has your child's name caused problems in their life?

[Anonymous]

I have a double first name that is just uncommon enough that when introduce myself, people sometimes assume I am saying my both first and last names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS's name is an animal. So far the worst that has happened is some minor confusion among certain younger kids in daycare/preschool.

He's in ES now and thinks his name rocks. It also suits him perfectly!

I am curious about this one!

Tiger.
I know a boy with the actual first name of Tiger.

It could also be Wolf, Hawk, etc.

Even though Tiger Woods' real name is not Tiger, I can see some die hard golf fans naming their son Tiger because of him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a female middle name user (since the day I was born). It was always a little annoying in school. Mary Doe? I go by Jane my middle name.

But then I got married, and took my husbands last name. And then I got divorced, and went back to my birth/maiden name even though my divorce was 15 years ago, my legal name, and the name people knew me by during my marriage (and I occasionally get mail to) are:

Mary Doe
Jane Smith

And we are the same people! I swear!

I probably work with you and can never find you on email/Webex.

[Anonymous]

Someone in my extended social orbit just named their baby Mckinnley McGovern. Poor kid is a walking law firm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As far as I know, my kids like their names. On the other hand:

My mother had an extremely common name for her generation, which she hated. As a result, she invented a name (she thought, it’s apparently not uncommon in a foreign country, but pronounced differently). Regardless of how carefully I spell it out, people tend to spontaneously transform it to obe of several familiar names that are similar. As a result, my medical records have been lost countless times. Mispronunciation is a given. It didn’t help that my father thought it was too big a mouthful, so they gave me a nickname that was only slightly more common. My grandparents didn’t like that nickname, so they gave me another with common alternate spellings. (It thoroughly confused our church that heard half our family calling me one thing, the other half calling me something else, neither of which was my actual name. Nobody used that.) When I went away to college, I tried to simplify my life as much as possible by dropping the nicknames and just using my formal first name. Unfortunately, my college boyfriend who I married shortly after graduation had an unusual last name. I could, of course, have retained my maiden name, but I preferred to adopt his.

Over the years, my answer when asked my name has evolved. I now automatically answer along the lines of “Larle, L-A-R-L-E, like Larla but with an “e” at the end instead of an “a”. This reduces, but does not eliminate confusion. Meanwhile, if I’m at the doctor’s office, waiting for them to call my name, I know I won’t actually hear my name. I may hear one of a handful of similar names, or something that has been completely mangled. The mangled versions are actually more helpful, because when I check if the conventional name was supposed to be mine, sometimes it’s actually someone else’s.

My mother succeeded in that I’ve never had confusion caused by someone having my same name. I have, however, had confusion caused by others having similar names that seem more likely to others than my own.

That sounds really hard, I’m sorry.

A lesson for everyone who grew up with an ultra-common name and don’t want to do the same to your kid— don’t overcorrect! Stay out of the top 100 if it matters to you, but pick a name that’s recognizably a name!

+1. My parents hated having nicknames, so neither my sister nor I were given names with easy nicknames (of course I wanted a nickname as a kid). Both my first and last name have silent vowels (but my first name is sometimes pronounced with the vowel - it depends on how someone wants the name pronounced), so I’m constantly correcting people and sometimes I don’t even bother. I had a boss mispronunce my name for three years. My OB still misprounces my name. Imagine giving birth and being called the wrong name. My kids all have easily recognized phonetic first names. And I changed my last name as soon as I married my husband!

[Anonymous]

I had a student named Uranus. The first day of school, before class started, she ran into my room and said, hey, when you take attendance can you call me Mary? (Different name but you get it). I felt awful for her. She had a sister with another astronomy type name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a student named Uranus. The first day of school, before class started, she ran into my room and said, hey, when you take attendance can you call me Mary? (Different name but you get it). I felt awful for her. She had a sister with another astronomy type name.

Of all the "astronomy" names to choose, WHY that one? Pluto or Neptune or Vega or Stella or Orion... anything but Uranus. Anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to predict. My friend had a name similar to Monica Lewinsky and life was difficult for her for a few months in high school. But who saw that coming? It's a perfectly reasonable name.

