Dear LL, I still really really hate you...and think you suck

[oscar]

ATTENTION NurseNell...

If, as you say, you've encountered a child named "La - a" you should immediately report it to the authorities.

And by "authorities" I mean snopes.com

I'm lazy-quoting you as having posted about your work in a school and having met:

my #1 favorite, La - a (girl, pronounced Ladasha, I am not lying).

According to snopes that tale is of undermined origin. I think you should report your findings so they might update their page.

You can find the page I'm referring to right here:

http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/le-a.asp

Certainly not an official, legal name, but I have a friend who writes his name -onn. He stopped using it as his online pseudonym, though, when he discovered it made him ungoogleable.

[emmiedahl]

My dad's side of the family is originally from Northern Ireland so I am related to a few Siobhans. It is not a weird name here so it was making me laugh reading "I couldn't do that to a child" ;)

My aunt Siobhan went to the US on a trip and she said everyone called her "See-ob-han" or wrote her name down "Shavorn". This amused her greatly, but it would be a pain in the arse if you grew up with it, I would imagine.

meh, I think most Americans know how to pronounce Siobhan. Of course, I thought they could figure out Eamon, so maybe I over-estimate the intelligence around here!

[StarrieEyedKat]

My dad gave me an almost made up name that I have to sound out and spell for everyone I meet. So what did I do? Named my daughter after me, of course, and gave her an almost equally unknown middle name.

But, I didn't do it for speshul snowflake-ness, I just did it because I've always wanted to name my daughter after me and I wanted to use a family member's name for her middle name. The result - Katrinka Syneva - Kat-rink-ah Sin-eh-vah. (It's ok if you all hate it, everyone else does too.) Everyone calls me Kat and her either Trinka or Junior.

ETA - I don't understand people who get pissy when they have to spell their name out. I do it automatically whenever someone needs to write/type it, it's not like it's some big hassle or something. Same with mispronunciations, I usually get Katrina, and I simply correct them. If they get it wrong twice or more, I just let them call me whatever they want (although some people get really weird with it, I have a t-shirt that says "Katuiuka" cause my dad's handwriting sucked when he filled out the order form).

[Maul the Koala]

ATTENTION NurseNell...

If, as you say, you've encountered a child named "La - a" you should immediately report it to the authorities.

And by "authorities" I mean snopes.com

I'm lazy-quoting you as having posted about your work in a school and having met:

my #1 favorite, La - a (girl, pronounced Ladasha, I am not lying).

According to snopes that tale is of undermined origin. I think you should report your findings so they might update their page.

You can find the page I'm referring to right here:

http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/le-a.asp

Most of the time I figure people are saying they've encountered the mythical La-a when it was their friend's boyfriend's second goat's best friend's aunt's older gentleman friend's cousin who encountered the La-a. Much like the twins Orangejello and Lemonjello, Female and Shithead.

I find the names thing very amusing in some ways. Anastasia (Анастасия) is one of my favourite names, but it has to be pronounced the Russian way (ah-na-sta-SEE-yah, none of this ah-nah-STAY-sha or ah-nah-STAS-a business). That prounciation is never happening anywhere in North America.

But anyway, I see a lot of the Scot, Irish, Welsh, pseudo-Scot, Irish and Welsh as a response to the romanticizing of Scotland, Ireland and to a lesser extend Wales in North America. It's Irish and Ireland is pretty! I went on a few dates with a guy and Irish names came up since he thought they were all pretty names for girls. I remember saying yeah Saiorse is pretty but a) the meaning is very loaded and b) no one in North America is going to pronounce it properly! Considering I had to tell him how to pronounce it properly...

[JesusFightClub]

meh, I think most Americans know how to pronounce Siobhan. Of course, I thought they could figure out Eamon, so maybe I over-estimate the intelligence around here!

She went to Florida, maybe they are rare there? ;)

[Kate]

meh, I think most Americans know how to pronounce Siobhan. Of course, I thought they could figure out Eamon, so maybe I over-estimate the intelligence around here!

I don't think it's a test of intelligence to give someone a set of letters and when asked to pronounce them they go with the common phonetic conventions of the language we use.

It's only experience that would tell an English speaker how to pronounce Siobhan or to give someone the understanding that with Eamon the ea sounds like "great" and NOT like "feast".

[Deleted03]

Most of the time I figure people are saying they've encountered the mythical La-a when it was their friend's boyfriend's second goat's best friend's aunt's older gentleman friend's cousin who encountered the La-a. Much like the twins Orangejello and Lemonjello, Female and Shithead.

I find the names thing very amusing in some ways. Anastasia (Анастасия) is one of my favourite names, but it has to be pronounced the Russian way (ah-na-sta-SEE-yah, none of this ah-nah-STAY-sha or ah-nah-STAS-a business). That prounciation is never happening anywhere in North America.

But anyway, I see a lot of the Scot, Irish, Welsh, pseudo-Scot, Irish and Welsh as a response to the romanticizing of Scotland, Ireland and to a lesser extend Wales in North America. It's Irish and Ireland is pretty! I went on a few dates with a guy and Irish names came up since he thought they were all pretty names for girls. I remember saying yeah Saiorse is pretty but a) the meaning is very loaded and b) no one in North America is going to pronounce it properly! Considering I had to tell him how to pronounce it properly...

well Anastasia in French and Spanish is the way you sounded it... and we live in North America too ;)

And Latrina? Do you have the word Latrine in English? In french it means toilets (communal ones) :P

[treemom]

I don't think it's a test of intelligence to give someone a set of letters and when asked to pronounce them they go with the common phonetic conventions of the language we use.

