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…

@MolkosTeenageAngst , how on earth do you get these:Eg:
Buddug - Biddy, Beth
Heulwen - Helen, Ellen,
Angharad - Angie, Harriet
Gwenllian - Gwen, Leanne
Blodeuwedd - Di, Ira,?

Buddug - BITH-ig, th like in the and that, not like the th in Beth
Heulwen - approx. HAIL-wen
Angharad - Ang-HARR-add, no g soung in ng
Gwenllian - Gwen-LLEE-ann, LL like the ch in liebfraumilch, but not like in scottish loch
Blodeuwedd - Blod-EY-weth, th like in this and that, not like th in Beth.

Sympathies OP. I hate my name for very different reasons to you - it’s old-fashioned, prim, bland and boring, and doesn’t suit me at all.

I go by a nickname version and am much much happier since I decided to get everyone to call me that. Just wish I’d thought of it sooner.

Could not agree more OP.
I have a deeply common and boring 1960s name. Along the lines of Anne /Louise /Lynn. I picked out longer/prettier names for my 3 daughters. But every one of them was easy to say and everyone had heard of them.

Welsh speaker here, very intrigued by your name!

You have my sympathies and I'm also really angry on your behalf. I can't believe your own father and brothers can't pronounce it and don't make the effort to pronounce it properly.

In my opinion, it's bloody rude to mispronounce someone's name, especially if it's someone you interact with regularly. Make an effort.

@Maisymoomoo22 ,
Ceinwyn.
Cyrydwyn
Blodwyn
Gwyneth
Bronwyn
Llinos

Not surprised they didn't like their names.

Ceinwyn is a misspelling of Ceinwen
Cyrydwyn is a misspelling of Ceridwen, I think
Blodwyn is a misspelling of Blodwen
Bronwyn is a misspelling of Bronwen

The -wyn ending is masculine, but your examples are not boy's names.

Gwyneth and Llinos are both quite normal names, but quite middle-aged.

Have actually understood what you wrote?
Your Middle name is boring and your name you don't like because it is unusual.
I think You would hate any name, so your patents couldn't win.

I don't think you can blame your parents. They didn't do it to hurt you - if your name is Jane you might hate it and think it's boring, and name your own child Anastasia so she feels beautiful and special, and SHE might hate that name because she has to spell it out and just wants to fit in...

It is a shame you don't like your name but I don't think they could have known that beforehand.

I hear you, OP. My name is an unusual variant of a historically popular male name. Most people assume I am wrong in how I pronounce my own name and are keen to correct me. I understand the anxiety of introducing yourself - the person gets it wrong so you correct them, then they question it so you have to explain your whole life history and you're forever perceived as this pretentious, argumentative, awkward person you never wanted to be!

I always say the same as you on threads here. Don't saddle your children with something no one knows how to pronounce or spell. Just because you like it.

@Cherchezlaspice my daughter is called Elizabeth it’s far from boring and really suits her !! Much better then pretentious, show off names which kids usually hate !!

I hear you op. My name is easy to pronounce but it belongs to a woman 20 years older than me. I used to get teased about it at school because I was the only one of my name in my primary and massive 7 form entry secondary. I still hate it now to be honest.

Perhaps we need children to be given vanilla stunt names until they pick their own when adult, like some of the Protestant sects choose for Baptism. Won't stop some adults picking special names for themselves so perhaps even more Vogue-Sunrise's in 18 years than are now given by parents (apologies if there are many Vogue-Sunrises for the unintended criticism).

If it is where you live hi and a 👋 from the beach!

I have that too. It’s far too boring a name to come back into fashion yet. People always expect to meet someone nearing retirement, not me - I can see some double takes occasionally when they realise I’m much younger than they thought.

I’m with the OP though on changing it. My name could easily be made much nicer/‘cuter’/modern by changing the ending to an ‘a’ or ‘ie’ but… Then that wouldn’t be me. Which probably sounds illogical to most people.

I generally just occasionally wish that I’d changed it to the ie ending when I was a teenager, and then forget about not liking my name much!

I know a couple of women who have normal names that have been tweaked (don't know if there parents couldn't spell or thought making up a name would be a good idea? Or these people jazzed up their names themselves, spelling looks like a normal name too me?). I can't pronounce or remember the made up names and have been told off by them. I'm massively dyslexic also. I avoid them now. These people are both English as a first language:(

Elizabeth is a lovely name. What I don't like are the ones that name they're children what I see as nicknames as actual names. Like Libby, Jayce, Theo and Sammy. They sound like they're naming they're dog.

@SequinsandStilettos thanks for that!!🤣🤣

I have a fairly unusual name but never thought much about it- till someone started a thread on here 'would you call your baby Astrios' and the overwhelming majority said ewwww

I'm sorry you don't like your name, OP. Your parents should never have chosen a name only one of them could pronounce correctly.

I have a Welsh name in England but both my parents can pronounce it. A lot of people say and spell it wrong. My Mam genuinely thought the name was 'English proof'. I love my name but I wouldn't have been happy if my Dad couldn't pronounce it.

I also got off lightly - the names my Dad wanted were truly bizarre, Gertrude was the best of his suggestions. Mam vetoed them all. Dad vetoed her suggestion of Myfanwy. I would have been Ynyr if a boy. Thankfully I'm not as I couldn't pronounce Ynyr as a child.

I would happily give my child a Welsh name based on my experience but I'd be choosing something like Alys which is more likely to be pronounced correctly.

Out of interest, how does your name compare to your siblings? Did they get easier Welsh names? Or non-Welsh names? Basically, does your name really stand out compared to their names?

Can I also ask parents not to use unique spellings?

If you want to call your child Catherine, don't spell it Qaffreen or make James into Games.

That's not true though. We learn how to make sounds when we learn to speak, after a certain age the vast majority of people are unable to make new sounds. So it depends if that sound is in our tool box of sounds or not.

yes I can 'learn' that Sara A is a sair-ah but Sara B is a sah-ra but I can't pronounce a lot of foreign names correctly, because I cannot make the correct sounds. Let alone remember what sound the letter should make.

@Somethingneedstochange78 , Theo is a name in its own right

Agree. I have a double barelled first name and it's a pain allllll the time.

My given name was Chantal. I changed it to when I turned 18 to something similar with fewer negative connotations but I still feel a bit of an identify crisis all these years later! (Sorry if you’re called Chantal and you love it. In the area I live I was teased relentlessly for a “chavvy” name and people used to scream it Eastenders-style across the playground. Even the teachers raised an eyebrow when they called the register on the first day of term.)

I'm in South Wales and I'd say gwun-vee too!