Funny Names

Names that correlate amusingly with their occupation or field of study

Linwood OUTLAW -- Grifton, NC, Police Chief (Daily Reflector)

DININNY, D. H. (Ohio U.). A psychoacoustic study of difference limensfor white noise stimuli. Diss. abstr. intn, 1970 3(3-B) 1584.

Packer and PUSEY -- Authors of article on reproductive behavior in lions (Animal Behavior, vol 31).

Baker, ROBIN. (1984). Bird navigation: the solution of a mystery?Meier. ISBN 0-8418-0846-6.

Dr. Robert L. CAPPS, dentist (ad in Greenville, NC, Daily Reflector)

David CHEATEM, Sales Representative, Scott, Foresman, and Company

Virginia SATIR, conducted workshop on "Practical Application of Intimate Relationship Skills." (ad in APA Monitor).

JOHNSON, O. W. Chapter on "Urinary Organs" in A. S. King & J. McLelland, "Form and function in birds," 1980, ISBN 0-12-407501-0.

P. E. LAKE. Chapter on "Male Genital Organs" in the second volume ofthe "Form and function in birds" set.

Linda WEINER & Billie Wright DZEICH -- Women cited in article on sexual harassment on campus (article appeared in ECU student newspaper, just below a picture with the caption "Pee Dee Gets Down")

Book titled "HYMAN's comparative vertebrate anatomy."

Harry FAGGART -- Defense attorney for a reverend accused of touching an undercover vice officer's genitals: (East Carolinian, 10. Sept. 87).

Kurt BUSSE -- studied how the posterior of female baboons swells and turns bright colors when they go into heat. In colloquial German the vulgar word for vagina is "Buesi" (literally, a little cat), which sounds quite similar to "Busse." I must confess that when I told him this years ago his face turned the same color as the posterior of the baboons he studied.

William G. EBERHARD (souns like "ever hard") -- had an article in American Scientist about the evolution of penises as "internal courtship devices." In German, 'Eber' is a boar, 'hart' is hard or tough, "Eberhart" might be a wild boar?

There was actually a paper published in 1975 by Casler called "Put the blame on name". Some of his examples were :
- Zipper (researching into contraception)
- Cockburn (researching into infectious diseases)
- Mumpower (researching into parental pressure on school performance)
- Albino (researching into rats)
- Fish (researching......fish!)
[From: MGRIFFITHS <M.Griffiths@plymouth.ac.uk>]

Edward Fugger -- It's described in a article in Time, September 21, 1998 (and published in _Human Reproduction_, although I don't have the reference.) It doesn't use centrifugation. Instead, each sperm is labeled with a fluorescent dye (blue for boy sperm, pink for girl sperm?). Because X's have more genetic material (just a bit!) they glow more under laser light. That's enough for an automatic sorting machine, which sends the boy sperm to one test-tube and the girl sperm to the other. The researcher, Edward Fugger, claims 85% success for girls, 65% for boys. (Is it just my imagination, or is "fug" a euphemism for you-know-what?).
From: Stephen Black <sblack@ubishops.ca>

Other Funny Names

Dick Bush -- Statistical consultant who once worked here at ECU

Strangia-Hale --  My graduate student, Michelle Hale, told me that she had discussed with her husband the possibility of giving their children a hyphenated last name. Michelle's maiden name is Strangia. She said she just stopped the discussion when her hubby pointed out that their children would be "strange as hell."

Richard Hardick -- My daughter, Lotus, found this one for me, while doing research for a paper on Mike Tyson (for her forensic psychology class): Richard Hardick: person who filed assault charges against Mike Tyson, alleging that Tyson kicked him in the groin after an auto accident. Source: web page of the Las Vegas Sun.

TITNET, "the electronic mail organ of The International Tit Society" (TITS), discussed in the ABSnet Email Newsletter, Oct. 26, 1993.

Millicent FICKEN edits the TITS hardcopy newsletter. "Ficken" is a vulgar German word for "copulate."

PEEDIN, JOHN -- My daughter Lotus showed me this name.

ANEMA, JOHN -- In the Greenville (NC) phone book.  I also found a urologist in Grand Rapids (MI) with the same name.

Shit Fun Chew -- a professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore -- my brother pointed me to her web page, which is no longer up.

Karl WUENSCH ("Wuensch" being German for "wish" or "desire") -- Doesn't seem to provide any amusement regarding my research, but has caused my spouse some grief back home (she is Swiss-German), where the men have been known to tease by asking, " And just what do you desire, Mrs. Desire?"

