Diaeresis

[MauriceTheMussel]

Any experience with a name with diaeresis, please? Is it a pain on forms? Does a passport exclude them etc?

Secondly, would it be “correct” to have diaeresis on Raphael?

@ditavonteesed
@Filofaxforlife

Is it not obvious from the way the OP is worded that this isn’t a name for the baby? Even if you don’t know what the word means .

I think that’s how everyone would say it. I’m not Italian, but I know a ninja turtle.

OP, people are generally too lazy to use any diacritics in this country (plus, granted, they can be hard to find in keyboards and some English language electronic formats won't accept some symbols).

But it would simply do my head in to see the name misspelled. So in your shoes, I'd use the diaeresis, teach the child to use it, and accept that it will be missed often in practice.

You don’t need to use diaresis in English at all. If you wanted to preserve the original way of writing a name in another language, or need to make the pronunciation of a name clear, you can use the typographical markers for that if you like (like the example a PP gave for writing an Irish language name). But if you are using an anglicised name you don’t need to (although you can if you particularly want to).

Either way - you really don’t need one for Raphael; it’s not standard to use one for that name and it wouldn’t affect pronunciation. There are certainly some names where diaresis might clarify pronunciation in English but Raphael isn’t one of them.

Yes to a Diaeresis on Raphael, though I don't know how to do one on my laptop keyboard, so that's telling. I can do one on my phone though.
The name that really cries out for a diaeresis to me is Anais. My friend's grand daughter's name is pronounced "Annay" 😧

It's about 10 years ago but I had a German boyfriend whose name had an umlaut in the surname - but the u-umlaut was mis-booked on a flight as u-no-umlaut, and we nearly missed a flight in New York because the check-in terminals didn't register his passport name the same as his flight name.

Dear Mrs Umlaut-Circumflex,
In your opinion will this thread make it to Classic status?

Yes, my fada cannot be accommodated on many UK forms. Which irritates me, as it isn't there for decoration -- words mean entirely different things depending on whether there's a fada or not. Seán is a male name, 'sean' without the fada means 'old' etc.

If you're going to use a name with a diaresis, OP, I'd accept that it will be omitted a lot. If that will drive you mad, I'd think again.

Agree with this - in English, Raphael is very obviously pronounced as two separate sounds at the end. However, like a PP said, the diaeresis inclusion, to me, makes it “correct” and whole, present, and accounted for!

I’ve gathered the diaeresis spelling is the standard French spelling, and we are not French.

If anyone is called Zoe or similar, is your name naked in your passport and other official forms and you use the diaeresis when handwriting etc?

Hmmm, I’m hoping his passport was a German one and thus their authorities were/are more equipped for diacritical marks on names?

Why don't you read the OP? 🤦🏼‍♀️

His passport was German, and I think the US machine recognised the umlaut correctly - but someone else had booked his place ticket and missed out the umlaut when booking. So I think what I'm saying is: U is a different character to U-umlaut for software, so where anyone else has to type in your name, there's going to be more risk that it gets messed up.

You can't use it on a passport.
(UK gov guidelines)
So you'd have to be careful about not using it when booking flights, but it's way more likely to be forgotten than added in.
Saying that, I'm not sure I'd put the child to the trouble for a name like Raphael. Zoë feels (irrationally) to me like it benefits from the decorätion because it's short.

@HostaCentral , it's Raffaello in Italian. What do you mean by Raf-ai-el, Raph-ay-el or Raph-eye-el?

@MauriceTheMussel , the Raphaël spelling is the French version.

My dh has an umlaut in his first name (German parent). He doesn’t use it much as in the uk things like passports and driving licence don’t accept it. He doesn’t use however does sign himself off as ü (for example on the end of a text instead of an x) which he likes as it looks like a smiley face. Luckily the slightly rude sounding surname doesn’t have any accents on it!

I think you'd have to leave it off online forms, but no reason why you can't use it in handwritten things. I know someone with a circumflex on her name who did this.

‘Wind’ up

What is?
Wind 💨 or
Wind🧵

This

My niece’s name I think has one. I’ve never used it

😂

I love that people are thinking this is a name suggestion! Just goes to show the types of names we sometimes field!

I've heard some bad names suggested on here but this is the shittiest.

It’s a PITA having accent or punctuation in your name, I have one, some websites won’t accept it, others won’t accept the name without it.

1. Diuresis = increased or excessive production of urine.

I know there is one letter different but really is this what you want for your child?

My brother sadly abandoned his fada after many years-it was just too much hassle in the end.

I have a "to bach" (circumflex) in my name. It was handwritten on my (typed) birth certificate but doesn't appear on any other documents.

I generally leave it off anyway.