People Who Should Use Condoms
Those of reproductive age who are likely to name their children in SMS-speak. From Thaindian News in Australia:
Sydney, March 6 (ANI): The popular SMS and email phonetic spellings have not only corrupted the English language, but have also sparked a trend of unusually spelt baby names.Most parents these days are drawing on the cool SMS and email spellings, by eschewing traditional spellings for versions such as Alex-Zander, Cam'ron, Emma-Lee, Ozkah, Thaillah and Ameleiyah.
Social analyst Mark McCrindle looked at Australian births in 2007 and discovered that the name Jayden was registered spelt in 12 ways, Aidan in nine ways, and Amelia and Tahlia in eight ways.
...He added that the increasing trend could be attributed to the phonetic spelling in email and text messaging and to parents wanting their children to be prominent.
"Gen X parents were the first generation to grow up themselves with mum not staying home with the kids or their parents divorcing, and they hated their parents not being around to show them love, he said.
"Knowing they will probably recreate some of those sins, they now are naming their kids uniquely to show how individual and special they are to them.
via Popgadget
I love language, and to see it so bastardized, is to my eyes what nails on a chalkboard are to most peoples ears.
The problem with universal literacy is you wind up with a considerable number of literate idiots.
Robert H. Butler at March 25, 2008 5:38 AM
Hahahaha. Oh my. Thank you amy, I like starting my day with a giggle.
Although I am resentfully puzzled as well. Why do these idjits keep coming up with such stupid pop-babble excusing these morons? Why not be honest and say that stupid people are breeding and they want to give a name with sizzle?(As stupid people see it)
Just so long as any version of Destiny disappears. Please please please?
rsj at March 25, 2008 5:43 AM
Thanks. And I'm with you on Destiny -- and a few others.
Seems names like "Sophie" and "Lilly" will now translate to "I was not born to morons."
Amy Alkon at March 25, 2008 6:01 AM
P.S. People who write to me for advice in SMS-speak or all caps are made to rewrite their question in regular English.
Amy Alkon at March 25, 2008 6:02 AM
There are two sides to any coin. Sure, some of these folks are simply illiterate, and can't be bothered to spell correctly.
On the other hand, unique names are nice. As a child, I was almost always the only one in the class with my name. I always felt sorry for the 3 kids named "David" or "Mark" or whatever.
We gave each of our kids an unusual name for their first name and - in case they disliked being unusual - a more common one for their second name. Since we live in a multilingual area, we also chose the names (and, yes, adapted the spelling) so that the "natural" pronunciation in the most common languages was a similar as possible.
For what it's worth, both kids have always been happy with their unique names; neither ever wanted to change to their more common second name.
Cheers,
bradley13
p.s. To our disgust, one of our unusual names ("Aodhan") has become more and more common. When we picked it many years ago, it was almost unknown outside of history books. This name is used almost exclusively in adapted forms such as "Aidan" - these have become the norm. Language evolves...
bradley13 at March 25, 2008 6:09 AM
While in Florida over the weekend, I heard a woman chastising her son at Target.
"Stop climbing on that, Jihad."
It was Florida, so I wasn't quite as surprised as if I'd been anywhere else in the U.S. But really, Jihad?
Tony at March 25, 2008 6:20 AM
I have one of the most common female names of my generation, and it doesn't make me feel any less special or individual; nor would it make me feel any more special if the spelling differed from the norm. Rather, I'd be supremely irritated every time I had to explain to someone how to spell it.
An incorrect or peculiar spelling is not necessary to remember and differentiate THIS Jessica. I'm weird all on my own, thank you.
Jessica at March 25, 2008 6:30 AM
Good lord, what's wrong with people? I don't think Emma-Lee's bad though. I'm used to the midwestern/southern "Sue Ann" type names.
SeanH at March 25, 2008 6:38 AM
My mistake was giving both of my daughters names that begin with the same letter, 'R'. I'm calling for one when I mean the other all the time! It's a good thing they know which one I mean.
