Name Myths

Unable to decide on a name for their new son, John and Martha Truman eventually settled on "Harry" after a maternal uncle. The middle initial S was chosen to honor both grandfathers, each of whom had a name starting with that letter. Although Truman often signed his name "Harry S. Truman" (with a period after the S), the letter didn't stand for anything in particular.

This story is often used to illustrate the pitfalls of selling a product in a foreign country without doing your homework first. However clever the story may be, it's not true. First, it's unlikely that a major automotive company would secure a deal to sell their cars in Mexico without a Spanish-speaking employee or Mexican counterpart pointing out that the name would be an issue, if that was indeed the case. Second, the word "nova" is pronounced differently from the Spanish phrase "no va" (which does mean "doesn't go" in Spanish). So, just as you wouldn't balk at the idea of seeing a therapist because it looks like "the rapist" when split into two words, Spanish speakers are similarly unlikely to make that connection with the word "nova." And finally, there is a brand of gasoline in Mexico called "Nova" that no one seems to have a problem with, so why would a car with the same name be an issue?

The Nova sold well in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking markets, and Chevy never felt the need to change the name of the model.

The Chicago City Council renamed Orchard Field in 1949 to honor Lt. Cmdr. Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare, a U.S. Navy pilot who was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor in 1942 and died in World War II.

You can't blame people for trying to come up with a reason for why a competition between North American baseball teams is called the "World Series," but this isn't it. There was never any connection between baseball and the World newspaper. It remains somewhat of a mystery why the series of games between the American League and National League champions was called the "World's Championship Series" (later shortened to "World Series"), but one theory is the organizers anticipated that baseball's popularity would spread to other countries and eventually the World Series would become an international competition.

When President John Adams became the first occupant of the "President's House" in 1800, it already had a coat of whitewash to protect the sandstone structure from the elements. The "White House" nickname was used in writing as early as 1811, well before the 1814 fire.

Granted, there are no donkeys in the game, and Monkey Kong seems like a more apt reference to the game's giant ape than Donkey Kong, but there is no truth to the rumor that the folks at Nintendo made a bizarre spelling or translation error when they named this arcade staple. The game's inventor, Shigeru Miyamoto, has repeatedly stated that the name was an intentional play on words of "King Kong," to evoke the image of a stubborn, foolish gorilla.

The teddy bear was inspired by a 1902 political cartoon depicting then-President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt sparing the life of a bear on a hunting expedition. The bear became a mascot for Roosevelt's re-election campaign, and sales of stuffed bear toys surged. A toy-maker sent one to the president asking if he could name it the Teddy Bear in his honor, and Roosevelt agreed. The rest is history.

The English daisy was originally called the "day's eye" because the flowers closed at sunset and opened at dawn. Over time, the pronunciation of the name was corrupted until it became "daisy."

What began as a joke about Street's unusual first name (which is pronounced like "peek-a-boo") has become an urban legend with a sense of humor. The story goes that hospital administrators were concerned about someone answering the phone with, "Picabo, I.C.U." Ha ha. Actually, Picabo Street is not a nurse, nor does she work at a hospital.