Postage Stamp Chat Board & Stamp Bulletin Board Forum
 

A story about the descendants of Nazi war criminals.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18120890

Interesting.....

Somewhat off topic but my mother's family were Swiss....Vuichoud.

When they immigrated to rural QLD in the 1920s 'Vuichoud' was regarded as unspellable, unprounouncable and probably suspect.... and still is.

My uncle did a property development in Bundaberg recently and wanted a street named for the family...the Council quite rightly rejected this on the grounds that residents wouldn't be able to spell or pronunce their address. They placated him with a small park....

MargoZ,

You are absolutely right, surnames of foreign origin draw attention.

A small park named after him is better than nothing.

Bormann and Himmler would be tough names to grow up with.

_________________
.
Click HERE to see superb, RARE and unusual stamps, at FIXED low nett prices, high rez photos, and NO buyer fees etc!

Notr quite the same spelling but I used to work with a Martin Boorman.

What were his parents thinking.

_________________
We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.

On the topic of hated surnames I went to school with a girl called 'Lucy Crack' !!! Oh & another I heard of locally was 'Virginia Dick', True !!!

Follow this link to the White Page Phone directory: http://www.whitepages.com.au/resSearch. ... n=Victoria

_________________
We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.

Found quite a few Dicks & Cracks in Victoria.....

One of the best I've ever heard of was a woman who was one of the wealthiest people in Texas in days past...her father served as the governor when she was young.

The family's name was "Hogg", and her parents unfortunately named her "Ima". More unfortunately, she was a rather large lady.

Then there was a Canadian gas station owner who had 15 seconds of fame on David Letterman, for having the name "Dick Assman".

_________________
Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

'Dick Assman', good God that's nearly as bad as Richard Pullar.....

In the real world there are people out there who have very unfortunate names.

I have actually met two people named (believe it or not) Richard Head. And no, neither ever shortened Richard to plain old Dick. I wonder why

Have you ever seen criminals and unfortunates who were named after a movie character. I wonder if the name was a hoodoo

Life just didn't work out for them. I mean if you were named after John Wayne you were destined for trouble, e.g.:

John Wayne Gacy (serial rapist and killer) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy

John Wayne Bobbit (a victim of penile amputation by his wife )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_Lorena_Bobbitt

And who could ever forget our very own "Granny Killer" - John Wayne Glover
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/glover/killer_1.html

A friend of mine at work a few years ago was Gary Crapp. He changed his name to George.

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Aethelwulf: That story of the Hogg sisters of Texas is true. Ima's sister was named Ura. What can the Gov. Hogg been thinking?

_________________
Jim M.

There's a Phil McCracken in Pennsylvania, but I'm not sure Justin Sider is a real person.

It's not just hated surnames either. There was a kid at high school named Adolf. And we think bullying is bad now!

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

I once consulted Dr Dong, and had a colleague named Dr Doctor.

I attended a post-graduate study with a Richard Head at the CCAE ( Canberra). Yes, an unfortunate name given by unthinking parents to a very fine person.

Stalin's daughter, Svetlana, said once that anywhere she goes she will always be a political prisoner of her father's name.

There is a village in Germany named "Wank"

I hope you're not implying that the people who live there are 'wankers'?

A few months ago in a German newspaper they printed the story of a German family Hell which emigrated to Australia and had serious troubles there. It appears that schools refused to accept their children afraid of the effect it might have on the rest of the kids.
I should explain that the German Hell has many meanings, as:
clear, bright,loud, plain, evident. The name is fairly frequent because it was given to a lot of fair haired people. It could also apply to persons who think clearly.

By the way: My name pronounced in French sounds like "enfer" so I was a hell boy, too.

Old joke from Milwaukee, a city of many German / Polish / Scandinavian and other immigrants.

Guy goes to court to get his name changed because people laugh at him. Judge asks "What's your name?"

Guy answers "Georg Liftshitz"

Judge says "I understand perfectly. What do you want to change it to?"

