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Northern California Babies
Apparently I mispronounce E's name
I just got a call about E from a DCP we viewed. They called me and pronounced her name as "E-mall-E-A" Who knew all this time I have been misprouncing it. What annoys me is that they met E and commented on how they loved the spelling.
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Re: Apparently I mispronounce E's name
That is exactly how it is pronounced. We spelled it this way so she would have tons of options for nicknames and shortening the name. I have no idea where they got the A sound either. This is the second time the woman has called me and pronounced her name wrong.
As a teacher, I feel for her. It's a pet peeve of mine when parents get bent out of shape about mispronouncing creative spellings. IMO, if you wanted her to always, without fail, be called "Emily", name her "Emily".
I have had students with CRAZY creative spellings ("P'Jay" for the initial name "P.J.", "Chelsc" for the more traditional name "Chelsea"). Currently I have one who is "Adrianna" but they pronounce it "Audrianna", and call her "Adri" but pronounced "Audrey". I know these are obviously way more complicated examples than "Emmalee" but just so you know, she most likely deals with a ton of creative spellers and is probably doing the best she can.
I know, R, that you have a creative spelling yourself, and you're probably just annoyed, but when you chose not to go for the traditional spelling you really set her up for a lifetime of this.
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I have to agree with Fricksgirl about if you chose a creative spelling then you are setting that child up for a lifetime of clarifacations around how to say thier name. My husband's name is creatively spelled and he still gets questions about how to say it and such. It drives him batty. I also always thought it was Emma Lee not Emily just by reading it.
Has he ever thought of changing the spelling.
The Blog | BirthbyKellyM
As someone who grew up with an uncommon name (though it is starting to become more common)...
You just deal with it. It really is no big deal. I actually give my name as "Kendra" when I am at the coffee shop or somewhere like that. It is just easier because I take pity on the poor person at the other end who is trying to figure out how to say my name based off of the person who wrote it trying to figure out how to spell it.
So instead of being Candle...Key-en-doll....K-Doll, Can-delyn...or any multiple there of...I choose to just be Kendra when it doesn't matter and when it does matter I gently correct, and if someone says it wrong and I don't care (since it isn't going on any form or whatever)...I just go with it.
So my recommendation is...dont get upset. If you get upset, then E will get upset about it and it will be frustrating for her when really it doesn't need to be a big deal.
Most of us just deal with it when we have slightly complicated names; easier then getting upset.
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EJ is growing up too fast!
This is exactly why I use DH's name - Dan, even when he's not with me! LOL If I even try to use my nickname, it usually comes back as "Cher," so I just gave up.
MrsShmoopie has a "easy" coffee shop name, even then they still spell it wrong!
The Blog | BirthbyKellyM
My name, remarkably enough, gets butchered all the time (it's "Blair"). I've just learned to answer to Brooke, Claire, and most often, Mr. P because everyone always thinks I'm a guy (until they meet me)(I hope).
I just let it slide. However, there is a reason my boys are "Will" and "Sam."
They write mine "Alicen" there all the time.
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I think we just found a new "creative spelling" for Allison.
The Blog | BirthbyKellyM
I've got an Emily and when her daycare provider started mispronouncing her name, DD yelled at her teacher the right way to pronounce it. Haha! To this day, she's the one who corrects anyone who says her name incorrectly. She's very opinionated on the topic.
Tiki, I have an unusual spelling of my name and my mom says that she spelled it the way she did to make me assertive. When I was 6, I had a teacher that always mispelled it and she told me, "R, if you come home with one more paper and your name is mispelled, you are going to be grounded!" I went to school the next day and explained to my teacher how to spell my name. I just kept going from there. LOL
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Exactly.
The Blog | BirthbyKellyM
That totally made me lol.
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Why I thought I was the only one? In situations like this I am Jo ... Not Josie. If I do give Josie, I am usually called Jose
Wow, you guys are making me glad my name is Amy. It doesn't get butchered in coffee shops! At least there's that,
I have noticed some people just sort of get this mental block on pronouncing certain names and such. My dad does it, and once he has decided on a mispronounciation he can't retrain himself to the right one. I work with a social worker like that too. She just gets into a wrong swing and can't undo it. It's almost like processing issue.
I was wondering about this too. Maybe that lady cared for another child named Emilia or something in the past, so she's just stuck on that name? There could be lots of rational explanations. My FIL still pronounces Kyva's full name as KY-vel-ee (1st syllable rhyming with 'eye') instead of kee-VEL-ee. Though I can't fault most people for mispronouncing her name since it's really unusual, he at least should be able to get it right considering she's his own granddaughter.
I did struggle with that a bit when deciding on her name. Though we used the standard Greek spelling, and she wouldn't have any trouble if we lived in Greece, it's not an easy name for people here. That's why we gave her an easier NN that she could choose to go by.
I do the coffee shop thing too. I usually give my name as Sue or Zork (DH's hacker name from when he was like 13...we both use it all the time for stuff like that).