Greetings! The wife and I have been quite set on the name [name_u]Asa[/name_u] for our upcoming son. However, the vast majority of people who see the name before they hear it pronounce it “Assah”. Now, that’s well and all in countries where there aren’t connotations to the gluteus maximus, but here in [name_f]Canada[/name_f], not so much. I think I’ve had 1 person get it right. Oh, and 1 [name_f]Asia[/name_f] (how…?). This bothers us both. So, after some back and forths, we’re contemplating the spelling Aesa. I think it looks more masculine and tends to be pronounced [name_m]Ace[/name_m]-ah, maybe a few Ee-sah’s if they tend more toward Greek than Latin. Better than Assah. But then it looks more made-up and loses that classic touch.
I would stick with [name_u]Asa[/name_u], personally, but I understand your reasoning for wanting a different spelling. But I’m a fan of going with the original spelling in most cases and I think [name_u]Asa[/name_u] is simple enough that once people hear its pronunciation the first time, they’ll catch on quickly. I love [name_u]Asa[/name_u], by the way - such a handsome name.
Sorry to sound pretentious, but in Latin, that would be pronounced Eye-sah.
It’s one of my favourite names as well, and I’ve encountered the pronunciation issue myself. I honestly get more [name_m]Ah[/name_m]-sahs than I have Assah. The PP has a good point, it’s an easy correction to make, and the only people who are going to be reading it for the first few years are doctors and teachers. Otherwise you’ll be introducing him and people will hear you say it before they have to spell it, in theory. Overall, I don’t think adding an ‘ae’ at the beginning makes it any more readable. You might even get Ay-eh-sah or something like that, because the only words with ‘ae’ in them in English that I can think of are all direct Latin, so it’s not all that common of a sound (and again, pronounced like ‘eye’ and not ‘aye’). I think you should just spell it the traditional way. Aesa looks like something out of a fantasy novel, and it takes away the charm of the name.
I think as long as you are committed enough to [name_u]Asa[/name_u] to have continuously explain to people how it is pronounced it’s not a issue however if that will irk you maybe a new name is needed. I think you should go with simply [name_u]Asa[/name_u]. Aesa is going to annoy you and family as on top of the pronunciation there will be issues with spelling. Good luck!
Aesa looks like some Game of Thrones invention. It’s ugly and doesn’t fix your pronunciation issues. I actually think Aesa will create more issues. Stick to [name_u]Asa[/name_u]. It’s a great name that should be used more often.