Guy says "Gary Liftshitz"

There is a Dentist here in the area with the name, Dr George Pain. Wonder if he gets many patients

_________________
I buy too much, can't sell enough - but the information here is priceless.

There was a Doctor (surgeon) in Chicago back in the 1950's named Dr. Slaughter. He operated on a number of people from a small town near Chicago (which I grew up in) and people used to say "Oh, I'm going to Slaughter". Never quite understood that when I was 7 or 8.

_________________
Jim M.

There's a very good programme on BBC iPlayer which I really recommend you all to watch on a related topic: "Hitler's children" which focuses on the effects and consequences of living with a genuinely hated surname.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... _Children/

Ben

All concerned

In England in the 1960's I was in high school with a young lady called Janice Dick. Nobody thought anything about it especially with someone called Maureen Bottomley in the class.

When I arrived here in America in 1979, I met a lady who went to high school in Virginia who also had a female classmate with the last name Dick. Her parents gave her the first name "Iona."

You cannot make this stuff up.

Kindest regards

Richard Debney

There is a Doctor in Sydney named Dr Death.
He is adamant it is pronounced Dr "Deeth".

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Best man at my wedding was Phil McCann and yes every person who offered thought they were the first to do so...

Reminds me of the British comedy series Keeping Up Appearances; the main character was a middle-class woman who tried hard to put on airs of grandeur. Her husband's family though was "Bucket"; she went around saying "It's pronounced 'boo-kay', its French, you know".

Thanks iomoon for adding to the Hogg story. I remember the story of Ima since many years ago from a series on, IIRC, A&E about art collectors in the Gilded Age, but didn't know "Boss Hogg" (I watched a lot of Dukes of Hazzard when I was young) had Ura. Texan sense of humour?

_________________
Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

I saw this documentary last week, and thought of it right away when I first saw the thread here.

Makes me wonder what people who happen to share the same name/surname do when someone becomes famous/infamous. Post-WW2, did anyone with the surname Hitler modify it to, say, Hiller?

Canada had a mid-size city named Berlin (in Ontario there is also a London and Paris, not to mention Toronto used to be called York). After the outbreak of WWI, they switched the name to Kitchener (Lord Kitchener being Minister of Defence I believe?), and the name has remained that way since.

And of course its always pointed out that the House of Windsor named itself thus at the same time, to distance themselves from their German cousins. Did they really think everyone would forget so quickly where QV's husband was from?

And WWII-related, there's the famous town in northern Ontario called Swastika.

_________________
Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

Interesting thread

Names doesnt have to be crass to be out there

My proper name is Raymond RAYMENT (my father and his father had the same name)

Go figure - cant wait until a Time Machine is invented so that I can go back in time and ask my ancester who started this to ask him what was he thinking

Needless to say growing up and even now I use my middle name Ian to save a lot confusion

I used to bank at a place where the male teller was named Len Roots. He was fond of placing his nameplate next to that of a female teller.

Then there's the german friends with surnames of Kunst and Fuchs. Would make good company for a Cox.

Speaking of town names, there's Hell, Michigan, which has exploited the name as a tourist destination (trap). The thing about Hell is, you can go through Hell to get from Detroit to Ann Arbor.

Didn't the Pennsylvania Deutsch (Amish) become Pennsylvania Dutch?

A lot of places changed names around WWI. Prussian Street in Manheim, PA became the ubiquitous Main Street. Probably many many such changes.

It's not so much the surnames as the combination of first and surnames. There's a Smith family on the block where I grew up. Three of their boys were named Tom, Dick, and Harry. What were they thinking?

Mary Sass drew laughter in grade school. Hard to get around this one.

I read an article in a paper once about some visiting German exchange students.
One girl was called "Fanny Burger".
What were her parents thinking?

At work during a previous life, I had to introduce a woman, Debbie Hymen to a guy named Barry Dick. (I am not joking)

Norm

_________________
Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Our Dentist used to be Mr. Blood.

_________________
FORESTS OLD, PASTURES NEW
(An expert is one who knows more and more, about less and less)

In the 60's/70's - Ryrie St? He was my dentist too if it was the same one.

