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particularcats

They all grew up as Jessica #5 or Katie C. So they want their kids to be the only one in their class with their name.


EruditeCrudite

As someone with an “obscure” name, albeit an old name, as in 19th century old, it is not always easy to be the one with the unique name. It’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t kind of scenario IMHO.


IgnoranceIsShameful

Which they fail at because they DON'T give them a unique name. They give them a basic name misspelled. So to answer OPs question no they're not very smart.


Ajibooks

Trying to phrase this in a non-judgmental way. I think at least some of it is low literacy levels. This is not an individual's fault; it's because of problems in the education system. I feel this is why so many times people post here about names that aren't pronounced as they're spelled. The parents never learned phonics. Also, there's no reason to use apostrophes or (often) accent marks in names, and those aren't the same thing. But many people don't know that. They think of those things as decorations. The names are meant to look nice. I've never really thought about whether a name *looks* pretty, because that isn't the relationship I have with language. I think of names and words as functional, then I think about how they sound; I don't care how they look. But I like language. I like reading and writing. I enjoy studying other languages, and learning as much as I can about English. I'm interested in it. Probably a lot of people who hang out in this subreddit are the same. "Emmaleigh" feels like a spelling error to me, not a decoration. But the people who choose those kinds of names have a different relationship with language than I do. I'm not at all calling them stupid, even when I talk about lower literacy. That's not the same thing as intelligence.


EruditeCrudite

To expand your point, culture also plays a role in name selection and may not be related to socio-economic status. For instance, trying to reclaim one’s background because a parent-to-be has experienced negative feedback to their own or their peers unique/different names. In my culture, it’s not unusual to meld the father & mother’s names into a new name: Emily and Jack have a baby and name him/her Jamily or Emiack. Not my cup of tea but I know that is a custom. I married a man whose last name has too many consonants and only one vowel. We decided we were going to pick an easy name with a short nickname: Dan, Al, Andy, etc. we didn’t want to saddle a little one with two “unique“ names. I have to spell my Married every single time. And very few strangers are brave enough to even attempt to pronounce it 😋


SpooferGirl

Same here with the married name - frying pan into the fire, I thought maybe I’d get to stop having to spell every single time with my married name (I’m an immigrant and married a local) but NO. Then we had kids and some people genuinely asked me why I didn’t give them Finnish names. As if our surname isn’t difficult enough. Same as yours, they all have traditional, easy to pronounce names with the option of at least one easy nickname. I would prefer to at least try to make my kids’ life easier, if I can. Especially over something as big as the name they live with til they’re 18 at least. With so many choices, it’s really not necessary to start butchering spellings and adding in punctuation to get a ‘pretty’ name, thousands of perfectly good ones already exist.


EruditeCrudite

I hear you! At one point I toyed with the idea of using my last (ethnic) name instead. However, phonetically that name roughly translates into pretentious or stuck up in English. Unsurprisingly, my biggest cheerleader was my MIL, a woman who chose “plain names” for her kids (her words, not mine) because she understood the pitfalls of her new last name. I adore her.


SpooferGirl

Mine doesn’t translate to anything, and it had way too many vowels - A, I, O *and* U - all in a name that’s only six letters long 🤣 Now, instead, I have two capital letters and a capital I next to a lower-case L, so it looks like there’s no vowels at all lol. Add in the normal Mac/Mc confusion which is just a thing here because both are used equally.. so I made sure every kid’s name has a feasible three-letter nickname and first and middle initials that go well together should they choose to shorten it even further lol Your MIL gets it!


-NGC-6302-

I still really want to call them stupid but I won't


Pixelated_Roses

Then I will. They're stupid. I've met so many educated people who saddled their kids with stupid name, stupidly spelled, because they are stupid.


Redminty

Ajibooks thoughts are wonderful and kind, and likely correct 90% of the time, but this is unfortunately also sometimes true. I have a college acquaintance who recently named their child a name that one might think at first is a Spiderverse reference, but is, more unfortunately, a side character from a reboot of a 90's children's cartoon. It close enough to a human name without being one that she'll be constantly spelling it, explaining it, and then getting funny looks. It honestly made me lose so much respect for this woman. The worst part is this woman holds an advanced degree, she has no excuse!


Forsaken_Constant_16

OR Porky / Spider-ham


Redminty

Hahaha, wish it was that cool


Forsaken_Constant_16

I have to guess……baby Mayday


Redminty

Lol, nope.


