The burden of unique names

[Amra Pajalic]

There's a trend that's been pissing me off no end and inspired by this article I thought I'd get if off my chest. I work in a community health centre and among the services we provide is Maternal Child Health. As parents come in to see the nurse, I tick off their name that they have arrived and as result I get to see the new trend of giving children a 'unique' name.

In most instances this involves giving the child a traditional name that is then spelt in a unique way that will showcase a child's individuality. You see these moronic parents think that the way a child feels special and individual is by their annoying moniker.

The article I'm linking thinks that the "phonetic spelling popular in text messaging and emails has been blamed for degrading the English language," and is the reason for this trend.

"Parents are shunning traditional spellings for versions such as Alex-Zander, Cam'ron, Emma-Lee, Ozkah, Thaillah and Ameleiyah. Analysing Australian births in 2007, social analyst Mark McCrindle found the name Jayden was registered spelt 12 ways, Aidan nine ways, and Amelia and Tahlia eight ways.

Lachlan had five other versions - Lochlyn, Lochlin, Lochlen, Lochlain and Lauchlan."

"The use of a 'y' instead of an 'i' has hit epidemic proportions, as has the use of 'k' over 'c' like in the names Jaykob and Lynkon, double letters like Siimon and Chriss and hyphens like Emma-Lee," said Mr McCrindle, of private research agency McCrindle Research.

The trend was due to the phonetic spelling in email and text messaging and to parents wanting their children to stand out, he said."

As someone who has a unique name I can tell you that while yes, it does make you stand out it also annoying as hell. Having to constantly spell your name and teach people how to pronounce it really takes away from the rosiness of uniqueness. And I'm lucky in the sense that my name is pronounced the way it's spelt. No tricky sounds to be found.

I didn't always appreciate the uniquness of my name. It wasn't until I went to Bosnia to live for four years as a child and realised how common the name was that I felt good about it. As a child you need the comfort of knowing that others share your name. That there is a community of people that you belong to.
When I came to Australia after this experience and had people commenting on my name, I was able to deflect any discomfort on my part by saying that it's common in the Bosnian community. While yes, it's nice to be different, sometimes you just want to blend in. You don't want to feel like a sore thumb.

In my job I have to take down people's names for messages etc. If someone calls and say their name is Katherine, I know to ask if it's spelt traditionally as Catherine or as Kathryn. Same with Stephen/Steven.

There are certain names that can be spelt in different ways and you know to flag this before you write down the name incorrectly, but with all these newfangled names these poor children will be spending a good portion of their lives spelling their names, and to what end?

Research conducted on unusual names has actually found that children with different/unique names suffer self esteem issues because they feel apart from their peers and are subjected to teasing. They've found that children with common names usually achieve more.

Uniqueness is just another word for target. Being noticed is not always a gift, but a burden. These parents are getting wrapped up in their own ego and are using these names as a way of achieving status. While yes, they are guaranteeing that their children will be noticed, it's not in the way that they hoped.

[Nikki Dolson]

You see these moronic parents think that the way a child feels special and individual is by their annoying moniker.

Hmmm...I named my youngest Eathon.

Sometimes fitting in is overrated. It's what I learned. The number of girls I knew growing up named Tamara I could count on one hand and of that number none of them were ever black. Did I derive strength from having a name that no one ever pronounced correctly? Nope. I had a "normal" name that I hated. I would have killed to have been a Jennfier or a Tiffany or a LaTonya and yes, even a Briarna would have been better than being Tamara.

And even my nickname sucked--being called Nikki didnt save me from being teased. I so loved being called Nicotine!

I get what you're saying but a name isn't who you are and having a normal name isnt going to make a kid less of a target.Delete Comment

[Amra Pajalic]

I agree with you that having a normal name doesn't make a kid a target, but I feel sorry for the kids. As someone who has to constantly spell her first name, then her last name, then teach people how to pronounce it, I know that these kids are in for a lifetime of hassles.

[Amra Pajalic]

John-I'm with you. When I have kids I'll be giving them names that others have and naming them after people. I think uniquness is way overrated.

Pepper-I've seen people naming their kids Viper and Diesel. WTF. And then the butchering of perfectly nice names-it drives me crazy. At least Pepper while different is simple and quirky. How you see it how you say it.

[Pepper Smith]

LOL! Yeah, I think it's a trend everywhere. We see it more and more here.

Almost no one gave me nicknames when I was growing up. They all pretty much assumed Pepper was my nickname. I'm still not clear on why my parents named me that.

[John McFetridge]

Nice post! It really is an epidemic and it looks like it's everywhere. You're right, a common name lets you blend in and when you're young that's often a really good thing.

All through school I was one of four or five 'Johns' in every class (usually only two or three had 'Mc' last names). If I'd been the only one, the slang on John would have driven me insane.

Now, my wife and I named our sons 'Douglas' and 'James' and they're the ones at school with such weird names. Should've gone with Lynkon (even if it took me five minutes to realize that was Lincoln).