To think that children's names should be spelt roughly how they sound

[cleggy36]

There's a boy in my Cub pack who has a name which sounds like a very common boy's name but which has what I assume is a traditional Gaelic spelling. As a result it is more than twice as long as the more common spelling and has only the first letter in common. There is no possible way that anyone not familiar with the name could get even close to pronouncing it correctly. And it's not one I've ever come across before, such as Niamh, which is also tricksy, but slightly better known.

I just think that as a child life has enough challenges without being lumbered with a name which almost everybody is going to pronounce or spell completely incorrectly just to satisfy the parents cultural identity.

And what happens if, for example, as happened to us, our child was born in one country and given a name from that culture but then ended up moving to another country unfamiliar with that name?

YAB super-U and I really, I think you must realise this.

Op yabu but can i ask a question as I often don't know how to pronounce Irish names that I read in books and aoife (I think that's how its spelt) is baffling me. Can someone in the know tell me how to say it? Thank you.

My surname is a common scottish name, rare in England. It is pronounced exactly how it is spelt and is only 4 letters long. And yet I still have to reapeat and spell for everyone.

It's not a particularly big deal.

It's quite offensive to suggest people with non-english traditionally spelled names have been 'lumbered' Most people I know with Irish and Gaelic (and Finnish actually) names are very proud of them.

Eefa. Like Eva but with an F sound.

My DD has a name (not made up or trendy) which is easy to spell due to its phonetic nature, but still people find it impossible to say never mind spell

I know an Aoife - it's pronounced Eef uh

That was to Rosedee re Aoife, btw.

Rosedee Aoife = ee-fuh

OP - YABVU and ignorant.

I am in Belfast, have an 'English' name, but many friends have Irish names and Irish spellings. Yes, it may be hard to read them or know know to pronounce, but all it takes is some manners to politely ask how it's spelt.

Having people with a diverse range of names and spellings might be a positive thing, not a thing people are saddled with.

YABVVU

I am a Sian. There, now you all know, SIAN

It bears utterly no relation the the phonetic way it sounds. If I lived in Wales (where all of my family are) I would have absolutely no problems whatsoever; but I don't and I never have (lived there that is)

I get called Sharon, Shane, Siobhan, Stan and on one memorable occasion, Larne. My nickname at work is Shazza-Rhubarb.

I wouldn't change it for the world. I love, love, love my name - I love it for the way that I was the only Sian (can't do the accent on here, but believe me, it is sexy) in School, brownies, youth club, work place, ante-natal club, workplace. I love the way that it almost always triggers a conversation...even if it's the same old:

"SHARNE? Is that Irish? How do you spell that? S-A-I-N? no? oh"

I love the way it connects me to my Welsh roots; I love the sound of it, I love my name.

I am very lucky.

Why should we all be named in some homogenous English way? Please OP, have a think about your favourite names and I will BET that they are a bastardised form of something far more exotic.

But it is spelt how it sounds, just in a different language.

It's nice to see so many YABUs as I have a Gaelic name (one you mentioned) and I grew up in Australia in a time where NO-ONE had heard of it. It wasn't a problem - made me stand out and no-one forgot it (once they wrapped their head around it). My sisters are Sinead and Aisling too.

I gave my daughters Gaelic names. Aoife and Caoimhe. Its a nod to our culture (although their dad is English and he loves them too).

I have a really ordinary 4 letter name and I still have to spell it out all the time. There is another [even shorter version]and people often assume my name is spelt that way. It's just one of those things really.
Would like to add, I love Irish names.

pmsl at Niami! poor child... reminds me of Gooey.

My children both have entirely phonetic names, but people still squint and ask how to spell them, they're uncommon, but been in British usage for oh about a thousand years, at least since Norman conquest if not earlier.

I agree scorched: my daughter's name is completely phonetically spelt - in Spanish.

My name is Siobhan, my dad was from Cork so he named me a good old Irish name. I was born in the 70's when there were hardly any Siobhans around and have spent most of my life trying to spell it ...

However. I have noticed in the last 10 years or so a complete bastardisation of my name (such as 'shevaughn' ffs) what is that? Yes i know its easier to say and you literally say what you see but there is no need, no need i tell you!

disclaimer i have spent most of my life trying to spell it to 'other people' not trying to spell it

YABU. I too have a gaelic name. Scottish, not Irish. Nobody knows how to say it. I spend a lot of time spelling it. It never bothered me, why should it bother anyone else?

I actually used to love getting Christmas cards at school so I could see what weird and wacky ways people had spelt my name. My favourite is always when they stick a G in.

Speaking as someone who grew up with an incredibly difficult surname, I think you actually become very protective of it. I used to get all sorts of bizarre variants of it, but who cares?

I find it more strange when people give their child a name so utterly well-known that it constantly raises comment - friend of mine had a boy of six or seven in her class called Michael Jackson (this was only a couple of years ago).

My DD has an Irish name (hardly suprising as we live in Belfast) and I occasionaly have to spell it (not everyone uses fadas in the same place or at all).

Although interestingly when "wee ole dears" ask her name in the street, they assume it is "foreign" because of her heritage (mixed race)

yabu and a twat. irish names are spelt in gaelic. get over it.

OP, YABU.

I was going to tell you my DD's name, just for the fun of allowing you to guess the pronunciation, but I just googled it, and she was at the top of the page after being included on a newspaper feature about my son.

I shall have to warn her to be v careful online when she grows up.

Her name is beautiful and it suits her as she's also beautiful and a singular character. It also has a traditional Irish spelling as it has been in use since ancient times.

YABU. My first name is spelt phonetically and my surname isn't actually that hard but I always get; 'WHAT! Are you sure?' How do you say that' Very annoying but I blame the people for having a very narrow minded view of which names can be pronounced and spelt.

Er ... YABU and thick.

People hear and can pronounce different sounds according to what language they speak. A Russian-speaker doesn't perceive the sounds in language the same way an English, French, or Gaelic speaker does.

So how could you possible ever spell all names 'the way they sound'?

I can confirm that MI's names are a. unique and b. very lovely.

You were born too late, Cleggy. Back in the 19th and early 20th century British (And American) officialdom routinely changed the spelling of Gaelic names. Hence my surname (Scottish) can be written about six different ways - officials filling in forms just made up their own variants. Extremely rude and causes headaches today as no-one knows how to spell my name until I tell them whether there's an A or a K or a capital fourth letter etc. etc. etc.

oh, and I tried to play safe with ds's Welsh Christian name and use the Anglicised spelling. People still get it wrong - wierdly when they hear it they confuse it with an Irish name which sounds very different but has similar-ish spelling.