Ship of Fools: Appropriate or inappropriate names

Thread: Appropriate or inappropriate names Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :

I've been quite hooked on the Olympics and I noticed that a couple of the athletes had appropriate names.

Canada has a shot-putter called Mr. Armstrong, and of course the Fastest Man On The Planet™ is called Mr. Bolt.

The opposite can happen too: where I grew up there was a dance school run by Mr. and Mrs. Stiff.

I was going to make this a game, inviting suggestions (Mr. Snore the baseball player perhaps? [Devil]

) but instead put it up here for general discussion with anecdotes of real people.

Hostly judgement will be welcome. [Smile]

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

When I was in college the student who did most of the photography for the yearbook had the last name Camera.

Here in Arizona there was an orthodontist named Dr. Payne.

Posted by Timothy the Obscure (# 292) on :

My mother's dentist when she was a child was Dr. Butcher.

Posted by comet (# 10353) on :

I really wish I was kidding...

there is a local young man here who is obsessed with girls and has no luck particularly because he's a little "off" in the head. but he obsessively tries to get himself a girlfriend. unfortunately, all ages are fair game in his mind, which had led to more than a few fathers of teen girls threatening to kill him.

his last name is Hardon.

in Anchorage some years back we had a tightly contested race for state senate. the conservative candidate was named Mr. Strait. The liberal candidate's surname was Gaye. the "Gaye vs. Strait" race was all the talk.

unfortunately, Strait won.

(I'm pretty sure it wasn't staged that way. a journo friend of mind spent some time looking)

Posted by Bob Two-Owls (# 9680) on :

At my university department an office was shared by Dr Blood and Dr Gutze. I once went to a Dr Pilechop (pr. Pee-lay-chup), thank goodness it was ENT...

Posted by Enigma (# 16158) on :

Dr Gripper presented with a boil.
She was lovely, though seemed to enjoy the challenge a bit too much.
I say no more. [Eek!]

Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :

Back when I was a legal proofreader I encountered the deposition of a urologist named Dr. Dick. One of the attorneys present broke into giggles whenever he addressed Dr. Dick, and he wound up calling more than one off-the-record just to compose himself before resuming questioning. (Dr. Dick, by the way, was a female.)

Posted by Paddy O'Furniture (# 12953) on :

When I had my emergency gallbladder surgery several years ago, my doctor was a sweet woman named... Heather Slay. I kidded her about her name but inwardly I said an extra prayer! [Ultra confused]

Posted by Paddy O'Furniture (# 12953) on :

quote:
Originally posted by LutheranChik:
Back when I was a legal proofreader I encountered the deposition of a urologist named Dr. Dick. One of the attorneys present broke into giggles whenever he addressed Dr. Dick, and he wound up calling more than one off-the-record just to compose himself before resuming questioning. (Dr. Dick, by the way, was a female.)

Well, when I lived in Seattle and went to Pike Medical Clinic, there was a lovely, sweet doctor there who had an extremely unfortunate name: Dr. Les Piddel. Yeah... poor guy. He WASN'T a Urologist, which would have been too much, just a regular internal medicine doc. I only saw him once, my doctor was Dr. Murphy, a nice, Irish name!

Posted by georgiaboy (# 11294) on :

In a hospital where I was once employed, on staff there were:
Dr. Asman and Dr. Heine (pronounced ASS-man and HIGH-nee), and yes, both of them were proctologists (or perhaps one was a urologist, I can't exactly remember).

Posted by BessHiggs (# 15176) on :

I used to got to an OB/GYN named Dr. Wetter. My best girlfriend's gyno was Dr. Finger.

Posted by kaytee (# 3482) on :

I have seen death certificates signed by a De'Ath.

Posted by Jigsaw (# 11433) on :

Mr A. Branch (Andrew to his friends) is the St Albans Council's Tree and Woodland Preservation Officer.
And I knew a urology surgeon called Mr Waterfall.

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

I have heard of two church Canons with the unfortunate last name of Ball.

And then there was a Cardinal in Korea, IIRC, named Cardinal Sinn.

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

In Oakham in Rutland there is a dental surgeon named Dentith. Presumably after treatment from him everyone thpeakth with a lithp.

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

When I was a teenager, my semi-retired oral surgeon, Dr. Small, had two associates: Dr. Fear and Dr. Pickens. Once, while in their waiting room, I heard the receptionist referring someone on the phone to a dentist by the name of "Dr. Awesome" - although I learned later it was spelled differently (I don't remember, but I think it was something like Ausum.) Awesome (or Ausum) isn't necessarily appropriate for a dentist - but wouldn't you at least visit him once to find out?

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

I've mentioned this long-established firm before, but it's too good to ignore.

Posted by JFH (# 14794) on :

Another classic in business names...

Posted by crunt (# 1321) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:

And then there was a Cardinal in Korea, IIRC, named Cardinal Sinn.

He is from the Philippines

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :

Some years ago, whilst waiting for a smear test at Family Planning I noticed a sign advertising a sex therapist - her name was Lorna Lust.

