• Toneswirly@lemmy.world
    150·
    8 months ago

    I will never understand obtuse alternate spellings that are just homophones. Like Trinity spelled Triniteigh accomplishes nothing.

      • beefbot
        14·
        8 months ago

        “It’s spelled Seamus, but I go by James”

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
        7·
        8 months ago

        Reminds me of the article about black Americans visiting Africa and being devastated that they weren’t “welcomed home” but rather just treated as visiting American tourists.

        It’s cute

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPM
      25·
      8 months ago

      I worked under someone at an old job who named his son Jaxon. And kept pictures Jaxon drew and signed on the wall of his office. So every time I needed something from him, I would have to see Jaxon’s name in his office. And I hated it.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
      13·
      8 months ago

      Because you hate your child but don’t believe in abortion. Just yesterday, I avoided spelling my preferred email on a phone call because a company already had a different address on file.

      Ex and I once joked about this subject. We decided it’d be funny to named an unwanted child Paisley.

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
      8·
      8 months ago

      It’s to add a little uniqueness, and avoid them being the 14th Erica in the classroom, but not going so far as to not give them one of the “normal” names.

      Or they just think it looks prettier. It doesn’t have to be about accomplishing something beyond “I like how that looks”.

      • Feathercrown@lemmy.worldEnglish
        23·
        8 months ago

        I feel like “my child will be burdened by this for the rest of their life” wins over “it looks cool”

        • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
          6·
          8 months ago

          You’d be surprised how little it actually matters. It just means they have to spell it for people occasionally.

          My name isn’t common here, but it’s also perfectly well known and spelled in the traditional sense.
          I have to spell it for people, and often use a middle name for takeout orders. That’s about the extent of the burden of having an unusual name.
          My last name is also perfectly common, and I need to spell it as well.

          I’ve seen a lot more “burden” on people with alphabetically late names, since they often are last in line for stuff.

    • wellee@lemmy.world
      7·
      8 months ago

      But the pronunciation of Triniteigh would have the sound like “neighbor” so wouldn’t be said like Trinity (tee)…

      • root_beer@midwest.socialEnglish
        4·
        8 months ago

        Not necessarily. Think Leigh and its relatives (e.g., Ashleigh, Kayleigh, Charleigh*)

        *made that one up but still,

        • wellee@lemmy.world
          6·
          8 months ago

          Um, I had someone in my class named Kayleigh, and it was indeed pronounced Kay-lay. I pronounce all these like “lay”, I don’t understand the example.

          • root_beer@midwest.socialEnglish
            2·
            8 months ago

            Hm. In my experience, -eigh has always been pronounced -ee. In most cases, Leigh is a homophone of Lee, as it comes from an English word meaning “meadow”, and you’ll find many pronunciation guides that confirm this. Not that I find it all that intuitive, I would have assumed it to be pronounced -lay myself, like sleigh or eight. English is dumb like that, and if you or anyone else wants to pronounce it -lay, nothing should stop you.

    • hungryphrog
      3·
      8 months ago

      I was solid confused about how these names are homophobic.

  • deafboy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    68·
    8 months ago

    I’m all for unique and clear identifiers for everything, including people, but jesus christ, imagine yourself in elementary school having a weird name. Why would parents choose a hard mode for their progeny?

    • Fonderthud@lemm.ee
      64·
      8 months ago

      I’m a big proponent of normal/semi obscure normal first name, weird middle name. John W Smith if you work in sales, J Wolfgang Smith if you’re an author. Perfect compromise.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPM
        30·
        8 months ago

        We gave our daughter a somewhat disused but normal and formerly not uncommon name which was the name of a plant. We just wanted a name that wasn’t religious but still normal enough that she wouldn’t get bullied for it (she got bullied anyway). We realized later that it actually made sense in terms of her ancestry because her mother has a plant name, her grandmother has a plant name and her great-grandmother had a plant name. One long lineage of plant names.

        • crazyCat@sh.itjust.works
          17·
          8 months ago

          Dude I see you around here on the regular, so I’ll mention that this is ironic for me to read this, because we also named our daughter an old, obscure but “real” name that is also a plant (a flower, specifically).

          It’s from France, so I asked a French friend before using it if it was ok to use and not a weird name, and they said “sure it’s ok, but it’s like an old grandma’s name no one uses anymore.” And that’s when I knew it was the one!

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPM
            12·
            8 months ago

            Yep, that was basically our reasoning. Vintage name, so it’s memorable, but not a weird one and spelled normally.

            And absolutely not religious.

            • Zekas@lemmy.world
              11·
              8 months ago

              Honestly being bullied for a weird name just feels like victim blaming. It’s just someone else’s shitty behaviour we’re expected to dance around? That was the one problem with the name.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPM
                10·
                8 months ago

                I don’t disagree, but it’s also a parental responsibility, in my opinion, to help your child avoid bullying. It’s not possible to avoid entirely, but there are definitely ways to make it worse. And a weird name is one of them.

                • Spendrill@lemm.ee
                  7·
                  8 months ago

                  Give a kid a weird name and the bully will pick on them but set a bully on fire… no… wait, I think I got that wrong.

