Naming baby

[bitterhope]

Thanks everyone! Love all the hilarious comments and the solid advice. You rock!

We’re keeping Thérèse. Yes the accents might pose a problem with social security or whatever, so if we have to drop them we will.

I appreciate all the info and opinions.

Some of my kids have accent marks in their names, but only when hand written. If they write or sign their name then they put the accent marks but when typed or on documents the accent marks are left off. It’s never caused any issues for us. Most of the time no one even notices. Most of my children have unusual for the US names and love it. We are very flexible with pronunciation and don’t mind spelling for others.

 

[ffg]

We had to do something similar with our 3rd. The birth center added an h. We corrected it on her birth certificate with a single form. Social security took the better part of 6 months of affidavits from her doctor, our pastor, etc. to get them to update her name. Every time I brought them what they asked for there would be some other proof I needed to provide.

6 months! This explains our 13 year punt of the situation. I’m not interested in playing the game.

At least it’s the last letter of her middle name, where an initial is typically all that is called for on official docs.

It’s getting to the point where if she wants to fix it, she can spend the time in a few years.

 

[Allegra]

Hello,

I am due in September and we are expecting a baby girl. My husband and I feel a strong pull to the name Thérèse (yes with the accents, Rhymes with perez) after St.Thérèse of Lisieux. We both feel this is the baby’s name. It’s not a name we were ever drawn to before. (We have 3 other kids) also I didn’t know much about St. Thérèse of Lisieux before becoming pregnant but now I just can’t get enough of her!

Anyway, when I tell people the name they look at me with weird expressions, ask me to repeat it, give blank stares or say you mean Theresa? I gently comment that we are naming her after St. Thérèse of Lisieux and they ask who’s that? There are only a handful of people that react positively besides us and our priests.

Are we making a mistake? Is the name too unusual? I can just feel it. Her name isn’t Theresa it’s Thérèse. Alright I’m steeling my heart for your replies…

I think it’s a lovely name, though I think it’s likely to be frequently mispronounced. My sister’s name is Teresa and she’s always gone by Tracy. I honestly don’t remember anyone ever calling her real name except in Spanish class. It’s a really formal name.

 

[Allegra]

6 months! This explains our 13 year punt of the situation. I’m not interested in playing the game.

At least it’s the last letter of her middle name, where an initial is typically all that is called for on official docs.

It’s getting to the point where if she wants to fix it, she can spend the time in a few years.

She can wait until she gets married. In my state, you’re allowed to change your name to whatever you want, free of charge, when you get married.

 

[Xantippe]

Love the name, drop the accents. Seriously, drop them.

Yeah.

 

[Xantippe]

I haven’t made it through the thread, but pianistclare urges me to submit the name “Jenuine.”

I just met a hippy type lady in real life with that name–not sure if she was born with it.

 

[kptrs]

We are expecting our second child soon. We are not revealing the name until the baby’s born. We revealed the first one’s name way before the birth and learned our lesson. It’s a decision between you and your husband, and others don’t have a say in it. There’s no need to involve them at all.

 

[Convert_in_99]

Today it’s SO common to have “unusual” names that it shouldn’t be an issue. Yes they will say it wrong, but everyone does. I have an unusual name and received it decades before it became trendy to do so. I lived. If Catholics are giving you grief I’d just give them some remark like, “how long have you been away from the Church?!?!?”

I think it’s absolutely the best name for a girl save Mary. She is a tremendous intercession and has won tons of grace for countless souls. Keep it just how the Saint spelled and pronounced it. It’s heavenly as is!

 

[Maryse17]

Congrats! We’re expecting a baby in September too, only we’re having a boy!

I absolutely love the name Therese! One of my name choices for a baby girl would have been having Therese (without the accents) as a middle name with my mum’s name as a first (that is, until I discovered the combined meaning would be "soul harvester " and we weren’t sure about that…!).

That being said, she will be your child and you guys get the final say… We have a few names chosen out, but haven’t really told anyone because we don’t need other people’s opinions on the matter! Just say you’ve got some names you like!

 

[pensmama87]

We have kids with names with accents. We did not pull the names out of thin air, and they do have accents originally, which indicates how they are pronounced, so we use them. With autocorrect on my phone and computer, it’s easy to type them. If people want to think that makes us pretentious, that’s their business. About half of their formal documentation includes the accents; I imagine because of whoever was filling out the paperwork that day.

I grew up with a weird name and I’m fine, even though it’s still constantly mispronounced. Depending on the situation I either just go with it or gently correct the person.

And I never invite other people to speculate on potential baby names. We just announce it after they are born.

