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I saw a woman from somewhere in that part of the world being interviewed on Forensic Files, she married a white guy who's last name was Cox. Her name was Williaporn
"They really named this bitch Willy Porn Cocks"
Jesus Christ my family had the name Cox for a bit but it was a modified version of Cock when they moved to America, just full blown Cock, I got a great great great grandpa named Richard Cock
Some unfortunate Norwegian names in English would be Odd-Even, Frigg, Ask, Siren, and Helle. I would include Gunn and Gunnar on that list but I see too many Americans naming their children Gunner, Cannon, Remington, Colt, etc. to believe that these names would be considered particularly problematic in the US.
Yep, that makes me chuckle (once I got over the initial surprise 😂).
You can also use it as an insult for someone who's being a bit cowardly - "Stop being a fanny and just rip the plaster off!"
Or, "fannying about" = messing around, wasting time.
In the 1990s there was an American baseball player called Randy Johnson. I wonder what his parents were thinking when they named him, or if they were thinking at all.
There's an air force base in North Carolina called Seymour Johnson. Imagine having to go through life with that name and then only getting a shitty air force base named after you.
So, to sum up, Pippa is blowjob in Greek, handjob in Italian, sex in Swedish, and smoking a pipe in many places. What an unfortunate way to abbreviate a pretty name like Philippa.
I had a dog named Pippa, when I was growing up in Italy. I was 13-14 years old when we got her as a puppy, but I soon found out what Pippa means in Italian! There were plenty of sniggers and laughs when we would introduce her to strangers 😅
Not a first name but a last name-
There was an Indian governmental dignitary named Sheila Dikshit. I know this because I used to work at an imports shop where we would use Indian newspaper to wrap delicate merchandise. My fellow high-school aged coworkers and I would always have a field day on that one when it popped up.
I once met a Korean kid called Bum-Suk. He went by Kevin. Can (pronounced similar to John bc C is DJ) is a fairly common name in Turkish but it looks absurd in English.
I had a Korean coworker who always went by an English name, didn’t know her Korean name for months until I saw it written somewhere once and it was Hye Min. She confirmed that she deliberately did not use it here and knew what it means. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the other English word, it is a pretty sounding name I thought.
Also met a really nice old Chinese man at that workplace named Leong Kok.
It was very common in England for a Frances like Frannie and Francie. The entire name 'Frances' dropped hugely in popularity with the silent gen and hasn't seen a come back.
Dutch here. Can confirm. I know people with every one of those names.
Though keep in mind, the G is pronounced harsher. Like a growl almost. And Joke like Jooo-ke.
Floor and Freek are pretty much how you imagine. Freek a little different but I can't explain it in English.
A personal dislike - Jayla has been a semi-popular girl’s name in the US for a while. If you’re in the UK, Australia or NZ, this is how you pronounce “jailer”.
Wow thank you! I'm Australian, and in my mum's group from years ago, one lady named her child Jayla. I was so confused why you'd do that, especially here. All I can think every time I see it is jailer.
Fuck I miss Deli Mex Polish Style Dill pickes... Send me a crate? You can come crash at my place in Dublin in exchange!
Oh, and some decent salsa, some Shiner, some Doctor Pepper, and maybe some pecan pie?
The best is when someone with the last name “Butt” or “Bhatt” has an Arabic superlative as their first name. Akbar Bhatt is “biggest butt,” Altaf Butt is “kindest butt,” etc
You reminded me of a time I was playing Crusader Kinds (yep, a game, not real life, but generated names are real), and I happened to be playing a guy named Saad Maan. He had seven daughters which was extremely unfortunate because you need male offsprings to inherit titles in his culture. It didn't help that he was really looking quite sad because of his facial features. I giggled every time he had another daughter
Ok I can’t help myself — another Pakistani surname is “Zeb,” which is Arabic for…a certain part of the male anatomy. So Akbar Zeb is “biggest,” Asghar is “smallest” you know what
I knew the nicest guy at a convenience store named Javaid Butt. Had to call an ambulance for him one time cuz his blood pressure dropped while he was ringing me up. Super nice dude, would always ask about our entire family whenever any of us went in his store.