Maybe it's because I'm too old to appreciate it, but I can't stand "cutsie" misspellings of names to indicate that someone's child is "special"; it is just not necessary. The English language is already being bastardized enough, without these morons getting all "individualized" about it. People still can't pronounce Daughter #1's name correctly, and it's been around for thousands of years. #2's name is even older than that, and while people don't have any trouble pronouncing it, they still tend to misspell it all the time. I think I'll just call them #1 and #2 from now on -oops! I'd better not do that, might hurt #2's fragile little ego - not! YMMV o_O
Flynne at March 25, 2008 6:55 AM
Rule of thumb: If your kid is going to have to spell his or her name every time he or she gives it, it's a bad name.
Amy, have you seen the website "Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing"?
http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/
Kevin at March 25, 2008 7:04 AM
One of my friends, who was a medical student and had spent time rotating in a OB ward, said the best (or worst) name she ever saw a parent give a child was pronounced Shi-THEED, but was spelled "Shithead". I am hoping this is apocryphal.
Jen at March 25, 2008 7:10 AM
We gave each of our kids an unusual name for their first name and - in case they disliked being unusual - a more common one for their second name.
Ah, you followed my Rule of Naming, which is that you must give a child at least one "unexceptional" name, as Jane Austen might put it. That way, if he/she is named Chief Justice of the United States, he/she has a name to use that doesn't sound completely ridiculous.
Rule of thumb: If your kid is going to have to spell his or her name every time he or she gives it, it's a bad name.
Eh, I have to spell my name every time I give it, because 1) it sounds somewhat similar to other names such as Marilyn and Maryann and 2) it's the "male" spelling. I don't mind. Whereas I bet people know how to spell Destiny. I prefer my name.
The thing is that you don't have to give your child a generic name if you don't want to bestow an awful name on the kid. Harlow for a girl is unusual, but not awful. Violet for a girl, in this day and age, is unusual but pretty. There are a lot of interesting names in other languages that won't make your children loathe you. Etc. The people naming their children in net-speak and with weird spellings are, in my mind, somewhat lazy - they don't want their kid to have the same name as everyone else in school, but they also don't want to do the work to research unusual but rational names. I never ran into anyone else with my first name in grade school, but it's a name that works fine for either a cabaret dancer or a CEO, I think.
marion at March 25, 2008 7:54 AM
I do recall being a bit snarly when I first read about the byline of former NY Times journalist Jennifer 8. Lee [sic].
Wiki says her Taiwanese parents gave her the lucky 8 middle name when she was a teenager. (I thought I remembered a more pretentious explanation- that she just picked it to look cool - and to annoy people like me...).
On the other hand, NPR (yes, Amy - I know!) informed me yesterday that Mozart picked "Amadeus" himself as his stage handle - for the cool factor. Amadeus being the Latin version of his less cool Greek-rooted middle name.
Jody Tresidder at March 25, 2008 8:27 AM
I could see choosing a very distinctive first name (or at least an unusual spelling) if you have a common last name. For example, a woman I knew had both a very common first and an extremely common last name (I'll keep it private here), and even in the relatively small town in which she lived there were two other women with the same name. Unfortunately, the other two were writing bad checks. Based partly on that experience and being confused with other people on other occasions, the lady in question gave her kids very distinctive first names.
My family has the opposite problem, a very unusual last name (with the vowel deficiency often seen in Eastern Europe). Nothing but dirt-common first names with standard spellings for us, since the kids will be spelling and pronouncing the last name constantly all their lives. No need to make it worse with some made-up first name.
Chuck at March 25, 2008 8:57 AM
My name is rare but not totally uncommon yet a lot of people have never heard it and can't for the life of them understand what I'm saying. When I put in an order for Chinese take-out I tell them my name is Joe (I mean - they take my phone number anyway...). Someone who didn't grow up in the U.S or Europe probably never heard Gretchen before and repeating myself 10 times is lame.
Alternative spellings of my name are obnoxious: Gretchin, Gretchan and the worst - Gretchenanne (It's not some hick name, people!). PUKE. It's a traditional German name meaning "Little Margaret." It reminds me of the place I love to visit and family I miss. I get possessive of my name - it's just not an arbitrary thing to me. It took time and thought and has meaning.
My given middle name is Elizabeth, after an aunt. But she spells it Elisabeth so I started spelling it that way too. I mean, if you're going to be named after someone you might as well spell it the same way.
