May 1, 2010

could you SPELL that, please?

PTERQUIE (tur-key)

Today's thought is about people who have common first names, but whose spelling of the name is anything but, and people who have unordinary names.

Every so often, my husband and I think about cool names for pets.  We apparently have too much time on our hands or have really bad sense of humors because it's one of our favorite pastimes.  Our favorites as of late are Jeffrey, Scott, Victoria and Beverly.

One day, we decided Turkey would be a hilarious name for a dog.  As if picking out dog names wasn't weird enough, we took it a step further and decided how we would spell it.  This is what we came up with:  PTERQUIE.  The "P" is silent.  While this activity of ours was a total joke to Dustin (the hubby), I decided IF (and that's a BIG if - I'm not a huge dog fan) we got another dog after our current puppies (Sammie and Tod) have gone on to the next life, the dog's name would be PTERQUIE.  We'll see if it ever happens.

When it comes to naming children, is it just me or are names getting WAY out there?  For example, Gwyneth Paltrow has a daughter named Apple and Ashlie Simpson named her son Bronx Mowgli.  Sure, apples are delicious and Mowgli was an important character in the beloved Disney classic The Jungle Book, but does that mean they make good names for people?

I think there should be an unwritten law that people need to practice a bit more common sense before choosing a name.  In my book, this would include a few things.  First, the name should be a good, solid name.  A name that isn't too weird and one that the child can grow into.  A name may be way cute when the child is young, but you've gotta consider if it would still be cute when the child is an adult.

Second, the spelling of the name should be considered.  I cannot even tell you how many ways I have seen the name Kennedy spelled (Kenidi, Kenedie, you get the idea). As a person whose maiden name was constantly misspelled and mispronounced, believe me when I say it gets SO OLD having to spell your name wherever you go.  And, don't even get me started on all my awards or trophies I won that all had my name misspelled.  So annoying!

And, third, consider if the name rhymes with a four letter word or could make your child an easy target at school.  I'm a big fan of the name Tucker, but am pretty certain I couldn't go through ever naming my son that.  Of course, you can't plan your life around what bullies could potentially do to your child, so maybe this step isn't as important as the others.  But, I still think it should be considered.  

Thoughts?

9 comments:

  1. I was joking around with someone once and said that I think the name John should be spelled Zhiawnne.

    As for unwritten laws...there is actually a WRITTEN law in Italy that names have to be approved before they are official. This way, parents don't name their kids something crazy like Moon Unit or Kal-El. While I don't believe the government should have THAT much power, I do sort of like the idea behind it. Some of these names are borderline child abuse!

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  2. Yes, I definitely don't agree with the Italian government on the name law.

    In fact, I felt a little nervous publishing this post because I didn't want to offend anyone.

    So, in case anyone IS offended, please know I didn't mean to be rude. I'm just thinking out loud. :)

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  4. Ugh! Don't even get me started on celebrity baby names. What about that guy on My Name is Earl? He called his son Pilot Inspektor. Now that is seriously messed up, and just plain old selfish. I read that in New Zealand, somebody called their kid something like Busstop Nine - and their rationale for that was because that was where the kid was conceived. So because of that, NZ now has a law where the courts need to approve odd names before they can become the child's legal name. What a crazy world we live in.

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  5. How often do you write your pets' names though? It would be sad to name your dog an awesome name like Pterquie, but basically just call it Turkey all day since you never write it down anywhere.

    Farrah and I have a running comparison of crazy names we hear. I just heard McKendra this week, and for some reason thought that was hilarious. You can't just add Mc to any old normal name! :) I would be McLaney, married to McMatt, you know? Kills me.

    Farrah just went to a baby shower for a baby named Mercedes - but spelled Mersaydeez.

    And my Sunday School teacher is a doctor with a patient named Diaria. Said "dee-ah-ree-ah" but easily confused with diahrea.

    Oh there are so many... I could go on and on. Although that doesn't make me want to name my kids common names. I liked having a different name growing up, even if people did spell it crazy ways. And I was sad when I gave up my maiden name for the generic Williams.

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  6. As a mother who named her children odd names, I find this an interesting post. (And I can't help but wonder if my recent and unusual name for my baby triggered your thoughts!? Probably not... just me thinking too hard about it!)

    Mac (McKinley) is not so different, but his middle name is spelled different- Eirik. Ella Brae... Ella not so different but Brae? Yep, different. Rohan Xavier... different and if people read his name they inevitably say Ro-Hahn, which is cool too, in my opinion, but he's likely going to be forever correcting people. Poor kid! And my little Brynja Leigh. Yes, she's going to be called Bryn-JAH with a "j" sound. She's already been called that multiple times and she's only 6 weeks old! Likely I cursed the poor girl and maybe she'll hate her name in her childhood, like I did with my unusual name. But, in adulthood, I hope she likes it and appreciates the uniqueness of it, as I do mine.

    I won't go into the meanings of all my kids' names but Brynja is Norse and it means shielding/armor. I thought about spelling it more phonetically, but couldn't do it. I love the way it looks with the j. It's just right, cursed though she may be! I hope she'll forgive me. :)

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  7. As someone named Kristin who's been called Kirsten, Christina, Krystal, Christian...yeah, I think names should be simple. Because people can't even get the simple ones right.

    (Over from Karen's World)

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  8. keep it simple. however sometimes the odd name does just suit the kid and you couldnt think of them as anything else!

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