Twins' 'tragic' names mocked by major restaurant chain with 'brutal' comeback

Irish Daily Star

30-04-2025

A pair of twins' unconventional names have been humorously called out by fast food giant Wendy's. The task of naming your baby is a significant decision that will impact their entire life.
When selecting a name,
parents
must balance their preferred choices with what will be suitable for their child at every stage of life, from adorable infant to potentially awkward teenager, to working professional and beyond. However, for some parents, the key factor when contemplating a name is its perceived "uniqueness". In a world populated by eight billion people, it's fair to assume nothing is ever truly unique.
This prompts some
parents
to completely ignore phonetics and standard spelling rules in favor of an alternatively spelled version of a conventional name, often leading to choices that sound identical when spoken but are somewhat nonsensical when written out.
In other instances, parents attempt to invent a completely new
name
for their children by merging certain parts of established names.
This seems to be the case for one set of twins, whose parents chose to name them Mckelteigh Rayeleighanne and Drawsonne Lintleighmaye.
When one of their parents posted a picture of the back of their heads along with their names, it was widely circulated on social media where numerous people were quick to criticize or ridicule the twins' names.
Fast food giant Wendy's, known for its sharp wit on social media, dropped a zinger on the platform Threads. The restaurant chain joked: "My brother's name is Soda Dispenseighr".
The names - along with Wendy's cheeky retort - made waves on the popular Reddit forum Tragedeigh, where users often post, debate, and mock so-called "tragedeighs" - names that are misspelled or nonsensically arranged, frequently with superfluous letters - they've come across in the real world or online.
The post was captioned with the words: "Wendy's is brutal". In the comments, fellow social media users were eager to weigh in with their opinions.
One commenter remarked: "Imagine these poor kids learning how to read and write and realizing their names are phonetic and alphabetical nightmares".
Someone else claimed: "I remember a study that found that kids with names that are spelled oddly like this have demonstrably more difficultly learning to spell and read."
In a discussion about why parents might choose such names for their children, another Redditor suggested: "There was a study I saw that said parents give their kids 'youknique' names like this because they know it will give their kids attention which will then give them (the parents) attention. I believe it's a subconscious thing, but I imagine parents like this are not the best or the smartest either."
Wendy's is known for its sassy social media presence
(Image: jetcityimage via Getty Images)
One individual pointed out the problem isn't necessarily with complex established names, but rather when a common name is spelled in an unconventional manner to make it seem "different" or "unique". This also extends to parents creating names from a random mix of letters.
They stated: "It's not so much having a difficult name. It's having a normal name spelled in an unnecessarily complex way".
Another person added: "I mean, after choosing names like those, the parents deserve that. Somehow 'Soda Dispenseihr' is not nearly as brutal as the actual names those parents picked."