2. 2
Calling Someone Out of Their Name:
Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Father
• Henry Louis Gates Jr. became famous as the
author of The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of
Afro-American Literary Criticism (1988). He
was included in Time Magazine’s “25 Most
Influential Americans.”
• In his book, Gates relates a childhood
experience:
3. 3
• His father always spoke to Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Wilson always
spoke back:
• “‘Hello, Mr. Wilson,’ I heard my father say.
• ‘Hello, George.’
• I stopped licking my ice cream cone, and asked my Dad in a
loud voice why Mr. Wilson had called him ‘George.’
• ‘Doesn’t he know your name, Daddy? Why don’t you tell him
your name? Your name isn’t George.’”
4. 4
• ‘Tell him your name, Daddy.’
• ‘He knows my name, boy,’ my father said after a long pause.
‘He calls all colored people George.’
• There would be a painful moment of silence, and you would
wait for it to give way for a discussion of a black superstar such
as Sugar Ray or Jackie Robinson.
• ‘Nobody hits better in a clutch than Jackie Robinson.’
• ‘That’s right. Nobody.’
• I never again looked Mr. Wilson in the eye.”
6. 6
Tom Ross
a.k.a. Tikvah Rosenberg
• In his book, Tikvah Rosenberg tells the following story:
• In 1938, the Rosenbergs left Nazi Germany when Tom was six.
• In an attempt to downplay their Jewish heritage, the
Rosenbergs changed their surname to Ross when they arrived
in the United States.
• In order to regain his cultural heritage, Tom legally changed his
surname back to Rosenberg.
7. 7
• But telling his children was difficult: “The
initiatives attacking social services for
immigrants, bilingual education, Affirmative
Action—made me want to shout ‘I’m an
immigrant!’ My children were silent for a
moment before they smiled, leaned over, and
hugged me.”
• When his rabbi heard of his decision, he
asked Tom if he had thought about taking a
Hebrew first name?
8. 8
• About his decision, he tells his children,
“Every time I step into a temple, I’m reminded
that Judaism has survived for 4,000 years.”
• “It has survived because it is a positive
religion. My parents, your grandparents,
changed their name out of fear. I’m changing
it back out of pride.”
• “I chose the name Tikvah because it means
hope.”
9. 9
CHARACTERS FROM
LITERATURE, ETC.
• David Copperfield is a character in a Charles
Dickens novel.
• The other David Copperfield is a magician.
• Englebert Humperdinck is the German Composer of
the opera “Hansel and Gretel.”
• The other Englebert Humperdinck is a rock
musician.
• Tom Jones is a character in a Henry Fielding novel.
• The other Tom Jones is a rock musician.
13. 13
HISPANIC NAMES
• In Spain and Latin America, if a girl
were named Ana Maria López
Garcia, she has two surnames. The
first one is her father’s (López), and
the second one is her mother’s
(Garcia).
14. 14
• If Ana Maria López Garcia married
Gregorio Díaz Rodriguez, then she would
write her name as Ana Maria López de
Díaz.
• In Mexico, Ana Maria López de Díaz would
go by her maiden name daily (Maria López
Garcia), but on formal documentation she
would identify herself with her married
name (Ana Maria López de Díaz).
15. 15
• If she were to have a
child, Alicia, Alicia’s full
name would be Alicia
López Díaz, keeping both
her father’s and her
mother’s surnames.
16. 16
SUSANNE K. LANGER’S
OBSERVATION
“Watch a young child that is just learning to
speak play with a toy; he says the name of
the object, e.g.: `Horsey! horsey! horsey!’
over and over again, and looks at the object,
moves it, always saying the name to himself
or to the world at large.
It’s quite a time before he talks to anyone
in particular; he talks first of all to himself.”
17. 17
“This is his way of forming and fixing the conception
of the object in his mind, and around this conception
all his knowledge of it grows. Names are the
essence of language…”
“…for the name is what abstracts the conception of
the horse from the horse itself, and lets the mere
idea recur at the speaking of the name. This permits
the conception gathered from one horse experience
to be exemplified again by another instance of a
horse, so that the notion embodied in the name is a
general notion.”
21. 21
STAGE NAMES AWAY FROM
ETHNICITY
• Aaron Chwatt Red Buttons
• Jacob Cohen Rodney Dangerfield
• David Kaminsky Danny Kaye
• Melvin Kaminsky Mel Brooks
• Allan Konigsberg Woody Allen
• Joseph Levitch Jerry Lewis
• Paul Rubenfeld Pee-Wee Herman
• Gerald Silberman Gene Wilder
27. 27
MADONNA
• A member of the American Name
Society interviewed Madonna,
who expressed surprise that
anyone still thought of the mother
of Jesus when hearing the name
of “Madonna.”
29. 29
THE MARX BROTHERS
• Art Fisher was the first one to give stage names to
the Marx Brothers. Groucho explains:
• “I was the moody one, so he called me ‘Groucho.’
