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.

Mainwaring and Menzies aren't posh surnames although some people with those surnames may be posh. And "Maudlin" for Magdelene applies to the Colleges. It isn't a surname. (At least, I suppose some poor unfortunate illegitimate child whose mother fell out with the nuns may have been given it as a last name IF the nuns were real bitches.)

You spelled my name wrong, cleggy. Oh, the irony.

My sons names is spanish, altho very english too just spelt diferently - its often spelt wrong even when I've written in on a form they copy it with the english spelling

YABVU, but I think you know that.

I wanted to call DS Ruaridh but didn't, due to views such as those of the OP. I'm kinda sad that I didn't. His big sis has a beautiful gaelic name so it would have matched better, we moved house between having DD and DS, and the place we are now is far from the highlands. My DD's name perfectly reflects her heritage, though I do have to spell it out a lot. I wish I had stuck to my guns and had a little Ruaridh though!

OP YABU ignorant.

Are you BU to want names to be spelt roughly how they sound?? Yes YABU. Irish names are spelled EXACTLY how they are pronounced.

Also, Irish is the native language of Ireland. Gaelic is not spoken in Ireland. AIBU to get annoyed and want to scream everytime someone calls Irish Gaelic?

everyone who is not Irish calls it Gaelic though. It used to annoy me but I have learnt to accept it in the way I have had to accept Caitlin being pronounced Kate-lynn.
( >It's Kathleen!!!!!!)

I thought it was Scottish Gaelic and Irish Erse.

Irish Erse? In Irish we say gaeilge which is pronounced "gale-ge" or "gwail-ge" but Irish people just call it Irish when we are speaking English (hope that's clear).

I am also a Siobhan & have no problem with people saying my name wrong, I just correct them. It's no big deal & after 30 odd years you get used to it.

Funnily enough on here the Siobhan's are being shown as 'shiv-awn'or 'shev-awn' whereas I say it and was raised by my irish parents as 'shiv-on'. I answer to both though & don't really mind how it is said.

cleggy36 -

Sorry I have only just seen the question you asked me. I was not at all bothered growing up by my name. I just used to spell it, tell people how to say it. Most people told me how pretty the name was and how much it suited me and showed interest in where it came from (welsh BTW). I quite enjoyed the extra attention it got me

I do know of some poeple with my name, but have yet to meet anyone, and almost everyone I have known has never met one either. I am not going to say it here as I think it will make me quite identifiable.

I do enjoy having an less common name TBH. People seem to remember me more for it, and it seems to stand out and get me noticed.

"As I said in my last post, what I wonder is what life is like if you are one of the children (a few of whom have posted here) who don't like their own name"

As I said, i grew up hating my name and it was miserable. Nothing to do with how it was spelt though so really your question is meaningless. Children hate their names for many reasons. I would imagine that a non-Engish spelling is the least of them though.

Yes, parents should think about how a name will affect their child (mine didn't!) but there's nothing wrong with using the proper spelling of a non-English name.

Did see a SheVawn once on Jerry Springer.