My husband and I both like the name [name]Barrett[/name] but we think it would be really cute to have him go by the nickname “[name]Bear[/name].” So our question is would it be too weird to spell [name]Barrett[/name], Baerett instead? [name]Do[/name] you think people could pronounce it if they just saw the name and had never heard it? Then we might have him go by [name]Baer[/name], which is the [name]German[/name] way to spell bear, I believe. Middle name is going to be [name]Walter[/name] after my grandpa.
Yes, it’s too weird. The sound [name]Bear[/name] is at the beginning of [name]Barrett[/name], you don’t need the exact spelling in the name to have it be the nickname.
Eh? BAH-ret. No? Where’s [name]Bear[/name]?
1 Like
Yep, it’s odd. I would be tempted to pronounce Baerett as bay-rett or bay-er-ett, nothing like [name]Barrett[/name] (might be my accent though- in most English accents there is no ‘bear’ sound at the beginning of [name]Barrett[/name] anyway). It’s unnecessary to butcher the spelling- like scarletrune said, leave the spelling and just use [name]Bear[/name] as a nickname.
Listen to the pronunciations on forvo, specifically the “[name]Syd[/name] [name]Barrett[/name]” and “[name]Neil[/name] [name]Barrett[/name]” ones. Here, we pronounce it bare-it. In my accent bare is the same as bear and rhymes with care or fair/fare.
I agree. I would say ‘bare-it’ for [name]Barrett[/name] - and I would say "[name]Bay[/name]-er-it’ for bearett. No need to have the actual spelling of the nickname in the official name. And [name]Barrett[/name] nn [name]Bear[/name] is cute.
I would say BAH-rett like the other British ladies, but Baerett just looks odd - Bayer-ett? If you’ve got the [name]Bear[/name] sound in your accent when you say it, then it works fine as a nickname to the [name]Barrett[/name] spelling. Other names change the spelling when you shorten them anyway, it’s found in some of the most popular names - [name]Isabella[/name] > [name]Izzy[/name]/[name]Izzie[/name], [name]Jacob[/name] > [name]Jake[/name]. [name]Barrett[/name] nn [name]Bear[/name] is perfectly acceptable and legitimate.
Honestly, I think you should go with the original spelling and use a stretch nickname. It happens all the time otherwise there wouldn’t have been [name]Jett[/name] from [name]Jared[/name], [name]Grey[/name] from [name]Gregory[/name], [name]Nell[/name] from [name]Helena[/name] and so on.
P.S. Personally, my pronunciation of [name]Barett[/name] is more of “bah-ret” than “bare-it”.
In the US, [name]Barrett[/name] is pronounced like [name]Bear[/name]-it. (The word barrette, like a girl’s hair clip, is pronounced kind of like bah-ret, so we definitely want to pronounce them differently!) I would use the regular spelling; Baerett look ridiculous. Sorry. You can still call him [name]Bear[/name]. In fact, you can name him literally anything and still call him [name]Bear[/name]. My husband’s name is [name]Kevin[/name], but his mom always calls him [name]Bear[/name], writes [name]Bear[/name] in his birthday cards, etc. [name]Barrett[/name] is a nice name, though.
We have a little [name]Barrett[/name] that we call [name]Bear[/name]! I don’t think any spelling alteration is needed. [name]Bear[/name] is really more a pet name for us anyway.
Thanks for all the input, I think we will definitely go with the normal spelling of [name]Barrett[/name]. I had thought Baerett was really weird at first but then i looked at it so much i couldnt tell anymore. We are in the U.S. and pronounce it bear-it. I didn’t even realize other accents would pronounce it differently, good to know.
I agree with the majority of the others who have commented. Spell the name [name]Barrett[/name] and then just use the nickname you want. Changing the spelling of the actual name is unnecessary and potentially confusing. The nickname does not have to derive literally from the spelling, and many of the most commonly recognized ones don’t. [name]Libby[/name] for [name]Elizabeth[/name], [name]Kate[/name] for [name]Catherine[/name], [name]Bobby[/name] for [name]Robert[/name], [name]Jim[/name] for [name]James[/name], etc.
Keep the [name]Barrett[/name] spelling. Baerett not only looks weird, but I think most people would see it and pronounce it “bay-ret.” [name]Barrett[/name] nn [name]Bear[/name] works fine. You don’t have to force a connection between the given name and the (animal name) nickname.