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

[kelleigh1]

I went to high school with an Alexandra. She went by Andra, so you'd think that would have clued people in, yet there were still those who called her Alexander or Alexandria.

 

[alliecats]

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?!?!

That is exactly what I used to think. And it would make me LIVID when a college prof did it. "Hey, PhD! See these? These are called BREASTS."

 

[imageid]

In our family we are named after relatives who have passed. I named my children in memory of my DF. Sarah & Stephen, very common names that have to always be spelled. Sarah w/ an H and Stephen, PH not V. I had no idea their names would be a problem. Although, I did make up my DD middle name. It is Rhyann. I thought Rhiannon was to long. And I like the y. Thanks goodness we have a very common last name (it still needs to be spelled though).

 

[taeja71]

I love my name now, but as a kid I WISHED my parents named me Alison like they first intended.

 

[imageid]

That is exactly what I used to think. And it would make me LIVID when a college prof did it. "Hey, PhD! See these? These are called BREASTS."

 

[Ona]

Well my name is Gaelic. It is spelled Catriona but pronounced like Katrina (technically it should be cat-tree-oh-na). It's not that uncommon here in Scotland but anywhere else it's crazy trying to explain.

But to confuse the matter even more, I'm never known as Catriona. Everyone calls me Ona. Which I love. People ask "wow Ona's an unusual name. Where did that come from?". I reply that it's short for "katrina" and the result is generally a glazed expression.

My second name is really unusual too (it's an old french name De _____). When both names are put together folks always think I'm italian.

Ona x

 

[Magickndm]

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!

That's my name (Sandi) too.

 

[LisaNJ25]

My SIL named her daughter Megan - with a strange spelling. She went to get a copy of her birth certificate in January (almost 16 years later) and it is spelled wrong. She has to go through a whole bunch of rigamarole to get is changed.

Denae

This happen to my DH. His first name was a typo and his parents never changes that but we didnt realize there was also a problem with his last name. When we went to get married there was a S instead of a Z. They were going to make us use the wrong spelling on our marriage certificate. We had to have his dad mail us a copy of His BC so we could amend hubbys.

 

[georgina]

My mother was born in Ireland and my name is spelled an Irish way - Brigid. It is fairly common among the Irish-Americans, but I do get a lot of odd looks from non-Irish when I spell it. I like it, however, so I don't care.

Of course, the fact that it rhymes with "frigid" was a joke in high school, but luckily I went to an all-girls school, so it wasn't too bad!

 

[powellrj]

hate, hate, hate my name. Its Rae Jean. It really shouldn't be that hard, but it is. It's not Rae, Raylene,Rain Jane or any of the other variations I have been called over the years. Since I have become an adult, I usually just make it one word only because it makes my life easier. Its easier to say Raejean, than to say capital Rae new word, captial Jean. We have a Rae Anne and once had a Ray Ellen, so I am not the only person cursed with this name in our family!

 

[helenabear]

I married a Greek boy so my last name is quite exotic. I love it! However, I have a very white-bread American first name(Cathy) so that makes it easier. My son's both have normal names, John and Christian. We named our daughter Eleni, a common Greek name, and nobody pronouces it right(except our Greek friends ). She loves her name and never gets upset that she must constantly correct the spelling or pronunciation--not Elaine, not Ellen, not Illini

Funny you said that... even if she were Elaine, she'd still most likely have trouble with the name
For me it was telling people it wasn't Eileen, Ellen or anything close to that. It's also spelled E L A I N E... not Elane, Elanie, Elayne or Elain... it is also pronounced EEEEE-Lane... not anything else (uh-lane grates me).

Though now with my last name, I give up in general. It's a Puerto Rican name that isn't in mainstream Spanish living I guess. We get calls in Spanish and they still say it wrong.

Elaine is neat now... I hated it as a kid since people never spelled it right, nor could I find anything with my name on it (like pins, pencils... the like).

