ridiculous spellings?

Question

why do people give children names and spell them wrong deliberatly? surely this is just pretentious and leads to a life of 'actuly you just pronounce it like amy' or 'no, i spell it a-i-m-e-e'). whats the point? this also applies to foreign names spelt phonetically (we may not be irish, but we know how to pronounce sean!) and even, the more rare but equally ridiculous phonetic pronounciation of a foreign name (no i will not call your son see-an, it makes me look and sound like I'VE made the mistake)

someone once told me it was to make the name interesting, but in my opinion, it just makes everyone involved look foolish. its also just a really pretentious attitude that your name has to be spelt differently, causing minor inconveniance all round, for the sake of a conversation piece. as if having an 'interesting' name makes you an interesting person IT DOESN'T!

why do people do this? is it pride in ignorance?

Answer 1

Hmmm I don't know. I would say ignorance but I have a 4.0 GPA and graduated at the top of my class with two degrees so I guess I'm not ignorant. I'd have to say becuase it's my kid and my decision and I could care less what you or anyone else thinks. My children's names:

Molleigh (Irish spelling for Molly, we are Irish)
Malayleigh (HAAAA I made it up and people love it.
Collin (Yeah usually spelled Colin but I don't really care.

Sorry I'm not arrogant. Just because somebody has a unique name doesn't make somebody stupid. My kids have unique names and I know I'm not stupid. Anyone that would make a comment like that is ignorant.

I would just like to thank you to all of you that emailed me privately about the person who found it necessary to direct negative remarks toward a 2-year-old. Yes, it is pretty sad when you have to go after a child but that is just how some people are. Anyways thanks for the emails.

Wow just recieved two more emails from people on here that actually visited my daugher's web page and commented on how beautiful she is. Thanks. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.

k_maree thanks for your point, very well put. It is sad that a grown adult has to belittle the name of a 2-year-old. More upsetting is that she was named after my now dead daughter. I'm sure that person's children will grow to be one of those hateful little brats in school that makes some poor kids life miserable by teasing and making fun of them. But people that make fun of other people are just not happy with their own life.

Answer 2

I think it is some of both.

My view is that naming a child is a tremendous responsibility. While I don't want my kid to have the same name as three other kids in the class, by the same token, I don't want them to have to go around for 80 years facing all the stuff you just described.

A name that isn't too common, but that most people can guess accurately on when trying to spell it seems most reasonable to me. By the same token, I have a common name that is commonly spelled two different ways, my spelling being the less common of the two. I have learned that, unless it is for something official like a form, to just let it go when people spell my name incorrectly, a common occurence.

My mom told me in early adulthoood that, if she had it to do over again, she would go with the more common spelling. But honestly, its not a big deal because I don't choose to make it a big deal if somebody errs on it. It all comes down to how you handle it.

Answer 3

Liiah. Leea. Alixandrah. Alickzandra. Alixondra Ashli. Kaytlen. Kaitlinn. Caytlynn Kheeleigh. Keallie. Kadie. Kaydeigh. Baley. Baylie

Answer 4

Most of it is pretentious. On the other hand I think Aimee is a spelling Jews use consistently so I'm not against that one.

What upsets me even more is when people make up names out of thin air that never existed before. I threw an absolute fit during the NFL draft last year when I learned someone named a guy D'Brickishaw. I mean what are people doing - pulling random tiles out of a Scrabble bag?

Answer 5

Re. "I would say ignorance but I have a 4.0 GPA and graduated at the top of my class with two degrees so I guess I'm not ignorant..."

Well, there's your answer. It _is_ ignorance, and pride in ditto -- and, sometimes, arrogance.

'Malayleigh' -- !! The poor kid. It seems to even have a made-up definition, too: http://babiesonline.com/babynames/index.asp?name=Malayleigh

A search for that abomination also turns up:

"Malayleigh Rae - Malayleigh is just ridiculous. I hope this is a typo..."

