Thought you would enjoy my little rant today on the babyname group on babycenter.com. I read the above name mis-spelling and finally let my feelings out. I think you all would agree with me. [name]Read[/name] my little rant posting below that also includes a little nameberry shout out…
Parents-to-be,
I understand that all parents want their children to stand out and portray a certain image of “coolness”.
It is natural for parents to feel their children are a reflection of themselves. As a new parent you think this is your chance to create a little person who will be what you always wanted to be.
Giving your child a name that is mis-spelled by 2 or 3 letters is not the way to do it. All you are doing is saddling your child for the rest of their life with a big old headache! It is not cute and people will not think that your child is any “cooler” because their name is spelled with a “y” instead of an “i”, etc…Instead they will think, what were her parents thinking?
This also goes for made-up names. If you are finding yourself having explain the name or explain the spelling to people who ask then this post is for you. People will be generally nice and say “that’s interesting”, but really they are feeling sorry for your un-born child.
There are so many amazing under-used names out there that have awesome meanings. Please do a little research and give your child a name that has stood the test of time and that is spelled correctly. As a parent of an 8 year-old I spend hours with him practicing for spelling tests and teaching correct spelling and phonics. I hate it that you parents with your “tryndee” spellings are confusing our kids.
While I positively agree with you that Nameberry.com is one of the best sites around, I can’t really get too worked up over people who prefer name variants outside the norm.
A lot of such names may not be my cup of tea, but I figure “to each his own.”
On the other hand, a lot of those kree-8-tive names make for amusing commentary. Nameberry member [name]Jill[/name] wrote a fun blog on the subject awhile ago.
At least they’re using -eigh the way I want. I know it’s often used as a substitute for -ey/-ie/etc, and I expect it’s often pronounced the same. But I always read it as a long A.
I would have pronounced Reyneigh as “[name]REIGN[/name]-ee,” as the -eigh ending (as in [name]Leigh[/name]) has an EE sound, not the -ay sound that [name]Renee[/name] uses. What a very odd spelling for [name]Renee[/name] - if you can even call it a spelling for [name]Renee[/name]. I’d spell it [name]Rainey[/name], like a rainy day…
I kind of see where you’re coming from and you’re entitled to your opinion, but i am with [name]Nephele[/name] here.
I named my son a name that i have to spell out all the time, not because i have used a ‘tren-dee’ spelling but because it is an unusual name. I don’t feel i have burdoned him, but i have given him a ‘cool’ variation of a very popular name. ([name]Fintan[/name] nn [name]Finn[/name]) xx
