Southwest Airlines has apologised ...
 

As I have said before, some people forget that the Internet is a two-way channel. It does not matter what you think of the name on the boarding pass - you keep it to yourself!

BBC

I hope Abcde told them to F off.

it is a stupid name even by American standards but its a child involved and like it or not she probably gets a few remarks about it if she is at school butt hats just other children for an adult to do this in public is really thoughtless and unkind-the gate agent should get a transfer to the ramp for a few months next summer in somewhere like Phoenix .

I used to see Immigration people pointing at my passport-old style brit cardboard type and showing their colleagues and sometimes photo copying it. In Oslo one day i asked the guy what he was doing. My passport was issued in Bermuda and indeed had Government of Bermuda not Uk on the front and he said most immigration staff keep a personal tally of all the countries they have seen and clearly mine was an unusual and coveted one. probably illegal under DP rules these days but harmless enough and at least kept them on their toes but making fun of someones name is a very childish thing to do especially for someone in a customer facing position

Having a quiet afternoon, I read the rest of the article:

I suppose if you have more than 26 kids you run into a problem...

They interviewed the mom on the news. She said that she had the idea of naming a child Abcde when she was 6 years old (the mom). Funny how some people just don't grow up.

I worked with a guy who was expecting a child. Last name of Stein. They toyed with the idea of naming him Franklin N. Stein. For about 10 minutes. And then said "Nope. Not going to saddle our kid with that kind of burden."

One of my high school classmates, a delightful, funny, and intelligent young man, bore the name Straighton Hard III. Some years later, Straighton partnered with his good friend, Harry Root, to form a heavy construction company. I (and others) used to enjoy driving in downtown Atlanta and seeing huge (uuuuuge!) cranes emblazoned with signs proclaiming: "Hard-Root Construction Company"!

- Ed

Gee!

Jack

DaveReidUK wins 'Top of the Form' this week. (That's a UK reference for those of a certain age) In modern: Gold Star.

Would you call Kland a stupid name?

While many first pronounce it as kland - they soon learn to pronounce it as Kay-Land.

A fairly unique name but I don't think stupid, his siblings have fairly unique names also one more common over the World the other over a small country.

You're stupid. No such thing as fairly unique. It is impossible.. Rare yes, but unique implies only one of.

Iceland has it right.. They have a large but limited range of legally acceptable names. Wish the UK and USA would do the same.

I have not seen another (for a person) so fairly unique stands - there may be another person, there certainly are enterprise names of the same.

fairly

/ˈfɛːli/

adverb

1. 1.

with justice.

"he could not fairly be accused of wasting police time"synonyms:
justly, equitably, impartially, without bias, without prejudice, without fear or favour, with an open mind, open-mindedly, even-handedly, objectively, neutrally, disinterestedly; More
2. 2.

to a moderately high degree.

"I was fairly certain she had nothing to do with the affair"synonyms:
reasonably, passably, tolerably, satisfactorily, sufficiently, adequately, moderately, quite, rather, somewhat, relatively, comparatively; More




unique

/juːˈniːk/

adjective

1. 1.

being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else.

"the situation was unique in British politics"synonyms:
distinctive, individual, special, especial, idiosyncratic, quirky, eccentric, isolated;More
noun

ARCHAIC

1. 1.

a unique person or thing.

"some of Lamb's writings were so memorably beautiful as to be uniques in their class

An online review of the book - "Why Shouldn't I Call My Son Clint?" -
"Like a tiny piece of personalised music, each of us has a name that, like all sounds, evokes some small and subconscious response from those we meet. This collective reaction, over the years of our existence, can gently trickle down and influence whom we become. This book is a must-read if you are faced with one of the following scenarios..... 1. You've either fallen pregnant - or knocked-up your girlfriend - and are trying desperately to arrive at a baby name that won't destroy the child's life. 2. You work with an idiot and you wonder how they became an idiot. 3. Your parents didn't have access to this book and they mysteriously called you Nigel, Colleen, Sharon or Kingston. And you wonder why people seem to treat you differently."

In New Zealand a few years ago there was a highly publicised account of the school teacher who did something about one of his pupils called Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii. He went to court and got a direction form the magistrate that her name was to be changed to something more manageable. The contemporary cartoon in the Auckland paper showed a man, Mr Az, standing in the dock in court. He was asked by counsel to tell the court his given name. He replied "Guilty".
Then there was the well known case in New York of the two black brothers. One had been christened Winner. The other was named Loser. (Loser went on to find well-paid employment. Winner ended up in the slammer.)

Nigel Lawson's daughter was named Nigella. Imagine if Salman Rushdie had done something similar with his daughter?

John Cleese is properly pronounced John CL-EASE His father was Jack Cheese. The young Cheese would have none of it. He went to the Post Office. There he looked through every phone book in the UK. To his delight, there was no one named Cleese. And that is a true story.

So the true story would be that Cleese at the time, was known by John to be a unique surname in the UK by persons that had listed phone numbers.