The names we are given by our parents have the power to shape who we become. Some children are given names that are offensive and might lead to future bullying. And, unfortunately, some parents are unaware of this until it is too late.
Fortunately, some people catch themselves early and fix their errors.
Comedian and actor Amy Schumer and her husband Chris Fischer had their first child in May 2019 and named him Gene Attell Fischer. A very interesting name, don’t you think? Well, the parents eventually realized that their son’s name sounds like the word “reproductive organs” when said out loud and officially changed it to Gene David.
Schumer’s story inspired others to share their own unfortunate name stories. As it turns out, lots of people have run into problems because of their names!
Schumer named her son in tribute to her close friend Dave Attell. However, the couple eventually realized that their son’s name sounds like the word “reproductive organs” when you say it out loud.
The parents decided that it was in their son’s best interests to alter his name to Gene David Fischer in order to protect him from future humiliation. Schumer openly joked about her gaffe and shrugged it off.
Comedian Schumer gave her son his unusual middle name “Attell” as a tribute to her close friend, fellow comedian Dave Attell.
38-year-old Schumer announced that she and her husband changed their kid’s name on the latest episode of her Spotify podcast Amy Schumer Presents 3 Girls, 1 Keith.
“So do you guys know that Gene, our baby’s name is officially changed? It’s now Gene David Fischer. It was Gene Attell Fischer but we realized that, by accident, we named our son “reproductive organs” Schumer told her cohosts on the podcast.
“She may have prevented her son from years of suffering”
Celebrity expert Mike told us that he thinks Schumer made the right decision to change her son’s name. “The kid would have been teased and bullied in school if classmates had found out his middle name,” he said.
“Amy meant well by naming her son after a friend, but she didn’t think it through when the first name was considered with the middle name. By making the change, she may have prevented her son from years of suffering. Changing her son’s name was a bold move, and I admire Amy for doing it,” Mike told us that Schumer helped her child avoid a lot of potential pain in the future.
Many others submitted their own bad name tales after hearing about Schumer’s child’s name.
Celebrities alter their names in order to make them more memorable or to make them easier to remember.
There are plenty of celebrities out there who have changed their names to make it big. For instance, music legend Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara, wrestler Randy Savage was originally Randall Mario Poffo while actress Olivia Wilde had the unfortunate last name, Cockburn.
“Historically, celebrities have changed their names for one of two reasons: to make them memorable, by selecting a unique name, or to make them easier to remember, by simplifying a complicated or hard to spell name,” Mike said.
“The practice is much less common today, when uniqueness seems to prevail—look at all the wacky celebrity baby names like Apple, Blue Ivy, North West, Saint, Chicago, Cricket, and Birdie. Occasionally, a celebrity has no choice. The Screen Actors Guild does not allow two actors to have the same name. So if your name is already ‘taken,’ you have to change it to something different!”
