Names have a lot of power. They can mean everything and nothing. Some names mean you're either like God or God's Gift. Others make you sound like a warrior or a noble even if you have no such titles in real life. And sometimes others strike fear into the hearts of all, due to the atrocities that name has wrought upon. However there have often been many names that through accident or incident, that have been offensive simply because they happen to be spelt the same way as other offensive things. Like Racial and Sexual Slurs.
In this post in a bit of cringe humour I'm gonna list some of the most well known names that most would wonder how the hell they missed those.
First off people with the first or last name that sounds or is spelled like racial slurs:
Now these names could apply to first names, last names and god forbid even middle names. I only have one example, but it stands to reason. Carrie Coon. For those who don't know Carrie Coon is a famous actress who's most recent role is Callie Spengler in Ghostbusters Afterlife. She's also white. Why is that important? Well because her last name is spelled and sounded similar to the racial slur of the same name. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Even names like Black and White have teetered over to that corner based on how they been used. Especially out of context and it's often more awkwardly funny when it happens to be someone who's race is opposite of what those names are after. Prominent examples include MIB where each time K and J go to investigate, K give the name Special Agent Black and Dr. White Respectively. Of course who can also forget that awkward dubbing moment in Dragon Ball Super where Goku was mistaken by the future resistance for his evil counterpart. Goku Black:
They knew what they were doing.
The next category is names after sexual slurs:
There have been many names that either inadvertently are named after one's private parts or end up becoming a homophobic slur in the future. In this case I got a twofer for you. Dick Van Dyke. For those that don't know, Dick Van Dyke is a legendary actor who has been doing entertainment since he was a kid growing up in the 1930s. He's 96 right now. You may know him as Bert the Chimney Sweep on Merry Poppins. No need to tell you what his first and last name share the same spelling with. Even Family Guy caught on when they did their satire on the FCC:
Then there's names that happen to be similar to those that committed crimes: For example Al Bundy of Married With Children has often been mistaken IRL for being or being related to infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. Then you have the ultimate. Adolf Hitler. The name Adolf was a very common name in Germany and Austria. One of which being Adolf Dassler who founded the popular shoe company Adidas. The irony was not lost on Dassler so he shortened his name to Adi. Shhh. No one tell his estate owner that was Eva Braun's nickname for Hitler. Of course none compares to the ultimate bombshell. While I normally wouldn't say this, but this is almost as big of a bomb dropped since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For those about to pull their keyboards out, trust me, you'll know why. There is another Adolf Hitler out there. That's right and this one ironically is a civil rights activist.
Meet Adolf Uuona or should I say Adolf Hitler Uuona. Now unlike his white austrian counterpart, this man was born in Nambia an African country that cpmmonly uses Germanic names, still his parents must have really hated him considering it's one thing to name him Adolf. It's another to name him Hitler as that family line is still around to this day and not all of them are Nazis. But to call him Adolf Hitler even if that's his middle name? That's just begging for trouble. On the plus side, many comedians from the 1970s to now can rest easy as their many jokes about "Black Hitler" have become the truth. John Goodman was right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzEVRappRC0
Let me know what offensive names you have found. Good luck.