You’re not going to spell her name right, so you might as well just call her, “the baby.”
Confession: We gave our daughter a weird name.
It’s not, like, celebrity weird. It is not a cardinal direction or a common fruit. But it’s just quirky enough that she will never, ever, find her name on a gas station keychain.
The name could have been relatively normal, but we spelled it wrong different. On purpose.
When I posted it on Facebook, I could almost feel the judgment behind all of the likes. But you know what? We had a reason, one that means a lot to us. And I bet you do, too. Whether you turned Haley into Hailee, pulled Archibald out of the vault, or named your twins Lemonjello and Orangejello.
I may be new to parenting, but I have 31 years of experience with weird names.
Hi, my name is Daci, and I’m positive you just pronounced that wrong in your head (you’re not alone). I’m used to being called Darcy, Dawson, even Dynasty that one time. But you know what? I’m over it. I would even go so far as to say that it made me a more interesting and easy-going individual.
So, if you’ve got a Padraig, a Camryn, or a Lightbulb in your family, and you’re feeling judged, here are a few thoughts from someone who has stopped telling Starbucks baristas her real name – and resigned her daughter to the same fate.
- A unique name is a built-in conversation-starter. Congratulations! You’ve saved your child from that awkward silence that comes after “nice to meet you.” From now until eternity, she will spend the first few minutes of every conversation explaining her name. Some people choose to look at this as a bad thing. I say, it’s helped me with my people skills.
- The grass is always greener. Nearly every Jennifer, Megan, and Sarah I’ve ever met has told me they were jealous of my unique name. Which is funny because on the first day of school every year, as I waited for the teacher to mispronounce my name, I would shrink down into my desk and pray that my name would suddenly change to Jennifer. My point: you’re not necessarily making your kid happier by forgoing the unique name.
- A name can tell a story. My daughter is the child of an immigrant, but on first impression nothing about her tells that story, except her name. In the assimilated society we live in, a unique name can be a badge of pride. If that’s something you’re considering, one day that will mean more to your kid than a personalized keychain. (Although, I’m going to imagine finding your name on one of those racks of keychains is the equivalent of being handed a litter of puppies and a winning lottery ticket by Oprah).
- A normal name doesn’t exclude you from bullying. Internet moms like to claim that if you give your kid an unusual name, they’ll get teased. Here’s the sad truth – every kid gets teased for something, at some point. This one episode of Full House that I saw approximately 20 years ago always spoke to me: The kids at Stephanie’s school were making fun of her [extremely normal] name, calling her Step On Me. She wanted to change her name to Dawn. Danny Tanner, in his infinite wisdom, calmly tells her that if her name were Dawn, the kids would think of something else to call her, like “Dawn”-ald Duck. Cue the realization that Stephanie is perfectly okay, along with comforting music in the background. The hug. And Comet’s wagging tail. No name is untouchable. I learned a life lesson. And I hope you did, too.
Original post published April 2016
44 comments
I agree! I have a very common name and it’s ok but when people hear our unique named daughter they all love it. The name sounds pretty, it’s got a fantastic legend and she has never been teased about it because it doesn’t really rhyme bad.
My sister is a nurse and gives a nickname to patients because she might only have 5 min and 3 should not be about her name.
As someone with a hard to pronounce hard to spell name, all four of mine have super classic names. George is in the carrier as I type. Not the Jennifer with four in a class, but on one will miss pronounce and spelling is easy (Catherine with a C)
I love George! Although there may be so many Jorjes soon he may have to clarify his spelling, too 😉
As a Myndee, who is the mother of a Kadence, I can’t tell you how much I love this post. 🙂
Thanks! The world needed to know that all of us kids with weird names aren’t doomed 🙂
My daughter is named Brianne. No one can ever get her name right. She has been called Brian, Brianna, and countless other wrong names. I love her name. That is why we chose it.
exactly! 🙂
Paula! My name is Breanne and my parents named me Brianne at birth. I love my name, two birth certificates and all :). My mom ended up changing the spelling to avoid countless comments about Brian, the cute little boy (I was a very bald baby for a LONG time). It’s true that I’ve never found my name on a keychain, but I don’t lose any sleep over that! Cheers to fun, quirky names!
I’m Rabia. It’s a unique name I’ve always loved because of the story behind it. I often have to correct people when they mispronounce it, but that really helps weed out the telemarketers!
Ooh, I forgot about that perk!
My name is Cardell and my son’s name is J’den. I never got a personalized keychain or cup, and neither will my son. We did receive personalized coke bottles from my brother tho. Anyone can order those directly from the company. Made us smile. ? and yes our names are always pronounced incorrectly.
haha, someone made me a “personalized” Coke bottle by taking one that said David and getting creative with masking tape. He also bought me a backup one that said Fabiola (because that’s a common name!)
I completely understand this, I have a pretty normal name and so do my two sons, but daughter has a very unique name and we even spelled it different then the normal spellinf. No one has every for her name right, my husband and I and her older brother. Most convenient start with how do u pronounce her name and how did u come up with it.We liked her name, so that’s why we picked it.
My baby is Ziva. We originally heard the name on NCIS, but were determined not to name her after a TV show alone, so we researched the meaning. Score! She was due on April 22, the first day of the Hebrew month Ziv (the male form of Ziva); the meaning of her name is the same as my husband’s (Luke: light, brilliance). So, yes…she’s named after a show. But, there’s so, so much more to it than that.
I love that name! You had to hear it somewhere first, right??
My daughter’s name is Hebrew too 🙂
I love that name!
Ha! My name is always pronounced Karen- I’ve even had people try to correct ME on my own name. It does start a lot of conversations though!
Yes! All the time, people think my name is Darci and I’ve just left out the r.
So what is your daughter’s name??
It’s somewhere between Archibald and Lightbulb 🙂 Since she does have a fairly uncommon name, I haven’t really decided how much I want to put her full name out there in the world. I’m struggling with that!