For those with uncommon first names or unusual spellings of first names

[dis ms.]

My name is Ivy. Not only is it an uncommon name, but the first initial is rare for a name. As a child, personalized pencils, mugs, etc. were nowhere to be found; jewelry with my initial on it was just as scarce.

I've had to endure endless "Poison Ivy" jokes. Everyone thinks they are the first witty soul to come up with that.

That said, I LOVE my name. I love its uniqueness and I think it fits me well.

 

[KelNottAt]

Kelley is my mom's maiden name. I like having my name tied to the family in that way.

What I don't like is correcting everyone's spelling. It used to be that everyone assumed I'm Kelly. It was simple back then. But not anymore. Now more people are used to Kelli, Kellie, and Kelleigh.

UGH! I'm still the odd girl out.

 

[disneyfam]

My mother didn't want to name me Cynthia so she named me Cynde.

She spelled it Cynde. As a kid teachers were the worst offenders of calling me Clyde. Ooh that upset me so! LOL.

As a kid I hated it because I couldnt get the personalized stuff unless i got it spelled Cindy.

As an adult, I like the different way of spelling.

Cynde

PS no one has mistaken me for Clyde since High School!

 

[Magickndm]

I named my daughter Ashlee. Lee is my middle name which is why it's spelled that way, has NOTHING to do with any Simpson's.

 

[carone0318]

I had a rare name growing up - my first name is Casey. I could never find anything personalized, which stunk as a kid. My name is starting to become more popular for young kids, but not for a 36 yr old. A lot of people tend to call me Kerry (my dd's name) because they associate Casey with a 8/9 yr old not the mom.

Dd's name is not a popular name either (more so the spelling, the pronunciation is close to Carrie but we always can tell when someone is calling her the wrong name), but I wanted to name her Ryan, but dh was dead set against that. He said just because I had an unusual name growing up didn't mean I had to do it do dd also. I always tell her though that I wanted to name her Ryan.

Now with my last name, it is a simple, but no one can spell it or pronounce it it they don't know it. Like someone else said, I can always tell a telemarketer.... So now in my married life I have to spell my first and last name all the time, at least it is only 10 letters all together.

 

[Shugardrawers]

My given name is TamEra but I am known as Tammy. When my parents gave it to me in 1964 it was very unusual. Apparently they were at the very beginning of a trend because I've met tons of Tammys and TamAras who are just a few years younger than me. You'd think Tammy would be easy to spell but no...I get Tammi, Tami, Tammie and have even been called Tommy many many times. Now Tamera, I have to correct people EVERY time they use it. It's pronounced TAM-uh-ra but I'm always without fail called Tum-AIR-a. It's not that hard people, look at it, it's spelled just like camera so it's pronounced the same, you don't take a picture with a Cum-AIR-a do you?

As I got older I felt that Tammy was just too juvenile for a woman who's not a redneck and not under 25. I tried to get people to call me Tamera but my family never would. I met Dh, told him my name was Tamera and looked at me a minute and said "No, you're a Tammy" and he's called me that ever since I'll be 85 and in a nursing home and still called Tammy. It's just not a dignified name.

 

[Alice's Mom]

As I said on the other thread my name is Charmaine, so here is a list of misspellings and mistakes:

Charmain
Charmayne
Charmagne
Sharmane
Charlene
Shirley - I get this on the phone a lot

you get the idea...

But I love my name, I have only met a handful Charmaine's in my life. I have never had to nickname myself or add an initial because I never had to share it with anyone. I'm glad my parents gave it to me. I also gave it to my daughter as a middle name.

My brother is Daniel, and growing up every kid was named Daniel. He became Dan in kindergarten when there were 2 other Daniel's in his class.

My last name is a british spelling, so people always forgot the e at the end.

 

[WeirdEyes]

My first name is Shelia.....as in Sheila, not She-lay-a or She-lee-a. My mom decided to be different and spell it Shelia. Well, it has been a pain my whole life. I went to get my passport a couple of years ago and found out that my birth certificate actually has "Sheila" on it. So, I just changed the spelling of it to the "correct" way. Although I do know a lot of Sheilas that spell their name Shelia.

 

[Mkaz]

I have a first name that could be a last name, and had a last name that could be a first name. A lot of people didn't know whether to call me by my first or last name. It was kind of fun watching people trying to figure out which one was actually my first name. Now that I am married I don't have that problem.

 

[ReneeA]

My Great-Grandmother used to have "dreams" while her grandkids were pregnant. She would predict the sex of the baby and date of birth correctly (before ultrasounds or scheduled C-Sections, of course!). She always dreamed it was her giving birth, then she would name the baby. My mom had names picked out for a ll three of us, then went with what my Grandmother dreamed. She is French Canadian, so...

I am Aimee Renee, my sister is Kim Danae, my brother is Daniel Ray.

I like it ok. It is a pain having to specify the spelling all the time, but I like the fact that I'm forever tied to my Great-Grandmother. I'm almost 33, and she's still alive and acting like she's a teenager at 88 years old.

 

[cats mom]

As I got older I felt that Tammy was just too juvenile for a woman who's not a redneck and not under 25. I tried to get people to call me Tamera but my family never would. I met Dh, told him my name was Tamera and looked at me a minute and said "No, you're a Tammy" and he's called me that ever since I'll be 85 and in a nursing home and still called Tammy. It's just not a dignified name.

