Everyone is getting my baby's name wrong

Surely it's her friends that should be able to get to grips with her name - as it might take them a day or two and then they know her name for the rest of the time.

I think it would be more helpful to use Emmy as a familiar name as then the person is half way there to knowing her name - they only need to add the la (if my understanding is correct.

E.g. "Hi this is Emmy"
"Hi Emmy"
Later .. "is her name Emma or Emily?"
"No it's Emila - Emmy with a la on the end"

official documents might end up spelling it incorrectly
Prescriptions and bank transfers usually in my case.

Awful name and if she's a shy child she'll never correct it.

Kids at school will call her "Em" anyway.

It reminds me of Emla the topical anaesthetic cream. I had an annoying maiden name and I'd constantly have to explain it and spell it out. People would even argue with me and try to correct me. It was so annoying. I was glad to change it when I married.

Your dd might be okay with a lifetime of explaining her name, but I never got used to it. She'll likely end up with it shortened anyway and official documents might end up spelling it incorrectly due to autocorrect.

It's not 'lazy', it's the perfectly normal way that the brain processes written words.

Once we have learned to read, we don't read every letter in a sentence. We process words as whole units.

Taht's why yuo’re albe to raed tihs vrey easliy.

Emilia is a common name and our brains use context to decode it.

I understand your frustration, but it's a completely normal mistake for people to make - it's not lazy at all.

You named your child something that looks like a spelling mistake of a very common name?

It doesn't matter if it's super speshul because it's not a UK name. I'm not from the UK, and I still know that doing this is a silly idea and setting your child up for a lifetime of mild but irritating inconvenience.

Yes I'm aware of that. But their names mean something to me culturally. The children love their names and the fact they link to our history. They're fine with it and are glad they're not one of many Elizabeth/ lilly/Amelias in their school.

I wouldn’t know how to pronounce it either , is it a made up name

I also have a name that people add a random letter to, because it is an uncommon name, though not as uncommon as Emila.

It can be annoying but I just politely correct them. Many people can read, and get it right the first time or correct themselves on a double take.

Maybe English isn’t your first language (since you wrote babies and not baby’s) and you should have more empathy towards people reading the name wrong instead of calling them lazy. In that case you are being lazy yourself OP. First stone and all that.

And no, English is not my first language either.

It's going to be tricky as it's not a name most people in the UK have come across.

Emila is cute but spell check automatically changes it and adds the “I” so that’s annoying for you.

Emila rhymes with Tequila is helpful to understand pronounciation.

if you’re going to be particular about spellings and pull people up about how her name is spelt it’s worth remember it’s your “baby’s name” and not your “babies name”.
If you keep getting that wrong people
wjll assume you’ve forgotten the “i”
in Emila.

I’m still reading ‘Emila’’ as Amelia every single time despite you saying it’s not her name

I read it correctly. Really don’t even think it’s that unusual or difficult to read. Correct people. And yes Mila is a cute shortening if you want one but don’t feel like you have to use one.

I have an unusual name and I love it, despite having to constantly correct people (even though it’s not complicated to say) - I have to say this only happens in the UK. In other countries people hear it once/read it correctly.

Ignore the ‘poor kid’ brigade!

Yes I thought this too. She won’t be meeting new people every day and most people you meet in person you tend to tell them your name (rather than have them read it and get it wrong if you see what I mean). It’s mainly the one off meetings where they read out your name that is difficult (e.g. I always have issues at the doctor receptionist etc because they are reading out my name and also because there’s little point correcting these people as I won’t meet them again anyway).

I would glance at it and read Emilia too. I agree Mila would be clearer.

I thought of it as em-ee-la
It's a pretty name, unusual but that's not bad in this case as it sounds and looks nice.
Just correct them when needed, plenty of names get spelt or pronounced wrong so she won't be the only one.
Our DS has a fairly common name and it still gets spelt wrong at times and has been misheard as a similar name a few times, it doesn't bother him.

It's the price your daughter pays for you picking an unusual name.

my daughter is 30. We gave her a name that is very commonplace in DH's country of origin. It is spelt in a similar way to a UK name but pronounced very differently. If I could turn back time I absolutely would not have done it. She has had a lifetime of explaining and spelling and correcting.

She went to uni overseas where the name is known and recognised and had a few years respite but she is now back working in the UK.

Emila is lovely. Just keep correcting those who get it wrong - it should only take one time. Most days she won’t be meeting people who don’t know her name already.
Do not change it because some people cannot read x

If you gave her a name Emila, keep it that way. I would clearly tell people it’s Emila and correct if they say it wrongly. It’s a lovely name, I wouldn’t shorten it, it looses its beauty with all its short versions.

My Amelie gets Amelia or Emily. It's just a name that sounds closer to the others.

I think you could remove the word ”friend” after that. But like you say they’ll remember and that’s the important part.

Nothing wrong with Olivia.

You’ve set her up to correct people across her lifetime. What a pain.

Isn't that an acronym for European Master in Landscape Architecture?! Interesting name choice. Although handy if she goes on to be an architect. And yes, I agree, she needs a nickname ideally as it will be a lifetime of (naturally) mistaking her for Emilia.