(no subject)

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Recent post aside..

Why is it trashy to have a made up name or misspelt name?

Why is it frowned upon if a name doesn't mean anything?


I have my answers, but I want to know others take on the subject, considering I seem to have descended into a heinous name snob!

Comments

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

I think it has a correlation with... a lack of intelligence that is also socially correlated to trashiness.

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Nice answer Miss Sarah, now draw me some kind of mathmetical graph :-p

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!! That did sound like stats class. :p

[mountain-nest.livejournal.com]

I agree. Illiteracy/lack of education leads me to think -> poor area leads me to think -> just... certain types of people. And I think that literate, educated people know how to correctly spell names and know when not to use a "creative" spelling.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Names are basically... a symbol for a person. Like we have our icons on livejournal, and they represent us. A person's name represents them. If the name has no meaning, and it's just sounds strung together, it feels kind of empty. It also seems like the parent was trying too hard to be creative or unique, and it just ends up looking uneducated.

[politicking.livejournal.com]

i agree.

along with the unique thing, i hate that reason people give ("oh i wanted his name to be different & unique!). because when people are saying his name (in school, sports, work, etc.) your little Aydynn is going to be grouped with the rest of the Aidens, Aidans, Aydens...

[politicking.livejournal.com]

i think it is because people assume that you did not know how to spell the name as it was originally spelled. i think that happens to some people, honestly, they just sound out a name & it ends up being spelled different than the norm.

or if you change the spelling & insist that it is said one way, when really the letters make it so it is another way... you might seem kind of dumb for not knowing what sounds your letters make. for instance: spelling it Ahlysabeth ("Ah-lis-a-beth") & wanting people to say it "E-lis-a-beth" or "Eh-lis-a-beth." or maybe Camryn ("Cam-rin") & wanting it said "Cam-er-an".

[dustkitty.livejournal.com]

Or Haylei (HAY-LAY), and trying to pass it off as Hayley. Which actually popped up in here once.

[politicking.livejournal.com]

yeah, i posted it. it was on a tv show. when i saw it, i was like "HAY-LAY"? lol

[decembermalice.livejournal.com]

I saw an Ashlei once. That does not, in my opinion, spell Ashley.

[after-the-ashes.livejournal.com]

I'm a snob too!

And because "unique" names seem uneducated, childish and fake. Because good names spelled the wrong way just make it seem like a cheap knock-off.

I'd rather have someone make something up completely or use a word instead of a name rather than spell a legit name incorrectly.

[morphinae.livejournal.com]

I think I generally look down on people who lack the ambition to be creative in an intelligent way. For instance, changing the spelling of Bob to Bhoyb isn't being creative. It's sort lazily trying to find something that's different, without actually taking the time to find something ACTUALLY different.

Also, I like names that mean something, so I dislike anything made up. I personally love names with meaning and history, so made up stuff doesn't do much for me. I don't think there's anything wrong with it persay, it's just an automatic turn off. I guess I'm a snob too :) As we should be about our own choices! Naming someone is important, and worth serious discrimination.

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

I think it looks as though the parent didn't know how to spell the name. I know that when I hear the name Michael, but see it spelled Mykel, I assume that the parent is either uneducated, or under the impression that changing the name suddenly makes it unique. While I try not to make judgments about someone based on who their parents are, it's very hard not to assume negative things about someone based on their name.

I dislike "made-up" names - although I use that term loosely, because I know I'm going to be flooded with replies claiming, "But every name was made up at some point!!!" - because they are simply people saying, "Hey, this sounds good!" A name is a very important part of who a person is, whether we want to believe that or not. It's sometimes the first thing someone knows about us, even before they see our face or really get to know us. Assuming things based on a name might not be a great thing to do, but we ALL do it, whether we want to admit it or not, and making up a name is just setting up your child for a lifetime of first impressions of, "Seriously? Where the fuck did the parents come up with THAT?"

