Whats in a name?

britparrothead · Post by **britparrothead** » September 16, 2007 6:04 am

William Shakespeare was moved to ask, "What's in a name?"
Well, in the case of Lavender Hanky, Hedda Lettuce and Stan Dupp the answer is a hearty chuckle.

Not to mention poor old Dwayne, the son of Mr and Mrs Dwopp, who must be rather tired of hearing "Dwayne Dwopps keep falling on my head" every time he enters a room.

But these and others - from 1955 would-be MP Ivor Million to Shanda Lear, the daughter of the boss of the private jet company - are real people's names.

All have been unearthed by the compilers of a new book, Bertha Venation, and hundreds of other funny names of real people.

It discovers examples such as Raine Shine (who pronounced her first name Rainer) to Formica Dinette, whose parents must have had a sense of humour.

Celebrities are named as among the worst for inflicting laughable names on their children from Harley Quinn, the daughter of the film director Kevin Smith, to Reign Beau, the son of the actor Ving Rhames.

There are famous examples such as David's son Zowie Bowie or Jermajesty Jackson, who is the son of Jermain. Also in the Jackson family are the children of Jermain's brother Michael - Prince Michael Junior and Prince Michael II.

Sometimes names only seem funny when put in context, such as Dr De'ath the surgeon, Archbishop Cardinal Sin and Mr Fatty, head of the Freedom from Hunger campaign.

In other cases they are simply weird such as Miklos Thunderbolk, Trodat Fishback, Jennifer 8 Lee, a reporter with the New York Times, and cookery writer Bunny Crumpacker.

The book's author, Larry Ashmead, said: "Names are distinctive marks of individuality that set everyone off from almost everyone else.
"My passion is for names that are unusual, extraordinary and often humorous."

Unlike the names in the book, the title's offering - Bertha Venation - is made up, though it does belong to a drag queen.

Conolulu · Post by **Conolulu** » September 16, 2007 1:56 pm

One of my friends back home..named her daughter:

Amanda Lynn

z-man · Post by **z-man** » September 16, 2007 2:01 pm

Conolulu wrote:One of my friends back home..named her daughter:

Amanda Lynn

did she at least teach her to play a mandolin?

Conolulu · Post by **Conolulu** » September 16, 2007 4:06 pm

z-man wrote:
Conolulu wrote:One of my friends back home..named her daughter:

Amanda Lynn

did she at least teach her to play a mandolin?

No...

When she was 2 , my brother used to talk to her and ask her..."Are you a Piano? No.....are you a guitar??...no...Are you a Violin??......No..You're a MANDOLIN!"

IrishPirate · Post by **IrishPirate** » September 16, 2007 5:25 pm

My Mother had a friend who's name was Adreama Love. FOR REAL!!!!

ParrotheadKalee · Post by **ParrotheadKalee** » September 16, 2007 6:50 pm

Being a medical transcriptionist, I run across a lot of doctor's names, and some of them make me giggle. Dr. Smiley, the dentist... Dr. Bents, the chiropractor...

But my all time favorite was Dr. Beaver, the OB/GYN physician whose first name just happened to be Harry.

And, no, I am NOT kidding....

TropicalTroubador · Post by **TropicalTroubador** » September 17, 2007 2:07 pm

I suppose I could have done worse than "Loren," in light of these. But I had quite a horrid time growing up as a result of it.

Some of these names, I think, are grounds for conviction on child abuse charges.

pbans · Post by **pbans** » September 17, 2007 2:36 pm

When I was in grade school there were twins in my class named
"Candy" and "Carmel"

nutmeg · Post by **nutmeg** » September 18, 2007 8:30 am

There is a lawyer in our town named Craven.

One of my favorites on Jay Leno is when he does announcements of the names of those getting married. In recent months in our own paper ...

The Staples-Wang wedding and the Piece-Moore wedding.

Griz · Post by **Griz** » September 18, 2007 9:19 am

Then there was the gynecologist, for real,, in the yellow pages and I knew a girl who went to him:

Dr. Harry C. Beaver

12vmanRick · Post by **12vmanRick** » September 18, 2007 9:33 am

someone in the mid west named their son ESPN pronounced ESS PEN

My grandfather knew a girl named Ima Rosebush

My wife's sister swears she had a kid in her class named Shithead and the mother pronounced it Shi thead

FunkHouse9 · Post by **FunkHouse9** » September 18, 2007 9:56 am

Griz wrote:Then there was the gynecologist, for real,, in the yellow pages and I knew a girl who went to him:Dr. Harry C. Beaver

I can say that I have seen this guy in the phonebook before. I heard that when I was younger and didn't believe it, so I looked it up in the phonebook and he was definately there. I believe he was in Fairfax or Tysons Corner, VA.

12vmanRick wrote:My wife's sister swears she had a kid in her class named Shithead and the mother pronounced it Shi thead

I knew someone who claimed to go to school around here with a girl having that name.

We had 2 teachers at my high school with funny names; Richard Slocum and Richard Burns. Somehow, that never got old to us.

jimolliemom · Post by **jimolliemom** » September 18, 2007 1:37 pm

If he reads this...he's gonna be SO mad at me...but it's FUNNY...

I have a PH friend...he's an English Teacher. He named his daughter Paige Turner...At least there IS an A is her name. And it's her middle and last. Her first is a regular name.

My sister ALMOST named my neice Amanda Lynn. She decided on Natalie Elizabeth instead.

My Mom had a dance teacher once named Mr. Waglow.