List of unusual personal names

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READ BEFORE ADDING A NAME HERE: :D Please cite a reputable source showing a real person does/did have that name. You can also weed out many potential bogus entries by doing a google search for "urban legend" + name.

The source should also indicate that someone (usually a newspaper editor) thinks the name is unusual. --> The following list of unusual personal names is of people who have received media attention because of their name, or have otherwise been discussed in the media as having names that are unusual. This list includes both names given at birth, and people who have legally changed their names.

People named after something else

Specific

People named after a specific person, organization, fictional character or product.

General

People whose names are nouns or other words not commonly used as a given name.

Names containing a meaning

Intentional

Names which intentionally contain a phrase.

Political

Names changed (or given) for political purposes or as a form of protest

  • america Hoffman, son of revolutionist yippies Abbie and Anita Hoffman. Given the name "america", with a "small a", to indicate both patriotism and non-jingoistic intent.[63]
  • Austin Haddock was the name (temporarily) for Austin Mitchell, British MP for Great Grimsby, who changed his name by deed poll in support of his haddock fishermen constituents in October 2002. They were suffering from the effects of an EU fisheries ban enacted over concerns of dwindling North Sea fish stocks.
  • Byron (Low Tax) Looper. Former Tennessee politician Byron Looper changed his middle name to "(Low Tax)" as an election ploy; in 1998 he murdered his electoral opponent, state senator Tommy Burks.
  • CutoutDissection.com - The former Jennifer Thornburg changed her name to the Web address for a PETA-run anti-dissection website to protest the practice of animal dissection.[64]
  • Goveg.com (pronounced Go Vedge Dot Com). PETA activist Karin Robertson changed her name in 2003 to promote the organization's vegan website. In 2006 she reverted to her birth name, later saying "I never thought I would be Goveg.com forever. It was just a great way to pique people's interest."[65]
  • Kentucky Fried Cruelty.com. A PETA staff member who was known as Chris Garnett before he changed his name in 2006.
  • Legal Tender Coxey - Infant son of Jacob Coxey, leader of Coxey's Army.
  • Miss Alice. A New Zealand lawyer, formerly known as Rob Moodie, who legally changed his name to protest the Old Boys' Network that runs the judiciary.[66]
  • Nigel Freemarijuana was for many years the public face of the HEMP Party (Help End Marijuana Prohibition) in Brisbane standing as a candidate in various elections.
  • Pro Life is a perennial political candidate in the state of Idaho born Marvin Richardson.
  • Seán Dublin Bay Rockall Loftus is an Irish politician who has changed his name several times in order to draw attention to his campaign issues.
  • States Rights Gist, Confederate General during the American Civil War[67]
  • Yorkshire Bank PLC Are Fascist Bastards. Born Michael Howard but changed his name legally after being charged £20 for a £10 overdraft. Having subsequently been forced to close his account, he asked that the remaining balance be paid by cheque made out to his new name.[68]

Double entendres

Names which, when read, can double as a word or phrase. These names’ double meanings are either unintentional, or composed of common given names.

  • Líber Arce - His name sounds like liberarse (Spanish for "to break free"). He was the first person to be killed by the police during the clashes of the late 1960s in Uruguay. (see the Spanish-language article)
  • Jack Ass. Born Robert Craft, he legally changed his name to Jack Ass then brought a plagiarism lawsuit against MTV for their comedy sketch series Jackass.[69][70]
  • Ima Hogg, daughter of Governor of Texas James Stephen Hogg. Urban legend contends that she had a sister named Ura Hogg (and occasionally one named Sheysa or Vera as well), but this is false.
  • Tu Morrow, daughter of Rob Morrow and his wife Debbon Ayer (ayer means yesterday in Spanish).[71]
  • Jaime Sin, Filipino clergyman, was known as Cardinal Sin because of his status within the Catholic Church. Sin was said to play a joke on his title, welcoming visitors to his archbishop's residence with the greeting "Welcome to the House of Sin"; journalist P.J. O'Rourke, an occasional visitor to the Philippines, has cited such actual newspaper headlines as "Sin requires sobriety". (See the term "cardinal sin").
  • Randy Bumgardner, director of hospitality at the White House [72]
  • Dick Assman, a Canadian gas station owner whose name was celebrated on The Late Show with David Letterman as a running gag.[73][74]