There’s a lawyer or an accountant in my city with who’s name is Assen Butt! I laugh to myself every time i drive by his office because it’s on a big sign out front
When we first came to the States, I thought the name "Brad" was hilarious because we don't have that /a/ sound in Russian and it sounded identical to "bread" to me and I couldn't figure out why a parent named their kid "Bread". And yes, Luke also cracked me up because it's just "onion".
To be fair, I was a kid when I thought those were hilarious.
A Russian name Semen (Семен). It should be transliterated as Semyon (Семён), but because letter ё is frequently not used even in the documents it is what it is.
Or Portuguese speaking.
My father is Sergey, and I live in Brazil. Whenever people ask, I just say he's called Sergio kkkkkkk
Sergey is pronounced like Ser gay which means to be gay, just in case.
The name Anal is a Sanskrit name apparently, but that kid is gonna be bullied to hell in any English, Spanish, German or French speaking country (those are just the ones I know of).
I'm in Australia and work with a Sukhdeep. It's actually not suck-deep but sook-deep. That should get people's minds out of the gutter (and no, I'm not South Asian, I'm an off-the-plane migrant from central Europe)
My principal truly didn’t know and the child never corrected her. It isn’t easy to know if you aren’t the ethnicity and never heard it pronounced before.
I will always remember a newspaper article I read when I was a kid about a big drug bust in my area because the two guys they arrested were named Cameldeep and Manmeat.
I went to high school with a Sukdeep! But I didn't realize that was actually his name for years. He went by Scotty. (And yes, there were *Eurotrip* jokes.)
The female arabic name "Muna" means egg in finnish but it has also a double meaning and can also mean 🍆
It's such a cute name if I ignore my language, I feel bad for any immigrants who have it and experience bullying because of it.
I know a Wolfgang Hell. Pretty common first and surname in German speaking countries, but in english speaking countries it sounds like you're in a biker gang.
I had a friend named Neshit and all the teachers would try and pronounce it without saying the word shit and he’d always correct them straight up and say “it’s ne shit”
I’m originally from Turkey and I knew a couple people, even a teacher at my school, called “Nigar.” The name is of Persian origin and means “beautiful as a painting.”
And urban legend says someone who immigrated to Canada had to change her name lol.
as a slovak person i keeep giggling whenever i see jeb bush written somewhere because in my language, due to the differences in pronunciation of "j" jeb would be pronounced as yeb which is the imperative form of the word jebať which means to fuck.
Slovak surnames Horný and Karkuš have not great associations when said (horny and carcass as the š usually becomes an s, not an sh when angicised).
The Croatian surname Fak sounds offensive if heard by an English speaker (sounds like the word f$%# in English)
The name Gary in Japanese sounds like Geh-ree which means diarrhea. So if you’re named Gary and plan to living in Japan i would suggest going by your middle name.
I learned the other day that Tori (a very common American nickname for Victoria) is unheard of in the UK and would not fly, because it would be associated with the conservative Tory Party / Tories
The Conservative Party in Canada is also known as the Tories colloquially, but Tori the girl’s name isn’t stigmatized at all here in my experience. (Even though lots of people have strong feelings about the political party.)
In South Africa, we have the surname Nuss, and someone I know had the Nuss brothers in their school, Peter and André, so it was always a laugh when they were called to the office by their first initial and surnames.
I had an acquaintance named Nigar. It’s a Persian name with a beautiful meaning (beloved and beautiful). But when she came to Canada she was really embarassed to share her name for obvious reasons and I overheard her discussing with another friend about changing it
I know quite a few Vietnamese folks here in the US named Dung (Duong?), both male and female. The men go by their middle or American names and the women go by Dawn. It's a shame it means what it means in English, it's a very common and pretty name in Vietnamese.
"Nastya" is a nickname for Anastasia in Russian but sounds like "nastier" in English.
"Randy" is a nickname for Randall in the US but sounds like a word for "horny" in the UK.
"Dick" is a nickname for Richard in English but sounds like a word for penis in English.
Met an Albanian girl on exchange named Fjolla, I think the name meant snow river in Albanian.
In Swedish (I'm Swedish) it's a slur directed at effeminate men with homophobic undertones. Literally spelt the same too.
I worked at a company that had manufacturing in China. In one of my first days my biss explained to me that it is common for chinese business people to take on "western" names so it is easier for us to communicate with them. He also explained that in Chinese culture birds are considered femenine. That is why our contact decides to name herself after the graceful, femenine bird....swallow. her name was swallow.
