I guess if someone had had a birth announcement card "Ralph has arrived" and then seen them in the street they might have asked the pronounciation?

Both are right.

I went to school with a chap named Ralph. He pronounced it Ralf. I crease myself when I hear it pronounced "Rafe". Which pronunciation is correct?

I just presumed the baby's name was on a blanket, dummy or toy or something.

Oooh, clever thinking LGP. I like it .

I think this bit's a lie too.

"I first got an inkling that we had given our baby the wrong name when another mother peered into his pram and said loudly, "So, do you pronounce it Ralph or Raef?" It wasn't the mispronunciation that made me cringe but how horrible she made the word sound; all hoity-toity with ugly, drawn-out vowels."

Unless she went out with the baby's name written on a piece of cardboard attached the pram, surely the question about pronunciation would have been redundant. Or am I missing something here?

Ralph and Huxley are both ridiculous names, and the author of the article is a frightful tit.

I don't mind the canvassing on MN. In fact I like the name Huxley. BUT I do mind the blatent lie about 'fierce resistance' on MN. Makes me wonder about how much of the rest of the article was completely fabricated.

LOL!! Oh i did enjoy reading the comments.....

Hmm. I have just read this in the Telegraph. (The thinking woman's Daily Mail, obviously.)

'This sounds just the kind of topic a journo would start a thread on MN to canvass opinion' thought I.

Oh, and sure enough, lurking at the end of the article, a reference to MN and 'evidence' that her name-changing was fiercely resisted here.

Er, no it wasn't.

If she had posted in media requests, it wouldn't have irked so much.

I think it is quite irritating, actually, and rather sly, to start a thread for the express purpose of writing an article, especially when a) she fabricated the tone of responses in the ensuing article, and b)she asked a direct question without being honest as to what the point of the question was.