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We apologize in advance for the offensive language in the first example below, but it dates from 1917, a time when racial humor was a widely accepted form in many places. It stands not only as an early example of the legend, but also as an eloquent expression of the racist message that underpins it: Before delving into the legend itself, we have to dismiss an entire category of funny names. Key to this legend is the belief that parents acted unknowingly in bestowing an embarrassing name their young one. Unusual names are not in themselves folkloric -- what makes them so are the perceived motivations of the parents. There's nothing folkloric about a child christened Female (pronounced fuh-MALL-ee) if the parents understood full well what they were doing when they decided on the name. A classic example of non-folkloric use is found in the 1981 movie pilot of the TV series Cagney & Lacey. A prostitute gives her name to the desk sergeant but, as he's not familiar with fuh-MALL-ee, he asks her to spell it. F-E-M-A-L-E, she offers. That's Female, he says in disbelief. Yeah, well my parents had twelve kids, responds the woman. By the time they got to me they'd run out of names. A properly folkloric version of the fuh-MALL-ee tale would have it that the parents saw the name on the baby's bracelet. Not being able to read well, they sounded it out badly, it fell on their ears prettily, and thus Baby was named. Alternatively, they interpreted what was written on the bracelet as the hospital's having already named their child and the matter now being out of their hands. Real-life fuh-MALL-ees are beside the point; what matters is how they came by the name. As the 1917 example above shows, this legend has been around for over a century. It now exists in two slightly different forms: the parents either misread a word, coming up with an unusual but pleasant-sounding pronunciation of same, or a member of the medical staff was overheard properly pronouncing the word, and the parents thought it pretty and thus choose to stick their youngster with it. Names reported to have resulted from such misinterpretations of the written word include: Names reported to have resulted from overhearing an unusual but flowery-sounding term include: Either way, the tale swings on the fictitious parents' lack of education and how this leads them to choose a totally unsuitable name. This legend is not strictly told of African-Americans, as white Southerners are also sometimes cast in the starring role. In the 1917 example, the proud Black grandmother and her daughter are seen as attempting to exceed their presumed place and are made fun of for this act. Rather than sticking to her own, the daughter has chosen an important-sounding name for her child, and her uppityness is duly rewarded by the joke's being on her and her family. Legend of the kid named Eczema ilk attempt to reinforce belief in the rightness of racism or regionalism. Just as parables were used in the Bible to communicate in a simple-to-understand form a behavior thought worthy of emulation, racist legends try to drive home the point that the looked-down-upon group is inherently inferior. Presenting the moral in the form of a story makes it easier to absorb. Racism and/or regionalism play a part in a number of legends. (See our Password page for another such representative tale.) The more stories like these are told, the more the message of them is worked into the fabric of the people exposed to them. Hearing the kid named Eczema story again and again makes it that much more easy to think of Blacks as less intelligent. Was there ever a mother so ignorant as to name her kid Eczema without realizing what the name meant? Probably not. But because the story fits in with what's already believed about the shortcomings of whichever group the mother is supposedly part of, the tale will be re-told and believed anew. Some Legendary Names: Nosmo King There was a Nosmo King, but it was a matter of a grown man adopting an unusual stage name, not of an infant being saddled with his mother's stupidity. H. Vernon Watson (b. 1886, d. 1949) was a well-known British music hall artist before World War I. In the early 1920s, Watson did a blackface bit under the fanciful name of Nosmo King. The routine went over so well that by 1925 Watson was billed as his onstage persona, Nosmo King. Ima Hogg Ima Hogg was real, but not her rumored sister, Ura. Ima (b. 1882 d. 1975) was the daughter of James Steven Hogg, Governor of Texas. Mark Lemongello A pitcher for the Houston Astros in the 1970s. Shanda Lear Daughter of Bill and Moya Lear (of Lear Jet fame). Trout Fishing in America In April 1994 Peter Eastman Jr. changed his name to Trout Fishing In America. The 17-year-old from Santa Barbara figured it would be cool to name himself after a book he liked. Rumor has it he goes by Trout. Ronly Bonly Jones This name is likely apocryphal, although many have claimed their fathers knew someone similarly afflicted (i.e., Jonly Bonly Stuart, Bonly Nonly Jones, Nonly Monly Jones, Gonly Bonly Jones).
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