In the 21st century, the names children are being given have taken a more unique turn. It is not common to see anything extreme as Apple, which Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter, in everyday life but variations of spellings and pronunciations have become more popular.
Teachers and educators are learning hundreds of different names as they encounter children from a variety of cultures and backgrounds over the course of their career. However, with certain parents seemingly valuing a name’s uniqueness over its readability, some monikers are worse than others.
And one teacher who has a wide range of names in her class shared a list of them on Reddit, jokingly adding “thought and prayers” to the post. The list had been made so that no child was left out of receiving a card on Valentine’s Day.
But while some of the names are more traditional, certain others are a lot more unusual. Some of the more common names in her second grade class included Ian, Shane, Ella, Jesse and Wyatt, reports the Mirror.
These names are quite easy to take a stab at when trying to spell them. However, other names of the list led to the teacher cheekily writing “Thoughts? Opinions? Prayers?” to the top of the post.
Names on the list that may be viewed as less traditional included Kurstein, Averiella, Raeleigh, Paisyn, LaKendren, Emmitt, and Kohen. Looking at some of these names you can make out their origin, but it seems that some parents have tried to jazz up the name by changing the spelling to make it unique.
Many Reddit users were keen to share their opinions and disapproval for some of the names on the list. One user said: “So…it’s pronounced Kur-stine? Like a beer stein? Because that’s how I’d be saying it.” Another simply added: “Kurstein?! Geez.” The teacher replied to the first comment explaining “It’s Kirsten”, followed by a grimacing face emoji.
One name that is getting a lot of attention is ‘Paisyn”. One person wrote: “Paisyn is so, so bad” while another simply wrote: “PAISYN?!” A third commented: “Paisyn is just so awful I’m sorry to those affected.”
Another person shared that they know someone with a different spelling of the name, saying: “My toddler has a classmate named Payson. He’s very sweet but the name is unfortunate. Paisyn is somehow leagues worse.” A further user questioned the readability: “I read it as Pai-sn, or poison with some kind of accent. Not sure which accent though.”
Others cheered for the more common names on the list, with one writing: “Fist bump to Jesse. Keepin’ it real, my man.” While another added: “So happy to see Ian! I love that name.”
One user started questioning when children started being given these wild names, commenting: “Is this a trend with millennial parents, or has it always been like this?
“[I’m] Gen Z and I don’t remember kids in my class having names like this, even if the name was ‘made up’ it was at least easy to pronounce and spell – and my school was pretty diverse across ethnicities and classes.”
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