I prefer names that are spelled correctly and that have at least some history as names so that the majority of people aren't given a first impression like that. I can't help it if my child's future employer knew someone by the name of Samuel and didn't like them, but the majority of people aren't going to have this reaction to the name. However, if I named my child Ayddinn, the majority of people he met would think, "Uh, how do you pronounce that?" "Where did his parents come up with THAT?" "Was his mother too stupid to spell Aidan?" etc.

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

IAWTC

[0o-faerie.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you =)

[sarahness.livejournal.com]

dumb people name their kids dumb names.

[lneef.livejournal.com]

*applause*

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Short and sweet. :P

[mountain-nest.livejournal.com]

ROFL! A++++

[http://users.livejournal.com/hajari_/]

xD I love you

[easter.livejournal.com]

ILU

[lneef.livejournal.com]

Aside from everything everyone else has said, people who misspell or make up names say they do it because they want their child to be "unique" or "special".

It really bugs me to hear that. I want my child to be special because of HER, not because I slapped a collection of letters on her. I have faith in her to be unique without something I did before she was even born.

So people who do this for this reason (and I think this reason is part of pretty much all misspellings or inventings) strike me as symptomatic of being people who have no faith in their child and very self-centered. And to me, that's trashy.

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

I feel this same way about people who freak out about their child possibly being Madison L. Yeah, madison's a stupid name, but to not name your kid a lovely name like Emma just because it's getting popular? Dumb.

[sevensevenfour.livejournal.com]

I like names that make sense. When I read a name, I won't to know how to pronounce it. That's pretty much the only thing that makes me not like a name (for other people, anyway, I don't like EVERY pronounceable name myself, obviously.) I don't mind made up names, misspelled names, whatever...as long as you can read them. If you have to spell your child's name out and leave them to a life of saying "My name is Lindsey. L-I-N-D-S-E-Y." No one is going to die. I know, I have that problem. There are so many ways to spell so many names that even if you name your child the "most common" spelling, it will still probably be misspelled at one point or another. While I think that names should be carefully considered before bestowing them upon your precious child, I don't think they're life or death. Names can be changed if your child grows up to absolutely hate it. Kids can grow up to hate any name for any number of reasons. However, they can also grow in to any name you give them, and learn to love their name as a result. I absolutely hated the name Lindsey when I was growing up (I wanted to change my name to Taran), but now I love my name and can't imagine myself being named anything else.

As an aside, it really bothers me when a new person joins this community and then immediately stops posting because everyone here is too concerned with telling them off for their names, as opposed to offering helpful tips or suggestions. There are ways to say you hate a name without jumping down people's throats and being unnecessarily rude. A lot of the people who post in this community are discussing hypothetical children as it is.

[sevensevenfour.livejournal.com]

Whoops. That should say "When I read a name, I WANT to know how to pronounce it."

[ilovekeithurban.livejournal.com]

exactly. my name is Brianna, one of the top 10 names and ive had it misspelled a thousand ways, including Briana, Breanna, Breana, and Bryanna.

[traezer.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I dont care what names mean. My name means sad, but it didnt stop my mom from giving me my name.

[mountain-nest.livejournal.com]

I also agree that it makes it look as though the person is clueless/dumb and doesn't really know how the name is spelled. It's like Michaela being bastardized into Makayla. I also think that it is just lazy and, well, trashy to just pick any random popular name that you have heard and find "cute," but switch around some letters and substitute some vowels in an effort to make it UNIQUE or ORIGINAL. The reality is that, like a previous comment said, Aeiydynne is going to sound just like Aiden, Aidan, Ayden, Aedan, and Adin, and they will all be a very confused group of kindergarteners for the first few days of school. And in the end, are they really choosing the name because it is meaningful and special to them? Or are they keeping up with the Joneses?

[searlait.livejournal.com]

I hate names that make it look like the mother and father were trying to sound out the spelling or how they want it to be pronounced. Awna? Seriously?