I tried to consider that when I picked names, but I think I messed up with my youngest.

I just love Cami for a little girl - but realized that it might not be the best choice for an adult.
So I worked backwards. Her real name is Camden (an old family sir name) and she HATES it. I keep hoping it will grow on her, but she may very well end up being an 85 year old Cami with an undignified sounding name too.


I bet you get the tam-air-a in part because of Tia and Tamera Mowry.
Celeb names definitely have an effect.

 

[alliecats]

Alexandra is not that uncommon a name. But it was the rare teacher (yes, I said TEACHER), who pronounced it correctly while I was in school. And this includes college. They either pronounced it "AlexandrIA" or (?!!!) "AlexandER."

This is just one of the reasons I never go by Alexandra, I prefer to go by "Allie." Besides, I have never "felt like" an Alexandra, and I am definitely an "Allie."
Argh...

 

[kelleigh1]

My name isn't really that uncommon nor unusual, however it is pronounced wrong a lot. It is Jeanne ~ no I sound. Most people want to call me JeannIE, which I will answer to, but really prefer to be called Jeanne. My DD is Karen, but she goes by, and much prefers, Kari (that spelling of Carrie is becoming more popular). I love it, and would have named her Kari instead of Karen if I had thought of it.

I have a friend named Jeanne. We've been friends since we were in grade school. Like you, she is Jeanne, not Jeannie. Yet one of our other school friends, who's known her as long as I have, insists on calling her Jeannie. It probably bothers me more than it bothers Jeanne though, but I'm a stickler for pronouncing names correctly...or the way the parents intended it to be pronounced.

 

[kelleigh1]

What I don't like is correcting everyone's spelling. It used to be that everyone assumed I'm Kelly. It was simple back then. But not anymore. Now more people are used to Kelli, Kellie, and Kelleigh.

I had never before seen the spelling of Kelleigh. Honestly, I made it up for myself because with my first name being Raquel, my sisters called me Kel for short. My middle name is Leigh. So put it together and there you have it. I used to always said that I was going to name my daughter Kelleigh because I liked the uniqueness of it. It wasn't until after I went online that I saw it spelled this way...so now it's losing some of its uniqueness.

 

[SC Minnie]

As I got older I felt that Tammy was just too juvenile for a woman who's not a redneck and not under 25. I tried to get people to call me Tamera but my family never would. I met Dh, told him my name was Tamera and looked at me a minute and said "No, you're a Tammy" and he's called me that ever since I'll be 85 and in a nursing home and still called Tammy. It's just not a dignified name.

My brother is like you. Growing up he went by Timmy. When he was in his early 20's he decided he wanted to be Tim and this is what 'new' people call him. His second wife has always called him Tim and thinks it is so 'cute' that when he comes back home that we all still call him Timmy- he is in his 40's. DD calls him Uncle Timmy. To us he will always be Timmy even if he is 85 in a nursing home. He has never told us to stop calling him that. If he did I am sure we would respect his wishes.

 

[MrsJackSparrow]

My name is Joy and no, it is not short for Joyce, although I get that all the time. It is also not Joycie, either.

And, oddly enough, it is also not Joy to the World, Joyful, or Joyous.

Just Joy. . .

 

[SideshowBob]

Wanted son to have unique name (and not liking SSB's own), named him "Branch", after Branch Rickey who was a visionary in baseball... created the minor league "farm" system and signed Jackie Robinson to be the first African American Major League player in baseball.

I worried that he would take abuse about early in life, but love later... and have been greatly pleased that almost 10 now, and he had only really gotten very postitive response. I did a presentation in his class once on Branch Rickey, which they loved, and also then understood the origin of his name.

A funny side story... sent a birth announcment to Branch Rickey's grandson, who is over the AAA baseball of the west coast. He wrote a GREAT letter back, saying that his grandfather would have been very proud... and that his grandfather asked him (the grandson) to go by "Branch" as his Dad had not. He also wrote though, that not sure a blessing or curse though, as he was opening mail that day addressed to Brian Trickey, one of many errrors.

All in all, I would not change it, and Branch loves it, which is the most important in the long run.

 

[MosMom]

I asked my daughter Moira what her answer is and she said she loves her name so that is what I chose for the poll.

 

[Jynohn]

My name is Jynohn, and while I like the fact that no one else has my name, it is EXTREMELY frustrating to have to correct the spelling/pronunciation of my name or explain where it came from on a daily basis. And I mean that hardly a day in my life goes by where I don't have to spell my name for someone or explain how my parents came up with it (a combination of Jim and John, my two grandfathers).

I really wish my parents had thought that through a little more thoroughly when naming me.

 

[almacdonald]

Alexandra is not that uncommon a name. But it was the rare teacher (yes, I said TEACHER), who pronounced it correctly while I was in school. And this includes college. They either pronounced it "AlexandrIA" or (?!!!) "AlexandER."

Argh...

I could have written that myself! It really irks me when someone calls me AlexandER to my face. Do i SERIOUSLY look like a guy?!?! And AlexandrIa could be an honest mistake from a stranger but.... one year I got a pen from my boyfriend's mother that said Alexandria instead of Alexandra. We'd been dating for like 3 years at that point!!!!!! I like Allie too but unfortunately my parents stuck me with Sandi (which i hate by the way, i'm not a golden retreiver.) Oh and don't get me started with how many people mis-spell Sandi!