Curious to see what everyone thinks of sending out birth announcements that include the basic info that they normally have but also subtly including how to pronounce the name.
We really like names that our family won’t be able to pronounce or spell correctly (at least not the first few times) and I figured this would help without them having to awkwardly ask us over and over how to pronounce it. I know they will probably need to do so at some point anyway but I this could help with some cluelessness in the beginning. They could also keep it as reference for birthdays/holidays for spelling if they wanted to.
Good idea? Bad idea? [name_f]Do[/name_f] you have any names your family would need help with?
Estellise (middle name), [name_f]Elowen[/name_f] [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] (combo) and [name_u]Linden[/name_u] (first name) are ones I figure our family will struggle with due to them being unfamiliar to our family.
I think it’s a great idea! It actually reminds me of what one of my friends did on her business cards, she acted like it was a dictionary entry at first, with the phonetic pronunciation guide and then underneath wrote a sentence about what she did. For a birth announcement, I think it would be absolutely adorable and a great way to introduce how to say the name!
I think this would be a fine idea, although I don’t think there is anything complicated with Estellise, [name_f]Elowen[/name_f] and [name_u]Linden[/name_u]. [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] is, obviously, going to be one people unfamiliar with will struggle to both pronounce and spell, but I think the others are fine. I would be worried myself if I dumbed it down too much and made them seem a little uneducated by giving them the pronunciations for the simpler names - that might just be me worrying too much, though.
I don’t think there’s much hard with them either (aside from [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f], understandably). Estellise constantly gets pronunciation questions on NB, so I figure if name nerds don’t get it right away I don’t think our family will. My husband was actually a little unsure on [name_u]Linden[/name_u] when I first sent it his way (same thing with [name_f]Elowen[/name_f]) and since it’s not familiar in our area I’m also guessing most of our family won’t automatically know what it might say. We have a few names that are super straightforward that I wouldn’t do this for, but I tend to find when a name is unfamiliar (straightforward or not) people tend to get uneasy saying it out loud.
I want to make it super subtle because, like you said, I don’t want them at all to think I’m calling them stupid or insinuating that they’re too dumb to figure the name out. I think they’d be glad to have some insight on the name (since we wouldn’t announce it before birth), especially with the older generations. I might include a little information on the name itself, just for fun. My family knows I like that kind of stuff xD
Oh wow, what a cute idea that your friend did! I actually knew a girl who did the same thing with her business card (sort of). She had a pronunciation thing on her last name (like right under it) because people always said her last name incorrectly. I’d love to add a small little blurb on the name meaning (literal meaning) and why we chose it as I know our family will be super confused by our name choices (they like classic/biblical/trendy). I’ve personally found it easier to warm up to a name I dislike when I know why the person chose that name.