August 2014 Moms

Name spelling poll

99frontier99frontier member
edited July 2014 in August 2014 Moms
Ok, DH and I have been set on the name Raya (pronounced like Maya, but with an R...so R-eye-uh) for a long time. It has sentimental meaning to us and we love unique names (DS's name is Koa)...so please don't bash the name!! But a lot of people have expressed that if we spell it the traditional way, that she will be called RAY-uh her whole life. So DH wants to consider changing the spelling. What's your input on the spelling?? Thanks mamas!

FYI: the word raya is Hebrew for a friendship kind of love
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Name spelling poll 131 votes

Keep it Raya
43% 57 votes
Riya
15% 20 votes
Riyah
19% 25 votes
Ryah
19% 25 votes
Other noted below
3% 4 votes

Re: Name spelling poll

  • If mispronunciation will bother you, then I would go with either Riyah or Riya, unless Raya is the accepted spelling for the friendship love concept.
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  • I might be partial because I knew a Raya. But I think it's pretty.

    And if you want unique spelling, my DD's name is Ceilidh — a Gaelic famelial name.
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  • I would pronounce Raya as rhyming with Maya, and that's never having heard the word before. Considering it's a real word and not a made up name, I would stick with the real spelling. Changing to phonetic spellings bugs me and in my opinion diminishes the intention in choosing the name in the first place.




    All of this. Leave the traditional spelling. People may mispronounce it but you and she will just correct them. It's not the end of the world. (And not everyone is going to mispronounce it.)

    Another vote for real spelling.
  • Most people she meets won't see her name written down first, but rather have you & her introduce her verbally so it'll be fine. I immediately thought of the Maya pronounciation too when reading it

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  • I would imagine some people will pronounce Riya/Riyah as Ree-ah.

    People will mispronounce names no matter what, so I would go with the spelling you like the most.
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  • Also.. I just Looked it up.. Raya is actually not a Hebrew name meaning anything at all, FYI. so if meaning is what you're going for, there are many beautiful (real) Hebrew girls' names. I recommend behindthename.com.. It tells you the background of every name, as well as if its user-submitted (not real).
  • If it would bother you to have it misspronounced change it. If not keep it the traditional spelling. DD's name is Amira pronounced Uh Mer Uh. It is spelled the traditional way but I just correct people when it is pronounced wrong ad people have been getting better about it.
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  • Agree that I would be more likely to pronounce Raia the correct way.
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  • I voted for Ryah because that's the one I read and immediately pronounced it the way you wanted it pronounced. All the others I pronounced RAY-uh or RE-uh. I think it's a cute name no matter what! Our boys name is unique and we absolutely love it too :)
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  • We named our son Dmitri which everyone can pronounce but no one can spell.  We are going with Meredith this time to hopefully eliminate that constant "Dmitri, D-M-I...".  i know this is the opposite issue that you are having, but people will hear her name way more than they will read it.  I wouldn't worry about it.  Spell it how you want.
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  • I voted Riya because I read it as RAY-uh. I like the H at the end better (Riyah or Ryah) but her brother's name is Koa so to me on paper they look better like that but if you aren't a person that matters to then I like the h at the end.
  • Y'all are so helpful! :) I'm so glad that some of you who have never seen the word before pronounced it correctly...that gives me some hope! (Because I'm team "original spelling")

    Also, DH and I didn't consider the R-EE-yah mispronunciation. Glad y'all brought that up!!

    I would consider using Raia, but DH didn't like it all. :-/

    And @chase16‌ : we never saw it used as a name, but just as a word that DH & I thought would be beautiful to use as a name. Song of Songs was originally written in Hebrew and one of the three types of love it notates is raya, literally translated to "friend" or "companion". When we were studying this years ago, that word stuck out to both of us. :)
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