one's name is mud

English

Phrase

one's name is mud

1. (idiomatic) One is unpopular, in disgrace or embroiled in scandal; one's reputation is tarnished.

   His name will be mud once people learn the truth about why he was fired.

   • 1993, “My Name is Mud”, performed by Primus:

     My name is Mud / Not to be confused with Bill, or Jack, or Pete, or Dennis / My name is Mud, it's always been / 'Cause I'm the most boring sonsabitch you've ever seen / I dress in blue, yes, navy blue from head to toe / I'm rather drab, except my patent shoes / I make 'em shine, well, most the time

   • 2023 November 21, Zing Tsjeng, “AI is changing the world – and I’ve just eaten the underwhelming pasta that proves it”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Thanks to disastrously unpopular attempts by the likes of BuzzFeed to create AI-assisted content, its name is mud in the media industry.

Further reading

• Gary Martin (1997–) “Your name is mud”, in The Phrase Finder.