Kacpar

[Theresacatinmywashing]

I've just had an email announcement from a friend (her DD has just given birth).

Its Casper isn't it? They called the kid Casper but spelt it Kacpar. I'm going to do a bland congrats reply and not even mention it.

"Kacpar however I'll conceed is probably 'made up' "

It is a normal name, not made up at all. Just because it is not the English spelling does not make it made up!

I too would assume it is pronounced Kasper - I'm surprised that some of you would honestly say Kak-par .

It is a perfectly normal Polish name.

There is no need to be so superior because some of us aren't conversant with Polish names. I guessed it might be Polish but wasn't sure.

It's a normal reaction to see the syllables "kac" together and think cack. I realised after a moments thought that it must be pronounced Casper but didn't stop me thinking cack-par. No need to get on your high horses about it. I don't know nor have I ever seen the polish spelling of Caspar before, now I do and it won't make me laugh like It initially did when I saw the title of this thread!!

I'm in the midst of multicultural London and DCs are in a very mixed school where they are in a tiny minority as children with an English heritage and I've never come across Kacpar before. We don't have any polish people round here but every other nationality pretty much. It doesn't work beautifully in English and that's a shame for a kid being brought up in Britain. Not narrow minded to think that.

Would people have an issue with Oliwia or Wiktoria?

I would have an issue if my English friends with no Polish connections whatsoever called their child Wiktoria, yes.

If my Polish friends called their child that, I wouldn't worry at all. Although I might warn them that many British people will pronounce it wrongly.

Don't have an issue with it. However my personal opinion is that it would be better to go with the spelling that made sense in the place I lived and was planning to bring the child up, where I live that would not be Kacpar, Wictoria or Oliwia.

I will emphasise again this is just my opinion! I am neither xenophobic or racist.

It does seem on here there are people looking to take offense at nothing and could start a bloody argument in an empty room.

Laughing at children's names? Just because a C makes and S sound in many origins? FFS. Heaven forbid there be some diversity amid a million Harry's and Ava's (also very lovely names.... but let's embrace difference!)

If the issue is people with no Polish connection using a Polish name, how about people who are not Christian using names of saints or popes from ages past, or apostles; or people whose ancestry does not include Italian, Spanish, French, German or Scandinavians using French or German or Scandinavian, etc. names -- Freya, Aurora, Gabrielle, Otto, Alexander, Louis, etc.

While I agree that its not very nice to laugh at forgeign baby names that don't translate well into English, I do think it's rather strange that a couple who are British would knowingly choose this for their child.

"Darling, I love the name Casper, but surely we could find a more obscure spelling that will obviously be mispronounced and sound rather unsavoury, but is actually a correct spelling somewhere in the world, so we'll be able to sneer at the ignoramuses who aren't sophisticated enough to appreciate our worldly references?"

Also, FWIW, while I would probably look at it and assume it was a foreign name, I would not recognise it and would have no reason to think that it was not pronounced Cack-par.

surfsup

So names like Ptolomy are popular and never mispronounced but there is an issue with Kacper?
For flips sake.
The biggest single immigration to the UK was in 1945 with Polish soldiers remaining here after Churchill sold them out to Stalin. That is nearly 70 years ago. You'd think people would be a little more understanding about proper spellings varying from culture to culture.
The name statistics show UK babies have Gaelic, Welsh, Arabic, French etc names but there is a problem with Polish ones?

There is no problem with Polish names. There is a little bit of eyebrow-raising going on that a couple with no ties whatsoever to Poland and Polish culture have gone out of their way to choose an unusual name which happens to be Polish and which is going to mean that their son will spend a good part of his life saying 'No, you pronounce it KAHTS-per' and 'No, that's not the right spelling - it's not Casper/Kasper/Caspar/Kacper, it's Kacpar'. We're all different. He may be utterly relaxed about this and feel having a very distinctive name is a real plus. I would have hated it.

It still seems a lot easier than Ptolomy! And I doubt that all the parents of the little Ptolomys have Egyptian connections. But that never seems to be brought up.

I'd feel exactly the same about Ptolemy, Katie! It's all familiarity. Once you know how a name is pronounced or spelled, it doesn't seem hard. John is hardly an intuitive spelling, but just about everybody knows it and can get it right. Maybe in 20 years there will be tens of thousands of Kacpars and Ptolemys about and nobody will struggle with those names either. We're not in that position now.

Kacpar with the a probably is made up it is certainly not a recognised variant that I can find in any language so far. Kacper with the e however is the standard uk and polish spelling

But loads of people are calling their kids Elodie or Amelie etc with having no French connections and nobody has a problem, why is this situation so different?

Because Elodie and Amelie are obvious how to pronounce whereas Kacpar is counter intuitive in the English language.

…and has a well known local spelling.

Lots of names are counterintutive in the English language though, John, Phoebe, Chloe, Zoe should they be Jon, Feebee, Cloey and Zoey. Do we need phonetic versions of every word so people who are unfamiliar with them can pronounce them.

Perhaps we should avoid Welsh, Irish and Scottish names too. It took me ages to figure out Eilidh but I worked out it probably wasn't Eyelid and asked. I wouldn't suggest the parents of an Eilidh should choose Aylee or Ailie why should parents of a Kacper choose the less common Casper.

C in Polish is ts though. So his name is pronounced Katsper.