If I ever doubted the importance of phonics

[Kathryn]

Spending time on a birth club board on a popular baby site quickly would put that thought to rest. Dear Lord! The things some women come up with and can't understand why people would "mispronounce" make my head spin!

[Annie G]

You know better than to do a drive by and tease without giving us examples to laugh about. Details, woman!

 

[Kathryn]

Oh, there have been many. What prompted this was the woman announcing her choice: Rosse Merle. When questioned, she says that it is pronounced rose-ee mare-ee-ell.

[Elfknitter.#]

This is my winner to date: Anfernee.  I'll wait a bit before I post how it should be pronounced.

[Ellie]

Oh, there have been many. What prompted this was the woman announcing her choice: Rosse Merle. When questioned, she says that it is pronounced rose-ee mare-ee-ell.

 

:blink:   :001_huh:   :svengo:

[SunnyDays]

:blink: :001_huh: :svengo:

What she said. :)

 

I hear you, I've seen some doozies.

[Annie G]

That kid will never have a teacher pronounce her name correctly on the first day of school. 

 

I decorate cakes part time and I see all kinds of weird names.  This weekend I had a doozie. Ckaylab.   Most people would just spell it Caleb, and that's how she pronounced it. I asked about the CK at the beginning because I was pretty sure I had not heard her correctly. Nope. I was wrong. It really did start with a Ck.  Her husband liked Caleb but they already had a girl with a K name AND a y in her name so they did the same with their boy child. 

[Annie G]

This is my winner to date: Anfernee.  I'll wait a bit before I post how it should be pronounced.

 

 

Not a clue. Can't even tell whether it's a girl or a boy name. 

[Elfknitter.#]

Not a clue. Can't even tell whether it's a girl or a boy name. 

 

It's a boy's name.

[SunnyDays]

It's a boy's name.

The only thing I can imagine is a gross mispronunciation of Anthony?

[Guest submarines]

That kid will never have a teacher pronounce her name correctly on the first day of school. 

 

I decorate cakes part time and I see all kinds of weird names.  This weekend I had a doozie. Ckaylab.   Most people would just spell it Caleb, and that's how she pronounced it. I asked about the CK at the beginning because I was pretty sure I had not heard her correctly. Nope. I was wrong. It really did start with a Ck.  Her husband liked Caleb but they already had a girl with a K name AND a y in her name so they did the same with their boy child. 

 

This reads like some kind of a chemical laboratory: C-Kay Lab

[Guest submarines]

Not a clue. Can't even tell whether it's a girl or a boy name. 

 

I see a Fern in there. But then it should be Afernee.

[swellmomma]

This is my winner to date: Anfernee.  I'll wait a bit before I post how it should be pronounced.

 

Sounds like they let the 3 year old name the baby anthony and went with the spelling based on the 3 yr old's pronunciation

[Kathryn]

That kid will never have a teacher pronounce her name correctly on the first day of school.

 

I decorate cakes part time and I see all kinds of weird names. This weekend I had a doozie. Ckaylab. Most people would just spell it Caleb, and that's how she pronounced it. I asked about the CK at the beginning because I was pretty sure I had not heard her correctly. Nope. I was wrong. It really did start with a Ck. Her husband liked Caleb but they already had a girl with a K name AND a y in her name so they did the same with their boy child.

That reminds me of when a family member gave birth. We were visiting and she asked me to fill out the birth certificate paperwork. The child's name, she told me, was Caleb Benjamin. So, that's how I wrote it. She was surprised and asked if that was the normal way. When I said that it was, she said she was going to spell it how it sounded: Kaylup Bengermen.

[Annie G]

I see a Fern in there. But then it should be Afernee.

 

I saw Fern and then couldn't unsee it and that made me fixate on it being a girl's name. But a goofy way to say 'Anthony' is probably right.  I'd rather have a whole room full of kids the same name than goofy names. 

[Kathryn]

The only thing I can imagine is a gross mispronunciation of Anthony?

That's all I can think of, too.

[kitten18]

That kid will never have a teacher pronounce her name correctly on the first day of school.

 

I decorate cakes part time and I see all kinds of weird names. This weekend I had a doozie. Ckaylab. Most people would just spell it Caleb, and that's how she pronounced it. I asked about the CK at the beginning because I was pretty sure I had not heard her correctly. Nope. I was wrong. It really did start with a Ck. Her husband liked Caleb but they already had a girl with a K name AND a y in her name so they did the same with their boy child.

That is hideous.

[kitten18]

That reminds me of when a family member gave birth. We were visiting and she asked me to fill out the birth certificate paperwork. The child's name, she told me, was Caleb Benjamin. So, that's how I wrote it. She was surprised and asked if that was the normal way. When I said that it was, she said she was going to spell it how it sounded: Kaylup Bengermen.