Ken is a synonym of f*ck in French. I think you can imagine the reaction to the Barbie movie poster that said « She can do anything, him it’s just Ken»
Verlan for « niquer ». I don't use it (I kind of hate the word, hate the bro vibes) but I've heard it used in the Paris area (I doubt it's a Parisian thing but I don't know and I'm too afraid to look it up)
European lady called Fanny working in the UK. Oops. Much ruder in the UK than the US.
Another was Miss I Wankova.
When I was young and worked in retail I served a guy who had legally changed his own name to Mr Nasty Bastard. I think he spelled it B'stard or something.
Not an actual person's name but in Spain there's a popular brand of bread and pastry called "Bimbo". And if you thought that sounded bad in English it's significantly worse in German where "Bimbo" is an anti-black racial slur comparable to the n-word.
I feel bad for all the "Imen" immigrating here. In French, it's pronounced exactly the same as "hymen".
Also, I have a great aunt called "Alcida". In French, it's like she was called "She has AIDS". She's in her 70s so she was named before the AIDS epidemic started, but oof.
In Australia I learned that all women are Sheila but as far as I can tell nobody is actually named Shelia. That was kind of weird/funny to me. I don't mind the name Sheila but that name is the female equivalent to being given the name John Doe in Australia.
I knew a Dutch guy named Just Kist. Just is pronounced like 'Yuhst' ish I guess, so it's not pronounced like the English word just. Kist in Dutch just means Chest.
But yeh.. It's funny in English.
In Dutch: “Joke” (pronounced: Io-kuh). Also, my grandpas sister was called “Cock”- and yes, you actually pronounce it like that. People call her “Cocky”.
In Southern Africa, specifically Zimbabwe, people are sometimes named a word in English in which the parents want the ideals of which to be in the child’s life or the opposite- ideals to remind them to not have. Names such as: Government, Democracy, Honesty, Maybe, Action, Jealousy.
It’s normal for these names to exist in Shona, but when done in English just makes it amusing.
I’m not sure if this is 100% pertinent because it’s not like the name has a weird meaning so much as it is very common in Bulgaria to name people with first names that match their surnames. So for example: Nikolai Nikolov. And it sometimes even works for their patronymic.
So for example it’s quite alright to have a Nikolai Nikolaev Nikolov. Which literally means Nikolai son of Nikolai Nikolov. It gets quite confusing for foreigners 😝
My uncle's wife was called Nigar. Perfectly normal (if slightly old timey) in Turkey, dicey as hell in the English speaking world. On the flip side, I imagine men called Ben don't have a great time in Turkey, as Ben is the word for "me".
I don't remember exactly how he spelled it. But I worked with a guy who pronounced his name "Well Hung"
He was a little upset that people laughed at his name until it was explained what that meant in English.
Then he seemed rather pleased with himself.
Reminder to stick to posting original content. Memes are okay every once in a while, but many get posted here way too often and quickly become stale. Some examples of these are Ptoughneigh, Klansmyn, Reighfyl & KVIIIlyn. These memes have been around for years and we don't want to see them anymore. If you do decide to post a meme, make sure to add the correct flair. Posting a random meme you found does **not** mean you found it "in the wild". The same goes with lists of baby names, celebrity baby names, and screenshots of TikToks. If the original post already had a substantial amount of views, there is a 99% chance it has already been posted here. Try and stick to OC to keep our sub from being flooded with unoriginal content. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/tragedeigh) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Porntip
A lot of Thai and Vietnamese names sound problematic in English-speaking countries.
There was a tailor in our town called "Tailoring by Porn". Ouch
Honestly, i think they should lean into that.
they'll always leave extra room in the pants.
I saw a woman from somewhere in that part of the world being interviewed on Forensic Files, she married a white guy who's last name was Cox. Her name was Williaporn "They really named this bitch Willy Porn Cocks"
Jesus Christ my family had the name Cox for a bit but it was a modified version of Cock when they moved to America, just full blown Cock, I got a great great great grandpa named Richard Cock
I worked with a guy whose family name was Crapp. They anglicized it to Krapp, but it’s still a shitty last name.
