s/o unusual names

principessa81

Do YOU have a name that is commonly misspelled/mispronounced? If so, has that impacted your decision to give your LO a unique name? If you do have an unusual name, do you like it or does it annoy you ever time you have to correct the person who mispronounces or misspells it? (By all means, share your name but only if you're comfortable doing so).

My mother's family is Italian, and she wanted me to have an Italian name. My parents named me Marisa (pronounced Ma-reeeeeeeeeeeee-sa). I do like my name, and I appreciate the fact that they both chose to carry on the tradition of giving Italian names to their children. DH and I plan on doing the same whether we have a boy or girl. However. Every person and their brother calls me "Muh-risssa" and it bugs the crap out of me. I completely understand people mispronouncing it when they look at my name on a sheet of paper, but there are people who have known me for years and STILL call me by the wrong name. They act like it's no big deal, but it is. To me, it says that you don't care enough about me to say my name correctly (and I'm sorry, but Marisa really isn't that difficult to pronounce). If we have a daughter, we plan on naming her Alessandra Isabel. Alessandra is a very common name in Italy, but not in the US. And while I don't think it's difficult to spell or pronounce, I'm a little worried that she would have the same issues with her name that I had growing up (and still do, frankly. My extended family still calls me Marissa!). 

Thoughts? Comments? 

principessa81

jennery:

My first name is Jennifer and I've always hated it. Imagine being in a classroom and having six girls with your same name and the teacher demands you all go by a different nickname. I've never been a Jenny or a Jenna, I refuse to even respond. So I'd have to fight for Jennifer or Jen. I felt completely non-unique and have never been fond of it.

The problem follows me everywhere, in college there was a girl with literally my first middle AND last name, it screwed up stuff for us constantly. Now at work I continously get e-mails meant for other people.

Whether people say it wrong or not, a unique name is so much more special and wonderful! You just have to be prepared for it, and prepare your child to correct people!

I totally understand your side of the argument, too. I grew up in the 80's, and I remember my classrooms being filled with Jennifers, Jessicas, Sarahs, Megans, Amys, Kristins, Elizabeths, etc. I know a lot of the girls were frustrated because they also felt pressured to have nicknames even if they didn't want them, because the teachers didn't want to have to say "Kristin So-And-So" every time they were called on in the classroom. 

Casie13

My first name is Casie (like Casey) but people ALWAYS call me Cassie. This is why I am so torn about naming my LO Selah, as I feel it will be mispronounced all the time. I do love my name and I also love the name Selah. However, it is annoying to constantly have to correct people. So, I'm not sure what I will do about naming my LO. Jocelyn is my other pick and I am thinking I might just go with that as it's not easily butchered. 

merebebe

I have a vey unique name. I have never met anyone who has my name actually. For DS we picked a very traditional "boring" name, so maybe that is why.

kjesmer

I've always had issues with peoe screwing up my name. Kristen isn't a hard name its Kris ten not Christine Christina krissy or anything else just Kristen. After three years at my company I still have people who get it wrong. What is soooo difficult?!? I seriously have to explain its the name Kris followed by the number ten!

bionic4me

My name is Janene. As a kid, there weren't other kids around with the same name... so I would have to tell people a few times on how to pronounce my name, but they got it after awhile. As an adult, everyone seems to know someone with my name and pronounciation isn't an issue anymore. Instead, there are at least a dozen different ways to spell my name. When people ask for my name, it has become automatic for me to say "Janene, J-A-N-E-N-E."

I have always loved my name and how it isn't common. Even though, I am constantly spelling it for people... it is a small price to pay for a name that I am proud of.

As for your Italian heritage, I believe that carrying on a family name or a name from one's heritage also gives the child a sense of belonging and love of family.! My middle name is my dad's mother's name... and having that family connection is important to me. My husband and I are talking about using our dad's middle names if we have a boy. If we have a girl, I want to give her a Danish name as my mom is from Denmark.

randomnames

My name is Astrid, which is pretty unusual in the US, but not in Europe where I lived until I was 13. I love my name. Yes it gets mispronounced which can be annoying, but it's not that big of a deal to me any more. It's also the second of 3 first names which also was not a problem until I moved to the US. Although I love that I have 3 first names, I think I'll be calling my kids by their first first name.

kelsea1031

My first name is Kelsea. Kelsey but with an 'a' instead of a 'y'. My parents didn't think it would get mispronounced as much as it does. I get Kel-see-uh or Chelsea ALL.THE.TIME. It's never really bothered me, I hated it more when people shortened it and called me 'Kels'. It didn't help that my maiden name was mispronounced by about 99% of people.

Jen727BF

My 8 month old niece was named Alessandra.  And while it is still early, some people do call her Alexandra.  So we have to correct them, not sure it will be an issue as she grows older.

I have a common name too - Jennifer and contrary to other posters, I love it and always have. 