Norm

_________________
Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Same one. He retired about 7-8 years ago. Haven't found a decent replacement yet

_________________
FORESTS OLD, PASTURES NEW
(An expert is one who knows more and more, about less and less)

The following are all people I've met:

Dr W.Ho

Roger Mee

Ivan Arsic (Pronounced "Arse itch")

Supaporn (common Thai girl's name)

_________________
Always on the lookout for Australian pre decimal First Day Covers.

Mike Litorus
PI (at)
MIKE LITORUS COLLECTIONS
Fort Myers, FL
http://www.whitepages.com/name/Litorus/

It could be hard to be an Assad, or Bin Laden, or Gaddafi in the western world.

*********

True story. We had a Hong Kong office about 1960 until "the handover". The majority of employees were Chinese and the company asked them to pick a western style first name to facilitate communications. This was common practice in HK and most people had picked out a name long before they came to work for us.

One of the more inventive had the very common family name of Ho. He selected Ivan as his business first name

Several mates of mine fondly remember a work colleague of theirs called Wanda O'Such-Goodhead . You couldn't make it up .

I'm surprised she is not an expert at defamation law etc.

_________________
We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.

Somewhere in the folder on my computer of funny pictures is one of a staff at, IIRC, a coffee shop. Pinned on the chest of her uniform is her nametag, "Maaboobeh". (Boobeh is Persian I think, saw a picture the other day of an Olympic track runner with that on her jersey).

_________________
Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

I remember a report of the numbe of people in the New York phone book in 1938 with the surname "Hitler"
There were many, but by 1946, the number had shrunk very considerably.
I went to school with a chap named Vincent Devery
We called him V.D.
What were the parents thinking.

Hi

After WW II a number of immigrants coming into the US were given "American Names".

I know a Michael and Mary Ann Quinn who are Jewish. When Michael's Polish grandfather came to the US the Judge could not pronounce his name so the judge said he was changing the surname to a real American name. Guess the name of the judge??

In New York a story/myth was making the rounds about name changing. It seems that one person wanted to change his name but the judge said if he, the judge, could live with his name the applicant can live with his. According to the rumor the judge's name was Schmuck.

What about Smucker, the jam and jelly maker?

When I did a consulting job for an actuary one of the names on a pension plan was Sandy Sailor.

My cousin is in the process of creating a family tree on Ancestry.com. Eastern European traces are difficult if not impossible. The families are Polish, Ukranian, Russian, German and Latvian. Many, many blocks as names, especially Polish ones, were changed and records destroyed during the war.

Jerry B

The first native born Texan govenor was Mr Hogg, he named his daughter Ima.
Should start a thread of hated fathers.

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Here in the Netherlands we have a lot of funny names.
When Napoleon took control he required that everyone must have a surname. Everyone had to go to register themselves. People who didn't had a surname, mostly farmers and villagers, made up there surname sometimes at the last moment seconds before registration!
Many people called themselves after their profession, hometown, father or something they just liked.
Some people didn't liked Napoleon and to mock him they called themselves 'de Keijzer', Dutch for 'the Emperor'. If you open a Dutch phonebook there will be many 'Emperors'!
Because of this polici most Dutch surnames actually mean something. For the Dutch the names are very normal, but translated to English they will sound very strange to foreigners.
Like the surnames 'Konijn' (Rabbit), 'de Hond' (the Dog), 'Naaktgeboren' (Born naked) and many many more.
My surname translated in English means 'Christmases' and some of my friends are called 'Roses', 'from the Castle', 'from the Dyke' and 'Acorn courtyard'!

_________________
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stewie1980/collections/
http://www.delcampe.net/stores/stewie1980

I suppose it's not just hated surnames either, it's what's put in front of them as well:-
In the small country town where I live we have a

Doris Dork
Wayne Kerr
Hans VanBlundersmakka

I mentioned this bit of history on another thread, and iomoon added to it stating that Ima Hogg had a sister...Ura Hogg.

_________________
Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/