It's only experience that would tell an English speaker how to pronounce Siobhan or to give someone the understanding that with Eamon the ea sounds like "great" and NOT like "feast".

Yeah, until this thread I didn't know how prounounce Siobhan.

[NurseNell]

Certainly not an official, legal name, but I have a friend who writes his name -onn. He stopped using it as his online pseudonym, though, when he discovered it made him ungoogleable.

I suspect this wasn't her real name but when I asked her how to spell it that was what she told me. If I'm back at that school again I'll look her up in the directory to see how it's really spelled.

Someone mentioned city names, I worked with a head nurse back when I was a student nurse, her name was Detroit Walker. She was one tough nurse, we were all scared of her as were the patients. My great niece is one of the many Madisons today.

What About Abcde, I've heard of that as a name but suspect it isn't true. And Placenta?

[emmiedahl]

A woman at Walmart proudly told me that her baby was named Abcde. Pronounced Abisidee. We were comparing babies and names (both had newborns). She thought Eamon was the weirdest name ever.

Above, I should not have phrased the ability to pronounce exotic names as 'intelligence'. Mea culpa. I understand that someone who has never seen Siobhan or Eamon will not know how to pronounce them.

[treemom]

A woman at Walmart proudly told me that her baby was named Abcde. Pronounced Abisidee. We were comparing babies and names (both had newborns). She thought Eamon was the weirdest name ever.

Above, I should not have phrased the ability to pronounce exotic names as 'intelligence'. Mea culpa. I understand that someone who has never seen Siobhan or Eamon will not know how to pronounce them.

I have seen it, but what you really need to do is hear it. Since I had a questionable education I actually mispronounce lots of words because I taught myself how to read English and French from dictionaries. My grammar is not always the most sophisticated either.

I just am ok giving people a pass for mispronouncing names. Of course, you should probably properly pronounce your kids name by at least one common pronunciation (ie Andrea and Andrea, or the many Anastasia pronounciations)

[emmiedahl]

At the WIC office (where all of the employees are Latina), they always call for Ay-ah-MOAN. I wonder if there is a Hispanic name that is similar, because it happens every time. But they are not always good English speakers.

[Deleted03]

Emmie, I asked an argentinia friend and he has never heard of an Ysabel. So I'm really guessing it's either a trend from US names, or an old spanish spelling dug out from the tombs!

[emmiedahl]

(shrug) It is considered a Spanish name in Mexico and Latin America. According to wikipedia, it is the Spanish version of Isabel, and it was the "real" name of Queen Isabella I, of "Ferdinand and Isabella" fame. The spelling with an I (Isabel) is also common. My original post on this matter was in reply to someone's assertion that Isabella is a Spanish name, and I was clarifying that Isabella is the Latin (as in Rome) version and that Ysabel/Isabel is the Spanish version.

Personally, I know several Ysabels and it is the name of a child in my daughter's mainly Latino preschool class.

[Witsec7]

My pal is Puerto Rican, and her Granddaughter is named Ysabel. I know some Hispanic women who spell it the the Y as well, actually I know more with the Y spelling than the I.

[Deleted03]

well yeah the point is there are many cultural differences in the "latino" world - my guess is the closer to the US, the most probable it is. Isabella is definitely Italian though.

[NurseNell]

Another baby names blog: swistlebabynames.blogspot.com/

[buddingmedievalist]

I like Irish names and would like to use some (like Eamon, Deirdre, Declan, just off the top of my head) because my family is all Irish. I would not, however, use names like those if I married someone who was, say, Polish or something, because that would just make it hard on the poor kids. I have a friend with Welsh ancestry whose sister has given all three of her kids traditional Welsh names, but none of them sound funky with the last name.

On a tangential note, when my mother was a first year teacher decades ago, she had twin boys in one of her classes: Mister Lastname and Master Lastname. Those were their given names because their daddy wanted "to make sure they was always respected no matter what." Fun times

[Funky Chicken]

Emmiedahl said:

(shrug) It is considered a Spanish name in Mexico and Latin America. According to wikipedia, it is the Spanish version of Isabel, and it was the "real" name of Queen Isabella I, of "Ferdinand and Isabella" fame. The spelling with an I (Isabel) is also common. My original post on this matter was in reply to someone's assertion that Isabella is a Spanish name, and I was clarifying that Isabella is the Latin (as in Rome) version and that Ysabel/Isabel is the Spanish version.

Personally, I know several Ysabels and it is the name of a child in my daughter's mainly Latino preschool class.

I grew up with the same understanding; down here in Oz there is a beach (and suburb) now called Dee Why. Its original name was Dona Ysabel(la) but it got shortened to Dee Why, which eventually became the official name. At least that's what my dad always told me (he did say Ysabella rather than Ysabel, but said it was definitely with a Y, which is probably why the locals had trouble with the original name!). Incidentally, Death's daughter in Terry Pratchett's Mort is also called Ysabell...

[Kelya]

Going back to LL, I'm sure they've read this because the last few posts have been all Mira Mira. I don't think she's gotten that much better with the camera re: lights/flashes and photographing Mira well, but maybe a bit.

In the picture with the whole family walking away...I didn't like how Mira was on LL's side away from the other kids. The next youngest is in the middle middle, and its a picture- could they not have put her with the rest of the siblings for that shot, even if she needs more of a hand to hold onto? Even if they did, I think its telling that the shot with Mira on the outskirts of the family is blog approved.