This thread about babies got slightly hijacked about the unique spelling of certain names. I would like to discuss this, as it is an issue that has irked me for years.
First, some background. My name is Laurie (and that is pronounced Lore-ee, like a freakin’ truck, NOT Lah-ree with a hideously nasal first syllable) and my entire life I have had to endure 2 comments about my name-
That’s not how you spell that, it’s Lori (or Loree or Lorie)
That’s not how you pronounce that, it’s [disgustingly nasal voice] Lah-ree[/disgustingly nasal voice]
It’s my damn name, and I’m quite sure that 1) I know how to spell it and 2) I know how to pronounce it. And the thing is, the name Laurie comes from the word laurel, which is 1) spelled Laur- and 2) pronounced Lore-ell. What the hell is wrong with you people?!?!?!
Needless to say, I look at the Lori spelling (or any other spelling) as an invention which has usurped my properly spelled name. I therefore look at creative spelling of names as an annoyance at best, and a lifetime of frustration at worst. My last name is a German name, so needless to say I am quite irritated when I have to spell my full name to people.
I do not include names that are commonly spelled one way in English but spelled another in a foreign language- my friend’s name is Marc, but that’s the way it’s spelled in French and his father is French so that’s ok.
I think some people make entirely too big a deal out of creative spellings. I would not give my child, if I have one, a creatively spelled name, because an ordinary name with multiple legitamite spellings is bad enough to get spelled correctly, but to suggest that someone will ruin a child’s life with a creative spelling strikes me as just bizarre.
(My name is spelled with a “k”–many people spell it with a “c”. )
I say don’t get me started because this is one of my biggest pet peeves. I am practically hidebound about it.
My daughter has a girl in her class whose name is Uneek. And then there are Britni, Brittany, Britney etc. Ashleigh, Ashley, Ashlee…it makes me nuts.
Her (my daughter) name is Laura. She knows your pain.
People get my name wrong all the time. It is a French spelling of a fairly common name. I don’t get huffy about it. I don’t expect anyone to know unless they’ve seen it spelled. Even then they don’t typically get it right. So what?
I will get on board with criticism of creative spellings of words in busisness names that just make them incorrect - like “Kountry Kampground” or Kiddie “Kollege”. Yech!
I started to post along explanation but I wandered way too much. Suffice it to say - it seems like a lifetime of hell for the kid for no particular reason.
Creative spelling of names irks me, but then I’m a crank, so make of that what you will. My own name is spelled what I think of as the default way, but so many people spell it differently that I always have to explain it.
I have a cousin named Madisyn. I don’t quite have the nerve to ask her mother what possessed her to spell it that way. I may be a crank, but I’m also a wuss.
My name is Caroline. It’s pronounced Carolinn. Either people can’t remember how to spell it, or they can’t remember how to say it. Even my own brother will sometimes pronounce it wrong. When I was in college I had this one professor to whom I would email my assignments for online classes and she’d respond with her commentary on my assignments. Every single time she’d spell my name wrong. This was an online class. My official, real name is right there. In my email, at the top of my assignment and on the class roster. Yet, clearly I and the school had to be wrong and my name is really Carolyn.
People have suggested to me before that I change the pronunciation of my name, since they find it pretentious. It’s the name I’ve had since birth. I’m not going to change it just because you find it offensive. Yeesh.
Usually, I don’t much care about spelling names in a “unique” way, but the parents seriously need to look past their own “creativity”. I mean, come on. Think of the children! Someday soon, blood shall fill the streets as the Ashleys, Ashlees, Ashleighs, and Aushlies all fight to the death.
And, oh, how their screams will haunt the earth when the Dikottahs, Hillarees, and Lesas come of age.
Laurie isn’t an unconventional spelling, it’s just a not-too-common name. Short for Laurence, as far as I’m concerned (even if the parent giving the name didn’t know it) - and can belong to males or females.
I think highly unusual names (or highly unconventional spellings) are generally a bad idea; mostly, it’s just ostentation on the part of the parents, but also, it’s the kid who will have to endure a lifetime of explaining the name or its spelling.
The reduced version of my name is Mariluz. I’m always amused when I run into people who insist in making it Mary Luz or Maryluz… they write Maripaz, Marisol, Maripili or Mari Paz, Mari Sol, Mari Pili, where the blazes am I supposed to be getting that y from?
I would write the OP’s name Lori or Laurie; the first time I’d probably ask how do you write it (or how do you say it, if I’d seen it written first), but that happens to me a lot with English words. I would think it derives from Laura (which by the way is the name of one of my great-grandmothers, one of my great-aunts and two of my mother’s cousins).
These Spanish friends of mine named their child Keira. When he mentioned one of the reasons for choosing that name was that, being atheists, they wanted a name that wasn’t the name of a saint, I told him
“oi, man, I have bad news then: it’s Clara.”
“Clara?”
“Yup.”
“What about Jennifer? It’s the other one we’d been considering, we discarded it because there’s so many and it sounds dumb with a Spanish last name.”
“Ginebra. But you know, unless you called her Nutella, it’s hard to find a name that doesn’t belong to some saint.”
“Well, I guess we could have gone Japanese.”
“And it would have been the name of one of St Paul Miki’s Companions, would you bet?” snort
Choosing an ethnic spelling, I can see. What with the amounts of immigration Spain is getting right now, we’re getting all kinds of names and new spellings on old names which just happen to be the Russian spelling or the French spelling. But just distorting the spelling to sound exotic, please don’t.
Thank Og it’s extremely difficult to do Creative Spelling in Hebrew! (you can’t play with vowels when the vowels aren’t written down in the first place!)
