I think the apostrophe is common in some cultures to make sure the name of pronounced correctly. With the one you mentioned Teni, if you take the apostrophe out, you could potentially have people saying something like "lake-San" - as much as it doesn't read exactly how it's printed, to me it doesn't read as anything out there. Just a name if ask how to pronounce.... Perhaps my job has seen me exposed to a lot of names that are from other culture so I don't think they look wrong kwim?
Something like ma'lu honestly makes me think Maori heritage somewhere and wanting the emphasis on the right part of the name (Its not uncommon to see five kids from a family from NZ with apostrophes in their name, and when you hear how it's pronounced the apostrophe makes sense)
I suspect even if BDM knock back a name they will still use it. They just choose a different variation of the name for legal things like birth certificate etc. something along the lines of Cherub Dawn Eternity known as....
We had to get a copy of DH.s dads discharge papers to confirm his correct name - he has first and two middle names, and was always known by one of the middle names - is even buried under that name. It happens a lot....
Must say I have seen some very interesting names in my job. And not just recently born children. The names of some parents astounds me. Creative spelling and made up names seems to happen all the time. I think we are just more exposed to it in general now because of the net and sharing![]()
Maori names don't usually have apostrophes. Unless their parents are getting creative. It would be reasonably common in Samoan names though.
There was an email that did the rounds a while ago (I'm a family lawyer, so we used to see heaps of these), everything from the twins called Fish & Chips to some poor kid called Number 16 Bus Shelter. Tullula was a landmark case that overturned crazy names.
The BDM in Australia is very strict in every state so they automatically reject anything remotely inappropriate. Honestly the mind boggles sometime!!
Ahhh NZ, the Pacific Islanders back door to Australian residency
I wasn't meaning to be snippy![]()
I know quite a few Maori names & spaces are usually in them, even though they're one name (Te Kiri, Te Aho), but never seen an apostrophe. And if you're using traditional names like those, adding the apostrophe would kind of defeat the traditional purpose of it wouldn't it?
I have an apostrophe in my surname, so I get that. I've just never understood them in first names as they usually replace a missing letter. I have no idea if its true, but I was told names like O'Conner came about as they were children 'Of Conner'. My surname is a similar Irish surname that generates from Shaunessy.
And I guess in saying that, changing surname spellings is a pretty old thing in history. Our name started out as Shaunessy, then O'Shaunessy, then as they migrated to Australia it was changed & the 'u' is now an 'n', as far as I know, to simplify the name. Though I'm not so sure Le-ah is really simplified...
"Fitz" used to mean "b@$tard son of"
"Mac" and "O'Whatever" were also "son of".
Obviously Gerald was a busy man.
The best twins I have personally seen were Benson & Hedges.
There was a family at school with five kids - four girls and a baby boy. Gypsy, Jazmine, Lacey, Coral and Sam.
I recall kids who were Emmanuel (which is a lovely name) and Jesus. They were brothers.
Last edited by TeniBear; May 30th, 2013 at 12:30 AM.
Yes well I didn't think of any relation between mine & DD3's names when she was born. Skye & Summer. Not until she was over 1 & a nurse commented while in hospital. Have had a few people say something since.
We also had a dog called Jess when we named DS Jesse. The dog's name was the last thing on our minds at the time![]()
Jesus is a very popular Latin-American name. Though I'm not sure if you're saying you don't like the name Jesus, or just the choice of using both names for brothers.
I'm atheist so using names from the bible 'out on context' doesn't bother me. I once met a Lucifer and I love the name but most people seem to be horrified by it.
I know a little girl called M ysteeq (the space is so this post isn't googlable). The name itself has always made me cringe but I saw it written for the first time yesterday and actually thought it was a mistake for a minute![]()
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