Seppo

From septic tank (rhyming slang for Yank) + -o (colloquialising suffix).

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛpəʊ

Seppo (plural Seppos)

1. (Australia, rhyming slang, ethnic slur, offensive) An American.

   Synonyms: (UK) septic; see also Thesaurus:American

   • 2010, Emily Maguire, Smoke in the Room, page 17:

     ‘So, Adam, you have the privilege of being my first Seppo.’
     ‘Your first what?’
     ‘Seppo. You′ve gotta learn to speak Aussie, man. You′re a Yank, so –’
     ‘No, not a Yankee. I′m from –’
     ‘The You Ess Ay. Makes you a Yank. Yank rhymes with septic tank. But we like to shorten names and then add an O at the end - but only if we like you. So Yank is kind of neutral. Septic tank is rude. But Seppo, well, it′s affectionate. Get it?’
     ‘No.’

• Popes, peops, pepos, popes, soppe

From seppo (“smith, skillful person”), an epithet of the smith Ilmarinen in the Kalevala. Compare Aino. Used as a given name since the early 20th century.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈsepːo/, [ˈs̠e̞pːo̞]
• Rhymes: -epːo
• Syllabification^(key): Sep‧po
• Hyphenation^(key): Sep‧po

Seppo

1. a male given name
   • 1974, Alpo Ruuth, Kotimaa, Tammi, →ISBN, page 167:

     Kun meidän esikoinen syntyi, niille annettiin nimeksi Seppo ja Pekka ja Tauno.

     Back when we had our eldest son, he was named Seppo and Pekka and Tauno.

   • 1999, Juhani Syrjä, Juho, Gummerus 2008, →ISBN, Juho 19-33, page 182:

     Tukevalle ja isokouraiselle pojalle annoimme nimeksi Seppo.

     We named the sturdy and big-handed boy Seppo.

2. a Finnish surname

• Popular in the 1940s and the 1950s, often in the combination Seppo Ilmari.

• Seppo is the 19^th most common male given name in Finland, belonging to 23,993 male individuals (and as a middle name to 4,820 more), according to August 2025 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.
• The surname Seppo belongs to 59 individuals, according to August 2025 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.