She is a farting machine…

That's where her name comes from. She farts so much that people said she was like a Whoopie Cushion. This is actually true and can be read on her Wikipedia entry.

She has stated that her stage forename ("Whoopi") was taken from a whoopee cushion: "When you're performing on stage, you never really have time to go into the bathroom and close the door. So if you get a little gassy, you've got to let it go. So people used to say to me, 'You're like a whoopee cushion.' And that's where the name came from."

So that's why she came up with that name? I remember hearing that she chose to use it because it was so unusual and was designed to make people laugh when they heard it. Didn't know she had gas issues, which would explain a lot about her.