Baby Names

[MINE!!]

Perhaps I should be more clear with you AGBF.. I find it... disturbing, sad and silly, that people would go out of their way to completely mispell a name, either phenotically in English or from Galeic background or ethnicity, in order to give their child such an ''unusually'' different and unique name. This ideal only being on the basis that they want it to be a complete mispelling and rendering of a name. Yes, I have heard that some people will spell the name "megan or meghan''.. but as I pointed out... that is very different from adding new letters to a word to give a different appearence. Since you like to point out your knowledge, perhaps this example may help you. Should a 10th grade history student turn in a paper that contained the sentence: ''I beelievie thaut King John wuz a victum of baad prezz.'' I am sure that your sensibilities as a obscurely proclaimed ''knower'' of many things, would be seriously offended. Just the same with a name... you cannot just change a language and phonetics because you are tired of looking at the same spelling of a well used word. i.e. Christopher as Kriztoffer...

 

[AGBF]

Date: 10/3/2005 10:05:15 PM
Author: MINE!!
Since you like to point out your knowledge, perhaps this example may help you.

I am confused. Why would your giving an example help me to show off my knowledge?

 

[Kaleigh]

Ok here's my take on it..... My daughter's name is Ashley, pretty mainstream right??? I don't give a rats as* if someone spells their daughter's name Ashleigh, or any other version.... I am kaleigh here, I picked that name because I love it. Just as I wouldn't care if someone spelled their daughter's name Kali, or Kaylee, or any other version. The spelling of actual words is a different story, and one that has been dealt with recently. Don't we have other things that are more pressing to worry about????? Just my take on it.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Date: 10/3/2005 10:05:15 PM
Author: MINE!!
Perhaps I should be more clear with you AGBF.. I find it... disturbing, sad and silly, that people would go out of their way to completely mispell a name, either phenotically in English or from Galeic background or ethnicity, in order to give their child such an ''unusually'' different and unique name. This ideal only being on the basis that they want it to be a complete mispelling and rendering of a name. Yes, I have heard that some people will spell the name ''megan or meghan''.. but as I pointed out... that is very different from adding new letters to a word to give a different appearence. Since you like to point out your knowledge, perhaps this example may help you. Should a 10th grade history student turn in a paper that contained the sentence: ''I beelievie thaut King John wuz a victum of baad prezz.'' I am sure that your sensibilities as a obscurely proclaimed ''knower'' of many things, would be seriously offended. Just the same with a name... you cannot just change a language and phonetics because you are tired of looking at the same spelling of a well used word. i.e. Christopher as Kriztoffer...

Ouch.

 

[MissAva]

Date: 10/3/2005 11:14:23 PM
Author: kaleigh
Ok here''s my take on it..... My daughter''s name is Ashley, pretty mainstream right??? I don''t give a rats as* if someone spells their daughter''s name Ashleigh, or any other version.... I am kaleigh here, I picked that name because I love it. Just as I wouldn''t care if someone spelled their daughter''s name Kali, or Kaylee, or any other version. The spelling of actual words is a different story, and one that has been dealt with recently. Don''t we have other things that are more pressing to worry about????? Just my take on it.

He he, when I first saw your name on here I was certain you must have the same double first name that I do...Oops I was wrong. As for the name thing I am getting ready to have my surname go for one which is common easy to spell and pronounce to one which took me a good six month to learn to write/spell correctly at the same time. But I love him so it is all right.
With english names we have a odd mixture of spellings becuase our lanuage is based in German and French for the most part (think drapes and curtains...) with a few other nationlites sprinkled in over time. My name which I think is quite average as there were always a few in my year has been mauled more times then I can count....people like adding extra letters and then leave off the second have of it assuming that I do not know the diffrence between my first and middle names.

My mother is often thought to be male becuase of her name (family as they all are) and people seem to think Saxon''s name is spelled Saxton.
Personally I figure as long as I get credit for having done my work I dont care how you spell my name, or how you say it.

