I recently stumbled across this article – No joke: Ex-mayor’s name too funny for Indiana government center
Fort Wayne, Indiana is building a new government center and is brainstorming what to call it. They’re hosting an online poll, but it doesn’t look like they are going to select the first place winner, even though one name is winning by a land slide.
What’s the issue? The name is Harry Baals.
Just to be clear, this name isn’t a made up joke. Harry Baals was a very popular former major who served four years in the 1930s and 1950s. He is exactly the type of man you would want to name a government center after.
But the town is worried about becoming a joke. (Probably with good reason.)
This is an issue that hits a bit close to home for me. You see, my last name is an actual English word. It’s one of those words that I think has a relatively high chance of becoming a dirty joke or making my daughter sound like a stripper.
It’s hard to predict what’s going to be hilariously filthy 30 years from now. I gave my children pretty standard names (James who we call “J” for short and Audrey) and I hope they’re full names will still be safe to utter in front of 13 years olds in the future, but still I worry a little. The potential for unfortunate jokes was definitely something I considered when picking names.
Back when former governor Harry Baals was named, the name wasn’t funny. His parent didn’t purposely select something that was too conversational to put on a building.
On one level, I find the whole thing pretty amusing. But I honestly do feel for the family. They’ve even changed the pronunciation of their last name to “Bales” from “Balls” in a an effort to protect Harry from ridicule. It’s sad that this man will miss on out the honor simply because of his name.
There is so much pressure on parents when picking names! Here these folks tried to give their child a nice, normal name and it back fired.
It makes me curious about the times when parents are trying to be unique or trendy. I wonder what some of these celebrity kids will think of their unique monikers as they grow up. But I guess getting a huge inheritance will soften any blows.
I just hope my kid’s names remain nice and normal. I guess only time will tell...
10 comments:
That's too funny and unfortunate at the same time. I'm so curious as to what will happen!
Ahhh that is sad. I try to think of the same thing when I am picking out kid's names.
Yep there are some strange names out there and Harry's is one of them.
Have a terrific day. :)
Well it's true that all the money can pay for all the therapy the kids will most likely need, but I do feel kinda bad for this guy. They should just go with it and stop caring what people think.
Poor Harry. But it does remind me of an unfortunate boy in my high school class, Aaron. Last name: Fuchs. Attempts to pronunciate never did it justice.
Yes, there are names out there that are just unfortunate. I spent a lot of time picking out my kids names too in the event that someone could make fun of them.
Such an interesting post which brought about a few giggles... it is unfortunate that names get changed and fiddled with by teenagers to make it funny... but parents try their best to pick 'good' names for their children and I guess the only thing they can do afterwards is to arm them with a strong character and confidence to block out the ridicule if they were ever hit with it. Loved reading your post...
Hey Mia Farrow named her kid Satchel. He changed his name to Ronan.
I saw the report about Harry Baals on the Colbert Report, it was hilarious!
As Shakespear said, "what's in a name?" (I think that's what he said)
;D
*shaking head*
We were very careful about naming our kids too, to avoid any possible teasing. And yet, they still find SOMETHING.
But I will admit - Harry Baals makes me laugh out loud
Man, that poor guy. There was a gyno in my hometown named Richard Stiff (or some spelling of stiff), making him Dick Stiff. Of course, he made things worse by choosing the profession he did.
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