What’s in a Name?

By Julie Dawn Fox

What’s so funny?

Cliff, Annette and Russell are typical British names. Do they seem funny to you? Probably not, but some people with these names are tired of people laughing at them. Why do they laugh?

Name jokes

A lot of English names sound the same as verbs or nouns; in fact some of them are exactly the same. That makes it easy for people to make jokes like this:

Question:What do you call a man with a seagull on his head?

Answer:Cliff.

Why is that funny? Because seagulls usually live in or on cliffs near the coast.

Here’s another:

Question:What do you call a man in a pile of leaves?

Answer:Russell.

Russell sounds the same as rustle, which is the noise you make if you move dry leaves. Not so funny? How about this one?

Question:What do you call a woman standing on a tennis court?

Answer:Annette.

Did you get it? ‘A net’!

By the book

A creative way of turning names into jokes is by matching book titles with amusing author names. Try saying these aloud:

An Optician’s Guideby Seymour Clearly (see more clearly)

Coastal Walksby Cliff Topp-Path (cliff-top path)Haunted Houseby Hugo First (you go first)Long Walk Homeby Miss D. Buss (missed the bus)

My Worst Journeyby Helen Back (hell and back)

Off To Marketby Tobias A. Pigg (to buy us a pig).

Over to you

It’s easy to make name jokes yourself when you think about other meanings for words that sound alike. Bill, for example, is a short version of the name William and also something you have to pay in a restaurant or for electricity. Can you make a joke about Bill?

A word of warning

Name jokes can be very funny, especially when they are invented names. However, people with names that could be funny may not be so amused. If it’s possible to make a joke using their name, someone has probably done it, possibly hundreds of times, so don’t be surprised if they don’t laugh at your joke!

Name joke: a type of joke using English names that have the same pronunciation as other words, but a different meaning.