Name rant
I need to rant/vent regarding baby names. I asked a simple question on a name board on thebump.com (clearly my first mistake-lol)
Rant behind cut for courtesy.
So my husband and I *think* we have found our baby girl's name. We aren't actually going to declare it until we meet her, but this is our top contender. It fulfills all our requirements and feels right. We wanted something that was feminine and not terribly common (at least around here) without being too kre8tive. Something that lent itself to a cute nickname but also a name she could use as an adult. We also required something that would go with the chosen middle name of Kathryn, which is my great grandmother's name, my mom's middle name, and my middle name. I always knew that if I had a daughter her middle name would be Kathryn, spelled the same way as my great grandmother's name. The name we decided we liked is Emelia.
Emelia Kathryn, my husband likes the nickname of Emmy. I think Emmy Kate is cute.
Now I have asked for opinions in the past, I like people's opinions. I don't get terribly upset when people don't agree, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I am obviously well aware of this fact considering I ask for the opinions in the first place. What I do not like is when someone tells me that I'm getting too kre8tive and "misspelling" the name. If you came into contact with someone whose name was spelled a way you were not used to would you honestly tell them their name was incorrect and misspelled? Seriously, the size of the balls on these women who mouth off behind the safety of their computer screens amazes me. If you dislike my name choice, that's perfectly ok. To be even more honest, I have seen much more creative spellings of names, hell even names that makes me wince but I would never, EVER say that to someone. If they ask for an opinion I try to be as diplomatic as possible, perhaps focusing more on the flow of the name, how it fits with a middle or last name and if I think the spelling is *too* out here I might mention that I feel it dates the name, but I'd never outright say that it was wrong and misspelled, especially if the child has already been named. I might be in the minority here.
I was told that if I wanted the name to "sound like Amelia why not spell it that way".
I think, what's wrong with an E? I've seen it spelled with an E, it's not that uncommon...
One woman (who said she was a teacher)said her first instinct would be to say Ee-meal-eah, my response to this woman was would you say Ee-mily too?
Most names beginning with an E start with the Eh sound. There are some that start with the hard E sound but not as many. Perhaps I am nuts but when I see EM I think to say it like M. ::shrug:: Call me crazy.
One woman told me the name was too kre8tive (spelled that way) and that Emilia Katherine was better. It's the same damn name, why change the spelling on me? Was that really helpful and necessary? Not really. My name is Kathryn spelled that way, get over it. No creativity there.
I know Amelia can be spelled Emelia and Emilia, I happen to like the EME instead of the EMI, apparently this is WRONG and MISSPELLED.
::sigh::
My personal favorite response was this, after I said that a variation of a name was neither incorrect or misspelled, it was simply a variation:
"Actually my dad used to do this every year with his students on the first day of class. He would point out misspellings, mispronounciations, and derivation of where unique names probably came from (like Melissa instead of Jelissa). Then he refused to call the students by anything but the correct versions of their names all year."
I was SHOCKED. If my child came home and told me that some asshole refused to call her by her real name because he felt a derivative was wrong I can guarantee you that he would no longer be a teacher. I am still seething because of that comment (only that comment) because it is so wrong. Who the hell does he think he is? I wonder what you all think about this...
So I apologize that this is so long and if you made it this far congrats & thank you. I really needed to vent. I honestly don't care if someone doesn't like the name, that is fine, but attacking and being a general bitch is completely uncalled for. I know these nasty people exist on the internet and truthfully I usually shrug them off, again, all entitled to our opinion blah blah blah...but really, it's someone's NAME...do NOT say it is wrong or misspelled or any other BS, that is not up to you and not what you were asked!
Rant behind cut for courtesy.
So my husband and I *think* we have found our baby girl's name. We aren't actually going to declare it until we meet her, but this is our top contender. It fulfills all our requirements and feels right. We wanted something that was feminine and not terribly common (at least around here) without being too kre8tive. Something that lent itself to a cute nickname but also a name she could use as an adult. We also required something that would go with the chosen middle name of Kathryn, which is my great grandmother's name, my mom's middle name, and my middle name. I always knew that if I had a daughter her middle name would be Kathryn, spelled the same way as my great grandmother's name. The name we decided we liked is Emelia.
Emelia Kathryn, my husband likes the nickname of Emmy. I think Emmy Kate is cute.
Now I have asked for opinions in the past, I like people's opinions. I don't get terribly upset when people don't agree, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I am obviously well aware of this fact considering I ask for the opinions in the first place. What I do not like is when someone tells me that I'm getting too kre8tive and "misspelling" the name. If you came into contact with someone whose name was spelled a way you were not used to would you honestly tell them their name was incorrect and misspelled? Seriously, the size of the balls on these women who mouth off behind the safety of their computer screens amazes me. If you dislike my name choice, that's perfectly ok. To be even more honest, I have seen much more creative spellings of names, hell even names that makes me wince but I would never, EVER say that to someone. If they ask for an opinion I try to be as diplomatic as possible, perhaps focusing more on the flow of the name, how it fits with a middle or last name and if I think the spelling is *too* out here I might mention that I feel it dates the name, but I'd never outright say that it was wrong and misspelled, especially if the child has already been named. I might be in the minority here.
I was told that if I wanted the name to "sound like Amelia why not spell it that way".
I think, what's wrong with an E? I've seen it spelled with an E, it's not that uncommon...
One woman (who said she was a teacher)said her first instinct would be to say Ee-meal-eah, my response to this woman was would you say Ee-mily too?
Most names beginning with an E start with the Eh sound. There are some that start with the hard E sound but not as many. Perhaps I am nuts but when I see EM I think to say it like M. ::shrug:: Call me crazy.
One woman told me the name was too kre8tive (spelled that way) and that Emilia Katherine was better. It's the same damn name, why change the spelling on me? Was that really helpful and necessary? Not really. My name is Kathryn spelled that way, get over it. No creativity there.
I know Amelia can be spelled Emelia and Emilia, I happen to like the EME instead of the EMI, apparently this is WRONG and MISSPELLED.
::sigh::
My personal favorite response was this, after I said that a variation of a name was neither incorrect or misspelled, it was simply a variation:
"Actually my dad used to do this every year with his students on the first day of class. He would point out misspellings, mispronounciations, and derivation of where unique names probably came from (like Melissa instead of Jelissa). Then he refused to call the students by anything but the correct versions of their names all year."
I was SHOCKED. If my child came home and told me that some asshole refused to call her by her real name because he felt a derivative was wrong I can guarantee you that he would no longer be a teacher. I am still seething because of that comment (only that comment) because it is so wrong. Who the hell does he think he is? I wonder what you all think about this...
So I apologize that this is so long and if you made it this far congrats & thank you. I really needed to vent. I honestly don't care if someone doesn't like the name, that is fine, but attacking and being a general bitch is completely uncalled for. I know these nasty people exist on the internet and truthfully I usually shrug them off, again, all entitled to our opinion blah blah blah...but really, it's someone's NAME...do NOT say it is wrong or misspelled or any other BS, that is not up to you and not what you were asked!