HARDER, P., and C. KOCK (1976). The theory of presupposition failure. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag.

Several years ago the bulletin put out by our local HMO announcing thenew Urologist on staff.:  Dr. Stephen Stream
From: Jack Shea <jshumor@BERK.COM> -- Perhaps NASCAR driver DICK TRICKLE should visit this urologist.

Copied from Ann Lander's Column:  DEAR Ann Landers: I'm a cemetery buff and spend many hours every week trudging through the cemeteries of Los Angeles County in search of odd names.  During my many treks, I have run across scores of offbeat names, including: Early Byrd, Watts D. Matter, Skinny Lasagna, Elda Berry and Anna Lovely Day.  With all due respect to the deceased, I smile when I run across amusing names on grave markers and wonder if the people who had to live with those names enjoyed them or felt cursed. It's often said that a person is never dead till he or she is forgotten, so a lot of these folks with strange names are destined to live forever. -- R.H. in Los Angeles

Dear R.H.: Your letter reminded me of a well-known family in Houston whose name was Hogg. They named their daughter Ima. This is no joke. It actually happened. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. And funnier, too.  From: "Ken Brousseau Sr." <kenbruso@IO.COM>

> Ana's default userid, anal, reminds me of the abbreviation the  university used for one of my courses. The course was titled Design and
> Analysis, but they abbreviated it "Design Anal." Another department had >a course which was abbreviated something like "Group Orgasm."

hahahahhaha! Gotta love academia! Driving home late last night I was hoping I'd get a reply, as I realized I forgot the best one. A discussion
list I'm on had a thread about a doctor (physicist, I beleive) that had claimed he could clone humans. Fellow by the name of Richard Seed. Yep,
Dr. Dick Seed, cloning folks :) There was a LOT of debate over the matter, including much web-hunting for his alleged associates in the
matter, tho none could be turned up. One list subscriber contacted a known hoaxster, who wouldnt take credit for anything either. Looks like
it's accurate. I've seen his name in newspapers since then. Enjoy.   From: "A.j. Effin ReznoR" <spork@exo.com>

ECU course listing, Fall, 2000: ITEC 6112 Anal Stud

In the <state agency's> files are a "Western Bunns" and theother day, when I was file-searching I came across a "Heavenly Ray."

When I saw this news item, I thought of you. It was in the Associated Press report (Feb 1, 1999) about identifying the cause of human AIDS as spread from chimps. Did you note that the chief AIDS expert at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention was named... Dr. Kevin DeCock

Marilyn vos Savant is a rather appropriate name for someone who is supposed to have the highest IQ in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
Stephen Black <sblack@ubishops.ca>

Funny Userids

Here at ECU we used to have mainframe userids that were a two letter prefix (indicating the user's department) followed by e's last name, often truncated. Sometimes these came out funny also. Here are some actual userids here: ASSTRICK, ARSExaue, GRAYCOCK, MUTAIT, POBLACKS, UGLEE.

From: Rodney Schmidt <schmidtr@mail.ecu.edu>

Many Universities, colleges, and businesses tend to strip the last name down to 6 characters and add the first and last initial to either the beginning or end to make up an E-Mail address. I.E. Mary L. Ferguson mlfergus or fergusml. They are just now beginning to realize the problems that may cause when you have a large and diverse pool of people to choose from.

Add to that a large database of company/college Acronyms and you have some very funny addresses. (Probably not funny to the individual involved.) Some true life examples follow:


Hellen Thomas Eatons (Duke University): eatonsht@dku.edu

Martha Elizabeth Cummins (Fresno University): cumminme@fu.edu

George David Blowmer (Drop Front Drawers & Cabinets Inc.): blowmegd@dropdrawers.com

Mary Ellen Dickinson (Indiana University of Pennsylvania): dickinme@iup.edu

Francis Kevin Kissinger (Las Verdes University): kissinfk@lvu.edu

Barbara Joan Beeranger (Myplace Home Decorating): beeranbj@myplace.com

Amanda Sue Pickering (Purdue University): aspicker@pu.edu

Ida Beatrice Ballinger (Ball State University): ibballin@bsu.edu

Bradley Thomas Kissering (Brady Electrical, Northern Division, Overton, Canada): btkisser@bendover.com

Isabelle Haydon Adcock (Toys "R" Us): ihadcock@tru.com

Contact Information for the Webmaster,
Dr. Karl L. Wuensch



This page most recently revised on 1. April 2007