UK Man With 'Korona' Surname is Having a Hard Time Convincing People it's Not a Pandemic Joke

What's in a name?

A person’s name is more than just a denomination to label them. It has emotional attachment; it has familial ties and it is a crucial piece of a person’s identity. But what can one do when their name rhymes with or resembles one of the biggest tragedies of the decade?

Well, then they become a laughing stock. According to a 38-year-old man from the United Kingdom, his name has become a joke among people as a conversation has started since coronavirus outbroke. While the virus has affected all of us, it has personally invaded Jimmy Korona’s life. Given his surname, you may guess why. He has to now carry his identity card everywhere to convince people (which they mostly doubt) when he says his name.

The construction worker from Stoke-on-Trent and a new father had to convince the medics that it was his real surname before the birth of his son. While it may have been the worst time to prove his surname and identity as his wife waited in labour, it certainly wasn’t the first time. He told Mirror.uk that people assume he is trying to pull a prank on the name with a fake surname. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Jimmy has faced delivery companies who refused to take him seriously and bartenders laugh at him.

“Nobody can believe my name is Korona with the coronavirus pandemic about. People down the pub come up and say that they can't believe my name is Korona. Nobody believes me apart from those that I've known for years,” he said.

He also disclosed how weird it felt to listen to this word that has been his name forever, repeated over and over again in the media or general talks. He has to now show his bank card or passport everywhere to prove that he’s always had this name. Jimmy also talked about his grandfather, Josef Korona. He was a survivor of a concentration camp in Nazi Germany during World War II.

The Coronavirus family was named by June Almeida and David Tyrrell in the 1970s. The word corona was chosen because of the wreathe like structure as observed on the virus body under an electron microscope. The word derives from Latin word ‘corona’ which means crown. However, it is also the root of many east European surnames like Corona (Italy) and Korona (Hungary, Bulgaria).