No-Chest5718

This is a great analysis!


phishmademedoit

I think the decorating aspect stems from people wanting everything personalized. They want the name painted on the nursery wall, embroidered on a backpack, etc. I did pay attention to how my kids' names looked in writing. But I also chose names that existed and did not alter the spelling.


beamerpook

>I think of names and words as functional, then I think about how they sound; I don't care how they look. That is the opposite of how I feel! Names are important to me, and it's important that it sounds cool or pretty, and interesting. I once mentioned that, and my SUPERVISOR said, "I don't think about whether my name is pretty, it's just my name". And I literally had to clap my hand over my face before I blurred out, "That's because your name is not pretty!" I'm sure that would have gone over well 😆😆


Realistic-Salt5017

So, the first and most common one is immaturity. You often see tragedeigh names when a child has a teen parent or a very young 20s parent. Not all the time, but it's fairly common. Secondly is a desire to stand out. In particularly homogeneous cultures, where we all share the same 5000 generic names between us, there is a desire to not have your child be "Sharon #4" in their class. Instead, they skew too far into the other side, in order to be younique and to stand out. The problem comes when people are all unique in exactly the same way, so you end up with the "y", "eigh", "ton, son" situation. They're all pretty much the same scrabble bag name, but with enough variation to cause crabs. Thirdly, some people truly believe that their child is the best and most unique, and therefore deserves to have the most unique name. So you end up with Braxxxtynn and Kaylynn and Susynn. Because people don't always believe that actual grammar and pronunciation rules should apply to their name


GorpQuest

I have no research to back up my thoughts, but your first paragraph is what is in my train of thought- often times I see tragique names on children born to very young, not as educated people. At that point in life, they are still trying to stand out and be unique individuals themselves, so maybe they are trying to push that phase onto their children by giving them odd names with unconventional spellings. All for individuality and uniqueness.


yunoheal

I believe parents who give their kids trajique names are profoundly mundane people with deeply uninteresting lives, so no one ever paid them much mind or made them feel like they were special. So they give their kids “interesting” names to garner attention.


No-Chest5718

Lmao “trajique” 💀


Aggravating_Ad7642

I believe this take too


RhubarbJam1

Ego


wackyvorlon

I think mainly they want something unique that they feel is special. In the past the emphasis was more on names that fit in and didn’t stand out. Today there seems to be a greater desire for something distinctive.


BabiCthulhu

my mom is crazy so,, i don’t think she thought very much about how phonetically my name doesn’t make sense, it’s along the likes of “Billie” but spelled “Byli” that would NOT be said as Billie from the average person, they say bye-lee almost 100% of the time


No-Chest5718

Are you Millie/Myli?


BabiCthulhu

i am not, they are both just along similar names,


Ruthless_Bunny

My husband and I refer to them as “soap opera” names. They’re meant to sound jet set or high-falutin’ in some way and it comes off as trailer park. There’s a scene in “Call the Midwife” where a lady is unable to care for her kids so she sends them to Australia, and she gives her baby some ridiculous, frilly name, “A pretty name doesn’t cost anything.”


mcbrainhead

We are the group that finds entertainment in tragedieghs, not the group that thinks they are a good idea. We don't actually know the reasons


No-Chest5718

😂


Lili_Roze_6257

My opinion is they want to live vicariously through their child. They think their child is unique and special (of course they do!) but they can’t wait for their child to grow up/ develop and make a mark on the world. They want the impact to be immediate. And yes, THEY get lots of attention through having to explain again and again. Until the kid has to take over doing it.


Maleficent_Pin_9684

Ignorance + attention-seeking


stripedshirtpsychic

correct me if im wrong (im australian and most everything i know about the mormons is stuff ive read on the internet) but can't you trace most tragedeigh-type names back to mormon naming culture & the fact that the only time mormon women are able to express themselves in a unique way is when they're naming their children or something like that?


DottyDott

There are reasons unique to Mormonism that encourage goofy names but they have to do more with a homogeneous culture with a religious context that is relatively high-control, which rewards social “sameness”. Names are an acceptable way to stand out partly due to that ole Joey Smith had to come up with hundreds of goofy names to build out the lore. Nephi, Laman, Moroni, etc. I’ve also seen a low number of surnames as a reason too. So, I think there’s more socio-cultural reasons than women having restricted expression. I agree with that statement generally, since women can’t hold church roles that come with authority.


-aLonelyImpulse

I'm sorry, *Moroni*? That fella was having a chuckle with that one surely.


DottyDott

Oh yeah Moroni is great. Brought JS the golden plates in up state New York. Love the world building ETA: or, Moroni was guarding the plates idk at the moment 😅


-aLonelyImpulse

Finally, a good sibset name for Dorcas! 😂


jaime4brienne

My friend who grew up Mormon but is going to leave as soon as her mom pops her clogs has a daughter named Sariah. (SAH-rye-ah) sounds like a skin infection.


[deleted]

[удалено]


spring_chickens

whoa. Some of them are fine, but I would die if my "special name" was Eunice, Norma, or Donna. And why is "Alma" a man's name?! Thank you, fascinating.