"My daughter's name is, oh you all that are bitching about the original names will love this, her name is Malayleigh and it is original because I made it up. The leigh part was used after her sister's name since she died when she was 5 months old. I don't care what anybody says I like it and she is definitely a Malayleigh no other name would fit her unique personality."

From the same broad boasting about it above. Okay -- ignorance, pride in, arrogance, and a need for attention on Mum's part, I guess. A lack of validation through the usual channels. Something along those lines.

That, and it's always "original" and "unique," even though hundreds if not thousands of other illiterates on teh internets are using the same awful name. Which see 'Nevaeh.' It's absurd, nobody knows how to pronounce it, it's becoming extremely popular -- but, on Yahoo! Answers, it's still "original."


Edited to add:

I just got this via e-mail --

"From: shannonmangan

Subject: *****

Message: Stay off my daughter's web page you dumb ****. Oh and her middle name is RAE after my father's name. You know it's really rude to discredit somebody's name especially when they were named after somebody in the family that is now dead. Hope you rot in hell."

Her daughter's web page?? Huh?

Anyway, there's your answer about who gives babies ridiculous names...

Answer 6

i personally think that if you are going to spend this much time talking about how other peoples spelling bothers you than you must have a pretty sad and boring life like honestly what the f.u.c.k. does it matter and who the hell are you?? if i wanted to call my child Madison and spell it mhadosun who the friggen hell are you to judge? hey i have an idea...get i life and stop worrying about what other people are doing in theres. For all the people making fun of children's names c'mon you say kids can be cruel...well then aren't you all a bunch of mature adults getting in there before the "kids at school" to make fun of a name.GROW UP a name is a name you know if you have an extra L or an extra D I'm sure its not going to kill the child and I'm sure that people are still going know the name OK gee u all have really proved your self to be idiots lol well those who agree with the idiot who posted the question.

Answer 7

It is their feeble attempt at trying to use their imagination. Unfortunately it's the kid that suffers. I used to work in a doctors office. If you only knew some of the ridiculous names these poor people were cursed with.
I hate a lot of Jr's, III's, and IV's too. Not all, but some don't make sense to me. My husband goes by his middle name because he would be made fun of if he went by his first name, and he's a THIRD. Both his grandfather and father have the same exact name and NONE of them use it, so why curse another generation with it? Oh-well, as long as people are having babies, they are going to think of bad names for some of them.....................

Added: I can't believe how angry some people are getting over this question. Everyone has a different opinion about names -obviously- But why are you attacking each other over it? Chill out. Everyone usually has their own reason for choosing a name. I chose my kids middle names after my deceased grandmother and deceased father, I wouldn't call their first names unique, but they aren't as common as some, because my name is very common and I used to get irritated when I kept hearing my named called and they were talking to someone else, or being confused with someone else because we had the same name, so I chose normal, but less used names, but I really don't care if someone likes it or not. All that matters is I like it and so do my kids. In the end they are the ones stuck with it. As long as they like it who cares what anyone else says? Relax a bit and stop insulting each others kids - Please............

Answer 8

My name is Bevin...and my mother wanted to spell it the Correct gaelic way (Beighinn), but my dad vetoed and I got a phonetic spelling of it...but my family is Irish..

What everyone elses excuse is I have no idea...but I hate it when people spell things weird to make it not so ordinary...If you are going to have an ordinary name, just like it....live it..Amy is boring..you can't make it interesting. So yeah...I agree with ya. And really I feel sorry for the kids that get stuck with stupid names. (mine not included! I love my name...even though I couldn't find it on a pencil when I was young)

Answer 9

I personnel see nothing wrong with spelling a name a different way then is most common. There really aren’t any wrongs spellings least not when it comes Dillon or Dylan, Jason or Jaycen, Amy or Aimee. Etc Different cultures also spell names differently.

Its up to the parents to name their child whatever they want and to spell it the way they want to spell it. Neither is right or wrong but have one that is more common.

Answer 10

I think people use differnt spellings just to make the name a little different! My son is dylan instead of Dillion