Who would name their child Abcde? Good grief

[Tree Frog]

14 hours ago, Quill said:

I agree that having to spell names on first encounters is very common and is probably not avoidable for most. You could have a very traditional and common name - like Catherine/Katherine - and still need to spell it due to multiple accepted verson, plus the off chance your parents were being “klever.” 

But! There is still a worthwhile deterrent to “enkenvinshunel” spellings. When you spell out a name that is conventional and follows spelling rules, it is really nothing more than a confirmation of what the other person expected. So you tell a receptionist, “My name is Danielle - D A N I E L L E.” And now we move on and there’s no confusion going forward. But if you say, “My name is Absidy - A B C D E.” This is very confusing! (I have been a receptionist, and I can imagine how confusing that would be!) 

In summary, I don’t think it’s terrible to have to spell out one’s name on a first or second encounter with new people; I agree that happens most of the time. But to endure constant confusion, time and time again, just because your parents thought it would be funny? It just stinks. 

I haven’t heard of parents providing ridiculous clothing for their children to wear to school, just because they thought it would be funny. This is like that, but worse, because it is difficult to escape a ridiculous name, at least until age 18 at the soonest. 

 

13 hours ago, beckyjo said:

You learn when to pause when spelling your name. I am Rebecca, which is one of only 2 common ways to spell it, so I can say 1 b/2c's. I say 1 b, because people forget which consonant to double. But when I spell my kids' names, I've learned where to pause. One of my kids I have to pause at the syllables, since there are several different ways to spell each syllable - similar to Casey or Caysey. So I say, "C-A, pause, S-E-Y." My other child with the unfamiliar name, I pause at specific spaces since people are already trying to spell it in their head. I have found that I have to break up the double vowel for people, so it's "Consonant-Vowel, pause, Vowel, longer pause, second syllable." I have to put a longer pause to make sure they get the vowels in the right order. Sorry, I can't come up with a similar name to use as an example. If I had a kid named Abcde, I would say "Absidy - A-B, pause, C, longer pause, D-E." I've found syllable breaks usually works well for oral spelling for receptionists. 

Edit: I would probably learn to add with a smile "Yes, the first 5 letters of the alphabet." pretty quickly after spelling it, so it would forestall the confused face from the receptionist.

If someone told me her name was Absidy and began saying Abcde, my mind would fill in fghij and I would probably look quizzically at the person, thinking they were being funny and I was missing the joke. I totally wouldn't understand that she was spelling her name!

I agree with the pauses. That cues the person listening that more than the alphabet is being said. I do that, too, when spelling my name.

[Momto6inIN]

9 hours ago, Quill said:

Right, and then they go, “How do I spell Bill? Really?” 😄

Well, yes, I never said I wasn't awkward at times 😂

[vonfirmath]

On 11/30/2018 at 6:39 PM, Arctic Mama said:

We have encountered some of these names in person, in business interactions. It’s not an urban legend.  That nonsense is why this stupid flight attendant took the picture - because just telling someone privately apparently means you’re repeating racist stories. 😤

 

My husband has the job in Texas to input records for all the new babies born in the state. (His group does. He doesn't do it personally) He says he's run across this name (Abcde) several times in the year he's been on the job.  (he doesn't normally bring names home to talk about -- he's dealing with massive numbers of forms. It'd have to be a REALLY stand out name for him to remember it at the end of the day!). This one made the news and I mentioned I'd noticed in looking it up that it wasn't even a completely made up name (though I agree its going to cause problems for the child growing up) and that's when he said he'd seen it several times on forms.

Edited December 3, 2018 by vonfirmath

[vonfirmath]

25 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Awesome. We're trendy in Texas for all the wrong reasons! 