Gretchen at March 25, 2008 10:31 AM
Both of my girls names are very classic but alliterated...so that is what makes them different. Plus we all have 4 letter (nick)names, and I find that so aesthetically appealing when I sign Christmas cards. I know I am strange.
Naming a child is an enormous responsibility. They are going to be stuck with this moniker during the most sensitive time of their development. Other kids are mean, don't make it easier on them. For example, I liked the name Isabelle, my husband said that people would call her Izzy. Personally, I didn't mind Izzy but when I was explaining to a friend the reason my husband didn't like the name she said "did you say Easy?" He overheard and said "that's it, she is definitely not going to be Easy Izzy".
Her name is Lily. Thank you Amy for the commendation.
dena at March 25, 2008 10:43 AM
Digging the new look. As an aging geek, I've cranked up the font sizes on all the computers so wearing eyeglasses isn't necessary. (The children at work, those Gen X'ers, laugh and call me names.) But this is the first arrangement you and Gregg have had that doesn't word wrap the lines of text but is still readable. Plus it just looks very businesslike and tidy. The blood-red banner at the top may not be your color, but it looks great.
I love Flynne's comment that the daughters know who she means even if she uses the wrong name. That sounds like a household with good response to authority. Gore Vidal wrote a novel once that said that one of cardinal sins in a military academy is quibbling.
From Kevin's link above--
Naming Scheme: "Brooklyn Makenzie or Alexia for a girl and Hunter Gage, Justus Brice, or Darian for a boy and... The name Jaden for a girl or boy"
Blogger Response: "Child grows up to become character in Danielle Steele novel."
> it's a name that works fine
> for either a cabaret dancer or a
> CEO, I think.
Which path have you chosen? Speak freely, ours is a nonjudgmental atmosphere.... I was named for a poet, but have never read a word of his work. Poetry is prissy and stupid unless you've been drinking, and I'm trying to keep that shit under control.
Frank Zappa had an engineer named Smith. He had it legally changed to Yvega, because he wanted to open a phone book in forty years and know that he was the progenitor of any that he found within.
My mother --no joker, that woman-- swears that she had a junior high school teacher with twin daughters. He named one Kate. He named the other Duplikate.
Crid at March 25, 2008 10:54 AM
Sorry. New Software... It was all just spinning hourglasses.....
Crid at March 25, 2008 10:57 AM
Which path have you chosen?
Closer to the second than to the first. Much closer. I'm not a particularly good artistic performer. But if I had been named, say, Fifi Trixiebelle, there's no way I could get anyone to take me seriously. I'm quite grateful to my parents, actually.
marion at March 25, 2008 12:52 PM
I remember being at a baby shower once, and the mom-to-be and some others were discussing names, and one woman said something like, "well you better not name her 'Star Delight', that's what I'm naming my daughter!" and I was thinking to myself, that child will have a wonderful career dancing at stag parties. Then there was another woman (very European, by the way) I knew who named her child "Crystal Dawn" and insisted it was a Native American name. Uh...okay. o_O
Flynne at March 25, 2008 1:11 PM
Name things, they're pretty interesting. My name was common enough 50 years ago and, I think, not necessarily too "old-fashioned," yet I never once ran into another "Jean" among my peers. Which was nice because I remember "Jennifer" being a name I heard fairly often. The BAD thing, though, was that somehow people always, ALWAYS managed to mispronounce my name. You know, like I was a French boy instead of an American tomboy. Oh, and for some reason no one knows how to spell it right the first time. "G-E-N-E?" is the spelling always presented to me first when making a reservation.
It is exceedingly frustrating to have what I think is such a simple name messed up so often because, thanks to my husband, I now have this utterly unique and very Polish last name that assures that I'll never hear my name said correctly ever again.
So, yes, knowing this much, we've picked out some very sensible names for if/when we should have children. Melissa Joy is our top (his pick being Melissa for "honey bee," and Joy being mine because I love those kinds of names [Hope, Faith, etcetera]).
Jean Moczy at March 25, 2008 4:37 PM
dss
test at March 27, 2008 10:33 PM
I know twins whose names are "Red-Jel-Lo" and "Or-Ange-Jel-Lo".
Roger at March 28, 2008 5:11 AM
I cant believe that someone corrupt a baby name for SMS.
baby boy at April 2, 2008 6:07 AM
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