Tbh I don't care If I am, some parents need to get a grip

[WildThongIWannaKnowForSure]

I give you A-Jay, Charlidh, Ameiliah, Blaiyre, Boudicca, Blu-rayne, Foozy, Deztany-Rose, Madison-Bluebell

My favourite is Wyntrr. They could at least have added an h to the end though.


here

[TheRealFellatio]

I live amongst lots of Filipinos and other south east Asian people.

I have met a woman called Joeanne, pronounced Joey-Anne, and I have met women called Inky, Jelly, Guitar and Wedge. All spelt exactly as I have written them.

True Fact.

I can't help feeling a bit sorry for Wedge.

[nooka]

I think that baby name books and internet baby name sites have a lot to answer for when it comes to names. How was it determined that 'Abbiegail' was a genuine alternative form of Abigail? I suspect by looking at the lists of names that people have given their children and making the assumption that the child named 'Abbiegail' was probably intended to be Abigail and then adding it to the book as an alternative. Whilst that probably is how names have evolved I suspect that's not what the reader has in mind when they see it in their book of names. Some baby name websites are even worse, you can put in any mix of letters and they will tell you that is a name 'of unknown origin' or other meaningless gumph.

[Calabria]

I know one of those Albies!

[JenaiMorris]

I thought Caitlin Moran, when she named herself Caitlin, thought it was pronounced "Kat-lyn" but subsequently found out that it is generally "Kate-lyn".

So was she "correct" first time round then?

Not that it matters one iota. And besides all the Caitlins I know are "Kate-lyn". Maybe it's morphed. Or there are regional/national variations in pronunciation that you have to live with (like Liam/Lim, Michelle/Meechelle).

[ScrambledSmegs]

The only sort of names I would be very at are the ones where the parents are blatantly taking the piss. Think Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii or Number 16 Bus Shelter. That's not thinking of the child, it's treating the child as a big joke.

These ones - I should imagine most of them have been chosen with love. That's enough for me.

[UniqueAndAmazing]

SomethingOnce - my name is Andrea, which is a boy's name in Italy.

[LalyRawr]

I think the problem with judging names, for me at least, is that on here, it's an abstract you know? It's just a name. Except it isn't. Because there is an innocent little baby that you're making judgements about. That you are saying is common or stuck up or will never get far in life.

So when people say Caitlin is chavvy or the pronunciation is 'wrong', I take it as them calling my beautiful, clever 13 month old little girl a chav and wrong. So I take issue with as I would anyone insulting my daughter!

Of course there are names we dislike and names we love and there is not a single name in this world that everyone on here will think is lovely.

The defence normally is 'Oh but the child will get teased/bullied'. Frankly small children are horrible enough to tease and bully over anything. It could be the name, their weight, their intelliegence (or lack thereof), where they live, the colour of their hair. Wouldn't it be better to raise our children to not pick on others rather than say we should all call our children 'acceptable' names?

My name is Alyiousa (A-la-wish-a) and everyone told my parents not to call me it. It wasn't a 'real' name, I would get teased, I would have to endlessly spell/pronounce it (which I do!). But you know what? I love my name. I never got any teasing, it's as real as I am and I'm proud of my parents for sticking to their guns instead of calling me something more 'Traditional'.

Sorry, this has turned into a bit of a rant and it isn't actually aimed at anyone in particular, just a general comment that when you judge a name, it isn't just a name.

[mmmerangue]

My DN is called A-Jay and it is a lengthening of his fathers' initials.

Might have been a bit at first, but really, people can call their kids whatever the hell they want.

Some of the alternate spellings make my skin crawl actually but they're not my child so who am I to judge? My partners name is spelled 'wrong' too, mixed up an I and an E, but it's fine because all his post comes for the regular spelling anyway, even when he has spelled it out over the phone or typed it online himself. I'm sure Maddysyn Abbiegaile Blu McSpellchecker will have the same problem for her whole life.

[nailak]

Ajax is an Indian name?