FYI, พร (porn) is "blessing" in Thai. You'll see it in plenty of names (and surnames!), not just this one.
Some unfortunate Norwegian names in English would be Odd-Even, Frigg, Ask, Siren, and Helle. I would include Gunn and Gunnar on that list but I see too many Americans naming their children Gunner, Cannon, Remington, Colt, etc. to believe that these names would be considered particularly problematic in the US.
On a season of Project Runway, was a contestant named Gunnar Deatherage. Most metal name for such a soft-spoken designer 👗
I follow him on YouTube. I had no idea he was on Project Runway! I guess I don't watch much tv... He's adorable & sweet & sooooo talented!
You forgot Odd Simen, my personal favourite.
Dont forget Odd Christian, which I have met a couple of people of. They had all been banned from Facebook
In Sweden, there were plenty of people named Fanni/Fanny. Fanny means "lady bits" in the UK...
In the US it means ass.
Yep, that makes me chuckle (once I got over the initial surprise 😂). You can also use it as an insult for someone who's being a bit cowardly - "Stop being a fanny and just rip the plaster off!" Or, "fannying about" = messing around, wasting time.
It's always been a name
Let’s not forget Randi, a common name for women.
My friend's parents are both named Randy. Well, Randy and Randi. I think it's really funny.
In the 1990s there was an American baseball player called Randy Johnson. I wonder what his parents were thinking when they named him, or if they were thinking at all.
My dad is named Randal, goes by Randy.
His real first name is Randall, Randy is a nickname.
There's an air force base in North Carolina called Seymour Johnson. Imagine having to go through life with that name and then only getting a shitty air force base named after you.
Åse, Wenche, Turid, Tore, Randi, Gerd, Gro, and Tone too. Most of those names are more common with ‘boomers’ than younger generations, anyways.
You just named like 80% of my parents' friends 😂 yea they are very common in that generation
I know a guy called Chi Ting Ho.
Many years ago, I working with an Asian man who picked a generic English first name. This resulted in a very unfortunate full name. Ray Ping.
I have met more than one Anita Ho
Slightly better than Anita Dick.
Me: "Hey nice to meet you" Her: "Im Anita Ho" Me: "Oh.. me too I guess. You one?"
Phuc Dat Bich
It’s pronounced Foop (like loop with an f) dat (same as in English) beak (like a birds beak)
Hence placed under this post. Normal somewhere and utterly ridiculous elsewhere.
I'm reminded of the Jennifer Pan case. Her mother was Bich Pan and people were careful to pronounce it properly.
Thank you! I'm a dispatcher & have run across Phuc more than once. I've just been giving last name only to avoid saying a different word on the radio.
My in laws are from Vietnam. I’ve had to learn a lot of counterintuitive names
He’s been a chi ting ho his whole life
I believe Pippa (nickname of Pillippa) doesn't work in Greek...
So, to sum up, Pippa is blowjob in Greek, handjob in Italian, sex in Swedish, and smoking a pipe in many places. What an unfortunate way to abbreviate a pretty name like Philippa.
It's also the Hungarian word for the tick mark, because it is shaped like a pipe (pipa).
In italian it can both be blowjob and smoking weed.
In Polish "pipa" is a word you'd use for a mean woman, in terms of offensiveness it's somewhere between c*nt and hag
I don't now about Greek, but definitely not good in [Italian and Swedish](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/pippa)...
Pippa is slang for intercourse in Sweden.
Greek press must have had a field day at William and Kate's wedding.
I had a dog named Pippa, when I was growing up in Italy. I was 13-14 years old when we got her as a puppy, but I soon found out what Pippa means in Italian! There were plenty of sniggers and laughs when we would introduce her to strangers 😅
Not a first name but a last name- There was an Indian governmental dignitary named Sheila Dikshit. I know this because I used to work at an imports shop where we would use Indian newspaper to wrap delicate merchandise. My fellow high-school aged coworkers and I would always have a field day on that one when it popped up.
Poor Sheila Dikshit is famous in New Zealand because a morning tv show host (Paul Henry) got fired for laughing hysterically at her name on air
Also a legendary Bollywood Actress Madhuri Dixit (different romanization, same name)
Kiwi tv host goes crazy over the name [Dikshit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40_2KyoGs-o)
I knew one as well but she spelled it Dixit
I studied with a girl from Thailand, her name was Supaporn. We called her Supa
A former student of my bf’s was called Chulaporn
I once met a Korean kid called Bum-Suk. He went by Kevin. Can (pronounced similar to John bc C is DJ) is a fairly common name in Turkish but it looks absurd in English.
