Any funny or embarrassing name stories?
@Sandra1952 (6047)
Spain
June 1, 2009 5:01pm CST
My husband, Tony, was christened Basil Anthony, because his mother was a big fan of the actor Basil Rathbone. His grandmother said she couldn't call a baby Basil, and he has always been called Tony. Some years ago, we took two of the grandchildren to the Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall. In the gift shop, I saw a mug with the name 'Basil' on it. I said, 'Look, here's a mug with 'Basil' on it.' The shop assistant, whomwe had been chatting to, said, 'Who on earth would call their kid Basil? Fancy landing a poor baby with that! He'l bet called Basil Brush, won't he? Boom, Boom! There ought to be a law against calling your kid Basil.'
I turned to the assistant, assumed a hurt look and said, 'My husband's name is Basil, and that's the first time I've seen anything with his name on. I was going to buy it for him, but I've changed my mind now.' The shop assistant's face was a picture. She obviously thought her job was history, and she started to stammer an apology. After a couple of minutes, I let her off the hook and told her we agreed, Basil was not the best name in the world, which was why my husband never used it.
Have you got a good story about your name or somebody else's?
2 responses
@thea09 (18305)
• Greece
10 Jul 09
Hi Sandra, when I hear the word basil I automatically think of my favourite herb, but as a name I can see why your hubby goes under the name Tony, no offence. However he may like to consider using the Greek translation of his name which has no comedic undertones at all but is rather revered. Basil translates as 'Vassilicos' which means basil the herb but as a name means Royal or King. It is shortened to Vassily as a name. I don't know if you have a Spanish equivalent but here I know quite a few Vassily's and if Tony uses my translation in Spain I bet the Spanish would love it. Incidently there is no translation for Sandra here.
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
10 Jul 09
I haven't been able to find it on the internet, but I'll ask one of my Spanish friends when we go back. It certainly sounds more elegant, but he's been Tony for 75 years now, so it's a bit late for change.
'Sandra' is a diminutive of 'Alexandra' which became popular as a name in its own right in England in the early 1950's. My mother sent Dad to register the birth with the instructions I was to be Barbara Anne. Instead, he had a brainstorm and I became Sandra Dorothy, the middle name being my grandmother's. At school, I foolishly told someone my middle name. At the time, in the mid '60's, there was a popular lavatory cleaner called 'Dot,' so you can imagine the fun my classmates had!
@oyenkai (4394)
• Philippines
19 Jun 09
That was pretty mean for the shop assistant to say. Especially since her job entails to actually be pleasing to the customers and to avoid any conflicts. It's so much easier to be pleasing if you simply keep the comments in the "nice range" instead of pursuing something that has a negative message.
As for the story: when I was in grade school I had a classmate who was campaigning for a position in the student council. I saw her making her pamphlets and while she was designing one, we both stopped after the first design. We just realized that her initials spelled "LBM"
It's a good thing that she wasn't the bratty type and she laughed first before everyone else did. I guess that's a lesson to learn: if you're thinking for a name for the kid, don't forget to check if the initials would sound weird or offensive :P
Thanks for the response on my discussion :)
1 person likes this
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
10 Jul 09
When we named my second son, we were going to call him Adam, followed by his grandfather's name, Raymond, until we realised his initials would be ARS, which in English is one letter short of 'bottom!' Instead, we gave him his grandfather's middle name, Conrad.
