7 Things Your Kid Will Spend Their Life Doing If You Give Them a Weird Name
It took me years to like my weird name, which - now that I'm 35 - isn't all that weird anymore. But growing up in a sea of Stephanies, Lauras, Lisas, Jennifers, and Jessicas, I longed for a normal name.
Life with a weird name was rough as a kid. (It's not that much easier as an adult; I've just gotten used to it.)
And while I appreciate the diversity of names, a little part of me cringes inside when I hear a parent call to their daughter, Anais. Her life is going to be tough.
Don't people know this by now? Don't parents know that their desire for uniqueness is going to make their kid's life annoying?
I mean, come on, even Buzzfeed knows it - and wow, did they nail it!
I took a few of my favorites from their master list, and added my own from years of living with a weird name. So, here are 7 Things Your Kid Will Spend Their Life Doing If You Give Them a Weird Name:
1. Give a fake name at Starbucks:
Or anywhere that requires a name for ordering. I use my last name at the deli counter, when ordering take-out over the phone, and when making dinner reservations. It's just easier to avoid the confusion.
Related: 25 powerful photos of women giving birth
2. Answer to any name that sounds remotely like theirs:
I've answered to Ella, Ahl-ya, Alea, and just about anything that sounds like maybe it's my name.
3. Live forever frustrated that extended family misspells their name after YEARS:
Ala. Alea. Aella. You'd think family would be better than substitute teachers, but they're not.
4. Answer the same questions about their names over and over again:
Is that a family name? Where'd your name come from? Is that {insert any quasi-educated guess about nationality}? Is that your birth name? No, I intentionally did this to myself. How do you spell that?
5. Redo, reapply or resubmit official documents because of a clerical misspelling:
People who input data for a living decide they want to spell your name an entirely different way than how it is actually spelled. This results in totally inaccurate legal documents - and simple annoyance. I had to get my college to reissue my diploma because my name was spelled wrong. And I'm currently in a nightmare of a headache with Comcast because for some reason it is impossible for them to change my misspelled name to my correct name. In fact, it's impeding me from getting paperless bills.
6. Get pathetically excited and immediately fall in love with a total stranger for getting their name right:
It's so rare, that it really is like love at first sight.
7. Succumb to being called the wrong name:
After a while, you're just too exhausted to correct people, to talk about your name and to answer questions about it. Aela? A-Y-L-A? Sure, sure it is.
Photo source: limaoscarjuliet via Flickr Creative Commons
-By Aela Mass
For 24 totally "obscure" hipster baby names, visit Babble!
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