Comments on: Parents: Before You Name Your Baby, Learn How to Spell.

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:07:53 +0000

Sarah, here in America, you can spell Sofie anyway your heart desires!

In fact, you can even spell Sofie like this if you want to: Jkwxqyzs

You know, I just might do that if I have another daughter.

(Nobody better steal my idea either.)

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:15:25 +0000

This article was hilarious and I think it should be obligatory reading for all new parents!
I wonder if this spelling thing is somewhat more of an American issue, since there is such a mix of cultures and languages.
I live in Norway and people just do not do the weird spelling thing here. My daughter’s name is Sofie (the traditional Norw. spelling). The only other ways to spell it here are Sophie, Sofia, or Sophia. I have never seen a Zoffee or Ssopheey, haha.
This is also a socialist country with a lot of weird regulations and you are not allowed to call your child something like “Shthead” or “Teehuwhana”- the name would get rejected by the authorities and you wouldn’t be issued a birth certificate.

By: apryle

apryle — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:33:13 +0000

I DON’T LIKE HAVING TO SPELL OUT MY NAME EVERY TIME.

By: apryle

apryle — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:31:55 +0000

TRY THIS ONE APRYLE (APRIL) I SPELL THE DATE THE SAME WAY EVERYTIME!!!!!!

By: PaoloChicago

PaoloChicago — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:23:32 +0000

and then there are those pretentious enough to have regularly spelled names but who insist on weird and unexpected pronunciations. For example, I once had a customer whose name is Deborah, but who got snitty with me for not knowing it is pronounced (and I’m doing my best with the phonetics here), “Duh-BOR-er”. Go figure….

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 05:02:09 +0000

ROTFL! Heh. That’s priceless, Lynn. Just priceless. Thanks for making my day!

By: Lynn

Lynn — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:44:43 +0000

Part of my job is handling registration of students at my local school district and the beginning of the school year is always an adventure in illiteracy. For the last few years, the most annoying trend has been the fad of any letter paired with the ending -aden for boys: Aiden/Ayden, Braydon, Caiden/Caden/Kaden/Kaiden, Dayden, Hayden/Haydon/Haydyn, Jaden/Jadon/Jayden/Jadin/Jaydyn, Leydon, Maydyn, Paydon/Paidon/Payden, Raidon, Tayden, Waidon, and Zayden. I constantly have the parents of little Braydon/Kaiden/Jaydyn telling me how they wanted their child to have a “unique” name, when all they’ve really done is follow the latest fad and saddle their child with a made-up, marginally literate name. However, my all-time favorite was a teen-aged mother who came in with a young daughter whom she referred to as “Ash-o-lay” (which was bad enough.) Then she handed me the birth certificate and the name of the little girl (born in the US to an obviously American-born mother) was spelled “Asshole’.” Talk about cringe-worthy. I somehow managed to keep a straight face, but I just wanted to yell, “WHAT were you THINKING????”

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:42:31 +0000

*sigh* LaTrina. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse…

By: Colby

Colby — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:20:34 +0000

Love the article. I was supposed to be a Colbert (old Norse for “bright, billiant) but entered the world female. I explain to people I ended up with the girly equivelent of Bobbie = Robert. That seems to satisfy them.

Mommas, please DON’T name your daughters LaTrina. I knew one and she was a bitter, bitter woman. “Hey LaTrina, know where the bathroom is…”

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 06:56:45 +0000

For a moment there, I thought you were serious.