Musings from the greatest legal mind in my living room.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Alternate spelling names
WHAT are people thinking? Isn't it bad enough my sister picked the name Zane for her son? No she had to spell it Zayne. When did Haden become Hayden? What's next K-H-A-Y-T-E-L-Y-N-N-E instead of Kaitlyn? Alysyn, Lyndsy? These poor children......
I agree. Parents evidently think it makes their child unique, when it actually condemns them to a life in which they spend half their time spelling their name for people.
My first name has three letters. For the first 30 years of my life, no one ever asked me how to spell it, because it's a straightforward name. Since the creative spelling craze took hold, I do get asked now whether that's "ee or i or ie" or a number of other variants by people who want to spell it with five letters. IT'S A "Y" FOLKS--you know, the letter that ends most English words with a long e sound--Army, Navy, silly, uncanny, Billy; you get the picture.
I don't so much have an issue with alternate spellings of names, so long as they aren't so alternate that they confuse rather than individualize.
The real problem, as I see it, is where the name isn't even what's generally recognized as a name - duchess, princess, uneek, precious, etc. Then I think the name becomes a liability.
I don't know if any of you read Freakanomics but there is a really interesting chapter on naming and economic status that talks about the names like Euneek. Really interesting reading.
Sorry Your Cranky EP! I was cranky yesterday because I had to deal with a mean customer service person from Cingular Wireless. I wrote a nice letter to the president/CEO of cingular telling him of my experience and how I was determined to vote with my feet after our service contact was up. It made my crankiness dissolve. Bruce mailed it for me this morning. *grin*
Hey, sorry to intrude. I came across this while looking for "alternate name spellings." In any case, I just wanted to suggest to bellajar that perhaps the customer service rep was just cranky that day as well. =P
7 comments:
I agree. Parents evidently think it makes their child unique, when it actually condemns them to a life in which they spend half their time spelling their name for people.
My first name has three letters. For the first 30 years of my life, no one ever asked me how to spell it, because it's a straightforward name. Since the creative spelling craze took hold, I do get asked now whether that's "ee or i or ie" or a number of other variants by people who want to spell it with five letters. IT'S A "Y" FOLKS--you know, the letter that ends most English words with a long e sound--Army, Navy, silly, uncanny, Billy; you get the picture.
I don't so much have an issue with alternate spellings of names, so long as they aren't so alternate that they confuse rather than individualize.
The real problem, as I see it, is where the name isn't even what's generally recognized as a name - duchess, princess, uneek, precious, etc. Then I think the name becomes a liability.
I don't know if any of you read Freakanomics but there is a really interesting chapter on naming and economic status that talks about the names like Euneek. Really interesting reading.
There was an article in the Detroit Free Press some months back about the naming and the social structure expectancies.
probably very similar
The reasonable exchange between LJ and Steve serves to remind me of how cranky I am right now. :-)
Sorry Your Cranky EP! I was cranky yesterday because I had to deal with a mean customer service person from Cingular Wireless. I wrote a nice letter to the president/CEO of cingular telling him of my experience and how I was determined to vote with my feet after our service contact was up. It made my crankiness dissolve. Bruce mailed it for me this morning. *grin*
Hey, sorry to intrude. I came across this while looking for "alternate name spellings." In any case, I just wanted to suggest to bellajar that perhaps the customer service rep was just cranky that day as well. =P
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