Embarrassing Middle Name: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Meet the Parents]]'', Pam's middle name is Martha, which was fine until she got engaged to Gaylord Focker.

* In [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[North by Northwest]]'', Roger Thornhill's middle initial is O, making his initials R.O.T. Doesn't stop him from having his matchbooks monogrammed, though.

 

=== Literature ===

** The same novel had a passing reference to a former ruler of Lancre called King My God He's Heavy the First, and a man called James What The Hell's That Cow Doing In Here Poorchick (or Moocow Poorchick to his friends). The culture has a rule that whatever is actually said at the christening must become their permanent, official name, with no allowance for error or provision to change it.

** There's also One Man Bucket, or to give him his full name, One Man Throwing A Bucket Of Water Over Two Dogs. His tribe names children after the first thing the mother sees when she looks out of the tent after the birth. Apparently his twin, born a few minutes earlier 'would have given his right arm to have been called Two Dogs ''Fighting''' (an oblique reference to an ancient and very non-PC American joke.)

* Discussed in ''[[Septimus Heap]]'', where Merrin meredith takes on a pseudonym because he's embarassed of the "Meredith" part in his name.

 

* On ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]'', Ritchie's middle name is revealed to be, for convoluted reasons, Rosebud.

** {{spoiler|Technically it was R.O.S.E.B.U.D. for Robert Oscar Sam Edward Benjamin Ulysses David}}

* ''[[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]'' brings us paranormal investigator Hanna Falk Cross. Oddly, he doesn't seem to realize [[Gender Blender Name|how embarrassing]] [[Embarrassing First Name|his]] ''[[Embarrassing First Name|first]]'' [[Embarrassing First Name|name]] is.

* In ''[[Kagerou]]'', Red's full name is {{spoiler|James Valentine Beethovan}}. Not exactly the kind of middle name most people would want, especially not Red.

 

=== Web Original ===

** Thanks to being named by a real-world contest winner, his infant sister has a worse name - Cleopatra ''Dirtbike'' Funnie.

* [[Tiny Toon Adventures|Barbara Ann Bunny]].

** Ben's middle name is [[Jack Kirby|Kirby]]. He just thinks it's kind of dumb-sounding.

* In ''[[The Replacements]]'', superspy Agent K's middle name is Mildred.

* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', Beezy's [[Mysterious Middle Initial]] is eventually revealed to stand for Jo-Jo.

* In ''[[Static Shock]]'', Virgil's middle name is [[Theme Naming|Ovid]]. He provides one of the page quotes.

 

* There's a popular bit of ''[[Les Misérables]]'' [[Fanon]] that insists that Inspector Javert's full name is "Shnookums Q. Javert".

* British comedian Alexei Sayle had a joke that his name in full is Alexei Lenin Molotov Sputnik Grain Harvest Glorious Five Year Plan Sayle. It's not, but his parents really were?

* According to a contest circa 1998, the middle name of ''[[Cracked]]'' magazine's mascot Sylvester P. Smythe was "Phooey."

* Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

 

=== Real Life ===

** There is the same thing in Brazil. It should be noted this isn't a 'middle name'. It is a composed first name (same in Spanish, I believe).

*** The pattern is to hyphenate both parents' first names (so Jean-Marie is a boy, his dad is John, his mum is Mary). Not particularly rare in French.

** Fairly embarrassing, Jimmy Riddle is cockney rhyming slang for 'piddle', otherwise known as piss.

*** More of a [[Meaningful Name]], considering [[Never Found the Body|what happened to him...]]

* Count Jefferson-Friedrich Volker Benjamin Graf von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth. Very very long name and quite fun to say. By the way, if you were wondering, he's the son of Count Friedrich-August Rüdiger Albrecht von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth and is married to member of the Danish Royal Court Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg; thus he is a member of the Danish Royal Family.

* [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]. The C.S. stands for [[Embarrassing First Name|Clive]] ''Staples''. No wonder he went by Jack...

*** Besides, she wouldn't have had to change her last name, or she could have gone with a hyphen.

**** It's a shout out to Jerry Hall being engaged to Bryan Ferry in the 80s. She didn't go through with it either.

 

=== Literature ===

* [[Hating Alison Ashley]] has the mother marring into the 'Grub' family.

 

* ''[[Married... with Children]]'' had next door neighbor Marcy (post-divorce) get married to Jefferson D'Arcy in an impulsive fit. She spent an episode lamenting the fact that she was now "Marcy D'Arcy."

* ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'': "Dude. She's Callie O'Malley."

=== Radio ===

* The "New Zealand" episode of British radio series ''[[Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off]]'' features Giles realising his friend is about to marry into the name Arabella Fonte, as in [[wikipedia:Banana Boat Song|"daylight come and me wanna go home"]].

 

=== Video Games ===

* Gruntilda Winkybunion from ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'' is an (apparently) unusual case of an embarrassing, unmarried last name.

 

* In ''[[Questionable Content]]'', Raven is an inversion and a subversion. Her first name is Blodwyn (her parents are Welsh), [[Embarrassing First Name|which she avoids like the plague]], so she uses her middle name instead. The subversion comes into play since she was originally introduced as an emo goth (before she became a [[Perky Goth]]), and Faye makes fun of her for naming herself after "a disease-carrying avian," unaware it is one of her birth names.

 

*** The Disco Stu Marriage was ''annulled'' – therefore no effective marriage took place.

* An aversion in ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. One would think that Charlene ''Doofenshmirtz'' would consider her married name embarrassing, but she fully embraces it, going so far as to keep the name even after getting a divorce.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Index of Shame]]