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

In Lincoln there is Steep Hill, which is an unimaginative if accurate description. Parts of it have handrails!

Posted by bib (# 13074) on :

Dr Cutforth (surgeon), Rev Shepherd, Rev Solomon, Rev Hope, Dr Death just to name a few.

Posted by Morlader (# 16040) on :

My very first optician: Mr Askew.

They tried hard to pronounce it ASkew, but ...

Posted by Melisande (# 4177) on :

Back in the day at my middle school, the orchestra teacher was Mr. Echo, the shop teacher Mr. Swet, and the home ec teacher Mrs. Stout.

Posted by georgiaboy (# 11294) on :

And there was once a parish somewhere in Indiana whose rector was Fr. Annis, with a curate name of Fr. Fallis.
And yes, The 'A' was long, and the 'a' was short.
And it was said, though I don't know this for fact, that the second curate was Fr. Staines. (pronounced as one would expect.)

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :

In my youth the vicar of Sandal was Straps.

Jengie

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
In Lincoln there is Steep Hill, which is an unimaginative if accurate description. Parts of it have handrails!

It's hard to photograph a steep hill, so I'm guessing that photo doesn't do it justice. I think it's 'cause we tend to aim the camera upward (if shooting up a hill) or downward (if shooting downhill), which flattens it out a bit. My experience with this is Nob Hill in San Francisco, which is said to have gotten its name from the word "nabob." That's still appropriate, and people often call it "Snob Hill."

Speaking of place names,

Nobody knows why its founder named Mount Pleasant, Michigan as he did; he never told anyone. I always figure when people look around and see how flat the place is, they'll start to question the "Pleasant" bit as well.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

The USA women's volleyball team's two best players are Destiny Hooker and Logan Tom. It's no wonder to me that they spike that ball as hard as they do, they've probably been angry since first grade.

When I first moved to the U.S. state of Georgia eveybody had election signs in their yard, telling us to vote for Zell Miller, Newt Gingrich and Saxby Chambliss. No double meanings but I did wonder what their parents were thinking. Then again, maybe if you want your children to go far in politics you actually need to name them something like Mitt or Barack.

Posted by Paddy O'Furniture (# 12953) on :

Dr. Patrick Stumpo... orthopedic surgeon... my friend's boyfriend. My friend's name was Patty Bland, but she wasn't! She and Patrick Stumpo used to dance on the furniture, re-enacting some famous scene from a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie! [Smile]

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :

Richard Wiseman recently picked up on a Bulgarian athlete in the Women's 400m hurdles at the Olympics who fell in her heat and failed to finish.

Her name? Vania Stambolova.

Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :

There is a building firm in this fair city run by one J.Shonkey.
His advertising boards obviously cause much comment.

When I was in Tokyo I really enjoyed walking past a lawfirm office where the plaque read: Hitman & Co.

Posted by Mudfrog (# 8116) on :

There is a funeral directors in Blackpool called Stephen Box

Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :

Ah, this is when I get to share my knowledge again that when Pfizer were developing Viagra one of the scientists was a Dr Cox. And then when they were marketing it, the head of PR was a Mr Hardman.

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

In men's diving there was a gentleman by the name of Feck. Appropriate given his final dive.

Posted by Bob Two-Owls (# 9680) on :

My first boss was a Mr.Hymen, he was horrible. I'm sure I don't have to spell out all the jokes...

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

Mr Doctor used to be called Dr Brain. He probably should have been a neurologist. I also worked with A. Nutter.

And I knew of a vicar in Bracknell apparently called Fr Christmas.

Posted by Avila (# 15541) on :

All at the same school - honest!!

Mrs Storey - English
Mr Mason - Craft and Tech
Mr Bird - also craft and tech but set up the chicken/mini farm project in the enclosed quads of the school building.

Then there is the British Methodist Rev Bishop.

And when a friend (at that stage not married to the father) was asked what the baby's surname would be and she replied 'Private' people thought she was avoiding the question even when she was giving the answer!!

Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :

While checking the office directory at a Chicago building we found a fertility specialist named Dr. Seed.

Posted by Morlader (# 16040) on :

The internal telephone directory of a company I used to work for listed only three names in their Development Department: Messrs Fox, Thick and Woodhead.

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :

One of Britain's cyclists is called Ms. Trott. Shouldn't she have been an equestrianist?*

* Evidently not, as she got two gold medals ... [Yipee]

Posted by Mudfrog (# 8116) on :

There is a Salvation Army officer called Major Hassard(pronounced as with double z)

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

I unfortunately can't reveal them, but one of my prison pastimes is spotting inmates' names that are the same as the police heroes of French crime series on TV.

I'll just have to make do with the infamous dentist Dr. Phang. His surgery was in Hammersmith and he had the name emblazoned in huge gold letters across the front. I was at the same school as his son.

Posted by Zacchaeus (# 14454) on :

I came across a morgage broker called Peril!

Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :

Years ago while in university, I picked up a book outside of a prof's office, a given-away box. History of Experimental Psychology by Edwin Boring. And yes, it is, and I still have it.

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