To resent my parents choice of name for me?

[Blaengwnfi]

This is a rant - apologies.

I’ve always hated my name.

No one can pronounce it. Not even my father or siblings. It was always read out incorrectly at school and the other kids would laugh at me. It gives me major anxiety having to introduce myself.

I use my middle name professionally but it doesn’t feel like “my” name. I feel so angry with my parents sometimes for burdening me with this name.

Parents - please think before giving your kid a weird or “unique” name! It could really mess them up…

To return to the OP. . . I have a lot of sympathy with you. I have always hated my name. In my case, it isn't a wildly unusual name but people mispronounce and misspell it constantly. It's very close to another name and some people seem to think that close enough is fine. I find it extremely annoying when someone doesn't bother to learn what my name actually is but offers an approximation instead.

I'm not angry at my parents because I know they gave me this name because they love it. I have contemplated changing it but TBH I would feel a bit embarrassed to announce a new name. That's my issue, not a judgement of anyone else who changes their name. I wish I felt confident enough to change it.

My personal rule for choosing names for children or pets is the "What?" test. A name passes the test if you can introduce your child or pet without people responding, "What?" 😄

If it was me i' d shorten to Gwinny

Blathnaid?

my husband and I would have loved welsh names for our kids but we live in England and I would hate to hear the names mispronounced - they don’t have to be mangled to annoy me - I like the sound of the names properly pronounced and they just don’t sound the same otherwise. My sister lives in Wales but on a largely English-speaking area so tends to be called the anglicised version of her name. Which is fine but not the same. My other sister has a really easy to pronounce welsh name but people seem to think she has mispronounced it and add a letter or two, or a different sound even. So weird!

I live down the road from your user name😂

I have very unusual name, no one can pronounce it, have corrected people my entire life and still do and I LOVE my name😀

I feel your pain. I love my name but have had to shorten it as it is a name more common in Ireland/Scotland and English people just can’t pronounce it correctly-often telling me I don’t know how to pronounce my own name!

My name is unusual, but also has a song of the same title, so throughout childhood I had random adults singing this when they learned my name, Christmas cards were a chuckle as nobody got the spelling correct, but later I was also bullied at school children using it to tease me. Now I’m 34 I’m finally at peace with it.

Hate my name. It’s rubbish
love my middle name. Never really felt either was me though. But at middle age I’m not going to change it, doesn’t keep me awake at night (peri menopause does that)

I have an unusual name, shortened version of my name is equally unusual!
Over the years I have been called various pronunciations and names that sound like mine but it really doesn’t bother me!
I loved having a different name to all the Emma’s, Laura’s and Lisa’s I went to school with.
I am 40+ now and still love my name! It is a great conversation starter with people I meet.

l'm Sioned-Mair. lt gets mangled, l correct. And correct. It's not hard. lt's my name. l consider it rude when people say it's hard or can they use a nickname. The answer is no, don't be lazy.

I can relate, I hated my first name too & now use my middle name, totally dropping my birth name. I don't really like either name but the middle name is better than my given first name

I have a name, which while not unusual, totally dates me. I was determined not to do that with my children!

My eldest's name has fallen out of popularity unfortunately so chances are it will date her too in later life. It's a lovely name and she suits it. Second child, early 20s, name has been in the most popular list for years. Youngest, name not as popular as it once was, but it's ageless!

I feel so bad for children whose parents use these 'makey uppy' names or the chavvy names - that's a hell of a thing to saddle a child with!

Weird isn’t it because I have the same but opposite view, I’m not into most modern (made up) names or as you said, uniquely spelt ones haha
I guess you mean boring (magnolia) names when you say bread names lol it is funny how we can feel the same but have opposing opinions:)
I love traditional/real names especially short ones that can’t be shortened and I don’t like most modern ones, however most of the little ones in my family have very uncommon names which I adore and completely suit them all x
Just give me old fashioned, traditional, classy names, usually with 4 or 5 letters but nothing that ends in a y or has a double letter like Gemma or Jenny or anything similar lol oooh I hadn’t realise how picky I am haha

Got to say Elizabeth is such a beautiful name ❤️ Class

OP - I understand your frustration. At 21 I legally added a formal name I felt a better connection toward. Now my legal name is 6 names long... legal formal first name, birth first name, birth middle name, birth father's last name (honor his memory), adoptive father's last name and my married last name. It's a lot, but my formal first and married last is my go to and my birth name is only used by very close family ... or if I'm in trouble with mom (I'm 49!). 😁

I worked with someone who had always hated her name, She disclosed this at a self-esteem course she attended and they suggested she change it for something she liked. She did! It was odd calling her by her new name at first, but I quickly adapted and now I only think of her with her new name. She was in her early 60s, by the way.

Welsh names can be very ugly (I can say this as I am lumbered with one too).

That's annoying OP. It's a shame you can't shorten it.

I have a "classic" name which my Dad has always pronounced incorrectly - it really bugs me.

DH was called by his middle name which has caused a few problems over the years and he hates his first name. And my SIL changed the spelling of my niece's name so it is different to what is on her birth certificate which caused a major problem when she was first employed by the NHS

My DH has a friend whose daughter is called Grainne. I know it’s a traditional Irish name by they have always lived in North London. I always felt sorry for her as everybody misspells and mispronounces it. I also happen to think it’s an ugly name for a lovely person.

@Efrogwraig , do you insist on the full name? What I found was that many people just can't get their ears or mouth around Mair. Some seem to hear it or say it as My-uh. Sioned should be straightforward enough, but some people would struggle with Janet-Mary.

I have a name that is a floral English name that wasn't hugely popular when I was a child and was always complimented on it then and I still am now. It has grown in popularity over the years.
I think this has a huge impact on how you feel about your name. If you grow up constantly being told what a beautiful name you have and how pretty it is, you grow that mindset. Well it was like that for me anyway as I have always loved my name.
On the flip side, my dad is not English and I have a very unusual Asian middle name and surname and I am regularly questioned on why I have such an 'lovely' English name and such a 'weird/foreign/ugly' surname and I'm now very conscious of my 'contrasting' names and have been since around 11 or 12!! 🙄

I get this too. People want to call me a mangled pronunciation despite every sound in my name existing in English. Think Elin - they can say el and they can say in but they can't merge them into Elin.

Or they want to call me a similarish English name 'as it's easier to say'.

People don't seem to understand why I don't want to change my name to something English for their benefit.

Lowri is the one that gets me. It is NOT pronounced as in L S Lowry. The Low bit is pronounced like low. But people just want to say Lowry.

It must be horrible, I don't like my full name Victoria, to me it's very old fashioned. I go by Vicky. My sister is Rebecca and goes by Becky. My mum choose the names, as she liked the shortened versions. So I don't get why she didn't just call us the shorter version.
A friend of my son is called Archie (before Harry's kid) someone asked of his full name was Archibald. But his mum said no, just Archie.
My son is Morgan, I didn't realise, that it's a common girls name, I don't follow fashion. But we name him, after Morgan freeman, as we liked his films. It's actually a very old Welsh male name. So it was boys name before a girl.
He had a girl Morgan in his class. But then it was boy Morgan or girl Morgan.
A girl from my secondary school, went by her middle name, not her first name, she hated it, when a substitute teacher, called out her first name. She ignored them.