Baby Names: Should a Name Be Easy to Pronounce?

by tedgar | More from this Blogger

29 Oct 2009 10:20 PM

I'm writing this blog as a mom, but I'm also writing it as someone who works with kids from a lot of different schools. Sometimes it can be challenging to pronounce their names. I guess, and sometimes I guess wrong. Although this can be a good education, I sense that it can also be a little embarrassing for the kids...or at least tiresome. According to some researchers, an unpopular baby name can lead your child to a life of crime. Oh, the pressure.

When we were naming our daughter, it took a while. Why? Well, my husband is fond of straightforward names, and I'm not. I lean towards the nature-inspired hippie name. Uh oh. No, I wasn't going to name my child after a fruit, but herbs were definitely on the list. And Celtic-inspired names? Well, since we have a Scottish last name and some Scottish ancestry, I figured that they could be on the list too.

No way, said my husband. And so we sat, baby in arms, for about three weeks. Finally I gave in to the need for a name, and we settled on one that is both nature-inspired, very traditional, and exquisitely easy to spell.

Oh, the spellings of names. I love the name Mairead. It means Margaret, or pearl. It's related to the names of both of my grandmothers. And honestly, it can be a pain for North Americans to pronounce. It rhymes with parade. Given that I didn't want to subject my daughter to a lifetime of explaining that to substitute teachers and people at the driver's license office, I wanted to go with a name that was easy to pronounce.

Anise is another one of my favorites - derived from Agnes, and the name of a herb that I like to eat. I love black licorice, and I love the name Annie for little girls. However, some people pronounce the name in a fashion very similar to the name of a body part that's located on your rear end. Again, this name dropped from the list due to the potential pronunciation mix-ups and embarrassments.

What do you think? Do your children have names that are hard to pronounce? Why or why not?

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Tricia Edgar is a mom of one lovely daughter. Before her daughter was born, she decided to be guided by the needs of her child, and this led her to attachment parenting philosophies.

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