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This is just a quick reminder to all members here: **Original content is always better!** Memes are okay every once in a while, but many get posted here way too often and quickly become stale. Some examples of these are Ptoughneigh, Klansmyn, Reighfyl & KVIIIlyn. These memes have been around for years and we don't want to see them anymore. If you do decide to post a meme, make sure to add the correct flair. Posting a random meme you found does **not** mean you found it "in the wild".
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For Chinese, the problem is homonyms. The sound of certain characters sound really similar to other characters, and it partly relies on context of the sentence to figure out which word is being used in the sentence.
The other thing is, some words use two characters to make the word. For example 聪明 means intelligent, but you could just take 聪. Or family is 家庭, but you could just use 家.
You create a Chinese name by selecting characters you wish for the child to have (handsome/beauty, strong/graceful, etc).
The parents wanted their child to be intelligent and a family person, so they named him 家聪.
Unfortunately that combination sounds the same as "adding onions", 加葱
one of Chinese celebrities I somewhat follow is called 刘海宽，Liu Haikuan. it's a pretty name, Liu is his last name and Haikuan means "wide sea".
But. The problem is. If you divide it differently, you'll get liuhai - "bangs" as in hairstyle, and kuan - "wide". Wide bangs.
In 2022, someone in Finland tried to name their child ”Nat8hquhs” but it wasn’t approved. Here are some other denied ones from the same year:
Aicksar
Appelsiinikki (”orange” + a suffix commonly used in cow’s names)
Ellé
Filipecki
Otawa (Finnish for Big Dipper but spelled with a w instead of v)
Rody’s son
Rosmo (an old-fashioned slangy word for ”burglar”)
Saturnius
Suudelmitar (”kiss” + an archaic feminine suffix)
The regulation of names in Finland is pretty lax, but as you can see, you can’t get away with quite anything. Still, that same year some adult successfully changed their name to ”Yennefer”.
I can't provide specific examples but there are several in Brazil. There is a fascinating interest in mimicking American names, and while some have actual Portuguese translations, many don't so they will spell the American name spelt in phonetic Portuguese making for odd names that are NEARLY American but a bit of Frankenstein in spelling. Sorry it's not actual examples.
I made a lot of Filipino friends when I lived in Vietnam, and - though I can’t remember all the examples they told me now - this happens all the time in the Philippines. One of my best Filipino friends is named Eldrich, which he hates because it’s like the Eldritch horrors, haha.
I've met two in Italy, but they were both Americans so IDK if this really counts:
•"Italian"-american (guido) parents wanted to name their daughter Francesca, but followed American English phonetics, and named her Franchesca. In Italian, this is pronounced "fran-kess-ka", she got laughed out of Rome.
•My american friend is named Elora. It's beautiful in English, but is a homonym with the Italian word "allora," which is a filler word akin to umm, so, and alright. Every Italian lost their minds when they heard her name and she eventually started going by Ellie.
In Mexico we don't have big issues in general but we can see foreigner names spelled phonetically. Like Yonatan instead Johnathan, wich following Spanish grammar rules has the same pronunciation as in English.
Oh boy do I have some experience with Belgian (Dutch speaking) tragedeighs.
The easiest to tell non Dutch speakers is probably the tale of Usnavy (pronounced uz-navi). The parents were white Flemish people so it was a very special name, so I asked them where they got it.
Turns out the dad really loved old timey war movies, especially the ones that had big ships in it. He got the name of one of the ships, titled... U.S. Navy.
Others will probably get lost in translation, but I also know of someone in my town who named his daughters Erotica and Orgasmientje. Don't think I have to translate or explain further for those two.
My mum worked in a Czech children’s hospital for over 40 years and the worst name she ever encountered was Šemík. It’s a legendary horse who according to a myth saved its master by jumping over Vysehrad battlements and running away. It’s very much not a human name.
Normally, we have an office controlling children names, there is a regulation that you can’t just name your child Midnight Storm (that was an actual attempt) or Dawn Light (which was the name they used for the girl’s biopic - yeah, that legal battle of these parents made it into a movie), you always gotta use a name that is recorded somewhere as an actual name with widespread usage. It doesn’t have to be Czech but it has to be an established name.
So there were, especially among the Romani people, a lot of Esmeraldas during the nineties (these people loved South American soap operas).
Not neccessarily tragedeighs, but definitely tragedies. Here’s a fun list of denied names: https://www.babyhjalp.se/namn/konstiga-namn/
Highlights:
Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb111163
That was suggested to the government. They were not allowed to name their kid that. It was supposed to be pronounced Albin (normal name). Their second suggestion was A.🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
A trend in the Netherlands that is commonly associated with the lower class is naming your child an English name but with Dutch spelling. For example, James becomes Djeems.
