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A woman has opened up about the lifelong difficulties she has endured as a result of her unique name, which have worsened in light of the ongoing pandemic.
Corona Newton, a 49-year-old civil servant, told the BBC that she has endured alcohol-related jokes since before she was legally old enough to drink.
"People used to call me Guinness and Budweiser," she said. "That I could always laugh off. But this is more frustrating, especially when it gets aggressive."
In the video below, Corna discusses her unusual name:
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Now, to make matters worse, Corona lives in Oldham - a town in Greater Manchester, England - which has the highest number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people in England.
Corona explained that her name has stopped people from taking her seriously and it has even prevented her from booking tables at restaurants.
"People have said to me 'as if I'm going to listen to somebody named after a virus'," she said.
The mother-of-five has even been the subject of "nasty" prank calls from people who have asked her: "Is that the virus?"
Corona said that she answered an extremely abusive phone call last week while driving her daughter to the dentist from a man who swore at her.
She said: "He screamed down the phone at me 'what does it feel like to [do] the world over?'"
The 49-year-old's name has also resulted in some awkward situations, such as at her daughter's school when the teacher thought that she was being rude by saying Corona.
The BBC reports that the name Corona comes from the Latin word for crown, but it also means the aura around stars or the moon.
The Office for National Statistics revealed, per the BBC, that less than three girls were named Corona in 2019 and it has not registered in the top 100 girls names between 1904 and 2019.
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"My parents couldn't decide between Sarah and Catherine, so they ended up choosing Corona," she said.
Corona explained that prior to the pandemic, she was able to be good-humored about her name.
"I had my hen do in Blackpool not long before lockdown started in March," she said.
"We played 'guess my name' with strangers and no-one managed it, so they all had to buy me shots."
However, despite the difficulties Corona has faced in 2020 as a result of her name and it preventing her from having a large 50th birthday party, she said that she's glad, if nothing else, to have brightened people's days with her unusual name.
"In these tough times, if I've brightened someone's day by having a funny name, so be it," she said. "At least no-one will ever forget me."
