middle initial, ruining our fun...that spoiled sport!

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[

http://www.dasages.com:

Providing low-cost remote Database Admin services]
Click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips if you use Oracle in Utah USA.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

For several months one of my friends used to tell the rest of us that there was a man at his work with a 'comedy' name. We refused to believe him until one day his company employed one of my friends as a contractor. He went for lunch and the man in question's name was called over the loud hailer by title, initial and surname.

The man's name (I've not checked the spelling so I'm spelling it as it sounds) was Mr David Scrace...

HarleyQuinn
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[tsdragon]

I can personally vouch for Santa's comments on names. Being a boy with the name Tracy caused me some grief in school. Beside the obvious "Dick Tracy" comments (and less polite variations) I got a lot of "Tracy is a girl's name!" My mother told me to respond that "Tracey with an 'e' or Tracie with an 'ie' is a girl's name, Tracy with just a 'y' is a boy's name." It really didn't help much. When I was in college I toyed with dropping my first name and taking the first part of my middle name (Steve, from Stevenson). After hearing my lab partner and my professor talking about which name they should call me I decided to pick one and stick with it, and decided to stay with Tracy. It's very different and people tend to remember it (and me). I've rarely had reason to regret the decision, and the flack I caught as a child hasn't had any lasting effect as far as I can tell. Thankfully there are now two very famous country-western singers named Tracy, so I don't get the "girl's name" comments nearly as much anymore, but I've learned to ignore those that I do get.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

My name, Kelvin, although not that exotic normally gets a "Err, how do you spell that?" response.

I usually tell them it's Kevin with an "l' ... people are always telling me to "get the 'ell out"

As long as the correct name goes on the paycheque, I'm happy.

[Cheers]

 

[chiph]

I usually tell them it's Kevin with an "l'

Obviously, they've never taken any chemistry or physics classes, otherwise they'd know about Lord Kelvin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Kelvin

Chip H.


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