Born in Findlay, Ohio in 1889, Cloyd Heck Marvin had funny names cred from the start. His parents were Ezekiel Cloyd Marvin, and Ida Gertrude Heck, from each of whom he grabbed the best parts of their names. It appears that Ezekiel also had a daughter whom he called “Toots Jr.”, but I’m not entirely sure if this is the same family. Judge for yourself. I choose to believe in Toots.
Cloyd became notable for his work in academia. First, as the youngest ever president of an American university at the time, when he became the Univerity of Arizona chief in 1922. He was only 32 years old. A few years later, he resigned after a battle with other faculty and administrators, and was subsequently appointed as head of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. There he stayed for an impressive 32 years, and thus became the longest serving president in that establishment’s history.
It also pleases me to report that the George Washington campus is located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of D.C. The area was of course named (ish) in honor of the fine musical group seen below.
In 1970, the Cloyd Heck Marvin Center was founded at the GWU campus in his honor. The building functions as the institution’s community center. The naming continues to stir some controversy among students today because of Marvin’s views at the time, including his support of segregation.
Cloyd often seemed to stir up trouble and controversy wherever he went. At Arizona, he wound up in a war of words with the president of the student body, Johnny Buttons Salmon, who questioned Marvin’s honesty in the student paper. Personally I’d love to get in a tiff with a guy armed with a name like that. Could really push his buttons.
So pleased about the Jr.
At both universities where he served, he fired a large amount of faculty, which understandably raised tempers. Then again, you probably don’t last thirty two years in a job without pleasing someone, and during his term he more than doubled GWU’s student population.
And of course, who could forget a name like Cloyd Heck Marvin.
The Blog of Funny Names 
Aw Heck! That’s a fantastic name.
The only other Cloyd I’ve heard of is former baseballer Cloyd Boyer, brother of Clete (and I believe they had a sister named Pansy). I wish I could be a university president at 32. Looks like I’m not on the academic fast track for that one…
Heck, if that’s the career you’re aiming for you’ve made some odd choices!
Cloyd, Clete, and Pansy?! I think I’ve finally named my triplets. Genders irrelevant.
Ken Boyer was an All-Star third baseman, but not much of a name. Heck!
That “judge for yourself” page was interesting too. I doubt it’s a high volume page, but it is an interesting one.
I would call that going above and beyond the levels of research expected on this blog, personally. But that’s just because I love tooting my own horn.
Your overwhelming grandiosity and horn tooting are starting to wear thin, HORN TOOTER!
i love the name, and my daughter spent a couple of years at gw, in foggy bottom, one of the highlights of the experience for me)
I think I’ll need to make a pilgrimage out to Foggy Bottom myself one of these years.
Would you say it was both foggy, and at the bottom of something?
I liked Pansy, Bro Hovis, and Elmyra in the letter. Cloyd is a new one to me. It’s like a syrupy Clyde (more cloying). And The Hecks are the family in “The Middle,” so I’m all too familiar with Sue Heck, my favorite Heck on the show. She is notorious for being forgettable, which a Cloyd could never be. How does a person even button a salmon? How can your middle name be a transitive verb? I’ve heard of trans, but THIS is ridicu-luss!
Wow, Elmyra Twining Heck is way way way way up there on the funny names scale! I had a classmate whose middle name is Byrnes, and whose last name is Finger. So I guess I had a trans classmate
Nicely done, Dave (clapping from Texas). That is very trans. Good that his LAST name wasn’t Byrnes, or he would have had his share of The Simpsons jokes. Mexcillent…
You make sure astute observations about buttoning fish that I am left with no words other than agree that this is “ridicu-luss!”
Sufferin’ succotash!!
“. . . How can I do any blurbs when Dave already used my ‘heck’ joke? . . .”
“. . . Arto’s latest is an absolute Marvil . . .”
“. . . if Bonnie and Clyde were Australian they’d be Bonnie and Cloyd . . .”
“. . . That’s all I got . . .”
Haha the blurb generator is alive and well!
The Australian Blurb Generator is a very promising spin-off idea. I’ll get the patent.
Believe in Toots, Arto. Believe….
What would I say if I got in a tiff with a guy with your name? Would I really pull his Hermanni? How do I even spell your middle name, vowel guy?
That’s one heck of a name there.
There is a “Heck’s Angels” scooter club:
Heck’s Angels Twin Cities Scooter Club
Minneapolis, MN
393 Heck’s Angels
Next Meetup
Rides of March
Saturday, Mar 12, 2016, 12:30 PM
5 Attending
Check out this Meetup Group →
As they say, FWIW.
With a name like Cloyd, what the Heck. I heard that tomorrow is officially strange name day. What the heck?