"Unusual Spellings of Baby Names Out of Control"

[~clover~]

BG how do you pronounce Nevaeh?

Neh-vay-ah : My friends DD has the same name I love it! Her twin is Levi, so they have Heaven & Ivel (evil) spelt backwards


Go the stripper kids

My DD goes to school with a 10 year old boy called Mango. From an upper social class. I think thats not fair. That child will have problems later in life, but Sindy? I really don't see that as a stripper name myself. Would Cindy have been ok?? My GP's name is Denny. Didn't affect his life or proffession that I can see. Then there's Layne Beachley - I focus on her surfing, not her name - as do most as far as I know. I never thought her name made her 'better', & it never crossed my mind that Michael Jackson was affected in any way by his 'common' name. Its their talent that makes them famous, not their name. I guess its possible that naming DD Jazmyne I gave her 'stripper' talent...Mind you she is very talented at alot of things. Especially athletics. I really believe its the area a child grows up in that makes a child who they are, not their name.
Thats why I moved to where I am now. We lived in a town full of drugs & teen pregnancies. If thats what everyone else is doing, thats what I'd expect of my DD. Now we live in a town where there is a very high uni rate, low to no teen pregnancies & every area has drugs, but they are not the life style here. There is not one person in town here that lives for drugs. (Its a small town, so I can say this truthfully)
There are also more opportunities offered at the schools here, marine biology etc. That is what will shape her life. Not the spelling of her name.

Plus, the way we are going, employers are just going to have to get over their 'fuddy duddy' ways, or there'll be noone left to employ.

[sas85]

I agree Skye. Employers will have to get over it. But if they don't - would anybody really want to be in the employ of a such a prejudiced person who won't even interview a suited applicant based on their name's spelling, perceived oddness, or worse yet, ethnicity. I doubt anyone of ethnic background wants to work for a bigot anyway. I do not accept the sound or spelling of a name as being a legitimate preclusion reason and believe it violates the anti-discrimination act.

I don't know how many of you have been down to the local GP's or Emergency room lately, but I can't even read what most of the (granted mostly foreign) names of the Doctors are, and sure didn't seem to impact their professional careers.

Sounds like Denmark is a little bit extreme there Expat. But, Australian law does prevent totally ridiculous names/spellings from coming into existence. When you fill in the form for BD&M at the hospital, there is subtext giving you preclusions as to what you can't include in names (foreign letters, punctuation marks) and also a note of the government reserving the right to refuse a name that it perceives to be unacceptable for extreme reasons. So unlike America, I don't believe the government would allow anyone to name their child that really long Talulah-in-Hawaii name someone mentioned earlier, or the full names of famous Nazi's. But still, within reason, you have to let people have their rights, and if that means giving their kids names with silent M's and X's through it for no reason or odd names, well that's what makes us a diverse people. And if the kid really hates the spelling, he can just change it himself unofficially or officially. It's not a big deal.

[Anila]

but then think about some ppl dont like names coz their normal coz their boring

I think my name is really boring, i would have loved my parents to have called me Ophelia, but then if they had of, would i then complain that ,my name was way too out there?

[~ Mylitta ~]

My name doesn't have the "normal" spelling, but I love it. What I like about many names it the way they look when written down. My name might sound exactly the same as "Kristy" and "Christie", but I love they way "Krystie" looks. Although I always have to spell it out to people, I figure that I would have had to spell out the other variations too... I liked having my name spelt in a more unique way considering that there were 3 others with the same name in my year level at high school.

One of the reasons we named our son Kyson was because I love the way it looks. I also loved that it was unique without being odd (like some celeb's childrens names...), and I also like the nickname of Ky

Since he was born I've had a couple of people ask if his name was an abbreviation of "Krystie's Son", lol, but no, it's not

[briggsy's girl]

Originally Posted by LilMunchikins
BG how do you pronounce Nevaeh?

Neh-vay-ah : My friends DD has the same name I love it!

yup - that's how we pronounce it - have heard others say it differently but we pronounce it this way

i love the name, but i think the meaning sold me on it more than anything!

