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Ok, so I read the whole thread on bad baby names. I need some advice. We named our second born a foreign-ish name (Johann), dad is German. First born is a normal American name. It seems that everyone mispronounces it, or has that look of wonderment when I introduce him. It drives me nuts. Before we brought him home, I thought of changing it, but dad said no. Nearly every month, I talked to him about changing it, he said give it 6 months. Well, 15 months later, I am still talking about it. Am I crazy?
Here's a compromise I can live with: Keep the name, but call him John. Would it be weird to suddenly call him John? He will enter a little preschool in August and I'm thinking of telling them to call him John. I don't want to force the whole renaming thing, but I feel like we made a mistake when we named him, and now it feels a little forced to make people call him another name. I'm really torn about the whole thing. Any advice??
I say if you and your husband like the name, then keep it. Curious-is it pronounced "yo-hann"?
People are going to butcher names no matter how "normal" or "unusual" they are. My name is Kelly and even that is an issue at times. From "How do you spell it?" to correcting the perfect stranger from getting too familiar calling me Kell (hate that by the way). And yes it has been mispronounced as well .
If you like it, then keep it and teach the teachers how to say it correctly. Besides, if you tell them his name is John, they'll probably want to call him Johnny or Jack or something else that is even farther from the name you gave him. LOL.
My daughter is a teacher, and she hears ALL kinds of names. It's a new world. You will hear the oddest ones these days. I say keep it if you like it. My daughter has a long-hyphenated name. She likes it. The teachers got used to it. My youngest son has a different name and he is glad of it.
Wow,I just thought of starting a thread the other day about whether anyone felt they made a mistake picking their kids names,but decided against it. I have 3 kids and thought long and hard about each name.We even left the hospital with #2 not being named yet as we could not agree.My third, my daughter, we named Eva, but it's pronounced Ava.We wanted the European spelling.Everyone of course says EVA.We expected that and eventually everyone you come in contact with gets it.I guess it depends on if you really love the name. If you do, I would stick with it.Other people can deal with it.On another note,I NEVER liked MY first name,so I changed it when I was 32! Talk about hard for others to get use to! But it can be done!That was almost 20 years ago and I can't tell you how nice it is to have a name that you like and picked yourself.So,there is hope.Don't worry about it if you do decide to change it!
My niece is named Eva pronounced Ava too! Her parents picked it because "Ava" is spanish and means "bird-like". Eva is Scandinavian, and means "living one". Though both are derivitives of each other and trace back the Hebrew. Fun facts for your daughter. :-)
Unusual names are great! None of my 6 nieces or nephews have really traditional names....times are really changing. I teach middle school and there are all sorts of names out there now.....
I don't think Johann is even that unusual and I know how to pronounce it
Keep his name. One of our daughters has a unique name that no one can pronounce without help. It was a hassle at awards presentations, but otherwise she is happy with her name. It can be nice to be a bit unique in this world of conformity. She does get really excited when she comes across someone with the same name (twice so far). Now that she is a teen, I think that she enjoys having a name that few people have heard before, as long as it is a legitimate name and not something stupid like Moon Unit or Fuzzy Socks or something.
Both of my children have a hard to pronounce first and last name. I guess I am of the nature that I don't really care what others think and adore each of my childrens names.
I don't think my kids names are really that difficult but being my kids names are Irish in orgin with one having the same name as a very famous Irish actor and pretty common on each coast in the US, I believe that sooner or later people will get it here.
The point though I like to make, if you love your child's name then don't change it, even if you have to spell it quite a bit. I do it every day and last name.. Now if you don't like your child's name, then John might be ok but that is your call. His name should be something that you really love and gives you pleasure when you hear it. I know I do and wouldn't change anything, even having to spell each of their names daily.
I hate to be this way, but I will be since none of you know me. We used to live in a culturally diverse area. Very upscale, very international. Now we are living in the south. And while I love it here, I am finding that many people have not traveled very far. So I'm getting all the "what's his name?"s from people down here. Ok, do I love his name? No. Do I like it? Sure, it's fine. And when I look at him, he's perfect. I love him so so much, I want him to have a name that suits him and that I like too. I am stuck somehow on this, and I can't get past it. My family has already started on the nicknames, and somehow, somewhere the name Jojo has stuck. So now we go from this old world European name to Jojo. The whole thing is driving me crazy. I used to be a schoolteacher and have come across some unusual names so I know that it won't be such a problem in school. And kids these days don't do much teasing. It's the adults that are weird about his name. Anyhow, sorry for the rant, this is an issue that weighs heavy on my heart.
Thanks everyone. You guys are making me feel better.
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