The harp player Adolph—who, after Hitler’s rise to
power changed his name to Arthur—would be
known as ‘Harpo.’ The fellow who wore the
gumshoes (Milton, who had a habit of sneaking
around backstage) would be known as ‘Gummo.’
And the one constantly chasing the pretty chicks
would be called ‘Chicko.’ When a typesetter
accidentally left the k out of Chicko’s name, he
became ‘Chico.’”
31. 31
MARX AND LENIN
• In celebration of its independence from the
Soviet Union, the country of Abkhazia issued
a stamp honoring Marx and Lenin.
• If someone looks closely at the stamp, they
can see pictures of Groucho Marx and John
Lennon of the Beatles.
34. 34
VLADIMIR NABOKOV
• “LOLITA, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my
soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of
three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the
teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.”
• “She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four
feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She
was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted
line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.”
36. 36
DOLLY PARTON
• Dolly is the name of the first cloned
sheep.
• This is because Dolly was cloned from
a mammary gland.
• She was named, therefore, “in honor
of” the buxom Dolly Parton.
38. 38
PRODUCT & STORE NAMES
• Hush Puppy shoes are for tired dogs. Hush Puppies (cornmeal
fried with fish) were given their name because they were
thrown to dogs to keep them from whining.
• V-8 Vegetable Juice was named after the Ford V-8 engine. The
Ford engine was V-shaped and had 8 cylinders; V-8 juice has 8
vegetable juices.
• Circle K is like OK.
• 7-Eleven comes from the game of “Craps,” a game of dice.
Originally. These stores were open from 7 AM until 11 PM.
42. 42
BABY RUTH
• The original Baby Ruth was the daughter of
President Grover Cleveland and his wife.
• In 1914, when he was only 19 and had a childlike
personality, George Herman Ruth’s baseball fans
started calling him “Babe,” which later became Babe
Ruth in association with President Cleveland’s baby.
• Later came the “Baby Ruth” candy bar.
44. 44
TOPONYMICS
• The Rock of Gibraltar and the Hudson River gave us the name
of Rock Hudson.
• Janet Rasmussen’s father changed their family name to Reno,
after a city in Nevada.
• Other such names are River Phoenix, John Denver, Tennessee
Williams, Minnesota Fats, Chevy Chase, Indiana Jones, and all
of the people named Dakota, Tex, Cody, Montana, etc.
48. 48
•EPONYMS: ferris wheel, salk vaccine
•EUPHONYMS: Edna St. Vincent Millay
•EXONYMS: Chinese Checkers, Gypsies,
Mormons, Navajos, Papago, Quakers, Wales
•GENERIC EPONYMS: Bud, Guy, Jack (le
jacquerie), Jane, John
•HETERONYMS: bass, bow, close, dove, house,
lead, read, row, sow, tear, wind, wound
49. Eponyms: Ferris Wheel & Salk Vaccine
George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., & Jonas Salk
49
50. 50
•HOMOGRAPHS: bank, bank
•HOMONYMS: to-too-two, bank-bank
•HOMOPHONES: to-too-two
•LABELS OF PRIMARY POTENCY: abortion, honkey,
red neck
•NICKNAMES: Bob, Dick, Tom
•ORONYMS: the stuffy nose vs. the stuff he knows,
the Pulitzer prize vs. the pullet surprise, iced ink vs. I
stink
54. 54
CONCLUSION: PERSONAL INFORMATION
I. WRITE DOWN THE FOLLOWING: 1. Your own last
name, 2. Last names of your friends, 3. Last names of
your relatives, 4. Last names of famous people you
know
II. PLACE THE NAMES YOU WROTE DOWN INTO THE
FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: 1. Derived from a place, 2.
Derived from an occupation, 3. Derived from a
description, 4. Derived from a relative (Patronymic)
55. 55
WOMEN'S NAMES: My wife could identify herself with any of
the following names: 1. Alleen Pace, 2. Alleen Pace-Nilsen, 3.
Alleen Pace Nilsen, 4. Alleen Nilsen, 5. Mrs. Don L. F. Nilsen.
Tell about women that you know that make one of the above
choices, and explain why.
PLACE NAMES: Write down the names of five states in the
United States. Also write down the names of five cities in
your home state. Be able to explain both.
56. 56
PLACE NAMES: LIST CITIES
• Arizona
• California
• Florida
• Illinois
• Michigan
• New York
• South Carolina
• Texas
• Virginia
57. Kan Ghu Ru
When the English settlers
landed in Australia, they
noticed a strange animal
that jumped extremely
high and far.
They asked the aboriginal
people using body
language and signs,
trying to ask them about
this animal.
57
58. They responded with “Kan Ghu Ru.”
The English then adopted the word
“kangaroo.
What the aboriginal people were really
trying to say was, “We don’t understand
you.”
“Kan Ghu Ru.”
58
59. 59
NAMES WEB SITES
AMERICAN NAME SOCIETY:
http://www.americannamesociety.org/
HUMOROUS NAMES OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS:
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/sillymolecules/sillymols.htm
