Oh no!

Hello. My favourite boy name for years has been [name_m]Thatcher[/name_m] and I haven’t found any negative issues that make me question using it in the future…until today! I am a nanny to 2 little boys and for some reason I asked the 3 year old today to try and say [name_m]Thatcher[/name_m]. Well he couldn’t! He kept saying “FAT-ture.” I kept trying to teach him how to properly pronounce the th sound but he was having a really hard time. [name_m]Even[/name_m] the 5 year old was having some issues. I never really considered how difficult it might be for kids to say this name let alone the boy who the name belongs to! What do you think? [name_m]Will[/name_m] all kids not be able to pronounce it? I don’t want my kid being teased by people pronouncing his name wrong. I still love the name!

It’s pretty common for young kids not to be able to say the “th” sound. I don’t think it’s a big deal. They grow out of it. There are tons of names with “th” in them, including my own, and I don’t think they should be ruled out just because kids will have trouble saying them for 1-2 years of their lives. When I taught preschool, I was called “Miss Kaffryn.” Oh well. I actually think it’s kinda cute. And sometimes adorable family nicknames come from kids not being able to say their own name, or their siblings not being able to pronounce them.

Agreed. I think it’s cute when kids accidentally mispronounce a name! I’m not sure FAT-chur would be the best, but I’m sure he’ll be able to say the name soon enough, and hopefully he won’t be teased about it. If he doesn’t have any weight issues, I wouldn’t expect him to, anyways.

I’m not fond of Th- names anyway, and they’re also difficult for people from other (non-European) cultures to pronounce. Maybe use [name_m]Thatcher[/name_m] as a middle name?

He’ll only be a little kid for a short time. Ruling a name out because of a few years he might have trouble saying his name is silly. You could name him something common like [name_m]Anthony[/name_m] or [name_m]Stephen[/name_m] and have this same problem. (I’ve met little guys with these names who said “ann-fuh-nee” and “see-ven.”)

It was one of our top three at the hospital, but I couldn’t imagine calling him just [name_m]Thatcher[/name_m] with no nn as [name_u]Teddy[/name_u] is already taken in our circle. I wouldn’t worry about little kids mangling it…that happens with many words!

[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t worry about it my sisters [name_f]Adele[/name_f] gets just [name_u]Dell[/name_u] and I get Ebby. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t worry they grow out of it.

It’s just a question of how much it bothers you. Fat-cher isn’t bad, like some other names said by children sound. But if it is going to bother you then it is a reason to reconsider.

I agree that kids will grow out of it, but Fat-cher is pretty bad!

I don’t think it’s that much of a problem, he’ll grow out of it.

Definitely not a big deal. My sister is considering [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f]/[name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] for her new baby and her two-year old currently pronounces both as “tart-let”, and pronounces her older sister’s 3-syllable name as “[name_f]Nan[/name_f]”. Personally, I think it’s adorable.