I have remembered Colton Burpo. Poor, poor Colton Burpo. Christ. That name. It wouldn't be so fun to say if his last name wasn't Burpo but it is. what does burpo even mean i must learn
Well. My family is a treasure trove of weird names. My grandmother is named Waner (pronounced VUN-ner, vun rhymes with fun). And all her sisters had names that started with Ws sounding like Vs, many of which were just... made up on the spot. You had Walda, Wanda, Wania, Walila... And then you had their only male brother... Wandencolq. *~*~Wandencolq~*~* Let me tell you about great-uncle Wandencolq. Fondly nicknamed "Cocky" because of course he was. His mother, my great-grandmother, was a New Christian - this means converted Jew, calling herself a Christian out loud and practicing Judaism in secret because being Jewish was illegal. She got married to an "Italian" guy named João de Deus (lit "John of God", a common name for bastards and freed slaves). João de Deus's brothers were all named things like Giuseppe, Paolo, Tortellini, Gorgonzola etc... clearly he was a bastard son, but goddamn it, he still counted as "Italian" for the purposes of our bloodline DEFINITELY HAVING ITALIAN BLOOD AND NOT ICKY BRAZILIAN BLOOD WITH ALL THOSE BROWN AND BLACK PEOPLE MIXED IN, AND ALSO NOT JEWS, ARE YOU KIDDING. Okay, this is a rant about racism that I'm gonna save for another day. Point is. Both of my great-grandparents were barely literate but Oh So European Brazilians living in the port town of Rio Grande, in the countryside of the southernmost state of Brazil. Meaning they lived in a subsection of the Ass End of Nowhere that happened to get lots of European ships docking, and European people living there. One such European dude was a Dutch guy, whose last name was Van der Kolch. My great-grandma, bless her soul, probably had a HUGE LADYBONER FOR MR. VAN DER KOLCH, so much that she decided, what the hell, I'M GONNA NAME MY FIRSTBORN AFTER THIS GUY. My great-granpa was apparently Totally Cool With His Wife Naming Their Child After This Other Bloke. Problem? Neither of them had any clue how the fuck to spell Van der Kolch. Thus, great-uncle WANDENCOLQ was born. Edit: paging @witchknights because I think she'll appreciate this particularly Brazilian bit of weirdness
@budgie it's a kind of italian pasta, that was a joke, just to illustrate how VERY ITALIAN everyone's names were besides my great-granpa's
I was 99% convinced that was the case, but since that was the family that turned out Waldencolq, there was that lingering doubt.
I should add that while my birthname is pretty common, my father (Wandencolq's nephew because of course he is) wanted me to be named Partenope or, failing that, Guinevere.
If I ever name a child Jennifer I will name her with the Irish spelling because I hate her. You must suffer, Fionnabhair.
In Brazil, very botched spellings of foreign names are very common, especially among poorer families who tend to see those as a sign of status. I have taught not one, but two entirely separete children, not related in any way whatsoever as far as I knew, both of whom were named Hewellynn - pronounced "Evelyn"
@Wiwaxia liked my post about Wandencolq and I know there's a "w username" joke there somewhere but I can't find it..........
Terrible Puritan Given Names are pretty much my favorite thing ever. Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith Fly-fornication Fear-God, also Praise-God Die-well More-trial Abstinence
My favorite is the dog called Moreover, named after a bible passage saying "Moreover the dog came and licked his wounds..." ETA: also tag yourself I'm More-trial