Unusually long names

Portuguese Braganza Monarchs

Several 19th century Portuguese monarchs, of the House of Braganza of the 19th century (from 1826 onwards, House of Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), had unusually long names:

Names changed for business purposes

  • Captain Beany, legally changed his name from Barry Kirk in 1991, named after his fondness of baked beans
  • DotComGuy. Legally changed his name from Mitch Maddox in 2000 as part of a publicity stunt of spending an entire year in his house, on the Internet. Using the Internet, he obtained a puppy, which he called DotComDog.
  • GoldenPalace.com (Pronounced Golden Palace Dot Com). In March 2005, the casino paid Terri Iligan $15,000 after winning an E-Bay Auction to legally change her name.[84]
  • Sunshine Megatron, owner of T-Shirt Hell. Originally named Aaron Landau Schwarz, he established the site http://www.givemeaname.com, inviting people to choose a new name for him and paying $25,000 to the winning submission.
  • Warrior. American professional wrestler, born Brian James "Jim" Hellwig. Legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993 in order to use the name outside of the WWF.
  • Zachary Zzzzzzzzzra, actually named Bill Holland, was a painting contractor who changed his name to Zachary Zzzzzzzzzra as a marketing gimmick so that people could find him "in the back of the phone book". A 1979 Time article said that he was able to achieve this goal in the San Francisco phone book in eight out of fifteen years, although he had to keep adding Zs to his last name because Zelda Zzzwramp and Vladimir Zzzzzzabakov had become the last listings in the phone book.[85]
  • Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel, a 22-year-old student from Hayes in Greater London. Changed his name from John Desmond Lewis by deed poll to contest the Crosby by-election of 1981. The name comes from a character in a sketch from the popular BBC Television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus. In the sketch, "Election Night Special", the character by that name wins in Luton in a general election as the "Silly Party" candidate.[86][87]
  • Chyna. American professional wrestler, born Joanie Laurer. Legally changed her name to Chyna in 2007 in order to use her ring name outside of the WWE.
  • Kamakazi, born Jamie Hildebrandt, an Australian BMX racing racer who competed in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics
  • Chad Ochocinco. American football player for the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL, born Chad Johnson. Legally changed his surname to "Ochocinco" (his nickname) in 2008, in order to have "Ochocinco" listed on the back of his jersey instead of "C. Johnson".
  • War Machine. American mixed martial artists born Jon Koppenhaver. After a TNA wrestler copyrighted the name the War Machine Rhino in 2008, Koppenhaver legally changed his name to War Machine in order to keep using the name in the UFC.[88]

Numbers

  • Dix-Sept Rosado, whose first name means "seventeen" in French, was one of several brothers with French numerals for names born to a Brazilian family from Mossoró. He later became a politician and there is a town named after him.[89] His brother, Vingt-Un ("twenty-one") was a writer and journalist.
  • FM-2030, philosopher and futurist (1930−2000), formerly Fereidoun M. Esfandiary, who changed his name to reflect a potentially different future, which he hoped to see in 2030, age 100.
  • Jennifer 8. Lee, adopted her unusual middle name in her teens, because Chinese custom sees the number 8 as a symbol of prosperity.
  • Jon Blake Cusack 2.0[90]
  • Ottavio Cinquanta, president of the International Skating Union
  • Perri 6, Director of Policy and Research at Demos and Professor of Social Policy at Nottingham Trent University.
  • Ten Million, Baseball player from the 1910s.
  • Chad Ochocinco, NFL player formerly known as Chad Johnson. He changed his name to a nickname he had previously given himself based on his number 85.

Miscellaneous

  • @ was the name given to a child by a Chinese couple.[91][92][93] The couple claimed that the character used in e-mail addresses echoed their love for the child, where in Chinese, "@" is pronounced as "ai-ta", which is similar to 爱他, literally "love him".[94][95]
  • 4real was the name New Zealand parents attempted to give their child. They were told that numerals were not allowed. The parents are debating this law and, if no name has been registered by July 9, the boy will be legally named "Superman"; friends and family will call him "4real".[96]Template:Dead link
  • A B Kovacs, first name is the single letter "A".[97]
  • Adolf Lu Hitler Marak is an Indian politician.[98]
  • Exree Hipp. Former basketball player at University of Maryland.[99]
  • The musician Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993 as the result of a contractual dispute. He reverted this change in 2000.
  • Revilo P. Oliver, American philologist and Neo-Nazi with a palindromic name.[100]
  • Robert Trebor, American actor with a palindromic name, (Born Robert Schenkman).[101]
  • Sydney Harbour-Bridge, born Ian Howgate; changed his name as a charity stunt.[102] Other names considered were Sydney Opera-House and Phil Harmonic-Orchestra.
  • Musician Frank Zappa gave his children unusual names, including Moon Unit Zappa, Dweezil Zappa, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan Zappa, Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen Zappa.
  • 19th century English cricketer Julius Caesar.[103]
  • Bubba Bubba Bubba had the previous name of Raymond Allen Grey Jr.[104]
  • Crazy Horse Invincible and Spaceman Africa; changed their names after celebrating a victory for their favourite football team[105]