 

I found an article online where the name was being discussed as far back as 2010! http://www.nancy.cc/2010/07/06/is-abcde-really-a-baby-name/

 

[PeachyDoodle]

1 hour ago, vonfirmath said:

 

I found an article online where the name was being discussed as far back as 2010! http://www.nancy.cc/2010/07/06/is-abcde-really-a-baby-name/

 

Some of the comments there are interesting. Including one who supposedly got the idea for naming her daughter Abcde from the Big Bird song!

[SKL]

4 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

I still just cannot read Abcde as "Absidy"  I see the letters and read A-B-C-D-E.  My brain cannot seem to transition it from letters to a word.  

And I'm reading "abkuhdeh."

Though if you tell me it's Absidy" fine and dandy, I will pronounce it that way.  But as the giver of the name, I would make sure it could be spelled using the normal rules of the Roman alphabet.  How about Absidie?  Absideah?

Of course if I was choosing a name based on a non-European/North American heritage, I would not be overly concerned about conventional US spellings, but (a) it would have its own interesting story then and (b) you'd still need some kind of Roman spelling that made phonetic sense somewhere in the world.  It is not necessary that the pronunciation is obvious to every literate person, and nobody here is implying that.

[SKL]

Maybe a good test would be:  "would you change your own name to this?"  Has any adult ever done so?

[shawthorne44]

11 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

I still just cannot read Abcde as "Absidy"  I see the letters and read A-B-C-D-E.  My brain cannot seem to transition it from letters to a word.  

Yeah, because it is NOT a word.   

Personally, I think that all the real names that people here mentioned that are just unusual in some cultures are insulted by being mentioned as having anything in common with a snippet of the alphabet.   

[Teacher Mom]

On 11/30/2018 at 5:58 PM, gardenmom5 said:

we had dh's neice and her husband visit over thanksgiving.  he grew up in french/french-cajun speaking catholic lousiana.   the most common names were mary and joseph.   he's gotten into genealogy, and it's his frustration because not only were first names the same. . . there was a lot of crossover in surnames.

Really? What age group? I ask because I grew up in Cajun Louisiana and that is not true of my age group or my mother's age group. In my mother's age group (80s), the French names or American names with French spellings are common, with Marie as the middle name for girls. In my age group (50s), most of the people I have met professionally and privately have very American names. This is thought to be a result of our parents being beaten by the nuns and priests for speaking Cajun French. They wanted very much for their children to sound "normal" and gave them names they heard on TV (again, with some weird spellings). In fact, the most common jokes starts out "Marie and Pierre, they be sitting eating gumbo... (Marie and Pierre being the common names of a Cajun couple)

Now, genealogy is hard because no one goes by their real name, as in Marie-Josephine is called JoJo or Elizabeth is called Lizette.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Teacher Mom

[gardenmom5]

1 minute ago, Teacher Mom said:

Really? What age group? I ask because I grew up in Cajun Louisiana and that is not true of my age group or my mother's age group. In my mother's age group (80s), the French names or American names with French spellings are common, with Marie as the middle name for girls. In my age group (50s), most of the people I have met professionally and privately have very American names. This is thought to be a result of our parents being beaten by the nuns and priests for speaking Cajun French. They wanted very much for their children to sound "normal" and gave them names they heard on TV (again, with some weird spellings). In fact, the most common jokes starts out "Marie and Pierre, they be sitting eating gumbo...

Now, genealogy is hard because no one goes by their real name, as in Marie-Josephine is called JoJo or Elizabeth is called Lizette.

he's in his 50's.  he's been doing genealogy, so older records.   but also reminiscences from his childhood.

[Teacher Mom]

I have a common name that is spelled weirdly because my family is Cajun/Creole French and did not know how to spell the name correctly. I have had a lifetime of trouble over it and would have changed the spelling, but my mother cries when I bring it up. I feel bad for this kid.

[Tanaqui]

Quote

I laugh because most of the people who like Abcde as a name also think “spelt” is how you spell ” spelled”. Clearly we are having issues with the English language here!

 

As always, when you laugh at other people, you only reveal your own ignorance.