The reference Rob made in the above MTV interview is connected to a book he read titled “Money” by Martin Amis. A friend to the Spunk Ransom site, Kate, has passed along the segment of this book that spawned the hilarious nickname “Spunk Ransom”:

“He sat on the stool beside me. T-shirt, veined, tendoned biceps. He ordered a glass of water. Tap water, not designer water. He wasn’t going to tangle with those bubbles, not Spunk.

Now I had to remember that this was a complicated young guy. He didn’t drink. He didn’t smoke. He didn’t sniff. He didn’t eat. He didn’t gamble. He didn’t swear. He didn’t screw. He didn’t even do handjobs. He did handstands. He did push-ups. He did meditation & mind control. Born again, a true believer. He did charity work: he cared about the poor and the disadvantaged… Yes, all my man-management skills would be needed here. I looked into his clenched face and said,

“Spunk? It’s about your name.’
‘Yeah? What about it?’
‘You’re probably going to hate me for this’
‘I hate you already’
‘The thing is Spunk,’ I said, ‘in England -’
‘I know what you’re going to say. I know what you’re going to say.’
I waited
‘You want me to put an e in Davis. Well forget it, Self. Go get a whole new idea. I ain’t doing it. No chance.’
‘No,’ I said, ‘the Davis is fine. It’s the other bit we have a problem with’
‘The other bit?’
‘Is the problem, yeah’
‘You mean Spunk?’
‘That’s the bit I mean.’
He looked surprised, wrong footed. I ordered another scotch and lit another cigarette.
‘The thing is,’ I said, ‘In England, it means something else.’
‘Sure. It means grit, pluck, courage.’
‘True. But it also means something else.’
‘Sure. It means fight. Guts. Balls.’
‘True. But it also means something else.’
‘What?’
I told him. He was devastated.
‘I’m sorry, Spunk, but that’s the way it is.’
His young face dipped and trembled, with toothache creasing in the corner of the eyes. Why hadn’t anybody told him this before? They probably never dared, I thought, and shrugged, and drank my drink.”