 

[MelissaSue]

OOH.. its like the words/phrases/spelling thread all over again.. JUST KIDDING!!

Anyway.. I have a question.. Are Meaghan and Megan different names? Because I always thought they were the same name and pronounce it Meg-ann.. however.. a coworker of mine has a daugter named Meaghan.. and she pronounces it like May-gan.. but I can never tell if its just her accent, because she has a little bit of one, or if its a different name.. There was another coworker named Megan, and I couldn''t really differentiate her pronounciation of the two names.. So now I always feel bad and I don''t know if I''m calling her daughter by the wrong name, or just have a different accent than her!

I don''t mind oddly spelled names, as long as they don''t get completely out of hand, and they are spelled in a way in which it is pronounced the way it looks. The same teacher friend I was telling you about before, who had the student named Skyeyes had another student in a preivious year named Ski ... which.. well.. is SKI, like downhill skiing.. but of course, the mother intended her to be called SKY, and the daughter got very angry and defensive and acted like her teacher was stupid for thinking her name was Ski..

Renee - I LOVE the name Reannan. I have a friend named Rhiannon. Somone once really thought her name was Re-onion when they saw it written. Its sort of a mouthful at first, but such a beautiful sounding name. I''d totally use it for one of my girls. I hadn''t seen your spelling before, but I think I really like it!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Rhiannon, like the song from Fleetwood Mac? I love that song!

 

[Maya Moonstone]

Hi

Not a children''s name, but kind of similiar. I have a co-worker whose last name is Berry. He married a girl named Amber

She refused to take his last name

Maya (which is not my real name, but one I like, since nobody in the US can pronounce my name correctly)

 

[flopkins]

kinda late on this, but I always thought Zeke was short for Ezekiel, like in the Bible?!

Maybe I''m wrong.

As for interesting names, in middle school a classmate was named Gaylord. Which is actually a real name, I found out much later, just not common anymore, but extremely unfortunate these days... needless to say the poor guy was teased endlessly. He says his dad was high when he was named...

He was trying to switch his name to David, but inevitably someone would find out, or the teacher would read the names off the first day of class... I''m sure you can imagine the rest.

I hadn''t come across any alternately spelled names until recently, when I taught a few students whose names were Arin (like Erin) and Safiyah (Sofia). Personally, I like the names! Maybe partly cuz the girls themselves are gems!

Two close friends of mine are twins, named Erin and Erica - ordinary names, but it actually caused unintended problems because their paperwork was often misfiled as the first three letters of their first names are the same. One of them had her financial aid delayed for MONTHS and her college acceptance almost revoked because the appropriate transcripts and papers had been misfiled under her sister''s name!

Another couple I know recently had a baby and named him Aiden, from Sex and the City.

Check out this site if you''re interested in looking at name trends over the past hundred years - it''s based on data from registered names from the SSA.
Name Voyager

 

[Kamuelamom]

I don''t think I''ve ever met a match in names like my son''s former classmate named ABCDE (pronounced "Ab-ci-dee). Imagine EVERY teacher having to say, "how do you pronounce that?" What are parents thinking?

 

[pearcrazy]

"kinda late on this, but I always thought Zeke was short for Ezekiel, like in the Bible?! Maybe I''m wrong. "

You''re right about that but most people just drop the rest of the letters and make the shortened form the legal name. My son''s name is Liam which is a form of William, but his legal first name is just Liam (without the "Will"). It is an Irish name without the "Will" and an English name as a nickname for William. I went to high school with a girl named Beth. All the teachers assumed her name was a nickname for Elizabeth, but it wasn''t--her parents just named her Beth. Her middle name was Anne. She never went by BethAnne though. Just Beth.

 

[yellowfan]

my homeowners insurance rep is Marguarite. I must admit I love the ring of it and always think of having a tall margarita!

my daughters friend from elementary school is Marbella but we all call her Belle.