 

[dskysmine]

As a foreigner living in the US, please don’t use foreign spellings of names… it will make your child’s bureaucracy life a misery. We already have enough problems in life that adding a spelling issue will just add to the misery.
I don’t necessarily blame my parents for my name, or myself for not having changed it before coming to the US, I guess the systems here just don’t handle foreign names easily, but it’s really one of those things that I wish I wouldn’t have to go through every time I go to a federal/state/municipal building to do/get something.
Even my taxes get delayed because of the spelling of my name.

Simplify!!!
God bless,
D.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

As a foreigner living in the US, please don’t use foreign spellings of names… it will make your child’s bureaucracy life a misery. We already have enough problems in life that adding a spelling issue will just add to the misery.
I don’t necessarily blame my parents for my name, or myself for not having changed it before coming to the US, I guess the systems here just don’t handle foreign names easily, but it’s really one of those things that I wish I wouldn’t have to go through every time I go to a federal/state/municipal building to do/get something.
Even my taxes get delayed because of the spelling of my name.

Simplify!!!
God bless,
D.

I have never ever seen that as an issue for anyone I know.
My sister is named after a Hindu god. She is a white American. My daughter has a Spanish name. She is not. My other daughter French. She is not. My other daughter Italian, she IS. We spelled them traditionally. The federal government has no bearing on how a name is spelled in regards to tax return delays.

 

[bitterhope]

I have never ever seen that as an issue for anyone I know.
My sister is named after a Hindu god. She is a white American. My daughter has a Spanish name. She is not. My other daughter French. She is not. My other daughter Italian, she IS. We spelled them traditionally. The federal government has no bearing on how a name is spelled in regards to tax return delays.

We have had trouble with a few of our kids names. All our kids have a Spanish or indigenous name (or both) and it matches our heritage, but it has caused issues with a few of them. Especially with birth certificates and social security cards.

 

[Indigo_Cardinal]

1)The name is fine. It’s lovely. There’s nothing wrong with it, but you should know that for the rest of her life people will be misspelling and mispronouncing it. Plenty of people in the world have this problem and they survive. So will she if you decide to go with this name.

2)Why are you telling people what you plan to name her? If they ask, just say “Oh, we have a few names we are thinking about.” or “We will see what she looks like first.” IT’s none of their business and you’re just inviting trouble.

I can see running a name by friends to make certain there isn’t something awkward/embarrassing about the name. For example, a few years ago, my friends, the “Smiths”, were expecting a girl. And they’d chosen the name “Anna” (because they liked it), and “Susan” (for the MTB’s deceased mother.). And they told me this name in the flush of baby excitement.

And I asked them if they realized what her full initials would spell. They hadn’t thought of it. They went with “Laura” instead.

 

[DoGodsBidding]

If boys, Curt and Rod.

If a boy and a girl, and they have Aunts and/or Uncles, name them Denise and Denephew.

 

[AdamP88]

Hello,

I am due in September and we are expecting a baby girl. My husband and I feel a strong pull to the name Thérèse (yes with the accents, Rhymes with perez) after St.Thérèse of Lisieux. We both feel this is the baby’s name. It’s not a name we were ever drawn to before. (We have 3 other kids) also I didn’t know much about St. Thérèse of Lisieux before becoming pregnant but now I just can’t get enough of her!

Anyway, when I tell people the name they look at me with weird expressions, ask me to repeat it, give blank stares or say you mean Theresa? I gently comment that we are naming her after St. Thérèse of Lisieux and they ask who’s that? There are only a handful of people that react positively besides us and our priests.

Are we making a mistake? Is the name too unusual? I can just feel it. Her name isn’t Theresa it’s Thérèse. Alright I’m steeling my heart for your replies…

It’s your child. Name her what you like. I think Thérése is a lovely name.

 

[dskysmine]

I have never ever seen that as an issue for anyone I know.
My sister is named after a Hindu god. She is a white American. My daughter has a Spanish name. She is not. My other daughter French. She is not. My other daughter Italian, she IS. We spelled them traditionally. The federal government has no bearing on how a name is spelled in regards to tax return delays.

They have no bearing, but if different systems can’t handle certain characters or length they may not recognize you and require additional steps.
it’s your choice if you think that the name is more important than the problems that it carries.
When I have a child I won’t use any weird characters or long length.

God bless,
D.

 

[pensmama87]

They have no bearing, but if different systems can’t handle certain characters or length they may not recognize you and require additional steps.
it’s your choice if you think that the name is more important than the problems that it carries.
When I have a child I won’t use any weird characters or long length.

God bless,
D.

No naming a girl Chrysanthemum?

(There was a children’s book about that when I was a kid. Very cute book, though since then I think I have actually heard of a few girls with that name.)

I’ve never had a problem with “additional steps” before, but I can think of some ways it would be easily handled if I had to. There’s usually numerous ways of verifying information.