What’s the one thing Amys, Jessicas and Johns from around the world all have in common? No one ever mispronounces their name.
In a recent post for PopSugar, writer Alessia Santaro has pleaded with parents not to give their children unique names.
The 26-year-old says her unique name (pronounced uh-LESS-ee-uh) has caused her nothing but trouble throughout her life.
"Over the years, I've made it a habit to introduce myself to people by saying my name slowly — careful to enunciate all four syllables — only to have them repeat something totally incorrect back," she wrote.
"I know what you're thinking... what's the big deal, right?
"The big deal is that your name goes hand in hand with your identity, and when it is consistently messed up, it makes you feel less and less validated as a person."
Listen: What parents should know before giving babies an 'unusual name'. (Post continues after audio.)
Santaro says that her first day of school, her participation in sport teams during high school, and even her performance at job interviews were impacted by the mispronunciation of her name.
"All of these incidents gave me social anxiety, made me feel like my feelings didn't matter, and put dampeners on some of the most important moments of my life."
Alessia isn't alone in suffering through life with a unique name.
Only last year, a Gold Coast mother decided to name her daughter Kaitlyn - but with a twist - she replaced the 'ait' part of the name with the Roman numerals for eight.
Yep, she named her daughter KVIIIlyn. You can only imagine how confusing roll call is going to be for little 'KVIII'.
However, sometimes an unusual name works in your favour.
Two years ago, Humans of New York interviewed a high school student named Beyonce.
At first Beyonce said she hated her name because it draws attention to her and she's not a very social person. The teenager said when her family moved to a new town she was really nervous about roll call, but then things changed.
"When the teacher started calling attendance, I got really nervous, because every time people learn my name is Beyoncé, somebody starts singing ‘Single Ladies'," she said.
"And some did, of course. But the second day of school wasn’t too bad. Because everyone knew my name."
Do you have an unusual name? How do you feel about it?
Top Comments
Slightly unusual name here, and a nightmare to spell correctly (no one gets it right first go). Not a trashy name in the slightest. No bizarre spellings. It's never given me social anxiety or caused me anything but the occasional minor annoyance. Certainly no more annoying than what one familyember has to deal with, sharing a name with no less than four other people in his year at school.
People need to get over the name thing. No matter what you call your kid, it will cause them some kind of problem at some point (although I do agree inserting Roman numerals is going a bit too far)
How boring would our world be if we all had these 'classic names'? TBH this allesia thing is absolutely ridiculous, someone else's pronounciation of your name does not define who you are. What a load of rubbish.