Worked with a Scott Peterson. Of course he couldn't see that coming but how unfortunate. I've also worked with a Bruce Willis and a Steven Tyler

I grew up with a Matthew Perry.

I went to church with a Michael Jackson (born in 1979).

My driving instructor's name was Norman Bates (I'd assume he was born in the 40's).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As far as I know, my kids like their names. On the other hand:

My mother had an extremely common name for her generation, which she hated. As a result, she invented a name (she thought, it’s apparently not uncommon in a foreign country, but pronounced differently). Regardless of how carefully I spell it out, people tend to spontaneously transform it to obe of several familiar names that are similar. As a result, my medical records have been lost countless times. Mispronunciation is a given. It didn’t help that my father thought it was too big a mouthful, so they gave me a nickname that was only slightly more common. My grandparents didn’t like that nickname, so they gave me another with common alternate spellings. (It thoroughly confused our church that heard half our family calling me one thing, the other half calling me something else, neither of which was my actual name. Nobody used that.) When I went away to college, I tried to simplify my life as much as possible by dropping the nicknames and just using my formal first name. Unfortunately, my college boyfriend who I married shortly after graduation had an unusual last name. I could, of course, have retained my maiden name, but I preferred to adopt his.

Over the years, my answer when asked my name has evolved. I now automatically answer along the lines of “Larle, L-A-R-L-E, like Larla but with an “e” at the end instead of an “a”. This reduces, but does not eliminate confusion. Meanwhile, if I’m at the doctor’s office, waiting for them to call my name, I know I won’t actually hear my name. I may hear one of a handful of similar names, or something that has been completely mangled. The mangled versions are actually more helpful, because when I check if the conventional name was supposed to be mine, sometimes it’s actually someone else’s.

My mother succeeded in that I’ve never had confusion caused by someone having my same name. I have, however, had confusion caused by others having similar names that seem more likely to others than my own.

I love a good Larla post! What a blast from the past

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to predict. My friend had a name similar to Monica Lewinsky and life was difficult for her for a few months in high school. But who saw that coming? It's a perfectly reasonable name.

Worked with a Scott Peterson. Of course he couldn't see that coming but how unfortunate. I've also worked with a Bruce Willis and a Steven Tyler

I grew up with a Matthew Perry.

I went to church with a Michael Jackson (born in 1979).

My driving instructor's name was Norman Bates (I'd assume he was born in the 40's).

My grandfather knew an Adolf Hitler (born around 1900) who lived in America. He changed his name as an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a very common name spelled slightly uniquely. It’s nothing but an annoyance. My kids have traditional but not super popular names with one established spelling.

+2. This is exactly me (very common name spelled slightly uniquely) and my kids (traditional but not super popular names with one established spelling), too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a double first name that is just uncommon enough that when introduce myself, people sometimes assume I am saying my both first and last names.

I know a kid named Mary Chandler (as her first name.) I immediately thought of her when you said this.

[Anonymous]

The names Kristin, Kiersten, and Kirsten come to mind. I have a cousin called Kristin and the other two are coworkers and I can't keep them straight in my head EVER. I don't think Ive once called them by the right version of the name.

[Anonymous]

My kid doesn’t have a middle name, we barely agreed on a name, and it’s not in our culture to have a middle name, so we didn’t really think about it.

Kid since elementary would have preferred to have a middle name and I wish that we did do it. But it is what it is now. I told them it’s an opportunity to choose their own middle name at some point, if no middle name continues to bother them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The names Kristin, Kiersten, and Kirsten come to mind. I have a cousin called Kristin and the other two are coworkers and I can't keep them straight in my head EVER. I don't think Ive once called them by the right version of the name.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who struggles with this. The worst for me is when someone is a Kirsten but they pronounce it like Kiersten (Keer-sten). it breaks my brain. I don't understand how this has been allowed to happen.

I also struggle with names that are almost Sara/Sarah but with a twist: Sari, Siri, Suri. I understand they come from other language/cultural traditions, I'm not criticizing the names, which I think are pretty. I just really struggle with them because I have a sister named Sara and it's like my brain can't deal with it. I will mispronounce these names years after I've met a person because my brain and mouth conspire to bungle them somehow.