I know somebody whose name is Waldemar. He’s Polish. Every time he introduces himself, people crack a joke about Voldemort. Every time. And every single person who does that looks extremely proud of themselves. “See here? I came up with something really witty.” I am very empathetically challenged, but I wonder, do they honestly, not realize that he’s been hearing this same joke daily for many, many years? Because when I first heard his name, my first thought was, that poor dude, I can only imagine the tedium of all the Voldemort jokes.
Voldemort Jokes
Clarissa's Blog 
It’s a common name in Denmark, though spelled Valdemar. It isn’t pronounced like Voldemort, so I wouldn’t even think of that joke. It would get old really fast though.
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“Waldemar”
How old is he… 90? That’s not a name I’ve encountered among the last…. I dunno, but a lot of generations. I think I may have known/met one or two but not in many years.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if he enjoys the jokes and collects them (so he can start a round if no one bites).
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Immediately relating a new name to something familiar and making a comparison, joke, or anecdote about it, is a technique taught to people for remembering names.
I try not to judge people too harshly for being hamhanded about it. I used to get it constantly with comparisons to… a character from a TV show I have never seen. Who was apparently not a nice person. Fortunately everyone who watched that show has apparently died off.
The comments were dumb. But the people who made them universally remembered my name next time we met. If I’d shared a name with their aunt or their cousin or their second-grade teacher none of it would have been at all remarkable: it would’ve been like “Oh, my Algebra teacher had that name!” and everybody moves on. But because it’s a weird name… the only reference anybody had for it was that one character on that one TV show that I have never watched.
Waldemar simply deals with what every weird-name person everywhere does. It’s not a major hardship.
ethyl
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