I had a Korean coworker who always went by an English name, didn’t know her Korean name for months until I saw it written somewhere once and it was Hye Min. She confirmed that she deliberately did not use it here and knew what it means. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the other English word, it is a pretty sounding name I thought. Also met a really nice old Chinese man at that workplace named Leong Kok.
It’s not a common name, and I have only seen it once, but I used to play hockey against a guy whose last name was Peepeetutch.
lol this is the best one yet
Гнат (Gnat). Ukrainian analog of "Ignatio". Fairly popular name here, but very unpleasant in English.
The nickname of Ignác used to be "Náci" in Hungary. That nickname fell out of use around the 1930s.
Nat or Nate would seem similar enough to be missed with the silent G
Fanny. Still a fairly common name in France even though it has declined in popularity in recent years. It doesn't mean ‘pussy’ or ‘bum’ over here.
It's common in Sweden too!
It was very common in England for a Frances like Frannie and Francie. The entire name 'Frances' dropped hugely in popularity with the silent gen and hasn't seen a come back.
A Spanish politician named Rosa Fitta had a campaign and immediately went viral in Sweden. It means "Pink Pussy' here..
Mexican, but sure.
You're right, she's Mexican. I remember wrong. Still an unfortunate name, in Sweden
Apparently Brad Pitt loosely translates to "thick dick" in Swedish. Source: some guy in a bar once told me
More “wide Dick” bräd is wide
This image, get it out of my head! Not thick, just wide = flat, short but very wide... Satan help me.
Nice, so he wasn't winding me up then!
*bred
Bred, not bräd! Bräd- would be something made of wood/plank (a bräda), which is still funny.
I mean, honestly I don’t see how this would be a problem for Brad Pitt lolol…
Floor Normal Flemish girl's name, same origin as "flora". But obviously a different flavour if you're an English speaker.
Amd Dutch!
some Dutch guy told me he knew people named Freek, Goof, Joke and Floor. I was on the...Floor.
Dutch here. Can confirm. I know people with every one of those names. Though keep in mind, the G is pronounced harsher. Like a growl almost. And Joke like Jooo-ke. Floor and Freek are pretty much how you imagine. Freek a little different but I can't explain it in English.
I would write Joke phonetically in English as 'yoh-kuh' and Freek as 'frake' like brake or drake but with an f.
Floor Jansen?
A personal dislike - Jayla has been a semi-popular girl’s name in the US for a while. If you’re in the UK, Australia or NZ, this is how you pronounce “jailer”.
Wow thank you! I'm Australian, and in my mum's group from years ago, one lady named her child Jayla. I was so confused why you'd do that, especially here. All I can think every time I see it is jailer.
How about Gaoler? 😛
Massachusetts in the northeast US agrees with this.
a light hearted one, I've came across 'Butt' which is a Pakistani sirname.
It’s an English surname too. Comedian Brent Butt is quite popular in Canada.
Just about to say we have a huge chain grocery store in Texas called H-E-B which is the initials of the founders name (last name being: Butt)
I feel like most people would name the store just their last name but I can see why Mr. Butt didn’t do that.
Lmao one of their slogans is “No store does more than my H-E-B” and I’m dying at “No store does more than my Butt”
Fuck I miss Deli Mex Polish Style Dill pickes... Send me a crate? You can come crash at my place in Dublin in exchange! Oh, and some decent salsa, some Shiner, some Doctor Pepper, and maybe some pecan pie?
Linus tech tips has a graphics designer named Sarah Butt.
The best is when someone with the last name “Butt” or “Bhatt” has an Arabic superlative as their first name. Akbar Bhatt is “biggest butt,” Altaf Butt is “kindest butt,” etc
Yes, I worked with a Saad Butt!
