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Weird Personal Names

Swifty said:
At worst, they're tracking devices and all it takes is one unreasonable customer who can't get their own way reporting someone to one manager who's looking at making cutbacks and you've got Stormkhan written on a badge and pinned to you chest. Good luck with asking the unreasonable customer their name because they won't tell you that.
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If a customer can see your full name so can a criminal. Or a terrorist. I'm in a job where this could have implications and I'm not paid enough to be Googled.
 
escargot said:
If a customer can see your full name so can a criminal. Or a terrorist. I'm in a job where this could have implications and I'm not paid enough to be Googled.
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We used to have our full name printed on the end of every receipt. 'You were served by Joe Bloggs' type of thing. Now it's just the first name, the same as our name badges - no surname. I presume people complained for just this reason.
 
escargot said:
If a customer can see your full name so can a criminal. Or a terrorist. I'm in a job where this could have implications and I'm not paid enough to be Googled.
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My son is a policeman and has to have his (quite unusual) surname visible and is required to give his full name in many circumstances.

I worked for many years in insurance claims. For about 15 of those years, I was visiting customers to interview them and negotiate settlement. I always tended to be conversational with customers unless they give me reason to be formal. A typical ice breaker type conversation: "Sorry I'm a bit late." "How far have you come?" "[suburb] in Nottingham."

Just twice, I was tracked down at home by someone going through the phone book looking for my name in that suburb. Fortunately, in both cases, it was people looking for help rather than looking for trouble.

Now, semi-retired. I do 3 days a week on the phones in a customer service department of a retailer. I received no training, and started by answering calls as I had in my earlier job, including my full name. I was told to stop doing so.

Now, a certain type of customer asks for my name (I just give my forename) and they ask "And do you have a surname?" as if that will somehow give them some sort of hold over me. They make the mistake of assuming that anyone in customer service must be young, naive, afraid of losing their job, and easily bullied.

Such customers succeed only in awakening the pre-retirement me, who was used to daily arguments and negotiations with solicitors, loss adjusters, wealthy clients, and fraudsters. I like to think they usually regret it.
 
catseye said:
We used to have our full name printed on the end of every receipt. 'You were served by Joe Bloggs' type of thing. Now it's just the first name, the same as our name badges - no surname. I presume people complained for just this reason.
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Yup, when I did the Playgroup Leaders' course years ago the certificate came with the recipient's address written in. The certificate had to be displayed to prove someone was in charge.
When I objected to the address being included I was told it was there to give the certificate authenticity. Otherwise it could be anybody.
My reply wasn't friendly. The address was left off.
 
Mikefule said:
Now, a certain type of customer asks for my name (I just give my forename) and they ask "And do you have a surname?" as if that will somehow give them some sort of hold over me. They make the mistake of assuming that anyone in customer service must be young, naive, afraid of losing their job, and easily bullied.
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I have always asked people I am dealing with for their names. Never would I ask for a surname.

I ask because I hate it when following up on an issue (I worked in accounts payable, now I deal with people's personal stuff such as pharmacies, bills etc) I have had too many people feign ignorance after I have made an inquiry. I use the name so that either they can talk to that person, but also so that the person giving their name is more accountable. Many companies also have "ticket" numbers, which even then, they are reluctant to give out unless you specifically ask for one.

Though in fairness, I also give those people my name.
 
escargot said:
Yup, when I did the Playgroup Leaders' course years ago the certificate came with the recipient's address written in. The certificate had to be displayed to prove someone was in charge.
When I objected to the address being included I was told it was there to give the certificate authenticity. Otherwise it could be anybody.
My reply wasn't friendly. The address was left off.
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All our leaders' certificates had the address down as the village hall where the playgroup was situated. May have been a different course, though.
 
Mikefule said:
I did some Googling. I have not independently verified these. I couldn't identify the Fiat that means dog sh*t.


Toyota MR2 stood for ‘Midship (engined) Runabout 2-seater’, but, sadly, in French ‘MR2’ happens to sound exactly like merde (sh*t)

Buick La Crosse launched in 2005 in the USA, the name LaCrosse referencing the sport. Across the border in Canada, however, it needed a new name, as ‘LaCrosse’ is slang for masturbation.

Isuzu: a small truck with a tipper rear was introduced with the name ‘Light Dump’. (Needs no clarification!)

Mazda truck called the Titan Dump. (Same idea.)