Murraydog

My name is Brigid.  It is the Irish spelling of Bridget.  It gets misspelled all the time!  Even my own Grandpa couldn't spell my name.  And even sometimes mispronounced.....people call me Bri-Gid with a hard G.  It's really not that hard of a name.  As a kid, I wanted to go by my middle name (Maureen) because I thought it was more normal.  Now as an adult,  I like it. I like that it's different and it's mine.  (at least here in the US. In Ireland it's very popular)

If we have a daughter on this round, we plan to name her Aoife.  Also another popular name in Ireland.  We know this one is going to get butchered her whole life, but we love it so much.  It is pronounced EE-fa. 

I'm sure that if we go with Aoife, that at some point she'll be pissed at me for not giving her a normal name like all the other girls, but then she'll grow up and be like....wow, thanks mom for giving me a special name that is all my own.  At least that's my hope/plan.

tmgilson

My name is Tiffany and I was usually the only one in school with that name.  I don't consider it to be unique though.  My husband on the other hand is Zebulon.  He goes by Zeb.  He loves having a unique name and wants our kids to have unique names as well.  I really like the name Azalea for a girl.  Who knows though.. we probably won't discuss names too much until we find out the gender.

Hesterlicious

It makes me sad that I could pronounce most of these names with out the phonetics just from reading them, yet you've all had issues. I am convinced names will get messed up unless they are the super popular easy names. Maybe all those people giving nouns as names are on the right track.

Ooglybear

DD has an unusual name that is frequently mispronounced/misspelled. It is Marielle, and I've gotten Mariel, Maribell, Marilee, Muriel, etc. Its a very minor annoyance, not a big deal to me. 

Maybe stick a "normal" middle name with it, so she has the option of going by that someday.

 My name is slightly uncommon, and I've been called many different things as a result. The worst was being called by the wrong name at HS graduation. I still love my name. 

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cheesecakerunner

I have a really unique (but not yooneek) first name (I'm literally the only person with this as a first name), so I'm not going to share it. It has been mispronounced regularly, but it never bothers me. I went by a nn growing up, but switched back to my full name in college, which was a good call b/c my nn was really young sounding and it would have been awkward to switch back mid-college or later. I love my name. 

When it comes to naming my kids, though, what I really want is a name with meaning and not a name that is different for different's sake. My parents took my name as a spin-off from a family name and it has a lot of meaning. While I would love to give my kids (especially a girl) a one-of-a-kind name, I probably won't because I haven't found one I love. Maybe that will change!

*I say especially a girl because with my unique first-name, it made changing my name once I got married a non-issue. I id more as my first name than my last name. 

MrsP7309

My name is Catherine... never mispronounced, very commonly misspelled due to how many variations there are. It really only annoys me when someone should know how to spell my name... like you're writing me an email, or I spelled my name for you. What really annoys me is when people shorten my name... I'm not Katie, or Cathy. I'm Catherine. Not that hard.

UberBiz

I'm one of millions of Elizabeths in the world. I love my name and have always gone by the whole thing (I hate all the nicknames derived from Elizabeth), or Biz, which is a family nickname (my grandpa used to call me Busy Bear, and THAT got shortened to Biz). There was only one time I was in class with two other Elizabeths, one went by Liz and the other went by Beth, so I was safe on that one, lol.

I named my daughter Caelyn but it continuously gets mispronounced as Katelyn. THERE'S NOT EVEN A T IN IT. It bugs the heck out of me. I can handle it being misspelled, it's a bit unusual, but the reason I didn't name her Katelyn was because I didn't want her nickname to be Katie, which is my late sister's name. I thought it would be too odd. the only other time it was mispronounced was at her old pediatrician's office, The doctor and all the nurses there were of some Hispanic origin and pronounced it "Kah-leen" so I just chalk that one up to cultural differences in pronunciation.

FI's name is Veron, but he's always gone by Buddy because he's a Jr. and his dad goes by Veron. If we have a boy it will most likely be "the third," and if we have a girl, I'm going with more traditional names, Rosemary Elizabeth probably. Rose is my grandmother's name and Mary is my mom's name, and I also have an aunt named Rosemary. I wanted Cecelia Rosemary, but FI wasn't crazy about Cecelia.

I think different names, as long as there is some meaning behind it and you don't pick it just for the sake of it being different, is perfectly fine. Even spelling it a LITTLE differently is ok. I also don't think there's anything wrong with liking and going with a more "popular" name.

CharlieTheUnicorn

My name is constantly mispronounced and misspelled. My married name is also one that people butcher. I hate it, I'm sick of it. All of my kids have very normal names, although we tried not to pick ones that were in the top 10 or super trendy. My husband want to name this one "Sebastian" but spelled "Sebastien", and while I like the name, I don't think he understands what he is setting this kid up for (especially with our awful last name!) If this baby has a peen I can see this becoming a battle.

Mrs.Leah.Maria

My first name is Leah, shocker, I know. My Mom chose it because it was Biblical and unable to be easily nicknamed.

I like it. It was very rare to meet another Leah growing up and I loved having a special name, but I have had my fair share of Leigh's, Leia's and pronouncing it Lay or Lee.