[nailak]

Ajay even

[nailak]

Hoor is an Arabic name, meaning beautiful woman

[TheRealFellatio]

I would never, never never in a million years have got 'A-la-wish-a' out of Alyiousa.

The boy's version of the name is spelt Aloytius, so your parents didn't even spell it in a way that made it obvious it was a feminised version of the same name. It should be Aloytia. You can't get a 'wish' sound out of 'Alyiousa' I'm sorry but you just can't, and it makes no logical sense.

It would be like me calling my daughter Sharyloita and insisting it was Charlotte.

I think with all due respect that your parents were not quite thinking straight when they did that. To hear it pronounced it's a perfectly nice name, but to spend your life having to explain it, and see people look at it written down and go would be too much for me. If it were my name I'd have change the spelling long ago.

[LalyRawr]

I think it was meant to be a feminine form of Aloysius.

& clearly you can get the wish sound out of it, because I have it!

[SomethingOnce]

Laly, I said previously that I'm a thin skinned person in real life but even I think you're worrying way too much about this.

One of my acquaintances grilled me about DDs name and I'm pretty that was because, in her ignorance of its usage, she believes it to be a bit pretentious. I've read people of here saying similar.

Would I prefer it if every person on the planet agreed it's a lovely name? Probably. Do I think people's initial thoughts about it are an insult to my actual daughter? No, and to me that seems a very over the top reaction, tbh, and a bit precious.

People have thoughts, then they have other ones - it's really not a big deal.

[ATJabberwocky]

Not a strange name just an odd spelling, Leighann - Leanne surely?

[LalyRawr]

Oh I know Something, I know I take it too personally, but have yet to figure out how to stop.

It's weird, because I don't give a crap about all the judgements people seem to make about me or my parenting etc, but when it comes to her name, it seems to hit a nerve!

Maybe because adults seem to think its acceptable to imply my parents were stupid and mentally unhinged when they named me, so I'm a bit sensitive

[JenaiMorris]

I know how to pronounce Aloysius because it's a Cocteau Twins track (I caused much hilarity by pronouncing it "Alloy-See-Us").

I'd have worked out Alyiousa I think, from that. Even if it is a "made-up" name (proper names came out of the big bang at the dawn of time, as everyone knows )

It's lovely.

[SomethingOnce]

Of course Hoor has no innate negative qualities; like all words it's just a collecton of sounds, but I'd probably avoid using it in a place where it sounds like the word whore. (Not that I'd be immature and make a thing out of it if I knew a Hoor, because I'm not an immature idiot and was raised not to behave like that, and I'd be down like a tonne of bricks on any pisstaking because that would rude in the extreme.)

That said, if I lived outside the UK and the name I wanted for my DC sounded like something unfortunate in the local language, I'd think twice before using it.

[Thisvehicleisreversing]

I've heard of a baby girl called Terri-Anfield.

[JenaiMorris]

Just to clarify - I know that Aloysius the name wasn't invented by the Cocteau Twins - it's just that on an album cover was the first time I'd read it.

First time I heard it of course was on Brideshead.

Don't ask me the actual classical orgin though because I haven't got a Scooby.

[IfNotNowThenWhen]

I wish I was called ruby Tuesday!
I love ocean raine too! And Connor. Although teachers do tell me they have never met a well behaved Callum. I also love blessing, and would be more likely to name a child that, than one of those granny names girls at my sons school have. Like Agatha. Blee.

[SomethingOnce]

The whole issue is actually a product of diversity (class, culture, language etc) and the fact that as a species we tend to place ourselves at the centre of things... and it's difficult not to given that, unless one is very Zen or something, it's the nature of consciousness.

If we had a very homogenous society it wouldn't be an issue.

[UniqueAndAmazing]

Laly - that's a beautiful name. it sounds like trees swishing around in the breeze

[SomethingOnce]

PS I think I prefer a bit of love it/hate it name chat to a world in which we all choose from a list of 150 approved names or whatever.