Quote:
Originally posted by pretermitted_child
In addition to aesthetic concerns, I think parents have to be mindful of the utilitarian aspects of naming their children. A few suggestions that come immediately to mind are:
(1) Make it data-entry friendly (i.e., your child's first name should be one word -- no spacings or odd hyphenations/punctuation. The same rule should be applied to middle names as well as last names).
(2) Avoid foreign names that are spelled in a counterintuitive fashion (what child wants the hassle of having em's name mispronounced and misspelled all the time?).
(3) If you want to use a gender-neutral, unconventional name, make sure that your last name, in conjunction with the child's first name, doesn't result in a semantically embarrassing combination that describes a household item, a commodity, or some natural phenomenon (I once had a classmate whose full name described something that was commonly harvested on a plantation (googling his full name gives you 25,900 results.).
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I say pick anything you choose. I have a very common first name for my age, and people regularly misspell it. You cannot run your life according to other people's potential for error.
No matter what name you give your children, people will pronounce or spell it as they wish. What may appear to be a "counterintuitive" spelling to you may be intuitive to others.
As for your 3rd suggestion: you are assuming his naming was unintentional?
Austin("Seven," anyone?)tatious