 

[Emilee's mom]

my dd's name is Emilee, spelled like my dad, Lee, who died when I was a little girl. My sister's dd's name is Ashlee for the same reason, with love and respect in his memory.Of course my dd tells everyone she is not different just special!!

 

[crs7568]

My name is Caryn. It is just pronounced Karen so it is never spelled correctly. I feel like it is the worst of both worlds...an unusual spelling and a very plain name.

 

[Becky2005]

Yep, even if you go with a common name, traditional spelling there are probably so many variations you'll still need to spell it at some point.

Yep...I named my daughter what I *thought* was a pretty obvious name Carolyn (prounounced Care-o-LYN - or 1/2 the time we kind of slur it together so it tends to come out "carelyn" here at times - never thought about it until saying it outloud now for this post - guess it just depends but it's officially Care-o-lyn) together but anyway the ending is the LYN part). She is *forever* being called CaroLINE. I never ever thought that would be a problem since hers is pronounced like it's spelled. Of course, then I find people end up spelling it the Carolyn way and will have you pronounce it Caroline just to confuse people like me.

I have a fairly common name - it's just everyone wants to make me Rebecca and that is not my legal name. I'm a plain old Becky. I have noticed though *everyone* now always asks me to spell my name or ask if it ends in "y" as opposed to Beckie (or my brother's favorite spelling - he never could get my name right took him forever - it was always Beckey on my cards from him growing up).

I'm forever having a hard time though pronouncing people's names, especially ones that have 2 ways to prounounce it but are spelled identical. I worked with a gal like that and I always had to stop and think before I would say her name because I would want to say the vowel the wrong way.

 

[SPAM]

Inspired by a recent thread on interesting names, I am curious about something. For those of you who either have unusual names or names that have a more unusual spelling, do you like that uniqueness, or have you found it a hindrance in your life that you wish you could change?

my spelling is Ashleigh (like Ashley). I didnt use to like it, but now I LOVE it.

 

[nana2tots]

Aloah

 

[Tjaleks]

one year I got a pen from my boyfriend's mother that said Alexandria instead of Alexandra.

My own father spells my name wrong about 40% of the time. He spells it Stacy. I always thought is was pretty common, but I can never find anything personalized with just an "i". y, ie, and ey, yes, but never just an i. I named my son Aleksander and he goes by Aleks. Most people can't pronounce it for whatever reason. And for a while last year he revolted and spelled his name Alex, (which made me sad ) , but he is spelling it correctly again.

 

[LadyyRedd]

I chose other because I feel both ways at times. Now, mine isn't a "normal" name spelled uniquely. My name is unique. It's Kimya. It's a word in several languages including Persian, Arabic, Turkish and k'Swahili. I got it for the Persian reason, as my dad's side of the family is Persian. I actually went to HS with another girl named Kimya and I've come across quite a few people online over the years with the name. It's pronounced just like it looks. Kim Ya. Like Sonya or Tonya. Kimya. But people ALWAYS say "Kimma". Yeah, I have a silent Y in my name.

The meanings:

Persian - priceless/beyond that which has a price
Arabic - that which turns things into gold
Turkish - Chemistry
k'Swahili - calm/quiet

Kimya

 

[LadyyRedd]

I went to school with a boy named Xandu. It was pronounced Shawn-Du, but people always said Zan-du. He went by Xan (pronounced Shawn). Last I heard, he'd changed it to Shawn (legally, I think).

Kimya

 

[LadyyRedd]

This happen to my DH. His first name was a typo and his parents never changes that but we didnt realize there was also a problem with his last name. When we went to get married there was a S instead of a Z. They were going to make us use the wrong spelling on our marriage certificate. We had to have his dad mail us a copy of His BC so we could amend hubbys.

My middle name is Michele (one L), same as my mom's. It was supposed to have been Michelle (2 Ls), but when they got her birth certificate back, it was spelled with one L and they didn't change it. Passed it on to me (and my cousin, who was born on my mom's bday).

Kimya