Audi E-Tron. Étron actually means turd in French.

Audi TT Coupe allegedly sounds to the French like tete coupé (head cut off).

Mitsubishi T-Box (a small ban) can be re-spaced as Mitsubi sh*t box.

Fiat Uno. Uni is Finnish for fool.

Honda Fit/Honda Jazz. They were going to call it the Fitta, but that is a rude word for the female genitals in some Scandinavian languages.

Chrysler PT Cruiser - a vehicle that many car enthusiasts think of as a sad parody of a real hot rod. Sometimes referred to as the Pity Cruiser.

Lamborghini Reventón apparently means burst tyre in Spanish.

VW Jetta. In Spanish, a jetta is a losing streak, or a run of bad luck.

Ford Pinto. Pinto = small penis in Brazil.

Citroen C-Métisse. Métisse was intended to refer to it having the hybrid option to run in 4 wheel drive, front wheel drive, or rear wheel drive. Unfortunately, a common French meaning of Métisse is bastard.

Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. In German, mist is dirt or crap.

Ford Kuga may sound like cougar (itself, a slang term for sexually predatory older woman) but in Slovenian and Serbo Croation, it means pestilence or black death.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle). In German, Miev is a smell.

VW Vento. It may go as fast as the wind (probably) but in Italian it is a colloquial term for fart.

Chevrolet Nova, and Lada Nova. No va means doesn't work or won't go in Spanish.

Daihatsu Scat. Scat is animal poo.

Mazda Laputa. La Puta = female dog or prostitute. However, Laputa was also a fictional island in Gulliver's Travels.

Mitsubishi Pajero. In some Spanish languages/dialects, Pajero means w*nker.

Hyundai Kona. In Portugese, kona = c*nt.

Also, from my own memory, the motorcycle, Yamaha TDM, not considered a particularly exciting bike, and it is often affectionately referred to as the tedium.
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I'm still getting over Marathon becoming Snickers.
 
catseye said:
All our leaders' certificates had the address down as the village hall where the playgroup was situated. May have been a different course, though.
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This was the local council course, probably the same as it was a legal requirement to have a trained person present and their certificate displayed. Because it had the person's home address it was sometimes 'displayed' inside a cupboard door which kinda defeated the object.

Had a similar issue with a job where there was a team who'd each, I found, have a list of everyone's names, addresses and phone numbers.

I refused to allow my details to be shared with strangers. That went down badly too; I was treated like a troublemaker. Told them they could stick the job. :chuckle:
 
Mikefule said:
My son is a policeman and has to have his (quite unusual) surname visible and is required to give his full name in many circumstances.
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l fail to see what’s wrong with a unique collar number:

Entitled member of the public: “What is your number?”

PC Otter: “It’s the shiny silver things on my shoulder.”

Entitled MOP (getting angrier): “Can l borrow your pen?”

PC Otter: “No.”

maximus otter
 

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Stormkhan said:
Another study of trying to make an ordinary name 'special' by changing the spelling?
They're going to have fun correcting people all the day long.
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The In-House GP really loves it when he calls a child in from the waiting room and is berated by the parents for getting the pronunciation of the name wrong. Then spell it logically rather than trying to pretend you're oh-so-hip by adding extra letters and apostrophes to a standard moniker!

If they really wanted to be different they could use Aethelstan, Berengaria, Eustace, Hildegarde, Philomen, Zenobia - the possibilities are endless.
 
Stormkhan said:
Couldn't help myself - a big Moorcock fan and played an RPG based on the novels.
Athelstan I respect from a crime fiction series, and Berengaria from history - though she wasn't that admirable.
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Athelstan, one of the great Anglo Saxon Kings But His Grandfather Alfred, and Ethelread and Edward and Co get all the publicity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Æthelstan

His Mother Ecgwynne has a name that could be revisited.

I don't know why but my maternal grandmother had a penchant for giving her children obscure names which they never used - they used their second names. My mother was Gladys Suzette a.k.a Sue and my uncle Cedric Joseph a.k.a Joe The other brother was Bernard but I don't know whether that was instead of some other name or whether she had given up on names that wouldn't be used.
 
My mother called my oldest sister Thane. No middle name (as with the rest of us), just Thane. Bear in mind, this was in the late '40s.
She really couldn't recall where she got it from or what it meant - she had to look it up in a dictionary.
 
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