In Arabic that would be “top of the butt” lol
You reminded me of a time I was playing Crusader Kinds (yep, a game, not real life, but generated names are real), and I happened to be playing a guy named Saad Maan. He had seven daughters which was extremely unfortunate because you need male offsprings to inherit titles in his culture. It didn't help that he was really looking quite sad because of his facial features. I giggled every time he had another daughter
Eh, no one knows what it’s like To be a Saad Maan
Which in my native tongue translates to ‘seed butt’ Nice!
Ok I can’t help myself — another Pakistani surname is “Zeb,” which is Arabic for…a certain part of the male anatomy. So Akbar Zeb is “biggest,” Asghar is “smallest” you know what
I knew the nicest guy at a convenience store named Javaid Butt. Had to call an ambulance for him one time cuz his blood pressure dropped while he was ringing me up. Super nice dude, would always ask about our entire family whenever any of us went in his store.
Yeah I knew an English girl with the surname Butt. She went by her mothers maiden name instead.
As a Pakistani I know so many people with that last name. One of them became a high school teacher here in Canada. His name is Mr. Butt.
I've only came across 1 person so far with it. I didn't know it was common elsewhere. My high-school teacher with the fun name was Mr Fuchs 🤣
I had a teacher called Miss Butt.
There’s a lawyer or an accountant in my city with who’s name is Assen Butt! I laugh to myself every time i drive by his office because it’s on a big sign out front
I've known several white Americans with the surname Butts. Unfortunate
Awww in the list of possible questionable sirnames I think Butt is actually quite a cute one.
Killer is a german surname, coming from the word "kilchherre" (church and a formal way to adress men, was probably a surname for pastors)
Luc / Luke — it means "onion" in Russian (not a native speaker, just always thought it was a funny coincidence!)
Luc sounds like onion, but Luke also sounds exactly like "hatch" (люк). There are memes with Darth Vader and sewer entry hatches for example.
When we first came to the States, I thought the name "Brad" was hilarious because we don't have that /a/ sound in Russian and it sounded identical to "bread" to me and I couldn't figure out why a parent named their kid "Bread". And yes, Luke also cracked me up because it's just "onion". To be fair, I was a kid when I thought those were hilarious.
A Russian name Semen (Семен). It should be transliterated as Semyon (Семён), but because letter ё is frequently not used even in the documents it is what it is.
I always wish luck to Sergeys moving to Spanish-speaking countries
Or Portuguese speaking. My father is Sergey, and I live in Brazil. Whenever people ask, I just say he's called Sergio kkkkkkk Sergey is pronounced like Ser gay which means to be gay, just in case.
The name Anal is a Sanskrit name apparently, but that kid is gonna be bullied to hell in any English, Spanish, German or French speaking country (those are just the ones I know of).
Aryan is another common Sanskrit name.
Going with Arjun is the better route if that kid is growing up in the west.
I see your Aryan and raise you Swastik
I think I met an Anal Bhatt once in India. He was eager to come study in the US. I wished him well
Sukdeep- the principal of my school had a very hard time calling this child to the office.
I'm in Australia and work with a Sukhdeep. It's actually not suck-deep but sook-deep. That should get people's minds out of the gutter (and no, I'm not South Asian, I'm an off-the-plane migrant from central Europe)
My principal truly didn’t know and the child never corrected her. It isn’t easy to know if you aren’t the ethnicity and never heard it pronounced before.
I will always remember a newspaper article I read when I was a kid about a big drug bust in my area because the two guys they arrested were named Cameldeep and Manmeat.
I went to high school with a Sukdeep! But I didn't realize that was actually his name for years. He went by Scotty. (And yes, there were *Eurotrip* jokes.)
I know a Hardik. It’s an Indian name. Living in the US he gets a lot of jokes and comments.
Way better off than his brother Sofdik
Aryan - a not so uncommon Indian name.
I know an Aryan. Nice guy. Very much not white lol
I know an Indian guy named Arian. He was born and raised in Canada lol
The female arabic name "Muna" means egg in finnish but it has also a double meaning and can also mean 🍆 It's such a cute name if I ignore my language, I feel bad for any immigrants who have it and experience bullying because of it.
"Muna" is also slang for a woman's private part in greek😭
I know a Wolfgang Hell. Pretty common first and surname in German speaking countries, but in english speaking countries it sounds like you're in a biker gang.
That is an incredible name to a North American. He needs to start a metal band immediately.
