May 22: First names

Would you thank your parents for your name if they spelt it so yooneekly just for the sake of it.
I think not.
Though it is my concern ?

Fair enough if it is cultural or back to ancient spellings. Kewl & kewt baby names ...only we all grow up and then spend the rest of our life spelling it out to people.

When at preschool there were 2 Samuels and a Sameul. A URL friend had a Samual.

I've been confused myself  when I've had chemo brain and about to write it down. I seriously got out something to check.

I was already wondering why people have to be so kre8iv when I came across an article in the Reader's Digest about the very issue.

We all know the substitution , rearranging of letters and additional letters does nothing to change the pronunciation of even simple names. It does make them seem harder to pronounce, let alone spell.


I am not one to judge but seriously I wonder why people want their children to stand out...whether they like it or not.

It is more like torture the name spelling to increase the 'torture' at school ...then every time they fill a form.

When it comes time to do the family tree you might find that 'branch' falls off when no-one can look up the name because of the unusual spelling. We had a bit of fun searching the NSW database recently but you can't much information unless the marriage is prior to 1960. A quick look at the database marriage names revealed mostly normal names too prior to 1960.

Unusual names are a different story but still have their problems.

Cillian ... is a Irish name but how do you say it ...KILL ian. One little guy, still 4yrs old , boldly stood up to the School Principal, during ASSEMBLY - telling him he'd said his name wrong. He was receiving an award :) too. Every time he got an award he had to do it at school and the kids teased him .

I discovered using the shortened version of my name with my very common marital surname xxx- at this site there are 15 people in the US ; BUT over 5000 using Patricia xxx.

In my large country town 30,000+ people - there is a lady  with same short name as me - we've had our medical files mixed up countless times (same Health practice and she is a Oncology patient too I think) . I continually tell them my address and DOB - they still get it wrong. She is older than me and I know where she lives now ...

1. There are 1,713,313 people in the U.S. with the first name Patricia.
2. Statistically the 12th most popular first name (I still don't believe it)
3. Versions of Patricia:
   
   Pat
   Patsy
   Patti
   Pattie
   Patty
   Tricia
   Trish

I've been called them all - the last 2 my favourite (Trisha). Patty - hear me roar! I had a teacher who delighted in torturing me with that name. My friend was a Patsy !

My MIL shares my name full name (though it is technically her middle name but she uses it as her first name she usually goes by 'Pat'). What fun it was when she lived with us (yes - enough said). I didn't see that coming.


Who got to open first all my mail addressed to Mrs Patricia xxx ?
If there was any doubt in her mind or she was curious ?

It caused quite a drama from me sometimes !Then there was the Dr mixing up our files, the same Gynae - so the cervical biopsy/pap smear invoice sent to me she thought was hers. Long story but she had them running around in circles saying she hadn't had a pap smear in years .She never even considered it was mine.

Eventually they tracked me down - I still had to pay LOL.So I changed my name on several things after that to Trish.(ps is it weird my husband chose me having the same name as his mother?). It was in 2000 and 14yrs later I'm still confusing people with me first name choice and the official name , plus  it's different on my medicare and health fund.


Tough.

I saw a very unusual name tonight -  Boudicea and I'm naming my new cat, Bronte after I saw the name on a house (gate actually) while out walking today !

Today, I'm very thankful for my ordinary name - there was another Patricia today at radiation and we both got up when they called it. Not my turn though.

Ps When my Samuel was in the NIC unit the baby boy, in the crib right next to him, born 13 hrs (day) before, had the same first name and surname. Exactly - no middle names were used. The file had a sticker to say beware patient of same name or similar.

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