WDYT?

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

A girl in one of my classes yesterday-- Hazelle (pronounced Hay-zell). I think it's terrible. I couldn't stop accidentally pronouncing it like gazelle.

Some other names names that I thought were very different popped up last week. I try to be sensitive and not to judge a lot of the names where I teach because I realize they're cultural names, but the spelling/pronunciation just kills me sometimes. There's also just what seems to me to be a lot of butchering of more common names. There's usual cultural names and then there's being kr8tyve while following cultural naming structures. So anyway, three girls in one of my classes last week: Kissaria, Keviona, Andrinae-- all three of which have '-ay' sounds on the end. Aside from Andrinae, I never would have pronounced them that way. I thought Kissaria was weird but kind of cute, Keviona was way too masculine for my tastes, and I was neutral on Andrinae. Misuse of a's is somewhat rampant. I had a girl awhile back named Asia. I pronounced it 'Ay-zhuh' and the kids laughed at me. No no, it's pronounced Ah-zee-ay! I get kids named Davonte all the time and I pronounce it correctly. Not so with Davonta. :P


Opinions?

Comments

[heure-actuelle.livejournal.com]

i agree that spelling is no good. Hazel is a nice name but that just looks like it should rhyme with gazelle.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

I like Hazel too, but this wasn't even pronounced like that! It's the same 'zell' sound as gazelle, but with the same first syllable as Hazel.

[sarahness.livejournal.com]

this post blew my mind. i don't get it.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

The names or what I said? :/

[sarahness.livejournal.com]

lol, the names.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Heh, okay. I just worried that I might be coming across badly when I was making this post. I'm a white teacher in a district of mostly black, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino students and I try really hard to be culturally sensitive. I just don't want to come across as seeming as if I think 'black names' are stupid.

[sarahness.livejournal.com]

oh no, not at all. i don't understand how those names = those pronunciations.

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

I LOVE LOVE Hazel. Hate Hazelle or any wierd spelling variation.

[thellamaqueen.livejournal.com]

I had a student once named Donta, pronounced Dante, but seriously, every time I looked at his name I had to physically stop myself from saying "don-tuh".

I had a similar experience with the name Asia, except that the name was spelled Assiah, so when I read it I said something like "uh-sigh-uh" and the kids all laughed and corrected me, saying that it was "Ay-zhuh".

ugh.

[snoglobel.livejournal.com]

I am a little confused on how to make Kissaria and Keviona hay -ae sounds at the end... can you spell out the pronunciation?

I've got friends who teach in the inner city, and they have some really crazy names as well.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Kissaria-- Kiss-are-ee-ae. Basically, pronounce it as you would read it but instead of ee-uh, throw and ee-ae on the end.

Keviona-- Same deal, the 'a' is the 'ae' sound. 'On' sounds like the word 'on', not like 'ohn'. Kehv-ee-on-ae.

[snoglobel.livejournal.com]

I think I would have to practice those at night before I would be comfortable calling their names in class. Thanks for the explanation - that was not intuitive at all.

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

There's cultural norms, and that's fine... But then there's just not knowing phonics, and that's... I'm sorry, that's stupid. It's not creative, it's just illiterate.