Anyway – I’d say a name is what it is. If someone spells it “Creatively,” well, more power to them (or their parents, I guess). Of course the converse it true – however you spell your name is the way you spell it, and it is extremely rude for somebody to tell you you’re “spelling your name wrong”
I don’t think it will ruin their life, but I can tell you that, first off, people having the audacity to “correct” me for what is the proper spelling of my name*, makes me want to punch people. And second, it is frustrating to have to spell my full name, as my (very short) middle name is also unusual in that it does not have an e on the end.
Differentiating between Kathy with a K or Cathy with a C, or Jon and John with an H is not as frustrating as spelling out 15, 20, or 30 letters. My mom can say “Mary Anne, that’s two words with an e” instead of M - A - R - Y - SPACE - A - N - N - E.
*to those who will say, a person whose name is Uneek is properly spelling their name- yes, they are spelling their own name correctly. It was their parents who spelled it wrong. And there are some names with unclear origins or who have come to English from different languages and so there are 2 or more common spellings- fine. Sara, Sarah, Mary Anne, Mary Ann, Marianne, Mark, Marc, whatever. But to change the spelling of a name that comes from a preexisting word to make it cuter or easier or whatever, is stupid. Any idiot who is semiliterate can spell, and pronounce, Laurie. It’s not that fucking hard. ARGH!
Most “creative” spellings just make the parents look stupid and I wonder how many children in later life are going to change their names to the more usual spelling/pronunciation just to prove that they’re ‘normal’.
Instead, just pity those of us with names that people can’t spell and can’t pronounce ordinarily! I use the fourth of my given names because the others cause too much bother, and I never reverted to my maiden name after divorce because it’s also difficult for people to spell and pronounce.
I think I’m doing them a favour by trying to be ordinary!
Huh. I would pronounce Laurel in the (disgustingly nasal voice) “lah-rel” way…not “lorel”. In fact, dictionary.com lists that pronunciation first. In fact, I have a cousin named Laurel (who sometimes goes by Laurie) who pronounces it exactly how you hate to pronounce it. Hmph. Although I’m with you in spirit .
And names that people don’t even try! I grant my legal name is difficult-looking (though once you hear it it’s very easy) but my nick is easy. And yet some people give it such a look - foreign in their eyes is bad, bad, bad, it seems. I even had one old fart tell me “Why can’t people just stick to ordinary names like Jane and Michelle?” :rolleyes: Um, because it’s not my culture? Idiot.
Laurence, Laura, Lauren, Laurie (a diminutive of the others- I used to get mad at that but I’m ok with it now- thought the baby name books were telling me my name did not exist in and of itself)- all come from the same root and mean the same thing- crowned with laurels. Which, pretty much, means victorious (that whole Olympic connection).
My biggest pet peeve is that I go by my middle name. By my parent’s choice, not mine. So it’s Firstname Dante Lastname.
Given what a pain in the ass THAT is, I can’t imagine how annoying it would be to be saddled with some “creatively” spelled atrocity. Litoris, I’m sorry, but those names are going to age about as well as polyester pantsuits.
Wanted to add: Since everyone is giving their own story here, I’ll do it too… My given name is Dan. But, not living in an English speaking environment, it’s pronounced Dahn (with a broad A). I go by what should, I guess, technically be spelled Danny. Good luck getting any American not to use a short A there! And I hate it, it sounds all wrong to me.
So I’ve taken to spelling it Dani. At least it looks “foreign” – which is my intention, because people think about it before pronouncing it. And, as far and an English speaker is concerned, it IS foreign!
So, this way I (hopefully) get people to call me by my actual name – “Duh-nee”
Oh, and Nava… just be glad people don’t call you MaryLou… (ducks & runs)
I actually sign my professional emails to furriners
Mariluz (“Mary-Lou”) Blahblahdeblah
Lastname changed to protect my relatives and pronunciation indicated to protect the throat of whomever has to phone me. Mary-Lou is just the phonetic translation of my name… I definitely prefer it to being called “Marayah”! My. Name. Is. Not. María. And anyway most of the people who insist in calling me María can’t pronounce it you’d think none of them has watched West Side Story.
Creative spellings. Ugh. I have a cousin who has named her daughters something like Sydnee and Kynlee (apparently pronounced “KEN-lee”). My sister-in-law has a Kallie. Seriously, what’s with the Ks and Ys? Someday, will there be a child named Kynnydy (pronounced “Kennedy”)?
I’m very much a traditionalist. Not only do creative spellings irk me, I am also rubbed the wrong way by last names given as first names. There are too many Kennedys, Madisons, Jacksons, Baileys, and the like running around. Sorry, folks, it doesn’t sound sophisticated, it sounds like you were trying to be creative and failed.
When deciding on a name for a child, ask yourself this: after which of the following sentences does the name you’ve chosen sound more apt?
“Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, _______.”
“Coming right now to the main stage of the Lusty Beaver, it’s _______.”
What makes me spittin’ mad is when people tell me my son’s name is wrong. His name is Terry. NOT TERRENCE! And I really wish teachers, schools, etc. would NOT change the way I have spelled his name on their forms.!
Then again, I have three letters in my name - and people spell MINE wrong. :rolleyes:
(you can’t play with vowels when the vowels aren’t written down in the first place!)
.
(ducks & runs)
and pronunciation indicated to protect the throat of whomever has to phone me. Mary-Lou is just the phonetic translation of my name… I definitely prefer it to being called “Marayah”! My. Name. Is. Not. María. And anyway most of the people who insist in calling me María can’t pronounce it 
you’d think none of them has watched West Side Story.