I was called Dirt Pan for the start of my life – my mum had her reasons but it got changed eventually
THINKING of a baby name can be difficult and you may even want to change it after a few days.
One woman revealed the unique reason her mum deliberately gave her a bad moniker.
Speaking on The Lamorning After podcast, actress and filmmaker Zoe Lister-Jones shared the temporary name she was given when she was first born.
When asked by host Lamorne Morris, how her parents landed on the name Zoe, she revealed that it was quite literally their last option.
“My mum couldn’t come up with a name, made it to the back of the baby name book and here we are,” Zoe explained.
However, she learned later in life that Zoe wasn’t the first title she had.
“I’m Jewish, my mum was studying Kabbalah at the time, and there’s a tradition where you name your kid something absolutely terrible,” she said.
She went on to explain that the belief developed as parents tried to ensure their children long happy lives.
By giving their child an unappealing name for their first days of life, they were protecting them from evil entities.
Zoe revealed that the name is given “for the first 10 days so that the angel of death passes over the crib.”
“The angel of death [says] : ‘I don’t want that stinky baby.’”
However, even Zoe was left baffled by the name that her mother chose.
“So she named me Dirt Pan for the first days and I [asked]: ‘Do you mean dust pan?’” she recalled.
However, her mum had intentionally picked “Dirt” over “Dust.”
“A dirt pan is worse than a dust pan, you put everything in there,” Zoe explained.
She joked with the podcasters about what her life would’ve been like if she had remained “Dirt Pan Lister-Jones.”
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YOU may think having a unique name helps you to stand out, but is it all it's cracked up to be?
Fabulous’ Deputy Editor Josie Griffiths reveals the turmoil she faced with her own name while growing up.
When I was a child, all I wanted was one of those personalised keyrings with my name on it.
But no joy, the closest I could find was Rosie, Joseph (not great for a little girl) and Joanne.
Josie is short for Josephine, which is a French name, and I managed to reach my 20s without ever meeting anyone who shared it.
When I try to introduce myself to people, I get all sorts of random things – like Tracey and Stacey – which can be pretty annoying.
Although I have come into contact with a couple of Josies over the last year – there seems to be a few of us around my age – it’s still a much rarer name than most of my friends have.
On the whole I don’t mind it, at least it’s not rude or crazily spelt.
And it means I can get away with ‘doing a Cheryl’ and just referring to myself as Josie.
I’m getting married this year and some friends are shocked that I’m changing my surname, as it’s not seen as very cool or feminist to do so these days, but I explain to them that I’m not that attached to Griffiths as I’d always just say ‘hi it’s Josie’ when ringing a mate up.
I think it’s nice to be unique and I’ll definitely try and replicate this when naming my own kids.
It’s the rude names you’ve got to watch out for, so after nine years as a lifestyle journalist I’ll definitely be avoiding those.
“Talk about drip, if I was named that,” the actress said.
Podcast listeners shared their thoughts on the unique moniker in the comments section.
“If I hear that Dirt Pan Jones is gonna drop a verse on the song, then I’m turning it up,” joked one TikTok user.
“Dirt pan Lister-Jones 1000% was a short stop for Kansas City in the 1920s,” wrote another person.
“Not too late,” said a third commenter.