I don't normally go 'oh nooooo!', but ...

[Molotov]

... I just have at this birth announcement for a girl named:

Harlea-Rae.

I don't dislike it because of the hyphen (I just wanted to get that out there), but more for the mis-spelling of Harley. Which is a name I don't like anyway. And then it's hyphenated with Rae - nothing wrong with that, but it just doesn't sit well as Harlea-Rae, IMVHO. It's twee and ... just nah.

I had to share as there's no way I'm saying anything IRL.

Oh we are doing this again are we? Yawn.

My thoughts on seeing Harlea-Rae is how confusing it will be for the poor love to learn how to spell her own name. "No darling, in the Harlea bit it's the E first and then the A, that makes an EE sound, but in the Rae part it's the A first and then the E, that makes an AY sound."

Although could make her into a fab speller.

I know it's the teeniest tiniest part of their education - but it is a crucial one - when kids come out of pre-school proud that they can spell their own names it's a lovely moment. Those called Ben and Amy naturally achieve this milestone earlier than those called Anastasia and Sebastian and although this wouldn't make me give my child a short name on purpose I do wonder sometimes if children with great long names end up feeling bad at this stage.

Ha ha at BellMcEnd feeling the need to bracket the correct spelling of the names. I am sure we all knew what names they were trying to be.

I once saw the name Lee-ah and thought it was a very unusual way of writing Leah. But the mother was getting uptight because you are actually supposed to pronounce the hyphen as dash !!! The poor girl's name was Ledasha (if that is a name and assuming I spelt it correctly, although not as the mother wanted) I find it hard to believe someone would be so ridiculous as to do this to their DD

I genuinely do not know how usual has read racist content within this thread. Usual, please could you explain? I've re-read the whole thing again and cannot identify anything that constitutes racism.

Also, Cardio, if the thread is "yawn" to you: don't open and read it!

And then why waste your time posting if you've seen similar thousands of times?

Oh, a Lee-[dash]-a story. It only took 4 pages.

The sticking power of that urban legend is really impressive. And there's ALWAYS the detail about the mother 'getting uptight'. Or 'getting irate'. Or 'giving attitude'.

www.snopes.com/racial/language/le-a.asp

It's depressing that this story has been going round since at least 2008... but I find it so interesting that it keeps popping up with all the same little touches.

Whatever187, were you being ironic? (Sorry, if so; I'm dense.) Or do you genuinely think this is a true story? You didn't actually meet a Le-a; I assume a friend told you she did, or that a midwife/nurse/teacher she knows did.

Anyway. My middle name is Louise (yawn), but as a child I found it really difficult to spell usually ending up with 'Louse' so Harlea-Rae has my sympathies.

Whatever, I've seen the same sort of thing. A child called 'E-a'. Pronounced Edasha.
I know this thread has been done before, but so have 50% of all threads on MN I'd imagine,if it's boring, don't read it. Isn't that obvious?

Le-a! Bingoooooo! :o

Oh and 'my' E-a is a real child. A child who belongs to a friend of a colleague of mine. A child who's name I have seen written down and who's name I have seen listed on medical records (I've not seen her records).
Incidentally, she's called 'Ea' on the medical record system. The computer can't cope with punctuation in names, so O'Connor becomes Oconnor and E-a becomes Ea.

Snap, HelloLA. Louise is a really hard name to spell when you're little.

Is it really that impossible that in a space of 8 years that SOMEONE has since called their child Le-a? Really couldn't happen? So, unless you actually know the name of every child in the UK (world?) you cannot authoritatively state that it is impossible that anyone could know a child named that. All you can say is that THAT PARTICULAR email was not correct.

For clarity: I wasn't saying the Le-a story was a myth, I was saying it could easily be true as I know that my E-a story is true.
And exactly what Traz said, who's to say someone, some weird, peculiar, individual hasn't decided to call their child Le-a? Maybe after seeing that urban myth! Stranger things have happened.
Oh and yeah, another one. I see a lot of names every day, and one family that I still remember, Sisters Mercedes and Porsche, and their brother Bentley

I knew a E-Jay.

