With apologies to Billy S. I’ve been thinking a lot about names today.
Here’s a topline list of what’s been on my mind:
- A man named Barack Hussein Obama may very well be our next President
- While touring Raelyn’s potential Kindergarten we saw the name U’Neek attached to a picture of a snowman
- People emphasize the “Lyn” portion of Raelyn’s name ALL the time even though we ourselves say it more like “Raylen”
- Owen could have been named Everett
I sure hope so. And all the brouhaha about the alliteration of his last name and the origins of his middle name won’t hurt him, it’s only made him stronger.
I don’t know if that’s a male or female name, but it’s certainly unique. Pun intended.
Think Reagan, but replace the “G” with an “L”. I’m splitting hairs, but in the South folks want it to be Lynn pretty badly.
I still like the name but the nickname, Rhett, is already taken. Plus, the temptation to name a daughter Scarlett just to have Rhett and Scarlett might prove too seductive to resist.
There you have it. Humpday name post.
Leave a comment. Or don’t.
Re: pronunciation…she has a lifetime of that to look forward to. I’ll be available to help he through it when she hits her teens and struggles for an identity when people can’t say her name…
Welcome, little one; to my world.
I have to admit, I’ve been pronouncing it in my head with an emphasis on the Lyn (like “Ray-linn”). I’ll have to adjust my mental pronunciation from now on. I’m not even a southerner; I’m a Californian.
First of all… Rhett Miller!!! Whoo hoo!! I’m a huge fan. 🙂
Okay, and regarding Raelyn’s name, I completely understand the subtleties of pronunciation and how annoying they can be. I won’t even get into my first or last name and how telemarketers completely butcher them, but I do get annoyed when people pronounce Josie’s name, “Jo-see.” We say it more like, “Jo-zee.” It’s silly, really, but it annoys me to hear it pronounced the other way.
Maigh, I have to admit that before we met in person I was pronouncing your name “Mai” like “Mai Tai”.
I was going to comment to say I’m a big Rhett Miller fan, but since my wife already did so, I would just look like a twinkie. Instead, I’ll add that I never knew Rhett was a nickname for Everett.
I think Owen is a better name, though. And somehow fits more with the other male names in your family. Thad, Graham, Seth, Owen (did I miss one). It just sounds like it fits in.
Also, I think your chosen pronunciation of Raelyn is a total reflection of where you grew up. Because nobody in the midwest would call it Ray-LYNN. At worst, we’d call it RYE-lynn (which may be what I thought it was when I saw it on paper–can’t remember).
Seth – that’s better than most. Usually I get something closer to the noise of an epileptic goat with it’s head stuck in an electric fence.
“Maghgghghghghghgh”
Seth
I am from the Midwest and the pronounciation of your daughter’s name makes sense to me. My experience of having the name Sakeenah has made me stronger as an individual. Most people from the Midwest can’t say my name correctly on the first try. What’s interesting to me is the number of times people will keep mispronouncing my name before they ask me how to say it.
The problem is that Southerners are used to Lynn as a middle name that gets incorporated into a full name…generations of habitual Lynn-ing has made us all prone to doing it.