See also

References

Notes

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  8. ^ Nieuwsflits n°34 : Wiske (v.) zoekt Suske (m.)
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  15. ^ BBC NEWS Entertainment | Film | Baby boy for actor Cage and wife
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  18. ^ [1]|Манчестър от Свищов води десето дело за смяна на името]
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  49. ^ Man Legally Changes Name To 'They'
  50. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2007Mar29/0,4675,CubaWackyNames,00.html
  51. ^ Peter Gammons
  52. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/popcandy/2003-04-16-candy.htm
  53. ^ A boy named Yahoo (Spanish)
  54. ^ 'I like lighthearted people. Besides, she's really smart!' Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
  55. ^ Skifter navn
  56. ^ [3]Template:Dead link
  57. ^ a b c Template:Cite news
  58. ^ Nights to Remember
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  62. ^ 儿子名叫“吴所谓” 杨澜谈儿女感悟家庭和亲情-中华网-娱乐频道
  63. ^ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Children of the revolution". The Guardian. January 17, 2001. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  64. ^ [4]Template:Dead link
  65. ^ Two of three PETA activists drop their Web site monikers HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
  66. ^ TV3 > News > Story > Alice in the High Court
  67. ^ States Rights Gist - History Celebrities
  68. ^ BBC - Radio 4 - Comedy - History of the News Quiz
  69. ^ The Smoking Gun: Archive
  70. ^ Missoulian: Hot Springs man who changed name to Jack Ass dies
  71. ^ Rob Morrow - Biography
  72. ^ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Posted in Home Life, Inside HomesComments (0). "Randy Bumgardner | Washington Life Magazine". Washingtonlife.com. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
  73. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983508,00.html
  74. ^ Video of Letterman "Assman" feature
  75. ^ Famous Cousins
  76. ^ Autumn’s a real knockout! : Express & Star:
  77. ^ Baby named Metallica rocks Sweden - BBC News
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  80. ^ Letwin, William. The Origins of Scientific Economics. London: Routledge, 2003. p. 48.
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  84. ^ n:Woman sells name on eBay
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  86. ^ Byelections in the 1979-83 Parliament
  87. ^ Chapman et al, Monty Python's Flying Circus: Just the Words  Volume 1, London: Mandarin Paperbacks, 1990 (ISBN 0-7493-0226-7).
  88. ^ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Jon Koppenhaver legally changes name to 'War Machine'". MMA Mania. 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
  89. ^ City Brazil - RN - Cidade de Governador Dix-Sept Rosado
  90. ^ "Weird but true" New York Post. February 2, 2004
  91. ^ Problems with crazy characters – DANWEI
  92. ^ 新闻出版总署副署长柳斌杰:新媒体发展的现状与趋势 – 人民网
  93. ^ Reuters: Couple in China tries to name baby '@' (ZDNet)
  94. ^ 汉语公布171新词
  95. ^ 父亲喜欢新事物 儿子取名叫“@” – XINHUA
  96. ^ [5]
  97. ^ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Phil Plait. "The JREF Welcomes A B Kovacs as New Director of Operations". JREF News. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
  98. ^ BBC NEWS South Asia | Voting for Frankenstein
  99. ^ "Harker Prep forward Hipp orally commits to Maryland". The Sun (Baltimore, MD). November 5, 1991. "Hipp's name has drawn as much notice as his game."
  100. ^ Template:Citation/core
  101. ^ An Interview With Robert Trebor
  102. ^ The Crocodile Club - The Alumni Association of Imperial College Radio
  103. ^ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Julius Caesar". cricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved December 14, 2009.
  104. ^ Template:Cite news
  105. ^ Template:Cite news

External links