To some of you this may be old news, this is from 08.12.2004 or thereabouts,
but here goes anyway:
South Korea decided to reject plans to change the english word 'condom' to
their Korean counterpart. According to Reuters news agency, many koreans
complained that their life is made harder because their names sound like the
new Korean term. The Korean society for fighting AIDS, which is trying to
spread the popularity of the condom in the country, had made a contest for a
new name. Out of 19000 suggestions they chose the word 'ai-pil', the writing
of which is based upon two Chinese hieroglyphics, meaning 'love' and
'necessity'. It later became apparent that the names of many south koreans
contain symbols that are pronounced in a similar way. For example, a
representative of the society mentioned an elderly woman, who was annoyed with
her grandson being teased because of his name.