Well, thank God you were there!!!

[Belacqua]

That kid will never have a teacher pronounce her name correctly on the first day of school. 

 

I decorate cakes part time and I see all kinds of weird names.  This weekend I had a doozie. Ckaylab.   Most people would just spell it Caleb, and that's how she pronounced it. I asked about the CK at the beginning because I was pretty sure I had not heard her correctly. Nope. I was wrong. It really did start with a Ck.  Her husband liked Caleb but they already had a girl with a K name AND a y in her name so they did the same with their boy child. 

 

I'd have assumed Skylab (like that space station from the 1970s).

[mysticmomma]

Oh my

[alef]

I must hang around with really boring people, I've never seen names like these...

[sarahbobeara]

That kid will never have a teacher pronounce her name correctly on the first day of school. 

 

I decorate cakes part time and I see all kinds of weird names.  This weekend I had a doozie. Ckaylab.   Most people would just spell it Caleb, and that's how she pronounced it. I asked about the CK at the beginning because I was pretty sure I had not heard her correctly. Nope. I was wrong. It really did start with a Ck.  Her husband liked Caleb but they already had a girl with a K name AND a y in her name so they did the same with their boy child. 

 

So some day, *if* little Ckaylab (cringe) learns the proper phonics rules, will he wonder WTH his parents were thinking???

[MomtoCandJ]

Dd Cali picked out how to spell Juli (Julie). She wanted to end it with I like her name.

[Mergath]

My friend's sister mangled her poor daughter's name.  I don't want to spell it out the way she did, because if she ever googled her kid's name this would probably be the first hit to pop up. :p  But she spelled Olivia with an A and found a way to add an s to Lucille.  So it looks vaguely like a pain medication followed by something pronounced like "lusskill."

[Tap]

Sometimes it is the extra letters that throw you.... but sometimes, it is the missing ones as well, especially with a random tacked on, single long vowel....

like Rena being pronounced ren-ay

or Shona being shown-ay

 

 

[Kathryn]

Dd Cali picked out how to spell Juli (Julie). She wanted to end it with I like her name.

I can't imagine mispronouncing that though. I'm not talking about "creative" spellings. These are ones that defy the logic of our language. I'd think Joolee was odd, but at least someone could look at it and pronounce it, you know?

[Belacqua]

Or letters not pronounced in any orthodox order. I knew a woman named Moira who insisted on pronouncing her name "Mariah." It's her name to pronounce as she chooses, I suppose, but I did find it a little strange that she would get so snitty if somebody called her "Moy-rah" before being corrected.

[Tammi K]

My brother-in-law was decorating a confirmation cake with the name Aerycah  (Erica) Yikes.

 

ETA: Abcde (Ab suh dee) was not uncommon  in Hawaii

[OneStepAtATime]

Nurse friend had a baby come in named Female...they pronounced it Fe(short e) m a(shwa) l a (long a).  They thought the hospital had already assigned a name since this was on the bassinet and they liked it since they thought it was French.....so they put it on the birth certificate.

[Tiffnkids]

How about this one Wvyzlex . . .

 

 

Wesley (but spelled without all of those lonely end of the alphabet letters ;) )

 

 

ETA: Just thought of another one JewellyAnna (Julianna)

[Elfknitter.#]

Yup, Anfernee was the phonetic spelling of Anthony.

[ThisIsTheDay]

We knew a little girl named Natsha. It was pronounced Natasha, three syllables. I am not being snarky when I say that I'm pretty sure her mom was not a great speller.

[milovany]

Going the opposite direction, someone told me the story once of hearing the name of a little girls pronounced Absidy and she thought it was unique and somewhat pretty, so she asked the mother how to spell it.  The answer?  Abcde.  Yes, seriously. 

[Mandylubug]

Well, I was so annoyed when my Aunt kept telling me not to spell my daughters name like I did. We had a name picked out for one girl: Callie and I wanted the other to start with a C as well. We went with Celsie instead of Kelsey. I thought since we pronounce celtic with a hard c so would others. Her name is always mispronounced. Especially by ESL individuals. We typically hear from them sell-see or chelsea.

 

It is comical when teaching them phonics and having to apologize, lol.

[ondreeuh]

This is my winner to date: Anfernee.  I'll wait a bit before I post how it should be pronounced.

 

Anthony? I think I've heard that one. edit: I was right! lol

 

One sweet little girl in my son's class has a name that, as written, should be pronounced Te-SHY-a. Her name is actually pronounced Tay-zha. It's a pretty name, but there was no way I was going to get that from the spelling.