Isaac is not that uncommon, but we went a little more off the beaten track with Ezra. I didn't want my boys to be initialed due to multiple of the same names in their classes. 

txleia

My name is an Americanized version of a Swedish name. It's semi-popular in Sweden, but totally unheard of in the States. I've never met another person with my name, although the occasional stranger will tell me they know someone with the same name.

It's ALWAYS misspelled and ALWAYS mispronounced, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Like a PP said, it's a family name (the middle name of my great-great-aunt), so it's always had special meaning to me. I've always just laughed at people's attempts to write/pronounce it properly, and I use DH's name for restaurant reservations. LOL. 

I do have to say, if you have a WHOPPER of a last name, it probably would be easier on a girl than a boy. My maiden name was a VERY German unpronounceable booger of a last name (although I loved it too) - at least now that I have a normal American last name courtesy of DH, people at doctor's offices and such just call me Mrs. last name. Which also makes me laugh.

But, then again, my sister's name is Rebekah - and my AUNT, who is her GODMOTHER, and should know better, constantly misspells it as Rebeka - on Facebook even, when her name is RIGHT THERE. Ugh. Drives me bonkers. People will be idiots no matter what name your LO has.  

kittaywhiskers

Mine is Lindsay and it's pronounced phonetically "Lind-SAY". It either gets misspelled or I get called Lindsey. It only really bothers me when close friends call me that by accident. I also hate it when strangers ask my name... me: "Lind-say" stranger: "Wednesday???" me: "No, Lindsey (giving in because it's easier)" stranger: "Oohh okay, nice to meet you, Lindy!!"

...ugh. I love my name but it's definitely frustrating. It doesn't help that I have a bit of a lisp too, haha.

Enigma11

My name is Jenifer, one N. That is how I always have to introduce myself to teachers, doctors receptionists etc. My nickname was always Jeni, and no one ever spells that right. I still have family members who send cards to Jenny. I also have no middle name, and I always heard "what??? You have to have a middle name, I bet you just don't want to tell" In highschool I used to show people my birth certificate to prove it. It's always in my wallet

With our son we named him Liam very hard to misspell or mispronounce John Masson after my dad I guess I wanted to give him two middle names to make up for mine a little, but it was more because Liam John Brown sounded too sharp and halted. We are giving baby number two, two middle names as well just because we did so for Liam.

I also had a lot of Jennifers in my classes growing up, now I don't know any.

meggylake

My name is Megan and there were a million Megans growing up in the 80's and 90's. I was so sick of it and felt so common.  So, we named both of our girls UNcommon but not necessarily unheard of names. They are vintage names that just aren't used anymore (and have normal spellings), but you wouldn't be confused if you heard it, if that makes sense. So far, I've never met another child with DD1's name and I've only met one other child with DD2's first name. We plan on doing the same thing with #3!

tmrchi

My mom hated her nickname growing up so she picked my name to avoid a nickname.  My name is common enough for people to know, but not enough that I meet a million of them. Oddly enough I want to name my child so they can have a nickname.  The grass is always greener.  My main concern is for the name to have some meaning, either named for a family member, or for a particular meaning.  I think I'm extra sensitive to it since I'm a teacher.  I also want to avoid the "oh you must have been born in 2013"  (like the 80s names that haven't made a come back yet, I have yet to meet a Tiffany or Kimberly under the age of 25)

magnoliasonfire

My name is Karyn, which actually gets misspelled and even mispronounced all the time. Some of my family gets it wrong! I like the spelling of my name, but it certainly can be annoying to always have to correct people. 

I feel very picky about names for my own child. I've really felt that I didn't want them to have a name that's too common/popular, but also don't want it so unique/different that it will always be an issue like it has been for me. Sigh. 

danuli8

My mother has a made-up first name. My grandfather took the first letters of the five ancient Greek disciplines and kept rearranging them until he came up with something pronounceable. It's a pretty name but it has been misspelled, mispronounced, and totally mangled all her life. She wisely gave me a name that is easy to pronounce and spell. It wasn't common when she gave it to me, but when I was in my early 20s, this name got super popular, and now it is everywhere. Still, I love my name. I want to give my child a name that is easy to spell and pronounce, but not so common he/she has six of them as classmates. However, if it is a girl, the crazy made-up name will be my daughter's middle name. :-)

lasaunda

I have a VERY unusual name. I'd rather not say it for that very reason, but it's 9 letters long, and pronounced exactly as it's spelled, however, NO ONE can pronounce it or spell it.

Constantly pronouncing and spelling gets VERY old over the years.  I will definitely give my children more common names.  

I get wanting to name your child, so that there aren't 6 other kids with the same name in their classes.  Just remember, if spelled or pronounced too differently---just think about what the child will have to go through.  My mother now tells me that she wishes she had named me something different. 

mommyrey

Our daughters name is Ember but people always pronounce it AMBER no matter how many times we tell them no EM like Emma...they just can't grasp it. But we love the name, and now that she's 7 she corrects them. Also it's very hard to find anything with her name on it so it's all special order