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Interesting local article on baby names



 
 
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  #12  
Old September 25th 03, 02:27 PM
Banty
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Default Interesting local article on baby names

In article , Wendy says...

In misc.kids Vicki S wrote:
(sher) wrote:
UP FRONT/COMMENTARY: A.L. ALFORD JR. ...
As always, parents showed creativity with names.

Among the boys were ... Declan ...


I don't know about any of the other names, but I understand Declan is a
perfectly ordinary Irish name. The rock musician "Elvis Costello" is
actaully named "Declan P.A. Macmanus" and he's close on to 50 years old.


True. And that raises a good point: a good cultural awareness is required
if you're going to give your child an unusual name. For example,
an acquaintance of mine wanted to name her daughter some version of
Kay-Leigh but wanted to spell it "Kali". I mentioned that "Kali" was a
particularly brutal and bloodthirsty Hindu Goddess. She thought I was
being ridiculous to raise that objection because NO ONE knows
that. (Well... no... )


Right. Apparently *she* didn't know, but enough people know.


And you don't want to fall into the trap of naming someone something
because the names seem to go together. Adolph... Hitler? if you don't
know the culture from which you are drawing the name you might really
screw up.



True. But I think Rosalie's example, and many of the 'unusual' names I've run
across are names drawn in the context of the child's own background. A few
examples of what others have (IMO ignorantly) considered too weird or otherwise
'wrong' in friends and friend's children: Thorger, Wolfgang, Osama.


Banty (Wolfgang: "Well, John - no, my parents didn't name me after Mozart, they
named me after my grandfather - were you named after JFK?")

  #13  
Old September 25th 03, 02:28 PM
Tom Enright
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Default Interesting local article on baby names

Hillary Israeli wrote:

In ,
Donna Metler wrote:


*I'm imagining the poor teachers trying to call the roll on future first days
*of school-better hope some of these parents decide to homeschool! (Or
*include phonetic pronounciation guidelines on their child's registration
*form!). How do you pronounce Xicigu, anyway?


The pronunciation thing doesn't bug me as much for some reason. Ever since
a high school teacher of mine called a classmate "Joe-ACK-win," (the kid's
name was Joaquin, you know, wah-KEEN), I have kind of just figured that no
matter what name you use, someone will screw it up.


There is a point where if the number of people who mispronounce a name is
greater than the number who prounounce it "correctly" one should consider
that perhaps the parents or owner of the name is actually in the wrong.

I know someone named "Lara." She pronounced her name LAIR-AH. She complained
that people would prounce her name LAR-AH, it is not that people are
mispronouncing her name, it is the fact that she and/or her parents have
misspelled the name.

-TOE


--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

  #14  
Old September 25th 03, 02:30 PM
natasha
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Default Interesting local article on baby names

On 25 Sep 2003 09:04:38 -0400, Wendy
wrote:

[snip]
True. And that raises a good point: a good cultural awareness is required
if you're going to give your child an unusual name. For example,
an acquaintance of mine wanted to name her daughter some version of
Kay-Leigh but wanted to spell it "Kali". I mentioned that "Kali" was a
particularly brutal and bloodthirsty Hindu Goddess. She thought I was
being ridiculous to raise that objection because NO ONE knows
that. (Well... no... )

[snip]

Kali isn't only about destruction. She's about creation, too, you
know, the circle of life, which is why my sister and BIL gave their
daughter the name. It gets mispronounced as "Kay-Leigh" all the time,
too. =)

natasha

..^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^. ^.^.^
natasha can be gentle. she's been practicing!
- heard on sesame street
^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^. ^.^.
  #15  
Old September 25th 03, 03:03 PM
Banty
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Default Interesting local article on baby names

In article , Tom Enright
says...

Hillary Israeli wrote:

In ,
Donna Metler wrote:


*I'm imagining the poor teachers trying to call the roll on future first days
*of school-better hope some of these parents decide to homeschool! (Or
*include phonetic pronounciation guidelines on their child's registration
*form!). How do you pronounce Xicigu, anyway?


The pronunciation thing doesn't bug me as much for some reason. Ever since
a high school teacher of mine called a classmate "Joe-ACK-win," (the kid's
name was Joaquin, you know, wah-KEEN), I have kind of just figured that no
matter what name you use, someone will screw it up.


There is a point where if the number of people who mispronounce a name is
greater than the number who prounounce it "correctly" one should consider
that perhaps the parents or owner of the name is actually in the wrong.

I know someone named "Lara." She pronounced her name LAIR-AH. She complained
that people would prounce her name LAR-AH, it is not that people are
mispronouncing her name, it is the fact that she and/or her parents have
misspelled the name.


