Q. By what name did Louis Farrakhan go during his brief career as an entertainer?
A. Calypso Jean.
Q. Does the doll we call “Barbie®” have a last name?
A. Yes. Barbie®’s full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts.
Q. What is “Dirty Harry’s” last name?
A. Callahan.
Q. Does the Taco Bell® dog have a name?
A. The dog who plays the Taco Bell® dog is Gidget. (She is a female who appears as a male.)
Q. Does the dog game piece from Monopoly® have a name?
A. Yes, it’s Scottie.
Q. What is Eminem’s real name?
A. He was born: Marshall Bruce Mathers III.
Q. Is “Dido” the first or last name of the pop singer?
A. First. Her last name is Armstrong.
Q. What does the S stand for in Harry S Truman?
A. The parents of the former US president could not decide which grandparent to name him after — Solomon (maternal) or Shipp (paternal), so the parents gave him the middle initial representing both.
Q. Did the names Bert and Ernie of "Sesame Street" fame come from the classic holiday movie "It's a Wonderful Life"?
A. Yes.
Q. What is Dr. Seuss’s real name?
A. Theordore Seuss (his family pronounces it "sess") Geisel.
Q. How did the Japanese band Melt-Banana get its name?
A. In their own words, “It popped up in my head. And because of pop art, and because of [rhythm] that name MELT-BANANA has, we decided to name our band MELT-BANANA.”
Q. What was the name of the White House before it was named the White House?
A. The Executive Mansion.
Q. What is Enya’s given name?
A. Enya was born Eithne Ni Bhraonain.
Q. What was the name of the person whose car collided with James Dean’s car, killing Mr. Dean?
A. Dean had a head-on collision with a young man named Gene Turnupseed, who suffered only minor injuries.
Q. What was Agatha Christie’s real name?
A. Mary Westmacott.
Q. What is the name of the prime hitting area of a tennis racket?
A. The “sweet spot.”
Q. What was the name of the person who patented the paper clip?
A. Johan Vaaler. He received his patent in Germany in 1900.
Q. What are the names of the Jacks in a deck of cards?
A. The one-eyed Jack of Hearts is known as LaHire, the one-eyed Jack of Spades is named Ogier, the two-eyed Jack of Diamonds is Hector, and Lancelot is the moniker given to the Jack of Clubs.
Q. Who created the bobby pin?
A. Luis Marcus, in the early 1920s.
Q. What were the names of the protestors killed at Kent State?
A. Jeffery Glenn Miller, Allison B. Krause, William K. Schroeder, and Sandra Lee Scheuer.
Q. What was the name of the plane that crashed with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Big Bopper on board?
A. The plane’s name: American Pie.
Q. Did “Gabby Hayes” have a real name?
A. Yes, it was George.
Q. Was “Toto” the real name of the Wizard of Oz dog?
A. No. Toto was played by Terry, a Cairn terrier.
Q. What’s Randy Travis’ real last name?
A. His last name at birth: Traywick.
Q. Wasn’t Theodore Roosevelt’s cat also named “Socks” (like the Clintons’ cat)?
A. Close, Roosevelt’s six-toed cat was named “Slippers.”
Q. What was the name of the jazz combo Bill Clinton played in during his youth?
A. Three Blind Mice.
Q. Which state in the United States has the most nicknames?
A. Connecticut. It is known as the Constitution State, the Nutmeg State, the Blue Law State, the Brownstone State, the Land of Steady Habits, and the Freestone State.
Q. What was the middle name of the television character Barney Fife?
A. Oliver.
Q. What’s the name of President Clinton’s doctor?
A. Her name is Eleanor “Connie” Mariano.
Q. What is the real (medical) name of “skin tags”?
A. The medical name: acrochordons.
Q. What are the real names of the Three Stooges?
A. Larry (Fine) was born Louis Teinberg.
A. Moe (Howard) was born Moses Horwitz.
A. Curly (Howard) was born Jerome Horwitz.
A. Shemp (Howard) was born Samuel Horwitz.
A. Joe Besser used his birth name.
A. Curley Joe (DeRita) was born Joseph Wardell.
Q. Are hurricane names ever retired?
A. Yes. If a specific hurricane becomes an unusually devastating storm with much destruction and loss of life, the World Meteorological Organization “retires” the name of the hurricane into a sort of Hall of Fame, and that name is never used again.