Dd knows a ruby-rose but I suppose it's not too bad.

Trazzletoes, the odds of someone naming their daughter after an urban legend, and then behaving exactly like the parent in said legend, make it utterly improbable that this is true. Whatever87's repetition of it fits perfectly to type. It's the 'the mother was annoyed' detail that really gives it away.

It's the same story, told over and over: not just in one email, but on web forums, as an anecdote you mention to colleagues, or included in any number of 'what's the world coming to'-type forward emails.

Isn't one of the reasons commonly given against giving your child a non-traditionally spelt name that you or they will spend a lifetime correcting people and get annoyed doing so?

I get annoyed when people can't spell my name. It's Sarah. You wouldn't expect it to happen as often as it does. I'd bet my bottom dollar that most parents of the children named on this thread get annoyed when the names are mis- spelt or mis- pronounced. I hardly think it's a cast iron argument for "well you must automatically be talking rubbish".

Plus they may well not have realised it was an urban legend, heard the name and thought it sounded nice.

Cydnee? Deztinee? There's no excuse.

I know an Alyvvia and an Ameeliyah, which both make me cringe.

Some unusual ones I know (kids friends)- beau, ezexial (X-see-key-all), shay and shayla.

Im the same, I have to make a big effort to not to cringe when I get told of (imo) "different" names, definitely a traditionalist me

I know of an Oliveeah.

I like unusual names. Oliveeah is not unusual. It's illiterate.

But Trazzletoes, they'd only have heard the name in the context of people laughing at it. That's the only place it exists. No famous La-as; no one's got a sister or grandma called La-a.

So, instead of believing that this is the millionth repetition of a very well-known urban legend, you really think that someone out there has a) heard a name being mocked, b) decided to use it for their kid, and c) then became incredulous and annoyed that it was mocked and misunderstood in the same way as when they first heard it. Oh, and d) now someone's telling a story about this on the internet which is identical to the original story from which the mad name was derived.

I'll believe it when e) they're in a baity Daily Mail article making a sadface and asking 'why can no one pronounce my DD's name'?

99.9999999% more likely is that it's the same urban legend still going strong.

In real life, I think people who give their DC creatively-spelled names WANT them to have the attention of having to spell it out, of correcting people and saying it over and over. They think it'll make them different and special and memorable. Imagine if your mother had decided to spell your name Pseragh. She probably wouldn't be annoyed if people saw it written and mispronounced it; she'd be happy to set them straight and show what a creative yoonique family you are.

The reason I hate these names is as someone said up thread, these poor kids have a lifetime of correcting people.
I have a horrendous surname, in that it can be mispronounced (as the first part is the same as another popular surname but has ING instead of ON on the end) and miss spelt as when you say it people just don't listen and automatically put the ON on the end. I always have to spell it or correct people in everyday life.
The thought of giving my daughter a miss spelt first name gives me shudders. Which is why we gave her a simple 5 letter no nonsense first name. But people still think of the most complicated spelling and put EE on the end instead of Y !!

"The reason I hate these names is as someone said up thread, these poor kids have a lifetime of correcting people"

Like Isabel, Isobel, Isabelle, Isobelle and any other name (most names then) with 'valid' variant spellings! I think that argument falls rather flat.

I think this thread is horrible, agreeing with whoever said. And the classist undertones from some.

I don't know if I'd say it was racist, exactly, but definitely at talk about them there foreigners and whether it's acceptable to use a name not connected to your country of origin. It comes across as, dare I say, a bit dim.

Nah, I totally disagree. No-one knows 100% about everything and I think what has been discussed here WRT the origin of particular names has been born from genuine curiosity, marked by respectful questions.
If you can imply racism from this thread, I think you're deliberalty looking for problems.

Isobelle/Isobel/Isabelle/Isabel, etc, whilst a somewhat relevant point, is in no way the same as Harlea-Rae, Crimea, Lacey Jai (I might as well give the full example. I'm certain I'm not 'outing' myself ot anyone else here).