UniLang

I laughed out loud at Ali Lakuhi

I've seen a sign of a doctor with the last name Malade.

I just picked up a book and noticed that the authors surname is Toogood

Hoogstwaarschijnlijk wrote:

ILuvEire wrote:

Spaigelploatje wrote:Some weird surnames I know in Dutch:
Baksteen = Brick , an example is this guy: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benno_Baksteen
Poepjes = small parts of poo
Slettenhaar = Slut hair

My own surname is so weird that Google+ accepted it only after moderation..

Can we ask what it is? I'm terribly curious, now.

Yes, me too, pm please!

I know someone whose surname is 'De Man' (the man), which is just weird when you're a girl

Yes Spaigelploatje, I'm curious too!

Talking about 'De Man', my cousin had a teacher at school which surname is Man, so she was called 'Mevrouw Man' (Ms. Man).

My stepdad's surname is Kjos /tʃoːs/, derived from Norwegian Kjøs /çøːs/, and people not aware of how Scandinavian names are anglicized in these parts often don't have a clue how to pronounce it!

TaylorS wrote:My stepdad's surname is Kjos /tʃoːs/, derived from Norwegian Kjøs /çøːs/, and people not aware of how Scandinavian names are anglicized in these parts often don't have a clue how to pronounce it!

In many Mainland Scandinavian dialects kj- is in fact [tʃ]. BTW, wouldn't an English Speaking person pronounce kj- as if it were spelled ky-?

I'm amazed by the fact that surnames that didn't even have a normalized spelling in Scandinavia in the 19th century have attained the modern Scandinavian spelling (minus the diacritics) in America. Heck, people didn't even have proper surnames back then in at least Sweden and still there's a lot of Lindbergs, Lindstroms etc. in America.

Hunef wrote:

TaylorS wrote:My stepdad's surname is Kjos /tʃoːs/, derived from Norwegian Kjøs /çøːs/, and people not aware of how Scandinavian names are anglicized in these parts often don't have a clue how to pronounce it!

In many Mainland Scandinavian dialects kj- is in fact [tʃ]. BTW, wouldn't an English Speaking person pronounce kj- as if it were spelled ky-?

Not without being instructed to. The only naturalised English word I can think of in which j has a value other than /ʤ/ or /ʒ/ is fjord and even that has the common variant fiord.

I'm changing my name to Anoyua Bawatemai
Because it sounds like "I know you are, but what am I?"

The English surname 'Gotobed' is one of the weirdest I've ever encountered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVyzfPdp-9Q
Dennis Gotobed.

A contemporary parody and a bit newer parody (with "Charlie Walkaway" and "Sidney Strollingaround") of this big-eared weird-surnamed guy.

My students were making fun one day about a Chinese guy's name. His name is 王丝路 (Wang Si Lu) but it sounds like 往死路 (wang si lu : "on the way to death"), if you don't pay attention to the tones.

Recently I came acrros two more instances when surname is not that strange, but in certain circumstances still is funny:

Mr. Borrower, the meber of parliment with the highest debts
Mr. Sparrow the proffesional wrestler. What made it funnier for me is that ages ago there was a Latvian multivitamin ad featuring eagle who finds a giant sparrow in his nest - Who the hell are you? - Sparrow - Why are you so big? - I ate a lot of vitamins as a kid

Remember how in the begining of the thread I mentioned that Latvians had to choose surnames in 19th century? I searched for my surname in newspaper archive and came accross this article for the time with tips on choosing them some examples they give:

Destroyer (might have had different meaning at the time, but well...)
Student/Apprentice
Feeder
Driver
Bridegroom
Worker
Organ player
Angel
Grave digger
Angler
Son in law
Middleman
Stranger
Linguist
Loner
Embasodor
Fast
Bearded
Fair (beautiful)
Brave minded
Yellow
Bright minded
Shamefull
Grieffull and weak (for bonus dictionary also said it can mean Cripple)
Black eyed
Black head
Shiny eyed
Famous
Trustfull
Mighty
Dude
Attic
Bundle
Fork
Elbow
Scythe
Little crown
Stableyard
Dustpan
Bite
Wallet
Fishing rod
Coat
Paper
Clock
Shiny
Mirror
Pillow
Shed
Doorjamb
String
Jingle bell
Sugar

And a load of animal names that can have double meanings that won't translate well

TaylorS wrote:My stepdad's surname is Kjos /tʃoːs/, derived from Norwegian Kjøs /çøːs/, and people not aware of how Scandinavian names are anglicized in these parts often don't have a clue how to pronounce it!