Q. Was Taco Bell® named for someone?
A. Yes. It was named for its founder, Glenn Bell.
Q. What was the name of the turkey pardoned for Thanksgiving 2000?
A. Jerry.
Q. What is the longest place name in the United States?
A. Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. The Native American name, loosely translated, means: “You fish on your side, I’ll fish on mine, and no one fishes in the middle.”
Q. How did Mr. Mandela come by the first name “Nelson”?
A. The name was given to him by a teacher who wanted the child Mandela to have a “Christian” first name.
Q. What is David Blaine's real name?
A. David Blaine White, based on his family surname/mother's name: Patrie White. By the way, David's date of birth is 4/4/73.
Q. What is the name of the song that contains the lyrics, “What did Della wear, boys?”
A. It's a Perry Como song called "Delaware."
Q. What were the birth names of Groucho, Harpo, and Chico?
A. The Marx brothers were: Julius (Groucho), Adolph (Harpo), Leonard (Chico), Milton (Gummo), and Herbert (Zeppo). The eldest brother, Manfred, died in infancy.
Q. What is the real name of "Dear Abby"?
A. She was born Pauline Esther Friedman. Her sister, "Ann Landers," was born Esther Pauline Friedman.
Q. I've heard that "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's" original name was "Rollo." True?
A. Yes. "Rollo" gave way to "Reginald," then came "Rudolph."
Q. What's the real name of the poem "The Night before Christmas"?
A. "A Visit from St. Nicholas."
Q. What was the poinsettia called before the plant was named after J.R. Poinsett?
A. "Flower of Holy Night."
Q. What is Cokie Roberts' full name?
A. Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Cleveland Boggs Roberts.
Q. What was the name of the horse Lady Godiva rode?
A. Aethenoth
Q. What's entertainer Eartha Kitt's real first name?
A. It's Eartha. Ms. Kitt's parents were farmers. As a celebration of a good harvest, after several poor crop years, Ms. Kitt's parents named her Eartha.
Q. What was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, real name?
A. Michael King
Q. What's the name of the man who breached security at U.S. President George W. Bush's inauguration?
A. His name is Richard Weaver. (He says God makes him invisible to security people.)
Q. When giving a namesake name, when is "Jr." used, and when is "the II" (the 2nd) used?
A. Jeb Bexley, Jr. is the son of Jeb Bexley. Jeb Bexley Jr.'s son is Jeb Bexley III (the 3rd). When the original Jeb Bexley passes away, the "Jr." is usually dropped. Some experts say that III (the third) must change to "Jr." when the original Jeb Bexley passes away. A boy named after his uncle is "II" (the 2nd), never Jr. The grandson of Jeb Bexley is II (the 2nd) as long as the grandfather is alive. If Michael Bexley, Jeb's brother, also names his son after the grandfather, Michael's son is also Jeb Bexley III (the 3rd), the same as his cousin. The son of Jeb Bexley III (the 3rd) is Jeb Bexley IV (the 4th). A female namesake isn't a "Jr.," she's a Yr. ("younger").
Q. What was the name of the island before Gilligan landed on it?
A. It's referred to as an "uncharted desert isle," meaning the island was previously unknown and presumably without a name.
Q. Did the Gilligan's Island character called "the Skipper" have another name?
A. Yes. The Skipper's name was Jonas Grumby.
Q. What was the professor's name?
A. Roy Hinkley.
Q. What's the real name of Emil Jannings, the very first winner of the Academy Acting Award?
A. Theodor Friedrich Emil Janez. (At that time the award was given based on output.)
Q. What was the last name of Ann B. Davis's character, Alice, on "The Brady Bunch"?
A. Nelson.
Q. Did Michelangelo have a last name?
A. Yes. It was Buonarroti.
Q. What is the difference between the names "United Kingdom" and "Great Britain"?
A. The United Kingdom is a country that consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In fact, the official name of the country is "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."
Great Britain is the name of the island northwest of France and east of Ireland that consists of three somewhat autonomous regions: England, Wales, and Scotland.
Therefore, England is a part of Great Britain, which is a part of the United Kingdom. The U.K. includes England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are not countries but the United Kingdom is. The remaining portion of the island of Ireland (that which is not the U.K.'s Northern Ireland) is an independent country called the Republic or Ireland (Eire).
Q. What other names has St. Petersburg, Russia, had?
A. It was "Petrograd" from 1914 to 1924, and it was "Leningrad" from 1924 to 1991.
Q. What jazz artist's nickname is "Little Giant"?
A. Johnny Griffin.
Q. What U.S. presidents had aircraft carriers named after them?
A. The eight are: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, and George Washington.
Q. What is the surname of British potter Bernard?
A. Leach.