But in the case of Joaquin, the name was spelled correctly. The problem is that
others are ignorant of Spanish pronunciation.

For "Xicigu" I might venture "Shee'-chi-gu" using the PRC convention for Chinese
spelling, but IRL I would probably ask, or at least check.

I don't think there should be an expectation that name spellings be Anglicized.

Banty

  #16  
Old September 25th 03, 03:58 PM
Tom Enright
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Default Interesting local article on baby names

Banty wrote:

In article , Tom Enright
says...


Hillary Israeli wrote:


There is a point where if the number of people who mispronounce a name is
greater than the number who prounounce it "correctly" one should consider
that perhaps the parents or owner of the name is actually in the wrong.

I know someone named "Lara." She pronounced her name LAIR-AH. She
complained that people would prounce her name LAR-AH, it is not that
people are mispronouncing her name, it is the fact that she and/or her
parents have misspelled the name.


But in the case of Joaquin, the name was spelled correctly. The problem is
that others are ignorant of Spanish pronunciation.


Yes, you would think that most people, at least teachers, would be familiar
with the pronunciation of the name Joaquin. Must not be a baseball fan. But
on the other side, I certainly don't expect everyone to the pronunciation of
every non-English name (in non-English speaking countries). The ignorance
may be with those who presume that everyone will spend time studying every
possible pronunciation of the hundreds of millions of names on Earth.

For "Xicigu" I might venture "Shee'-chi-gu" using the PRC convention for
Chinese spelling, but IRL I would probably ask, or at least check.

I don't think there should be an expectation that name spellings be
Anglicized.


I disagree. If I travel to China or Mexico I would assume that a non-English
speaker would have trouble pronouncing my name and it would not bother me a
bit. I believe there is a bit of a double standard at work here. If an
American traveling outside the US were to assume that a Russian or Iraqi can
properly pronounce his name he would be considered a bore. But if a Russian
or Iraqi were to come to the US, the American is an oaf if he doesn't pronounce
their name correctly.

But I believe that Spanish is a special case. Very often you will hear
newscasters state Spanish names or places with a Spanish (more likely,
Mexican) accent. The same newscaster would never say "Pair-ee" instead
of Paris or "Deutschland" instead of Germany.

Both cases are merely a reflection of PCnes at work.

-TOE

Banty

  #17  
Old September 25th 03, 04:10 PM
Penny Gaines
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Default Interesting local article on baby names

Sophie wrote in :

Boys and girls share some names, too, respectively: Alex and Alix,
Cameron and Camrynn or Kamryn, Dominic and Domique, Jaiden (for both)
and Jordan and Jordyn.


I hope these parents were picked up for child cruelty. Gimme a break!


I would count Alex as perfectly normal name, and has been used in
the UK since my parents' generation was being named.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three
  #18  
Old September 25th 03, 04:11 PM
Nina
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Default Interesting local article on baby names


"Tom Enright" wrote I disagree. If I travel to China
or Mexico I would assume that a non-English
speaker would have trouble pronouncing my name and it would not bother me

a
bit. I believe there is a bit of a double standard at work here. If an
American traveling outside the US were to assume that a Russian or Iraqi

can
properly pronounce his name he would be considered a bore. But if a

Russian
or Iraqi were to come to the US, the American is an oaf if he doesn't

pronounce
their name correctly.

But I believe that Spanish is a special case. Very often you will hear
newscasters state Spanish names or places with a Spanish (more likely,
Mexican) accent. The same newscaster would never say "Pair-ee" instead
of Paris or "Deutschland" instead of Germany.

Both cases are merely a reflection of PCnes at work.


There is a difference between properly pronouncing "Buena Vista",for
example, and translating. There is nothing PC about correctly pronouncing a
foregin name, that isnt the same as taking an English name for something and
then substituing the foreign version.So to pronounce San Joaquin correctly
is not the equivalent of using Deustchland in place of Germany.
Spanish is used widely in the US, so the Spanich pronounciations are in
current usage and have made it into the English language.


  #19  
Old September 25th 03, 04:17 PM
Circe
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Default Interesting local article on baby names

"Tom Enright" wrote in message
om...
I know someone named "Lara." She pronounced her name LAIR-AH. She
complained that people would prounce her name LAR-AH, it is not that
people are mispronouncing her name, it is the fact that she and/or her
parents have misspelled the name.

On analogy with the name Sara, the pronunciation LAIR-AH for Lara seems
perfectly valid to me and certainly not a spelling issue. I've never known
ANYONE named Sara who expected her name to be pronounced SAR-AH--it's always
SAIR-AH.
--
Be well, Barbara
(Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [18mo] mom)
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fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman


 




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