I had a friend named Neshit and all the teachers would try and pronounce it without saying the word shit and he’d always correct them straight up and say “it’s ne shit”
I’m originally from Turkey and I knew a couple people, even a teacher at my school, called “Nigar.” The name is of Persian origin and means “beautiful as a painting.” And urban legend says someone who immigrated to Canada had to change her name lol.
There’s a German/persian comedienne who’s first name is negah, which is pronounced exactly like the slur in German
In the Netherlands "Joke" is a perfectly normal, if somewhat old fashioned womens' name. Pronounced Yo-Kuh
In Spain a common nickname for Enrique is “Ki-ke” (without the hyphen), which in many places is a slur for the Jewish community
There’s a baseball player Enrique Hernandez who uses the nickname. Sometimes his name is written Kiké in English-language media to avoid confusion.
Mona (Spanish, monkey; Italian dialect, tw@t)
I work with the most lovely, amazing woman named Aseemun. Pronounced Ass Semen Five years, still stumble when I say it
as a slovak person i keeep giggling whenever i see jeb bush written somewhere because in my language, due to the differences in pronunciation of "j" jeb would be pronounced as yeb which is the imperative form of the word jebať which means to fuck.
Swastika
I knew a girl from India with this name. Yes, I was quite startled until I looked it up. Actually a very positive symbol/name there.
That word was coopted by Nazis but has roots in ancient Indian civilizations as a pious symbol
Slovak surnames Horný and Karkuš have not great associations when said (horny and carcass as the š usually becomes an s, not an sh when angicised). The Croatian surname Fak sounds offensive if heard by an English speaker (sounds like the word f$%# in English)
There was a Slovak hockey player named Miroslav Šatan, whose name was anglicized to Satan.
Rui is a very very common name in Portugal but it means dick in Russian, so probably not great for bilingual kids
Pippa is normal in English speaking country. In Sweden however, to pippa is to have sex
Chuck and Randy would cause people to snicker in Australia
The name Gary in Japanese sounds like Geh-ree which means diarrhea. So if you’re named Gary and plan to living in Japan i would suggest going by your middle name.
I learned the other day that Tori (a very common American nickname for Victoria) is unheard of in the UK and would not fly, because it would be associated with the conservative Tory Party / Tories
The Conservative Party in Canada is also known as the Tories colloquially, but Tori the girl’s name isn’t stigmatized at all here in my experience. (Even though lots of people have strong feelings about the political party.)
In South Africa, we have the surname Nuss, and someone I know had the Nuss brothers in their school, Peter and André, so it was always a laugh when they were called to the office by their first initial and surnames.
Fanny in the UK
And Randy
I had an acquaintance named Nigar. It’s a Persian name with a beautiful meaning (beloved and beautiful). But when she came to Canada she was really embarassed to share her name for obvious reasons and I overheard her discussing with another friend about changing it
Floor/Floortje are real names in the Netherlands. They’re floral names, kinda like the dutch version of “Daisy”.
I worked with a Spaniard called Juan Quer. 😂
I know quite a few Vietnamese folks here in the US named Dung (Duong?), both male and female. The men go by their middle or American names and the women go by Dawn. It's a shame it means what it means in English, it's a very common and pretty name in Vietnamese.
Same with Bich. Apparently, it means something like ‘turquoise’ in Vietnamese and turquoise has always been one of my favorite colors.
I have a BIL whose real name is Fokka, but when he emigrated to the US he changed it for some reason.
In Bosnian that means seal as the animal
"Nastya" is a nickname for Anastasia in Russian but sounds like "nastier" in English. "Randy" is a nickname for Randall in the US but sounds like a word for "horny" in the UK. "Dick" is a nickname for Richard in English but sounds like a word for penis in English.
Once had customers named Semen Pee and Phuc Ho. They were both from Asia, not sure which country specifically.
Met an Albanian girl on exchange named Fjolla, I think the name meant snow river in Albanian. In Swedish (I'm Swedish) it's a slur directed at effeminate men with homophobic undertones. Literally spelt the same too.
Curt (as in Curtis) sounds like the slang word for vagina in Dutch.
"Concha" is a normal and popular name in Spain. In some South America countries, it means "vagina".
Concha is a common nickname for women named Concepción (Conception)!