[Roryrory]

On the topic of baby names and socioeconomic status, here is quote some of you might be interested in following up

In their book ?Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side Of Everything,? authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner claim that baby names ?migrate? through the population from a higher socioeconomic level to a lower one. In their book, they predict the most popular baby names of 2015. (See list below).

So the names that are popular in "The Age" will soon be appearing in the "Herald-Sun"??

[{sarah}]

You know what I think is really silly... The fact that people think someone will be given a lesser chance at a job because of something that was beyond their control. It's essentially the same discrimination as for race or sex, you don't choose those & you don't choose you're name either (that is unless you change it later in life).

[Glamourcide]

I read that Oprah Winfrey was actually supposed to be called Orpah (which is a bible name from the book of Ruth), but her mum spelled it wrong on the birth certificate and the pronunciation stuck!!!! I wonder if she'd be as famous if she was called Orpah??

Yeah, I read that the midwife (apparently it's routine for midwives to fill out the forms rather than the parents) made the spelling mistake and the name just stuck.

I'm wondering if that happened to someone in town recently, although I'm inclined to think that the parents just 'screwed up' - three birth notices in the paper recently (for the same baby, one from mum and dad, one from grandparents, and one from aunty & uncle) all proudly announced the safe arrival of 'Micheal'.
As far as I know, it's not a regional variation - it's a common mistake that people make when spelling 'Michael'. And to me, 'Micheal' just looks SO wrong - surely mum and dad have seen it spelled 'correctly' a million times before and would have noticed their mistake? Or was it deliberate? I won't ever know (unless Micheal's mum is a BB member lol, *ducks*), but (and I hate to sound like a snob, I do admit I am a stickler for correct spelling and grammar) I just get a little tingle of 'wrong wrong wrong' down my spine when I see 'Micheal' instead of 'Michael'.
There are plenty of baby name books out there, and not ONE of them has ever printed 'Micheal' as well as 'Michael', so how could it be so hard to check back if you weren't sure of the spelling before sending off the forms?!

[Bondi_Girl]

I personally think some spellings are out of control but some of them I really like.

My name, isn't that unusual when it comes to spelling (Mikayla), but through my whole life it's been frustrating spelling my name out 3 times every time someone wants to know how to spell it; they seem to get lost in the ayla. Though I don't quite know how.

Sorry I don't know how to quote haha, but my name was meant to be something different with a bunch of h's everywhere (I'm not quite sure), but somewhere along the line someone mucked it up when it came to writing it out. :P But I don't mind, I like it.

I also think that it's pretty stupid that people are missing out on opportunities (job etc.) because of unusual spelling.

Mikayla x

[Amity]

I have only a couple of comments:

1. I work in family law, have spent time in Children's Courts, and I've literally seen it all.
2. In my experience, the more "whacky" the names, the more likely the children are to end up in the Children's Court (whether in the welfare or criminal divisions) or the Family Court (where their parents fight over them).
3. I rarely see "normal" names in Court.

Here are my three theories about Family Law. Shoot me down in flames if you like, but they're true.

a) If you have more than two Ys in your child's name, you are feral.
b) If you have a positive tatt-to-teeth ratio (ie more tattoos than teeth) you are definitely feral.
c) If you have both of the above, plus any visible piercings, you are guaranteed to be a Legal Aid client.

HTH

[Phteven]

On the topic of baby names and socioeconomic status, here is quote some of you might be interested in following up



So the names that are popular in "The Age" will soon be appearing in the "Herald-Sun"??

Not really familiar with the Melbourne papers but if The Age is the broadsheet and the Herald-Sun is the tabloid I think that yes, that is the general gist of their argument.
More than that, the point that they are also making is that many of the factors that influence one's life outcomes are in place long before you are conceived so if you come from a socio-economic group that is likely to call you Cordelia then the chance is that you will have a similar outcome even if your parents do have a fit and cal you Eboniiiiie Raiiiigh instead.

OMG Divvy you totally cracked me up
Thank-you

You know what I think is really silly... The fact that people think someone will be given a lesser chance at a job because of something that was beyond their control. It's essentially the same discrimination as for race or sex, you don't choose those & you don't choose you're name either (that is unless you change it later in life).

