Have you ever met someone and immediately thought “You look like a Heather,” and then it turns out they person is actually named Heather? While you might want to believe you have some kind of psychic ability, you probably don’t. Instead, a new study finds that under the right circumstances people can often correctly match names to faces based on social perceptions. [More]
names
Starbucks Gives Permission For Miami Bakery To Serve Coffee Again
By 6.3.16
Even though some city streets have multiple Starbucks on the same block, the coffee colossus doesn’t like it when someone other than Starbucks serves up hot caffeinated beverages nearby. After three years of battling Starbucks, a Miami bakery has finally earned the right to serve something other than drip coffee to its customers. [More]
Starbucks Can't Serve Me Coffee Unless They Misspell My Name First
By 4.19.12
Some people would say that Carrie is making a big deal out of nothing. That she is being unnecessarily difficult on principle regarding something that isn’t all that important. Well, of course. This is The Consumerist. That’s our thing! Carrie’s battle was against Starbucks, and she fought against employees’ insistence that she give them her name with her order so they can misspell it on her cup. She declined, which threw the employees’ entire worldview into chaos. [More]
Etsy Finds New And Exciting Ways To Plaster Your Real Name Everywhere
By 4.14.11
One would think that after the overwhelming negative reaction to the privacy changes that Etsy made earlier this year, the whimsical hipsters at online craft market Etsy would have learned their lesson by now. Don’t be silly! In a post to the site’s user forums, CEO Rob “Rokali” Kalin let slip that Etsy plans to identify users by their real names throughout the site, including on forums. [More]
How Radio Shack's Rebranding Makes It Even More Uncool
By 8.14.09
“Names, like fashion trends, often don’t age well,” notes Chadwick Matlin over at Slate’s The Big Money. In this week’s “Broadband” video segment, he looks at Radio Shack’s weird rebranding effort to get people to call it “The Shack,” even though it’s not changing its name, and even though “The Shack” isn’t any better. “Radio Shack has hedged its bets,” Matlin writes, “Splitting its identity in two and not choosing either. What’s worse, neither is especially impressive, or especially modern.”
Ms. Booty Will Be Your Waitress
By 7.31.09
Andrew just looked over the credit card receipt from a night out earlier this month, and he noticed that his server has an unusually descriptive name. Maybe Gwyneth Paltrow named her.
Sorry Miss Butt, Your Name Is Illegal
By 6.4.09
Reader Janet Butt was trying to sign up for an airline miles program when she ran into a prudish form processor that deemed her last name “illegal.”
Sorry, You Can't Fly Because Your Name Is Hyphenated
By 5.30.09
Alright everyone, gather round and let me share with you the pain of living with a hyphenated name. Occasionally it’s fun and amusing, a third nipple stapled to your ID. Occasionally, it’s a miserable nightmare, as Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee learned when she wasn’t allowed to board a flight after an anonymous airline’s computer severed her hyphenated name. Neither passports, a conversation with the booking agent, nor a printed receipt showing the proper hyphenated name could convince the airline gate agent that Pearl-McPhee was anything more than a foolishly named terror.
You Had A Cat. Here Are Some Cat Ashes. Problem Solved!
By 5.20.09
How do you verify the identity of your cat after he’s been cremated? Matthew has no idea if the box he received really contains Spike’s cremains or the cremains of someone else’s pet. His vet offered to print out a new certificate with the correct name on it, but that seems less like a “solution” than a “waste of printer ink” designed to placate without providing answers.
Verizon: We Can't Set Up Your Account "Because Your Name Has Shit In It"
By 7.30.08
Meet Dr. Herman I. Libshitz, a retired radiologist and potential Verizon customer who would like DSL. Sadly, Dr. Libshitz was informed that he could not use his name in his email address or as his user name because it has “shit” in it.
XBox Live Thinks One Name is Offensive, Rock Band Says Another Isn't Classy
By 5.22.08
Meet Steph Tytus and Varun Nangia, two more readers whose names were too inappropriate for XBOX live. Varun was forced to change his gamertag, which was his first and last name, and Steph tried to create a band using her name so the world can know that she rocks. Sadly, Rock Band thinks her name isn’t “classy,” and spat our an error message.
"Hand Shredder" #4 On List of Unfortunately Named Products
By 1.14.08
Say No to Crack has posted a list of five of the worst-named products to ever reach the market. Runner up for best worst name is that classic of early 80s television, AYDS diet chews (which we’ve covered in depth here). Our personal favorite, though, is the Hand Shredder.
"Draw Envious Looks," Carry Your Camera In A Sony TWA/T
By 11.10.07
Keep your camera safe and snug in Sony’s stylish new TWA/T. The soft leather carrying case is available in brown, black, and red – but not pink. Sony, please hire someone to manage your obscure naming conventions.
