First names with negative connotations (quote)

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by SnazzyB

Way long time ago, when I was in my late teens (I think), I was doing data entry at a mailing company. All I did all day was key in names and addresses. There's one name I'll never forget: Itchy Scratchy.

Perhaps even more memorable than Itchy Scratchy was Ms. Toppie Smellie.
Yes, that was a real name, and she appeared (with her name in a subtitle) in a 1979 TV commercial.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovtRGZ9fZX0

[adjusterjack]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

My dad once knew a man named Percy Mortimer. And apparently his personality fit the name perfectly.

Mortimer. Forever associated with Mortimer Snerd, a ventriloquist's dummy.

[adjusterjack]

Originally Posted by SnazzyB

And I went to grade school with a boy who's last name was Mister. I always thought "When he grows up, he's going to be Mr. Mister. LOL

I had a girlfriend a long time ago whose father's name was Arnold A. Arnold.

I never asked what the middle initial stood for.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by adjusterjack

I had a girlfriend a long time ago whose father's name was Arnold A. Arnold.

I never asked what the middle initial stood for.

I went to school with a boy named George George.

[banjomike]

I went to school with a Karen who married her high school boyfriend whose last name was Karin.
Karen Karin is now old enough to be a Karen.

[in_newengland]

I'm probably not the only one to have known a John Johnson.

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by adjusterjack

Mortimer. Forever associated with Mortimer Snerd, a ventriloquist's dummy.

But, anyone younger than... let's say... 50 years old is unlikely to have any recollection of Mortimer Snerd, so I think that this name association will only last until the current--older--generation is gone. Younger folks might think it to be an unusual name, but they would be very unlikely to associate it with that dummy from the distant past.

[Praline]

One of my cousin's college roommates was named Jimmy James and a classmate whose first name was Husband.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by Praline

One of my cousin's college roommates was named Jimmy James and a classmate whose first name was Husband.

Husband is the creepiest one that I've ever heard. I've seen Captain and Major. There's just got to be a Mayor somewhere.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by saibot

Josephine = 86th most popular US girl's name in 2020. I wouldn't count the others out, either. I personally think Bertha and Ethel are kind of awful, but I'm 52 and a generation away from the people who are having babies today, and two generations away from kids growing up who don't have the same associations I do. I am always amazed to hear that young people today like names like Florence, Matilda, Harvey and Leon, but they really do.

Maybe I’m too old (millennial) but three of those four names you cited are names of pets that I’ve met, owned by people roughly my age (Matilda (dog - nickname Mattie), Harvey (cat) and Leon (cat)).