 

[njc]

Date: 10/3/2005 11:54:13 PM
Author: MelissaSue

Anyway.. I have a question.. Are Meaghan and Megan different names? Because I always thought they were the same name and pronounce it Meg-ann.. however.. a coworker of mine has a daugter named Meaghan.. and she pronounces it like May-gan.. but I can never tell if its just her accent, because she has a little bit of one, or if its a different name.. There was another coworker named Megan, and I couldn''t really differentiate her pronounciation of the two names.. So now I always feel bad and I don''t know if I''m calling her daughter by the wrong name, or just have a different accent than her!

MS - I know this isnt what you were really asking, but i think part of it may just be an accent thing. SILs name is Megan... DH says May-gan, i say Meg-an.

And as for the whole name on a keychain thing... my name is Katie and all i can ever find is Kate. In school there was always another Katie in my grade if not 3 or 4. So who was famous in the late 70s with the name Kathryn or Katherine or Catherine or Cathryn or any other variation of that?

 

[pearcrazy]

Here's how I know I'm from a different era. Back when I was in school all the Katherines, Catherines, Kathryn, etc. went by Kathy or Cathy. I didn't have any Kates or Katies in the late 60's or early 70's. All the girls I knew went by Kathy not Katie.

Who was famous in the late '70s named Katherine that went by Kate? Well Charlie's Angels was big in the late '70s and Kate Jackson comes to mind.

She played Sabrina on the show.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 10/4/2005 9:36:22 AM
Author: yellowfan
my homeowners insurance rep is Marguarite. I must admit I love the ring of it and always think of having a tall margarita!

My husband had an aunt by marriage (in Italy) named Margarita (who was of course called, "Zia Margarita"). My daughter''s name when she was born was, "Margarita", too. It means, "daisy" in Spanish and Italian. "Marguerite", of course, means, "daisy" in French.

Deb

 

[AGBF]

Date: 10/4/2005 9:26:55 AM
Author: pearcrazy
I went to high school with a girl named Beth. All the teachers assumed her name was a nickname for Elizabeth, but it wasn''t--her parents just named her Beth.

My best friend in junior high had been told all through her years in Catholic school that she had to use, "Judith" in school. So she did. Later in life she found out her legal name was, "Judy".

Deborah

 

[jellybean]

Date: 10/3/2005 8:58:57 PM
Author: IndieQueen001
I was filling a prescription at work one day and looked at a coworker and said ''Oh my god!!! Someone actually named their child Tequila!!!'' She stared me down and said ''yes.. that''s my daughter''s prescription...'' Open mouth and insert foot...

The name Tequila mentioned earlier reminded me of that.

I''m a pharmacist too so I know exactly how you feel! I tend to do that every time I work!

I''m also horrible with ethnic names. Sometimes I can''t determine which is the first name and which is the last name. The person is usually ticked off when I have to ask.

I also had to ask a dad how "Schyuler" was pronounced b/c I had no idea. It''s pronounced Sky-lar. Oops!

I have also had a few embarressing instances where the person''s first and last name are both first names. For example, we had a guy named John Thomas (I am making up the name for privacy sake, but this is an example) and we thought his first name was Thomas b/c on the prescription it was written "Thomas John" and when he came back later to pick up his medication, we couldn''t find it. It then dawned on me that maybe it was filed under John instead of Thomas. When I apologized for the mistake he said it happens all the time, but you could tell he was a little tired of it.

One of my friends is really into the Gaelic names and named her daughter Brigid, pronounced Brid-get. She isn''t even 3 years old and no one can pronounce her name. When we got the baby announcement I too had to call one of my other friends to ask how her name is pronounced.

We stuck with pretty easy names for our kids. I sometimes get mine mispelled but if you look at it, it''s easy to pronounce. My daughter has an "older" name (Julia) but it''s becoming trendy again. Hopefully she won''t have 4 other girls in her class with the same name. My son is Michael III (since hubby is Michael Jr) and it''s still a popular name so he most likely will have others in his class with the same name. We already have names picked out for future kids but they are not unusual.

