The Strange Name Movie

A couple of years ago, I saw a guy called Garwin Cockhead appear on the nightly news. I loved his name so much, I took a photo of my TV. Just the other day I was reading the newspaper when I saw a death notice for poor old Peter Death.

This little documentary has changed my views on those people with strange names. My very own name has been misheard for one of the names featured in this documentary too - people have even hung up on me, thinking I was making a prank call. So I found this documentary incredibly interesting and well-made!

I figured it would be a light-hearted, humorous look at funny names. While there are laughs, it was actually a lot more serious and provided an in-depth look at how these people are affected by having such a name.

The bullying these people received was heartbreaking (check out the excellent doco 'Bully' if this subject is close to you). Alcoholism, sexual harassment of young girls like Cobbledick and Hooker. Quite sad stuff.

Ronald McDonald and 15 new schools, 15 new roll-calls, with 10 minutes of laughter each time his name was called out in class. I quickly began to admire these people for the ways they had learned to embrace this aspect of themselves.

I was glad that it also touched on some of the fun they had with their names - money made, no need for business cards, Paul and Linda McCartney getting holiday upgrades.

Just be kind to others and embrace who you are, warts and all.

Would have loved them to have covered how names can reflect professions. I did a portrait for my friends mum who, on being told that Drewitt wasn't me explaining that I'd drawn it for her, but my actual surname... said don't be that ridiculous, no one would have a name that stupid!

I employed a young lady after thinking the application was a wind up Laura Ashley, she was awesome. Then an application came in for a Max Sales, so after interviewing the young man, took him on and he too was awesome! Both made for retail!

An awesome DCi we met was a Richard Justice

Perhaps there's a sequel to be had

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Great documentary on an unusual subject. Some funny asides, but also a serious look at how a weird name can haunt a child into adulthood. But Tim Burr's mom would still name him the same way! Highly recommend.

While this film does not go very deep in its 50-minute running time, it does involve a wide range of names. Some very humorous, some just unusual. Then, there are one or two that seem out of place (Nardizzi is completely unwarranted).

Because it is short, it definitely is a fun diversion if you have an hour to kill. You can be grateful that your name does not make people laugh. (The closest I ever came is that I share my name with a baseball player, but that is fairly obscure.) I enjoyed this and would not have minded more.

The unfortunate thing is that people do not seem to know the real origin of their odd names. The Hooker family claims descent from General Hooker. That may be true, but it is certainly not true (as they claim) that the term "hooker" comes from the general. Another person tells a made-up tale about the origin of "malarkey".

5/27/18. A must-see movie for all people who plan to be parents with the power to influence the children they name for the rest of their lives. A lot should go into coming up with a good name for a child, yet this documentary shows how inadvertent awful names continue to plague children long into their adulthood. Be mindful of the gift to name a child and give the gift of a good name!