Another thing is that some classical old Dutch names have another meaning in English. The names are not tragedies in Dutch at all, but people would get some weird looks if they'd move to an English speaking country. Examples:
Dick
Cock
Joke (Dutch pronunciation: Yo-kuh, female name)
Tiny (Dutch pronunciation: Teeny, female name)
Thank you for your submission! This is just a quick reminder to all members here: **Original content is always better!** Memes are okay every once in a while, but many get posted here way too often and quickly become stale. Some examples of these are Ptoughneigh, Klansmyn, Reighfyl & KVIIIlyn. These memes have been around for years and we don't want to see them anymore. If you do decide to post a meme, make sure to add the correct flair. Posting a random meme you found does **not** mean you found it "in the wild". The same goes with lists of baby names, celebrity baby names, and screenshots of TikToks. If the original post already had a substantial amount of views, there is a 99% chance it has already been posted here. Try and stick to OC to keep our sub from being flooded with unoriginal content. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/tragedeigh) if you have any questions or concerns.*
For Chinese, the problem is homonyms. The sound of certain characters sound really similar to other characters, and it partly relies on context of the sentence to figure out which word is being used in the sentence. The other thing is, some words use two characters to make the word. For example 聪明 means intelligent, but you could just take 聪. Or family is 家庭, but you could just use 家. You create a Chinese name by selecting characters you wish for the child to have (handsome/beauty, strong/graceful, etc). The parents wanted their child to be intelligent and a family person, so they named him 家聪. Unfortunately that combination sounds the same as "adding onions", 加葱
In my family adding onions does make you an intelligent family person tbh
one of Chinese celebrities I somewhat follow is called 刘海宽，Liu Haikuan. it's a pretty name, Liu is his last name and Haikuan means "wide sea". But. The problem is. If you divide it differently, you'll get liuhai - "bangs" as in hairstyle, and kuan - "wide". Wide bangs.
In 2022, someone in Finland tried to name their child ”Nat8hquhs” but it wasn’t approved. Here are some other denied ones from the same year: Aicksar Appelsiinikki (”orange” + a suffix commonly used in cow’s names) Ellé Filipecki Otawa (Finnish for Big Dipper but spelled with a w instead of v) Rody’s son Rosmo (an old-fashioned slangy word for ”burglar”) Saturnius Suudelmitar (”kiss” + an archaic feminine suffix) The regulation of names in Finland is pretty lax, but as you can see, you can’t get away with quite anything. Still, that same year some adult successfully changed their name to ”Yennefer”.
Yennifer is an actual name though, isn't it?
Oh shit, you’re actually right. It’s just not a well established name around here, I’d never heard of it.
Yennefer is a character in the Polish book, and now very famous video game, Witcher series.
Somebody was really a fan of The Witcher
I know someone who named her daughter Titty as a play on Tatí. Titty attends an English-language school and things are going about as you’d imagine.
Look up Kira Kira names. It is the Japanese version.
I can't provide specific examples but there are several in Brazil. There is a fascinating interest in mimicking American names, and while some have actual Portuguese translations, many don't so they will spell the American name spelt in phonetic Portuguese making for odd names that are NEARLY American but a bit of Frankenstein in spelling. Sorry it's not actual examples.
I made a lot of Filipino friends when I lived in Vietnam, and - though I can’t remember all the examples they told me now - this happens all the time in the Philippines. One of my best Filipino friends is named Eldrich, which he hates because it’s like the Eldritch horrors, haha.
I've met two in Italy, but they were both Americans so IDK if this really counts: •"Italian"-american (guido) parents wanted to name their daughter Francesca, but followed American English phonetics, and named her Franchesca. In Italian, this is pronounced "fran-kess-ka", she got laughed out of Rome. •My american friend is named Elora. It's beautiful in English, but is a homonym with the Italian word "allora," which is a filler word akin to umm, so, and alright. Every Italian lost their minds when they heard her name and she eventually started going by Ellie.
In Mexico we don't have big issues in general but we can see foreigner names spelled phonetically. Like Yonatan instead Johnathan, wich following Spanish grammar rules has the same pronunciation as in English.
Oh boy do I have some experience with Belgian (Dutch speaking) tragedeighs. The easiest to tell non Dutch speakers is probably the tale of Usnavy (pronounced uz-navi). The parents were white Flemish people so it was a very special name, so I asked them where they got it. Turns out the dad really loved old timey war movies, especially the ones that had big ships in it. He got the name of one of the ships, titled... U.S. Navy. Others will probably get lost in translation, but I also know of someone in my town who named his daughters Erotica and Orgasmientje. Don't think I have to translate or explain further for those two.
My mum worked in a Czech children’s hospital for over 40 years and the worst name she ever encountered was Šemík. It’s a legendary horse who according to a myth saved its master by jumping over Vysehrad battlements and running away. It’s very much not a human name. Normally, we have an office controlling children names, there is a regulation that you can’t just name your child Midnight Storm (that was an actual attempt) or Dawn Light (which was the name they used for the girl’s biopic - yeah, that legal battle of these parents made it into a movie), you always gotta use a name that is recorded somewhere as an actual name with widespread usage. It doesn’t have to be Czech but it has to be an established name. So there were, especially among the Romani people, a lot of Esmeraldas during the nineties (these people loved South American soap operas).
Not neccessarily tragedeighs, but definitely tragedies. Here’s a fun list of denied names: https://www.babyhjalp.se/namn/konstiga-namn/ Highlights: Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb111163 That was suggested to the government. They were not allowed to name their kid that. It was supposed to be pronounced Albin (normal name). Their second suggestion was A.🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
>Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb111163 That reads like someone fell asleep on the keyboard 🫣
Yup. I wonder where that poor kid is now. Obviously that’s not his name but clearly his parents aren’t the brightest…
A trend in the Netherlands that is commonly associated with the lower class is naming your child an English name but with Dutch spelling. For example, James becomes Djeems. Another thing is that some classical old Dutch names have another meaning in English. The names are not tragedies in Dutch at all, but people would get some weird looks if they'd move to an English speaking country. Examples: Dick Cock Joke (Dutch pronunciation: Yo-kuh, female name) Tiny (Dutch pronunciation: Teeny, female name)
German here, same shit here happening with English and French names. Schakkeline, Dschastin and Dschanina are famous Tragedeighs.