I called my cousin last night who is a teacher and found out some other students she had:

Peaches
Jeanette-ifer (apparently her parents couldn''t decide between Jeanette and Jennifer)
Tyko (he was called Ty)
Brandeis (pronounced Brandy)

 

[AGBF]

Date: 10/4/2005 10:14:50 AM
Author: pearcrazy
Here's how I know I'm from a different era. Back when I was in school all the Katherines, Catherines, Kathryn, etc. went by Kathy or Cathy. I didn't have any Kates or Katies in the late 60's or early 70's. All the girls I knew went by Kathy not Katie.

As soon as I read this the, "Katie" my younger brother knew came to mind. She was always, "Katie" as far back as I remember and is now, I assume, my brother's age: 51. Could it be regional? We grew up in Connecticut. Kate Hepburn (aka Katharine) was from Connecticut, too!

Deborah

 

[njc]

That would be interesting to find out if its a regional thing. I definitely think Katie vs Kate is regional. All of DHs family and friends in New Jersey call me Kate, which im not a fan of, but its funny, they dont even know they do it!

I get my Kathryn from my grandmother Katherine, and her friends would call her Kitty.

AGBF, you reminded me of someone... growing up we had a neighboor and her name was Katie. I can remember several people asking me if when i got older i would go by Kathryn to be more professional, so I thought it was so cool that she still went by Katie and she was in her 80s.

jellybean - i had a Schuyler in a class at college... i thought his name was Shew-ler until i really met him and he pronounced it for me... opps!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Date: 10/4/2005 9:26:55 AM
Author: pearcrazy
''kinda late on this, but I always thought Zeke was short for Ezekiel, like in the Bible?! Maybe I''m wrong. ''

You''re right about that but most people just drop the rest of the letters and make the shortened form the legal name. My son''s name is Liam which is a form of William, but his legal first name is just Liam (without the ''Will''). It is an Irish name without the ''Will'' and an English name as a nickname for William. I went to high school with a girl named Beth. All the teachers assumed her name was a nickname for Elizabeth, but it wasn''t--her parents just named her Beth. Her middle name was Anne. She never went by BethAnne though. Just Beth.

Right, just like my fiance''s name is Drew. When I first met him I thought it was short for Andrew, but it''s not. Also his brother is named Matt and it''s not short for Matthew. His dad''s name is Ted, and I don''t think it''s short for Theodore either.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 10/4/2005 11:23:32 AM
Author: njc
i had a Schuyler in a class at college... i thought his name was Shew-ler until i really met him and he pronounced it for me... opps!

My daughter has a girl named Schuyler in her class at school! Knowing that spellings change (e.g. how Caitlin became Katelynn) I asked her if it was spelled, "Schuyler" or, "Skylar". It was the former which is, I believe, a Dutch surname!

Deb

 

[yellowfan]

thanks for the neat information Deb!

I will tell Marguarite next time I see her.


I sent you a pm.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 10/4/2005 10:33:53 AM
Author: AGBF
My husband had an aunt by marriage (in Italy) named Margarita (who was of course called, ''Zia Margarita''). My daughter''s name when she was born was, ''Margarita'', too. It means, ''daisy'' in Spanish and Italian. ''Marguerite'', of course, means, ''daisy'' in French.

Deb

My grandmother''s name is Margarita, but she is from Yogoslavia rather than Italy and goes by another name instead. My cousin is named Tia Maria after the coffee liqueur. She''s a very cute little girl and has turned out very normal and isn''t teased or anything because of her name.

If there are any predujudices to unusual names, this thread only proves so. I feel really bad for children who are given strange names because it''s impossible to ignore them when they''re so bizarre. At the park, I always hear odd names, but I cannot even remember them all. The other day, I hear a parent call out "Baker," and this name comes across as pretentious to me, for some reason.

 

[cinnabar]

Date: 10/4/2005 2:12:30 PM

i had a Schuyler in a class at college... i thought his name was Shew-ler until i really met him and he pronounced it for me... opps!

