And you thought your Katakana name was too long...
Ridiculous names work against their bearers...the case of a person named Shimizu. Whoever chose his given name threw in all 12 signs of the junishi zodiac, like the mouse (pronounced ne), ox (ushi), tiger (tora), rabbit (u), dragon (tatsu) and snake (mi). The resulting string read Neushitorautatsumi ... before ending with taro, a common name signifying that the bearer is a male.
equally unusual case cited in the book involves a woman named Sawai, with her given name reading ``Maromekikusuroyaechiyoko,'' a jumble of words that generally seem to express hope for long life.