Last name issues
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Last name issues
| Thu, 10-12-2006 - 2:48pm |
I have a question: What are your thoughts on people with uncommon/hard to pronounce last names choosing uncommon/hard to pronounce first names for their children?
I was just wondering, since I have spent years correcting people on how to say my last name. It usually just takes one correction for people to learn how to say my last name, but it is why the name Isla is always low on my list - I wouldn't want her having to correct people on both her last name and first name. (I know many of you think that Isla as name doesn't really have pronunciation issues)
Thoughts? Opinions?

My personal view is that a simple, one syllable first name sounds best with a long, difficult to pronounce last name. Like Ann or Paige for a girl, or John or Blake for a boy. Not only because of the prounciation issues, but because of the rhythm of the name.
Think of George Stephanopolous. Imagine if his first name had been Harrison. Harrison Stephanopolous is a real mouthful.
Just my personal view.
I think that when possible, it's nicer to pair an easy-to-pronounce fn with a difficult last name. Of course, it's not a hard and fast rule, but I agree with you that it would be a pain to be correcting spellings/pronunciations of two names all the time.
My maiden name was *very* common and easy to spell/pronounce. Our parents decided to give us common first names, too, but it would have been fine, IMO, to have an unusual fn with such a common ln. However, my married name is 11 letters long, and rarely is it pronounced correctly on the first try. For that reason, we wanted first names that people had heard of before -- something that the majority of the population could look at and pronounce correctly on the first try.
I think the main concern with Isla in particular is "eye-la" vs. "ees-la" given the significant Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. (assuming that's where you live). Of course, you'll probably also get a bunch of "iss-la"s depending on where you live, so only you can decide if you think it's worth the potential hassle.
Isla is certainly a beautiful name, and it's a shame that the pronunciation isn't immediately clear to everyone.
Stephanie
I think you are being smart. I grew up with a 10 letter last name that NO ONE got right. My parents gave me a 4 letter first name impossible to screw up. That way I knew when someone was calling out 'Ruth Fl...' and garbled the end that they were talking to me~ giggle
I think it depends more on if you'll MIND correcting people when you first meet them. I think Isla would only require one explanation for someone mistakenly pronouncing it ees-la or is-la, much like your ln. Does it bother you that much to have to correct people on your ln, or is it just something you automatically do at this point -- no big deal, KWIM?
I definitely wouldn't let your ln hold you back from using a name you love based on possible pronunciation issues alone. I mean, it's one thing if you want to use names like John, George and Mary, but you shouldn't feel obligated to. If it rhymed or just sounded terrible with your ln or something, by all means avoid it! But not just based on a pronunciation issue -- after all, from what you've said she'll probably be clarifying the ln pronunciation anyway, so the fn would be no big deal. ;)
FWIW, people will find a way to screw up even the simplest name. My maiden name was Kinsey (how hard is that, seriously?), and nearly every time someone read my name off a class list, camp list, at the doctor's office, etc., I'd get some variation of Kingsley, Kensington, Kindy ... you name it! My sister, Dara, had it even worse, because people also loved to throw extra letters into her name, so she was often called Darla Kingsley or Daria Kensington or something like that in full. Heck, my oldest is named Kaitlyn (how common is THAT!?) and she still gets called Kaylie, Kyla, Katherine, etc.
So no, I wouldn't let your ln stop you from using Isla. ;)
~Kelli
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