Does anyone know the origin of "Skylar" as a girl''s name? It''s totally unknown in Britain, but seems to be quite popular in the US. Is it originally a surname, eg the anglicised version of Schuyler (like Schmidt and Smith)? Or is it Skylark with the k knocked off? Has it been around for ages, or is it a last few years sort of name? I thought Pamela Anderson''s character in that sitcom about a bookshop was a bit old for the name, I''ve only heard of quite young girls being called it so I thought it was a 1990s fad.

 

[jcrow]

Date: 10/4/2005 5:00:42 PM
Author: cinnabar

Date: 10/4/2005 2:12:30 PM


i had a Schuyler in a class at college... i thought his name was Shew-ler until i really met him and he pronounced it for me... opps!

Does anyone know the origin of ''Skylar'' as a girl''s name? It''s totally unknown in Britain, but seems to be quite popular in the US. Is it originally a surname, eg the anglicised version of Schuyler (like Schmidt and Smith)? Or is it Skylark with the k knocked off? Has it been around for ages, or is it a last few years sort of name? I thought Pamela Anderson''s character in that sitcom about a bookshop was a bit old for the name, I''ve only heard of quite young girls being called it so I thought it was a 1990s fad.

i don''t know the origin. my friend just had a baby last Thursday. She named her Skylar. She also has daughter named Katelyn.

 

[cinnabar]

Date: 10/4/2005 4:55:41 PM
Author: MichelleCarmen

If there are any predujudices to unusual names, this thread only proves so. I feel really bad for children who are given strange names because it''s impossible to ignore them when they''re so bizarre. At the park, I always hear odd names, but I cannot even remember them all. The other day, I hear a parent call out ''Baker,'' and this name comes across as pretentious to me, for some reason.

A girl I went to school with called her daughters Blake and Niven. I have nothing against the names, but I think they''re just too boyish for girls. I''m not a big fan of using surnames as girls'' first names, eg Taylor. I like girls'' names to be feminine.

 

[Erin]

what if it''s a surname that ends in LEY ?

 

[AGBF]

Date: 10/4/2005 5:00:42 PM
Author: cinnabar
Does anyone know the origin of 'Skylar' as a girl's name? It's totally unknown in Britain, but seems to be quite popular in the US. Is it originally a surname, eg the anglicised version of Schuyler (like Schmidt and Smith)? Or is it Skylark with the k knocked off?

I actually posted about Schuyler and Skylar just a few postings before yours, cinnabar. I believe that, "Skylar" is just, "Schuyler" written in a more modern, American way. As someone else posted, people no longer know that, "Schuyler" is pronounced, "Sky-lar", just as they don't know "Caitlin" is pronounced, "Kate-lynn". So they phoneticize the spelling.

As I said above, "Schuyler" is a Dutch surname (meaning, "scholar"). Often surnames first become popular as first names for boys (like, "Whitney", "Schuyler" and, "Madison") and then, eventually, become popular as first names for girls. The names that look as if they sound different from the way they are spelled, are respelled phonetically so that Americans know how to pronounce them.)

Deborah

 

[cinnabar]

Date: 10/4/2005 5:10:14 PM
Author: Starset Princess
what if it''s a surname that ends in LEY ?

You mean like Ashley or Kimberley? I don''t dislike girls'' names that can also be surnames, I just think some of them sound very unfeminine and are better suited to boys. I have a unisex middle name myself (Lesley) and a big bugbear of mine is seeing other women spell it Leslie, which to me is the boy version of the name. I like names where you can tell whether the owner is male or female, so I don''t like girls to be called Sean or Drew, it just confuses me.

I once met a very androgynous looking person at an exhibition booth, who was wearing jeans, loose denim jacket, sneakers and had short hair, no make-up and one earring. My husband was convinced it was a "he" but I thought it was a "she"; we thought if we got a business card then all would become clear. His/her name? Chris. So we never did find out for sure.

 

[Erin]

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