I have to fess up here. When I was hiring a while ago I chucked out a bunch of resumes based on names. I didn't want to hire another staff member who was going to be 'one of the boys' so I chucked all the people who looked like they came from a similar background to the rest of our staff in the no pile. I'm aware that it's not a really nice thing to do but the truth is that when you have over 100 job applications for 1 job you can afford to chuck out resumes based on totally inane and unfair reasons.

[expat]

Divvy, that was gold! I just peed my pants!

[maz]

a) If you have more than two Ys in your child's name, you are feral.
b) If you have a positive tatt-to-teeth ratio (ie more tattoos than teeth) you are definitely feral.
c) If you have both of the above, plus any visible piercings, you are guaranteed to be a Legal Aid client.

HTH

were am I then on that list?? hahahhaha

You know what I think is really silly... The fact that people think someone will be given a lesser chance at a job because of something that was beyond their control. It's essentially the same discrimination as for race or sex, you don't choose those & you don't choose you're name either (that is unless you change it later in life).

total agreeance!!!

If anything..I have found going to job interviews with my UNCOMMON name a big talking point and helped break the ice so to speak. OH and they werent job's at the local corner store either for those who are thinking it....one was a managerial position in a well established world wide company and the other one was as a customer service officer, level A with a finanical institute.

Would I employ someone with a wacke dout name???? depends on their working history and if they were the correct person for the position...but from what ive learnt over the last day I might have to look at people named XYZ and penis brain in stead!

[Marlene]

a) If you have more than two Ys in your child's name, you are feral.
b) If you have a positive tatt-to-teeth ratio (ie more tattoos than teeth) you are definitely feral.
c) If you have both of the above, plus any visible piercings, you are guaranteed to be a Legal Aid client.
HTH

Phew...looks like I won't be needing the family court any time soon then, LOL.

[Bathsheba]

I'm still PMLing at Divvys post... I've heard the full and unabridged version of her post too... but what's said at a meetup stays on a meetup! needless to say she had me in stitches!

I also have to reinforce what Jasp said: THE POLL WAS DONE ON UNUSUAL/WEIRD SPELLINGS OF COMMON NAMES ONLY. It was not in reference to unusual names... there is a difference.

[Bathsheba]

I'm still PMLing at Divvys post... I've heard the full and unabridged version of her post too... but what's said at a meetup stays on a meetup! needless to say she had me in stitches!

I also have to reinforce what Jasp said: THE POLL WAS DONE ON UNUSUAL/WEIRD SPELLINGS OF COMMON NAMES ONLY. It was not in reference to unusual names... there is a difference.

[bon]

Where we live, unusual names and spellings are the norm - in fact, I think my kids are unusual because they all have fairly normal names! I have never been fussed by the idea that I have to make my child 'unique' by changing the spelling of a name or naming them something unusual. DH and I have just chosen names that we like, we have never worried about whether they are too common or how high in the top 100 they are, and we go for the most straight forward spelling. My name - Bonny - is fairly standard I think, but the spelling is not so standard. I have spent my life correcting people and spelling it out for people. I like my name and I like the spelling but it irritates the heck out of me that people (and I am not just talking strangers here - I am talking family and friends also) cannot get my name right. Even on facebook - where my name is at the top of my profile page for all to see - people still spell my name wrong when commenting on my wall!! Grrr...It even irritates DH that people do it!

[Fleur]

There are a lot of people commenting on how they are asked to spell their name "and it's a very common name"....
I am thinking that perhaps the reason a lot of people get asked how to spell their name (even the 'not-unusual') ones, could be that people these days are accustomed to unusual spellings.

For example, is it Kristy with a CH or a K? Lynne with one N or two? There are a lot of common variations on common names.
And that is without the very unusual ones added into the mix.

Bon, I get you on the Fb thing. My pet hate is at work, when I e-mail someone and my full name is in my sig, and they reply with the wrong spelling! How hard is it to check in rely? Big grrr.