 

My son's name is mispronounced by nearly everyone younger than about 40. It's Noel (rhymes with Joel) but he often gets Noelle. And Nolan. And Noah. Oh well!

[Lara in Colo]

Nurse friend had a baby come in named Female...they pronounced it Fe(short e) m a(shwa) l a (long a).  They thought the hospital had already assigned a name since this was on the bassinet and they liked it since they thought it was French.....so they put it on the birth certificate.

 

So am I getting this right-- it is pronounced like tamale?

[Kerileanne99]

Ugh. A public school teacher friend in SC had a liitle girl in her class who was called Ko-Ko...friend about died when she saw the register and realized that was a nickname. The poor child's name was actually Ko-can-ee...spelled Cocainne!

 

My friend did not have the child's sister 2 years later, but the child did go to the same school: this unfortunate kiddo was nicknamed Jawa, short for (did you guess it?) Marajauna. Pronounced Marra-ja-wanna.

We never did figure out if the misspellings were attempts to 'disguise' the name a bit or as a result of too much of their namesakes😕

[Jenn121]

To protect privacy I will not state how were came into contact with these names any further than to say we are a law enforcement family.

 

One girl was named Gonorrhea because her mom thought it was pretty.

 

One girl named Easter and her last name was..........................................you guessed it Seals

 

and then there was the lady who got mad because her no one said her kids name right. It was La-a.  She kept saying the dash ain't silent so this child name was actually pronounced La-dash-a.

 

eta:typos 

 

 

[MyLittleWonders]

I still remember years ago on a different board someone talking about a relative (IIRC) wanted the name Charlotte but had a 'K' name streak going, so she spelling the /ch/ with a 'Kh'. Oy.

[Miss Peregrine]

I recently saw a Lorelli. Pronounced like Lorelei. :rolleyes:

[fdrinca]

From my day as a sub, how about this one: Angleke. It's Angelique. 

[ThisIsTheDay]

I knew a couple who named their son Yly. 

 

(That would be pronounced "Eli.")

 

And while this isn't phonetic, I have never forgotten a little boy I met through work named Asterisk.  He also had a very unusual last name, and I recently looked him up and found him on FB.  :laugh:

[fraidycat]

Not necessarily a horrific phonetic mistake, but a slight brainfart on the part of his parents who were thinking full name, including middle when they named him - I went to school with a guy named Dantz. Last name, Hall.

[Carrie12345]

Autobots (usually for dr. appt. reminders or calling the insurance company) have enough trouble with "Haleigh".  It comes out a robotic Hale-eye.  I feel badly enough for having done that to her, there's no way I could go off-the-books creative.

[nevergiveup]

When I worked at an elementary school, there was a boy named 'Chealie.' 

 

I was informed that it was pronounced as "shay."

 

He was and always will be chealie to me.

[Laura Corin]

Sometimes it is the extra letters that throw you.... but sometimes, it is the missing ones as well, especially with a random tacked on, single long vowel....

like Rena being pronounced ren-ay

or Shona being shown-ay

 

I can't tell you how long it took me to work out that Chik-Fil-A was meant to be pronounced 'Fillet'.

 

L

[Word Nerd]

I saw a woman complain on a board because everyone kept pronouncing her DD's name like "genie." The name? Genie.

[Laura Corin]

Well, I was so annoyed when my Aunt kept telling me not to spell my daughters name like I did. We had a name picked out for one girl: Callie and I wanted the other to start with a C as well. We went with Celsie instead of Kelsey. I thought since we pronounce celtic with a hard c so would others. 

 

'Celtic' has two pronunciations: hard 'c' for the people, soft 'c' for the football team.  I've no idea why.

 

L

[Matryoshka]

'Celtic' has two pronunciations: hard 'c' for the people, soft 'c' for the football team. I've no idea why.

 

L

It's a basketball team. :) I think it's pronounced that way just because it seems phonetic. That's our local team and I grew up hearing the word with the soft C. Imagine my surprise when I visited Ireland and heard it the correct way. I think a lot of Americans don't realize it's supposed to be pronounced with the hard C when not referring to the basketball team... Or maybe we're just more confused around here because of the team...

[Chris in VA]

Well, I was so annoyed when my Aunt kept telling me not to spell my daughters name like I did. We had a name picked out for one girl: Callie and I wanted the other to start with a C as well. We went with Celsie instead of Kelsey. I thought since we pronounce celtic with a hard c so would others. Her name is always mispronounced. Especially by ESL individuals. We typically hear from them sell-see or chelsea.

 

It is comical when teaching them phonics and having to apologize, lol.

 

Have to say I'd  mispronounce it, too--I'd think "celsius" and go with the soft C. :leaving:

 

 

But it certainly isn't in the same catagory as some of these winner names.