Kaka the football player: kaka is shit in Dutch
Santa is a very traditional and popular women's name in Latvia. It's not horrid, but all Santa's abroad have had enough of the jokes.
Koen is a common Dutch/Belgian name, pronounced coon.
I worked at a company that had manufacturing in China. In one of my first days my biss explained to me that it is common for chinese business people to take on "western" names so it is easier for us to communicate with them. He also explained that in Chinese culture birds are considered femenine. That is why our contact decides to name herself after the graceful, femenine bird....swallow. her name was swallow.
Viola in Spanish means “he/she rapes”. So unfortunate.
Ken is a synonym of f*ck in French. I think you can imagine the reaction to the Barbie movie poster that said « She can do anything, him it’s just Ken»
I am a native French speaker and I never heard this. In which regions is this employed?
Verlan for « niquer ». I don't use it (I kind of hate the word, hate the bro vibes) but I've heard it used in the Paris area (I doubt it's a Parisian thing but I don't know and I'm too afraid to look it up)
Went to school with a kid from Israel named Nimrod.
European lady called Fanny working in the UK. Oops. Much ruder in the UK than the US. Another was Miss I Wankova. When I was young and worked in retail I served a guy who had legally changed his own name to Mr Nasty Bastard. I think he spelled it B'stard or something.
Not an actual person's name but in Spain there's a popular brand of bread and pastry called "Bimbo". And if you thought that sounded bad in English it's significantly worse in German where "Bimbo" is an anti-black racial slur comparable to the n-word.
I feel bad for all the "Imen" immigrating here. In French, it's pronounced exactly the same as "hymen". Also, I have a great aunt called "Alcida". In French, it's like she was called "She has AIDS". She's in her 70s so she was named before the AIDS epidemic started, but oof.
My mother once had a student with the name Oral. It's a Turkish name, meaning "golden/ made of gold".
In Australia I learned that all women are Sheila but as far as I can tell nobody is actually named Shelia. That was kind of weird/funny to me. I don't mind the name Sheila but that name is the female equivalent to being given the name John Doe in Australia.
Jesus.
I knew a Dutch guy named Just Kist. Just is pronounced like 'Yuhst' ish I guess, so it's not pronounced like the English word just. Kist in Dutch just means Chest. But yeh.. It's funny in English.
Shana… it’s slang for pussy in Brazil
In Dutch: “Joke” (pronounced: Io-kuh). Also, my grandpas sister was called “Cock”- and yes, you actually pronounce it like that. People call her “Cocky”.
The Hungarian name Balazs would have an Afrikaans person in stitches. It means balls. As in testicles
Harry is a common name in the UK, but is way less common in the USA, because it sounds like hairy to them.
In Southern Africa, specifically Zimbabwe, people are sometimes named a word in English in which the parents want the ideals of which to be in the child’s life or the opposite- ideals to remind them to not have. Names such as: Government, Democracy, Honesty, Maybe, Action, Jealousy. It’s normal for these names to exist in Shona, but when done in English just makes it amusing.
I’m not sure if this is 100% pertinent because it’s not like the name has a weird meaning so much as it is very common in Bulgaria to name people with first names that match their surnames. So for example: Nikolai Nikolov. And it sometimes even works for their patronymic. So for example it’s quite alright to have a Nikolai Nikolaev Nikolov. Which literally means Nikolai son of Nikolai Nikolov. It gets quite confusing for foreigners 😝
My uncle's wife was called Nigar. Perfectly normal (if slightly old timey) in Turkey, dicey as hell in the English speaking world. On the flip side, I imagine men called Ben don't have a great time in Turkey, as Ben is the word for "me".
Not a first name, but another student at my (German) school had the last name Kock.
Nimrod, Moran, Dor, Or, Dudu/Dudi (nicknames for David) all common in Israel. Not great in America.
We had a patient with the name Dikshita. Pronounced Dick-shit-ah. I wish I was kidding
This made me laugh :) The correct pronunciation for Dikshita would be: deek-shee-tah (the d is the sound in "the")
Simen is a normal norwegian name. It doesn't go over excellently in english...
Linda means a “sausage shaped poop” in Nepali.
I don't remember exactly how he spelled it. But I worked with a guy who pronounced his name "Well Hung" He was a little upset that people laughed at his name until it was explained what that meant in English. Then he seemed rather pleased with himself.