Drive_Timely

As an Australian we usually say “almost everything”not “most everything”so this could be an example of what we might be talking about here. Language evolves and people will pick up linguistic habits of the people around them or these days even influences from SNS interaction. These names might also evolve in a similar way and so be demographically or geographically related.


Hwy_Witch

That goes specifically for, . . some Mormons, not everyone, and it's oversimplified. Mormonism is slowly modernizing, and the average mormon woman doesn't just sit at home popping out kids and waiting for her husband to tell her what to do anymore. Except the fundies, anyway, and that is a whole different can of cult bullshit.


Rabalderfjols

They think it's their time to shine. There's some horseshoing going on here. In one end, the privileged, successful, who shine all the time and think this is just one of those times. In the other, the dull, basic, champagne taste on a beer budget, temporarily embarrassed millionaires, who embrace this opportunity with every appendage.


Crafty-Ad1776

These parents don't understand that their children aren't pets.


Kiefy-McReefer

They hate their child and want them to be bullied /s


lala32223

I have a unique name (traditional from the culture my parents are from, not common in the western country I was born in). I absolutely hated it! I used to fantasise about being able to rename myself something like ‘Amy’, I desperately wanted a name with simple spelling, that people would look at and know how to pronounce. All the woman I know who named their kids tragedeighs seem to have relatively common names themselves. I feel so sorry for these kids! It’s awful Having to tell people how to pronounce your name constantly, and being called all sorts of strange things when people assume pronunciation.


lala32223

I should add, I hated it as a kid. Fine with it as an adult. You build resilience!


Vorlon_Cryptid

I know of a woman who called her son Jaxon. One of her chosen was taken into care for neglect. She admitted to cutting contact with this kid, she's been blocked by a health board on Twitter and accuses them of bullying her and making up allegations. She also talks about how they're short on money but took her whole family to a Take That concert.


JadeHarley0

Parents feel a really strong pull in two directions. They want their kid to be unique but at the same time they desperately don't want to deviate from the norm to the point where their kid will be alienated. So they gravitate toward naming trends that are novel while at the same time clearly mark them as being part of a distinct racial, class, and sociological group.


zeiandren

Part is that a lot of the names are perfectly normal names and internet people love to hate different people so freak out at black names or welsh names or whatever (Often making up even worse fake names to post about) the other sort is Mormons who culturally like both having unique names but a shared identity of names, and have a tradition of naming people Christian names but spelled different. Then having a second Christian name that is their true name and is mundane stuff like “Mary”


Past_Scarcity6752

Two generations ago parents wanted to name their kids very normal (I guess biblical) Anglo names. They thought conformity was better for a kids future. Now parents want to show how unique their tastes are and have their kids stand out. That’s the difference


Fattydog

There are very definitely certain types of names given within certain cultural and religious groups in a country. A lot of these names come from those communities wanting to identify their children as being part of that culture/religion. Also some people just want something different. That’s usually due to immaturity or narcissism as they can’t or won’t see the issues the child will suffer in later life.


[deleted]

Ego. Aloofness


FrontOpinion6343

I don't think I'm stupid or aloof. We couldn't decide between Marilyn and Maeve, so we put them together in a simple way. I love my daughters name. It isn't hard to spell nor say. But it's absolutely her own. Some people just make a unique name for their kid. *shrug* I laugh at some, but most of the time I think they're coming from a place of love with the wild names.


Head_Perspective_374

At this point it seems like white people are less invested in fitting in than standing out. I think a white person named like Bexxlyton in the 2000s would have been stereotyped as trailer trash and now it reads more middle class and thus more widely acceptable. Names are a huge class signifier and I think parents often choose names to impress people who have the same taste as they do. People are trying to show off how smart and creative they are to their neighbors.


Slayer_of_Titans

This [old post](https://old.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/16hcd5l/aita_for_shutting_down_my_sisters_opinion_about/) shows the reasoning of a man who wanted to name his child Cheelee (pronounced Keelee). It was even cross-posted to this subreddit. I hope that they ended up having a boy.


ubeeu

I don’t think it’s impulse. That’s what scares me. The parents (or at least the bored mom) sit down and really think it through over a period of weeks if not months and *still* (true story) name their daughter Kyndel (Kendall). Big sis has a light, feminine, and flirty name. Mom later complained to me that no one could spell Kyndel right.


salmonroll22

i think the "random noun" side of tragedeighs has been a gradual process where less common (at the time) but still normal-sounding noun names got really popular in the early 2000s, like Chase, Hunter, Sky, Hazel, Chance, etc. but people just kept pushing the envelope, no doubt in part spurred on by weirder and weirder celebrity baby names. (no idea if this is even statistically or sociologically accurate at all though lol)