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Unique Names with Funny Stories?

squeakerabudhbabisqueakerabudhbabi member
in Baby Names

So, yesterday I had someone ask why we had picked a name like "Mahoney" for a potential child of ours (whether adopted or otherwise).  Apparently, she thought is was pronounced "Ma" (like "my") and "honey" (what bees make)!  I laughed so hard!  It's actually Muh-hone-ee, and it's my very Irish mother's maiden name, minus the "O" and apostrophe. :)

Has anyone else chosen a unique name for their child/have a unique name that people have totally gotten wrong in some situation (pronounciation, meaning, etc.)?

One of my best friends name her first son Ewan (like Ewan McGregor, the actor); but on her first doctor's visit with him, the nurse opened the door and said, "Eee-whan?  Is there an Eee-whan Lastname here?"  Just like "Ewok"!  She said it was hilarious!

I definitely don't expect anyone to like our names - they're mostly all family last names like Hyde, Harrison, Mahoney, Murphy, etc. (both DH and my families are extremely Irish - first generation in America, etc.) - so, not a lot of people approve; but to just get them sooo incredibly wrong is hilarious to us both! 

So, I just wondered if anyone else had any fun stories like that to share?

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Re: Unique Names with Funny Stories?

  • mrs_tacosmrs_tacos member
    I personally don't have any stories, other than people saying "is-la" instead of "eye-la," but my dad is half Irish (my maiden name is Cahill), and his father's family was full of names that people never could get right...common examples, no one could ever seem to understand that Seamus was pronounced shay-mus, or Aoife was very similar to Eva or Ava, though there are some more unusual ones, like Bronagh, that I understand a bit more why people didn't get them. Needless to say, introducing my Irish side of the family to my DH's very Southern family at our wedding was...interesting:)


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  • ms.teacherms.teacher member

    This exactly a unique name, but I think it's a funny story.

    When my cousin's daughter was born the show Clarissa Explains it All was very popular. However my cousin named her daughter Carissa Noel (she was born in December). When my cousin, who is a teacher, told one of her students her daughter's name they said, I get it, Carissa, no "L". She then had to say Noel was her middle name, but they never called her Clarissa! :)

    DD May 2010
    DS July 2012
    EDD Sept 2015




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  • EXL311EXL311 member
    My real first name is Deirdre (Deer-druh).  My bff asked me in high school how to pronounce it and when I told her she thought I said deer truck.  So now she calls me either by my nickname, Deertruck or Deertrucklin'.  People massacre my name all the time.
    Dee Dee DS Elijah Xin 3/11/05 DD Evangeline Mei 8/24/06
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  • squeakerabudhbabisqueakerabudhbabi member

    imageamandarene112:
    I personally don't have any stories, other than people saying "is-la" instead of "eye-la," but my dad is half Irish (my maiden name is Cahill), and his father's family was full of names that people never could get right...common examples, no one could ever seem to understand that Seamus was pronounced shay-mus, or Aoife was very similar to Eva or Ava, though there are some more unusual ones, like Bronagh, that I understand a bit more why people didn't get them. Needless to say, introducing my Irish side of the family to my DH's very Southern family at our wedding was...interesting:)

     Ha ha!  We also love Seamus, and a friend of one of my sisters thought it was literally "Sea" + "mouse" - what????  I was like, "No, no, no, no, darling...it's Shay-mus"!  I LOVED that!

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  • jebuelljebuell
    Not quite along the same lines, but when my brother played hockey as a kid one of his teammates Mom's was named Iona.  Her married last name was Braa (pronounced like bra).
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  • squeakerabudhbabisqueakerabudhbabi member
    Okay, both "Deer Truck" and "Iona Braa" literally have me LOL!!!  Whew, that's awesome!!!!  Big Smile
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  • soontobemrsvegasoontobemrsvega
    imagems.teacher:

    This exactly a unique name, but I think it's a funny story.

    When my cousin's daughter was born the show Clarissa Explains it All was very popular. However my cousin named her daughter Carissa Noel (she was born in December). When my cousin, who is a teacher, told one of her students her daughter's name they said, I get it, Carissa, no "L". She then had to say Noel was her middle name, but they never called her Clarissa! :)

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  • soontobemrsvegasoontobemrsvega
    imagesoontobemrsvega:
    imagems.teacher:

    This exactly a unique name, but I think it's a funny story.

    When my cousin's daughter was born the show Clarissa Explains it All was very popular. However my cousin named her daughter Carissa Noel (she was born in December). When my cousin, who is a teacher, told one of her students her daughter's name they said, I get it, Carissa, no "L". She then had to say Noel was her middle name, but they never called her Clarissa! :)

    a friend of mine wanted to name her DD carissa.  when she had her the nurse came in and asked what the babys name was, she was filling out paperwork. my friend said "carissa" the nurse said "clarissa" friend "no carissa" nurse "clarissa?" friend said "no carissa!" nurse said "how do you spell that?" friend got so mad and yelled "A M B E R ok the babys name is amber" amber was her second choice and this nurse made her so mad that she couldnt figure out what her baby's name was she changed it right then LOL she said she didnt want to spend the rest of the life explaining to dumb ppl its carissa not clarissa.

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  • woolgatheredwoolgathered

    My maiden name is Jones, and when we first moved to NJ, my Dad had to go to the DMV to get a NJ license. The clerk pronounced it "Joan-ez".

     

    HAHAHA!

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  • DMDavidsonDMDavidson member

    This is also in a different direction, but I thought it was neat. When friends of ours had their little girl, they named her Makena after Makena Beach in Hawaii where they were married.

    It made DH and I think of our Hawaiian wedding, but we got married on Waimanalo Beach and can't imagine naming our kid Waimanalo!! lol

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