I've heard the name Kjos several times, but not Kjøs. Cool!

A Norwegian language show made a top 10 (+ more) "funniest last names" list back in 2005

1. Laksekjønn - salmon gender
2. Gatevold - street violence
3. Avløp - sewer system
4. Brødreskift - brethren exchange
5. Høifødt - born high
6. Klump - fat person / lump
7. Bolle - fat person / bun
8. Grafsrønningen - cleared land of molesting
9. Dame - lady
10. Pulk - pulk
10. Koppen - the cup/tumbler

(Rompe - ass
Sørpebøl - sleet's dwelling
Smellen - the crash
Luktvasslimo - limousine of smell and water
Baller - balls)

Most of these aren't even funny

I'd rather add these. These are place names, but they usually come from farms, and that means they're also people's names, or have been:

1. Tissvassklumptjønnin - gender of a lump of water made of pee
2. Skrukkefylla - wrinkled hangover
3. Lortegrauten - porridge of small, round pieces of poo
4. Suggetjønn - gender of a sow/gilt/fat woman
5. Skrukkehølet - wrinkled hole
6. Faenshølet - hole of fuck/the devil
7. Sædingsdragdrenken - drink of ejaculation blowjobs
8. Kyrkjebyrkjeland - land of the birch sap of churches (this mostly just sounds funny)
9. Svinliknubben - hill of porcine corpses
10. Trynedalen - valley of porcine faces/falling down

(Tullerud - are you kidding [me]?
Fisebukta - bay of fart
Rompedalen - valley of asses
Romperud - "are you assing?"
Rompeskogen - forest of asses
Homse - gay guy
Utro - unfaithful
Svenskehølet - hole of Swedes)

5. Høifødt - born high

Born high, or high born?

Aleco wrote:10. Pulk - pulk

There's nothing I love more than finding this kind of gloss--particularly when you've gone through the trouble of consulting the largest and most comprehensive bilingual dictionary you have available.

Aleco wrote:I'd rather add these. These are place names, but they usually come from farms, and that means they're also people's names, or have been

I've been doing research for my family tree recently, but most people in records have relatively normal names (except my greatgreatgrandparents, if you come to think about it, have surname which could mean crotch), the place names however...

The New Dills
The Old Dills
Chicken manor
Little sugars
Ditch
Plague
Bones
Spine
Swamp water
Mushrooms
Corner

I really do like german Surnames, but some are pretty weird. Mine is "Mielenz" but I have no clue what I could mean.
The Names I have heard of and I find strange are for example:

Windelband - Diapertape
Graffitti - Graffiti
Marini - children say it to ladybugs
Pfützner - Puddler
Buntrock - Colourskirt
Stumpf - Stup
Strauch - Shrub
Assmann -
Brettschneider - Plankcutter
Töter - Killer
Puhlmann - Mansheller
Sorge - Worry
well these were the ones I know, but there exist several other german surnames, I found on Google, that nobody really wants to have and that are relutcantly quite unusual.

Klohocker - Toiletsquatter
Piss - Pee
Kotz - Puke
Sabbert - Slobbers
Kackebart - Shitbeard
Powischer - Buttwiper
Haufen - Heap (of shit)
Struller - Pee (more in a hard beam)
Popel - Booger
Köttel - Droppings
Schweinebraten - Porkchop
Messer - Knife
Beinbrech - Breakleg
Mörder - Murderer
Frauenschläger - Wifebeater

Perhaps ye all know already, but surnames Ciccone and Germanotta sound funny in Italian, since they remember an augmentative and a diminutive respectively.

Car wrote:I've seen a sign of a doctor with the last name Malade.

There seem to be quite a lot of people called Malade: http://www.namewizard.net/s/malade some could be doctors

A few days ago I saw a business card for a lawyer with the last name Moron. I don't want to draw any more attention to the poor guy by posting his first name, but I will say that it's one letter off from an unflattering adjective.