Who has the most ironic last name?

[Bucky]

Poll question: Who has the most ironic last name?

Part of the curse of having been an English major is that I can't look at a name without scanning it for hidden or encoded meanings (Reverend Dimsdale, Scarlet O'Hara, Otto Octavius--virtually all great literary characters have names that hold clues to either their plot significance or their personalities).

This obsession with names has spilled over into how I regard real life characters, too--a Bible-thumper named Fallwell, an unmarried woman named Rice, an asshole fornicator named Buttafuco...

But who has THE most ironic name of them all?

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Bush

I'm Bushed http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Bush&x=32&y=8

[sweetheart]

2. "Galore" nt

[mtnester]

3. Trickle

sorry guys, he wins

[Island Blue]

4. Dick Wadhams,

George Felix Allen's campaign manager wins this one hands down.

[GrantDem]

27. Good one n/t

[hogwyld]

5. For Delay

With those "qualities" of horrific looks, and heartlessness, a "Lay" is the last thing he'll ever get! Unless you count Bubba down in cellblock C

[JHB]

6. Two words: Newt Gingritch

One of the most aptly-named people I've ever heard of.

[11 Bravo]

7. Bush. Actually he's a total prick.

[TahitiNut]

8. Douglas Feith

:rofl:

John Bolton and Paul Wolfowitz are in my Top Ten, too.

[Mabus]

9. Gore

When people think of the word "gore" they think of bloody, death and destruction scenarios but, my once and future President, Al Gore is trying to save the world and he wouldn't have us in a bloody quagmire in Iraq.

[orpupilofnature57]

25. Right on! We need Al !

[Igel]

10. Don't know about ironic,

but I nearly crashed the car shortly after moving to Houston.

The NPR station was going to broadcast part of the piano competition named after a famous Texan:

Ima Hogg.

Pronounced just like you'd fear it would be.

Her parents hated her. They must have.

[Bucky]

14. Ima Hogg was a true Southern lady, daughter of a progressive Dem gov'r

Of course, being from early 20th century Texas, they were both also a tad on the racist side (or at least didn't kick up a stink when they associated with racists). But she also did a lot of good work thru the charities she supported--including many progressive causes in the 50s and 40s.

The way I heard it, her parents didn't hate her. They simply wanted her to get married asap. She died a spinster with the coolest name ever.

[acmejack]

24. Her Father was the Governor of Texas Jim Hogg

Jim Hogg was the first native Texan to become Governor of Texas. Stories that she had a sister named "Ura" are false.
snip>
Hogg personally saw communities that had become ghost towns when railroads passed them by. He also witnessed a major strike by rail workers and a number of corruption scandals in the railroad industry. Reforming the railroads would become one of his priorities as he later gained political power.

Hogg was not racist, which was a rarity among White Southerners of his era. Because of this, he was one of the men responsible for making Smith County a Democratic stronghold during that year's elections, as he helped convince the black vote for the Democratic party. He later on was offered a seat in congress, but he declined, choosing instead to stay close to his family and practice as a lawyer in Tyler.

In 1886, Hogg was convinced to run for the position of state attorney general. He was elected, and then, he proceeded to become an important figure in Texas' economical growth, recovering much land for the state, helping Washington, DC justice to write the second state antitrust law in the nation and regaining control of the East Line and Red River Railroad. In 1888 Hogg sued the rail companies for attempting to create a monopoly, among other charges. Hogg won, defeating the powerful rail baron Jay Gould and creating for himself a name in Texas politics. In 1890, Hogg ran for governor on the platform of establishing the Railroad Commission of Texas. He won, and took office the next year.

In the governor's office, Hogg created the powerful position of railroad commissioner and passed a major land reform law that forced corporations to sell their land to the public within fifteen years. He worked to encourage investment in Texas through frequent trips east. He sought to eliminate the influence of corporations and lobbying groups in Texas and to clean the government of nepotism and graft. He supported Texas's common schools, the University of Texas and Texas A&M University, providing them with substantially increased public funding and his personal philanthropy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Hogg

[Igel]

35. Thanks.

At least there's a reasonable explanation. Well, an explanation that has pretensions to reasonableness, however.

But when you are here from out of state, are cruising up I-45 dead tired from 11 hours staring at Russian technical documents, and hear the "Ima Hogg International Piano Competition", the first reaction is to laugh. Heartily.

:toast:

[Marr]

11. It's not ironic yet, but... John Boehner.

I expect his name will be ironic eventually- I mean, this *is* the party of weird, repression-born sex, after all.

[Bucky]

34. Unfortunately, it's pronounced "bay-ner"

Biggest disappointment since Dick Armey started staying it "ar-may"

[daleo]

12. Dick Armey is pretty good

Family Guy did a good riff on that.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

13. Otto Reich n/t

[salin]

29. Ding!

[saltpoint]

15. Nancy Grace.

[CanSocDem]

28. Yes....most "ironic".

[Swamp Rat]

16. Chertoff = "Of the Devil"

He's supposed to protect us. :yoiks:

[Bucky]

18. Also the one you're least likely to want to see with his "shirt off"

Minister of Fear. What a great job!

[Swamp Rat]

20. Yes, there's 40 lbs. of writhing maggots under his shirt.

:puke:

[Sparkly]

17. Floyd Flake.

Supposedly a Democrat, yet he's co-chair of Ken Blackwell's campaign.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_H._Flake

Other than that, Dick Wadhams.

[joe_sixpack]

19. What about Rove?

doesn't look like that marshmallow "roves" anywhere except to and from a waiting vehicle.

[TwentyFive]

23. Michael Savage

The evil talk show host is definitely...a savage.

Dictionary defines him perfectly.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=savage&x=32&y=6

[salin]

30. hehe - or his REAL name: Michael Wiener

the savage part is just his stage name.

[deadparrot]

21. Santorum,

as I'm assuming it's of a Latin root, related to the word "saint."

[TwentyFive]

22. George McGovern

Enough said. Too bad he was never President McGovern.

[LeftishBrit]

26. There is a British MP...

with the excessively unfortunate name of Ed Balls.

I always found Bob Dole's name a bit unfortunate. I don't know if Americans refer to unemployment benefit as 'the dole'; but we do, and it would therefore not be an inspiring name for a politician.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

31. I've always liked Arlen Specter and Louise Slaughter.

Two members of the US government who blatantly spend their spare time wearing lycra and fighting crime.

[graywarrior]

32. Dick Sweat.

Ran for gov in NH

[IDemo]

33. Tony Snow

[ContraBass Black]

36. Henry Hyde.