              • AA5B@lemmy.world
                5·
                8 months ago

                It may be someone else’s problem, but as a parent , you should consider your child’s well being when naming them, and try to avoid obvious pitfalls

                • Zekas@lemmy.world
                  3·
                  8 months ago

                  I mean yes obviously, but still. Just angering me we have to fight human shittiness with something like this

        • pivot_root@lemmy.world
          9·
          8 months ago

          a somewhat disused but normal and formerly not uncommon name which was the name of a plant

          Describing it like that makes it really tempting to try and guess the name. Out of respect for your and her privacy, I won’t, though.

      • Korne127@lemmy.world
        16·
        8 months ago

        Ngl having “Wolfgang” as an example for a weird name was really strange to read for me… but I’m German.

      • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
        5·
        8 months ago

        It’s a pretty common practice where I live for a kid to be named after someone for their first name, but go by their middle name. So I think it’s perfectly fine to have one normal name and one weird name in any order.

        A. John Smith is an accountant. Atreyu J. Smith is a musician who wears leather pants and some sort of studded headband.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
        6·
        8 months ago

        In the fall of 2019, Vandyck sponsored the Marijuana Pepsi Scholarship for first-generation African-American students at UW–Whitewater.

        If someone with a brand name… name… starts a same-industry business in their name, or offers a scholarship for nazis, I wonder what kind of recourse the original brand has.

      • hungryphrog
        1·
        8 months ago

        Now I’m really curious about how people call her in day-to-day life.

      • deafboy@lemmy.world
        6·
        8 months ago

        That one I actually like. It’s easy to short it to Levi in public, but still be able to flex among friends.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPM
      8·
      8 months ago

      I guess if everyone has a weird name, that doesn’t matter. Maybe kids don’t make fun of weird names anymore. Who knows, maybe it’s the Johns and Marys who get made fun of for having uninteresting names.

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
      6·
      8 months ago

      My name is a standard name, but super uncommon here. It’s not that bad, since I got picked on about as much as anyone else. It’s not like they won’t just because your name is unremarkable.

    • Adramis@midwest.social
      2·
      8 months ago

      If you don’t get bullied for your name, you’ll just get bullied for something else. At least with the name you can blame it on your parents, maybe. Kids are assholes.

  • AdmiralShat@programming.devEnglish
    54·
    8 months ago

    I heard so much racism/making fun about black names growing up, but like, white people names are some of the absolute goofiest shit I’ve ever heard.

  • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
    50·
    8 months ago

    i’m so fucking happy sweden has laws preventing this stuff, names here have to be approved as not causing undue harm to the child

    • bestagon@lemmy.world
      49·
      8 months ago

      I could see a system like that being used to racist ends in America. “Please select from the pre-approved list of biblical names”

      • AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works
        18·
        8 months ago

        I’m having trouble finding articles about it because search engines have become terrible, but I’ve heard trans people talk about how the Swedish law has been used to transphobic ends (and, yes, racist ones too because common names in immigrant communities weren’t on the list). There’s few gender neutral names on the approved list and getting a gendered name approved for a name change is difficult and leaves the door open for outright transphobia - and legally changing your gender required surgical sterilization in Sweden up until the end of 2012.

        • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
          2·
          8 months ago

          this sounds like FUD to me, sweden’s government is generally very progressive when it comes to stuff like this and the system is just there to prevent people naming their kids “allah”.

          If anything the way we handle names is great for trans people because getting your legal name changed can be done from the comfort of your computer, largely.

      • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        8 months ago

        perhaps we have a list of “accepted variations of names” where that is what is legally recognized. Though the body will have to regulate it properly of course.

    • theangryseal@lemmy.world
      17·
      8 months ago

      I’m proud to be an American, where at least I can name my kids Yungblud Founding Father Lee Awesome. I won’t forget the Kanyes and Jason Lee’s who named their kids weirdly. And I’ll gladly stand up next to Pilot Inspektor and Jermajesty!

      Don’t mind me, I’m just the local idiot.

    • Prandom_returns@lemm.ee
      2·
      8 months ago

      Sounds pretty dumb, not gonna lie.

      Harm doesn’t come from names, harms comes from people.

      Last thing I need is government regulation for naming my child. (It is very strictly regulated where I’m from. So a classroom of 30 kids has 6 “Johns”)

      Every name was unique at some point.

  • hungryphrog
    42·
    8 months ago

    Do these parents not realise that they are naming real humans that will also be adults one day? Like, just imagine a grown-ass woman named “Brexleigh”.

  • MagnyusG@lemmy.world
    39·
    8 months ago

    What irks me the most is the effort these idiot parents will go to give their baby as basic a name as “Allison” or “Ashley”

    • Ashlie
    • Ashlee
    • Ashly
    • Ashleigh
    • Ashlea
    • Ashli
    • Ashely
    • Ashlei
    • Ashleah
    • Asheleigh
    • Ashelie
    • Ahshlee
    • the list goes on and on and on

    No amount of vowels is going to make your kid’s name stand out when at the end of the day it’s the same pronunciation as the most common, basic form of it.

    Mötley might be weird but it’s at least unique.

  • Gerudo@lemm.ee
    36·
    8 months ago

    There was a missing child report near me whose name was Mill’ionaire.

    • yuriy@lemmy.world
      21·
      8 months ago

      I have a half-baked outline for a character who goes by C. M. Mil’naire and is really embarrassed about the fact that his full name is actually Cash Money Mil’naire. I have no idea how to use him, but I love him too much to not keep around.