Junia

[MyNewBearTotoro]

I recently met a little girl called Junia. I admit at first I thought I was hearing 'Junior' which I don't particularly like and wouldn't think suited a girl but then I saw her name written down as Junia. I'd not heard the name before but although it's very uncommon it is an old Latin/ Roman name and not completely made up.

Anyway, somehow being able to see the name Junia in my head rather than Junior made me hear the name in a completely different way and I have now really fallen in love with it and I also love the nickname Juni. I am pregnant with DC3 and would love it to be on our girl's shortlist but, although DH also likes it, he is worried about people assuming baby's name is Junior.

Just wondering what other people think of the name and whether they would get past the fact it sounds like Junior?

Junea is nice; it's all in the pronunciation. Stress the second syllable, so it becomes 'Ju-NEE-a.

I do implore you to think about what it's like to have to spell your name all the time. I have to

I think it also depends on whether you are saying the name as two syllables or three. In my accent Junia and Julia have three: JOO-nay-a and JOO-lay-a, whereas Junior has two: JOON-yir, so there would be no confusion even if we didn't make our Rs and As disctinctly.

How did the parent pronounce it OP? JOON-ya, or JOO-nay-a?

Pepperpot that is all very well but imagine the scope for school piss-taking when poor little Junia has to keep saying "It's Ju NEA actually".

and NOtYoda, everyone has to spell their names out all the time,.

Like Juniper - if you like nick name Juni

Junia/Junior (london/estuary here and it sounds the same or worse think Barbara Windsor in your head (jew nee yah)) written down wouldn't help as most people wouldn't see it written down and if they did may think creative way of writing Junior for a girl

Maria

Not everyone, surely?

eg

Person 1 : Hi, I'm Emma, what's your name?

Person 2: Joanne

Person 1; How do you spell that/

Person3; I'm Elex

Person 2: How do you spell that?

Me: My name's xxxxxxxx
Everyone: That's unusual. Where does it come from. How's it spelled?

See?

Bugger

Person 3 is Alex

Juniper is very pretty, I like Julia as well.

Junia is nice but you will get a lot of these looks and people thinking why has she named her dd Junior!

"and NOtYoda, everyone has to spell their names out all the time,."

No they don't. My name's Kate and I haven't had to spell my name since I was a pretentious teen and tried to spell it Cait.

"No they don't. My name's Kate "

Trying to think of other homophone names ....

Gray
Leda
R-swhole

When I read your OP I totally hated it but in the time it's taken me to read the rest of the thread I've completely changed my mind and I now think it's really quite beautiful. (Not v helpful)

And actually, I can't think of anyone in my immediate family who has to spell their name every time. Or even often. One had to say "Catherine with a C". Oh, and there's a Sean, which is sometimes a bit hit and miss............

Albert Ross
Teresa Green

Could you possibly call her Juni? As in the nickname IS the name?

I have a classic name with only one standard spelling and still get asked how to spell it (eg: my name is Jessica but people usually check it's with a J rather than a G and whether there are 1 or 2 Ss even though I have never seen Jessica spelt Gesica or any other way) so I'm not worried about my DC having to spell their name. DS is Reuben and nobody can get his name right even though it is the standard spelling - even I will spell it incorrectly sometimes as my brain will automatically write Rueben as that follows normal spelling rules better but I wanted to give him the usual spelling even if it is hard to spell. So I'm not overly worried about DC having to spell out Junia, I imagine once people have seen it written down once they'll remember it as it isn't tricky.

I am put off by it sounding like Junior though. For the poster who asked up thread the girl I met has it pronounced with 3-syllables, Jew-knee-yuh (like Julia but with an N) and I agree it is said slightly differently to Junior which I would also say June-yuh.

I know people who had never heard the name Junia before would still assume they were hearing Junior but I wondered if after people realised it was Junia they would hear it as a name in its own right or if they'd still just think it was too much like a feminine spelling of Junior.

Without wishing to bang on, there's a difference between sometimes having to spell your totally normal name to slightly ignorant people, and having an unfamiliar name that you have to spell to everyone

Yes I can see the difference, although I think that the range of names you can expect to find in an average UK classroom has grown and that must now be the norm for lots of people who don't have traditional English names. Most people with Indian/ Polish/ Persian/ Chinese etc names presumably have to spell them out. I can see the argument for not giving a child a ridiculous 'yoo-neeq' spelling of a normal name (eg: Willeeyumm or Vyctoriyuh) but I don't really see the argument for not choosing a less known name. Plus tons of people have unusual surnames they have to spell out anyway - is that really so hard?

I'd also say Junia is easier to both read and spell than names such as Aoife or Niamh which are happily used in parts of the UK outside of Ireland. Junia is said as you'd read it and once it's been seen written once it's not hard to remember how to spell it.

I can see a big drawback of the name being that it sounds like Junior and appreciate people don't get past that but I don't really see the fact it's less known and thus maybe harder to spell as a big issue.

A friend of mine has a similar issue with her DD, who is called Thaila (as in Thailand), but obviously everyone assumes it's Tyler.

So although a name looks pretty, it doesn't sound it. And Junia sounds horrible for a girl, sorry.

I'm sorry OP but I don't think it's that she'd always have to spell it when giving her name. It's that it doesn't sound nice when said aloud. Especially as there are actually people called Junior.

Well, Junia is apparently a form of Juno. What about Iunia? Another form of Juno according to behindthename...

Or Julia? Juna?

Loonier