Gag Name - Examples in Reality

Examples in Reality

In the mid-1970s two young men by the names of Jim Davidson and John Elmo frequently called the Tube Bar, a tavern owned by Louis "Red" Deutsch, asking for names such as "Ben Dover", "Mike Hunt", "Holden Megroin" and "Al Coholic". These Tube Bar prank calls were the inspiration for Bart Simpson's prank calls to Moe's Tavern in The Simpsons.

On April 13, 2003, James Scott of the Charleston, South Carolina, paper The Post and Courier reported that "Heywood Jablome" (a pun for "Hey, would you blow me?", "blow" being slang for fellatio) was escorted from the premises while counterprotesting Martha Burk's protest at The Masters Tournament. He subsequently admitted to his being "duped" by the protester, who was in reality a morning disc jockey for a regional FM radio station.

Occasionally, real persons with a name that could also be read as a funny or vulgar phrase are the subject of mockery or parody because of their name. For example, Chinese President Hu Jintao, whose surname is pronounced like "who", and current Premier Wen Jiabao whose surname is pronounced like "when" has occasionally been the topic of "Who's on First?"–type humor. Former US Congressman from New Hampshire Dick Swett's name, when pronounced, sounds like common slang for genital perspiration. Other names in politics which could be regarded as gag names include John Boehner, Dick Armey and Tiny Kox.

Modern roller derby players frequently use gag names, both in their team names as well as the names they use for themselves. Often these are double entendre or suggestive. For example, Rocky Mountain Rollergirls includes players named Ho J. Simpson, May Q. Pay ("make you pay"), and Amanda Jamitinya ("a man to jam it in you").