[HPFGU-OTChatter] Names

[Mary Jennings]

K wrote:

>I've been wandering around the net looking at sites dealing with names 
>because i need some for my writings and I wanted inspiration (and btw 
>anyone who can suggest good sites I would appreciate it) but anyway I came 
>across one which suggested using unusual spellings.
>For example Tiffany could be spelt Typhaneigh.
>Now firstly this is clearly a suggestion for parents who really hate their 
>child and want them to spend their entire school and college career getting 
>the crap kicked out of them (apologies if by some chance there's someone on 
>this list with that name, but I doubt it somehow).
>But secondly I was wondering if you guys had any thoughts on the subject, 
>knew people who had given their kids odd names, have names you love/hate, 
>suggestions for names and what sort of impression the name would give you.<

Ah, yes, parents who obviously don't like their children and give them 
really daft names.  The world is full of 'em.

The funny spelling thing is a pet peeve of mine as there are at least 10 
ways of spelling my name, and no one ever gets it right.  Even some close 
friends and family still spell it wrong sometimes, but I let it slide and 
remind myself it's nothing personal...I hope ;)  Just yesterday a friend who 
works in a preschool was printing out name tags on my computer, and while 
several children had the same name they were all spelled differently, e.g. 
there is an Aiden and and Aidan.  It becomes confusing for the staff, who 
have trouble remembering which is which, and some parents get really stroppy 
if the name is spelled incorrectly.  But for parents who give their kids 
really outlandish names (Typhaneigh!?  The mind boggles!) they should come 
to expect incorrect pronounciations and misspellings.

Children I know of whose parents don't like them are Dante (not a drop of 
Italian heritage), Bobi (pronounced "bobby", poor girl), Ocean (boy, vegan 
parents), Breeze, Skye, Storm (the weather girls?), and my own nephew 
Robbie.  Not Robert, Robbie.  Now that's fine for a 7-year-old boy, but does 
he want to go through adult life with Robbie on his birth certificate?

Some years ago a newspaper journalist (Toronto Globe and Mail, I think) 
touched on this subject.  Her advice was that if the parents were unsure if 
a name was too cutesey or daft to put a title in front of it e.g. Doctor, 
Professor, His/Her Honour.  In these cases, Bobi and Breeze simply don't 
work, do they?

When I was living in Toronto I came across many names I couldn't pronounce 
or spell, but these people were of different cultural backgrounds than 
myself and their names were perfectly normal in their Mother tongues.  In 
fact the name of my older son, Gareth, is alien to many of my Canadian 
friends and is downright unpronouncable to my Dutch relatives.  Gareth is 
Welsh, by the way, as my husband is half-Welsh.  So what I'm rambling on 
about is that this is not a complaint about foreign-language names, but (in 
this case) English-speaking parents who give their kids dreadfully daft 
names not found in any other language.

Ah, a thought just popped into my head.  Stop sniggering, it happens 
sometimes, you know ;)  See if you can get your hands on a baby naming book. 
  Apart from the more common names these books have some real treasures in 
them.  Also a British baby magazine I used to read had a section called 
"what's in a name?" and parents told what they called their kids and why.  A 
few I can remember are Rio (because they wanted her to be as free as a 
river) and Liall (Oasis fans who couldn't decide between Niall and Liam, so 
combined the names).  Makes you wonder why social services didn't get 
involved.

I hope I haven't sounded too stroppy or anything.  The kids have been off 
school for a week, and there's another week to go. *sigh*  As much as I love 
my kids, it's obvious I could *never* home-school!  Roll on next Tuesday...

Mary Ann
(mom to Elizabeth, Gareth, and David, *nice* names to use in a fanfic!)


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