parents naming children

[Alpo]

This is a character in a story I am reading. And I'm sort of stuck is to how to pronounce it.

 

So let's pretend that you are a school teacher taking the roll for the first day. And you see this child's name on your roll book.

 

Geary

 

Would you call him Gary, or Jerry? Or something else?

 

Different story, same author. High school kid. Mikel. The girl that is narrating the story says that she does not understand why his parents did not name him Michael. That's how it's pronounced anyway. So why in the world did they spell it like that?

 

That's what I'm wondering about this other kid.

 

I'm sure everyone has heard about Le-ah. Pronounced "Leedasha".

[Seamus McGillicuddy]

The long boulevard in San Francisco, named for an early mayor and Civil War general, is pronounced Gear ee. 
Some folks enjoy using different spellings for first names like Shawn, Jon, Mychael, Davide etc. 
 

Seamus

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

My wife is Shawna.  You can't imagine the different ways SHAW-nuh can be spelled or pronounced.

 

A girl in college was named Seana.  Eveyone called her Shee-nee.

[Gracos Kid]

My wife as a Judge had a young man in court whose name was spelled Shithead, pronounced Sha-Theed...   this is no joke, he was real....

[Subdeacon Joe]

6 hours ago, Alpo said:

Geary

 

Would you call him Gary, or Jerry? Or something else?

 

Neither.  As Seamus wrote,  it's Gear-ee.

 

6 hours ago, Alpo said:

High school kid. Mikel. The girl that is narrating the story says that she does not understand why his parents did not name him Michael

 

Different cultural background.  I would suspect Jewish. Pronounced MEE-kel.

 

 

Edited July 7 by Subdeacon Joe

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

A bit off topic: my grandson is named Logan Xavier.  (My son is a comic book collector and trader.) 

 

I asked my son why he named his kid Logan Xavier, knowing my hometown is Logan, Utah and that two his favorite characters are  X Men called Wolverine and the Professor X...and, he told me " because no one could find a nickname for him."  I nodded and said "I'll call him Lex"! 

 

The X Men are the good guys, but Lex Luther is Superman's nemesis, a really bad guy.  I call himLogan like everyone else, but for a few seconds my son was on the verge of having a stroke.  

Edited July 8 by Forty Rod SASS 3935

[J-BAR #18287]

If I am reading a list of names or a name tag and I am unsure of the pronunciation, I simply ask the person to say their name.  No one has ever been offended because I want to get it right.

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

Had some good friends and fellow parishioners, who named their daughter "KARLEN", an amalgamation of their first names, Karen and Lennox. 

[Alpo]

8 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Had some good friends and fellow parishioners, who named their daughter "KARLEN", an amalgamation of their first names, Karen and Lennox. 

Is that pronounced care len, which is the way I would guess it's supposed to be based on their names? Or car len, which is the way it looks like it should be pronounced, and the way I would pronounce it if I just saw it written for the first time?

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

Neighbor, David, pronounces his name "Dav Eed". His heritage is Central American.

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

3 hours ago, Alpo said:

Is that pronounced care len, which is the way I would guess it's supposed to be based on their names? Or car len, which is the way it looks like it should be pronounced, and the way I would pronounce it if I just saw it written for the first time?

They pronounce it "Carlen" no "e" sound after the "r" or hard "a".

Her firs syllable of her name is pronounced as "car" (automobile); a soft "k".

[Sedalia Dave]

Guy that works at a local store name is Q. 

[watab kid]

On 7/7/2026 at 12:44 AM, Seamus McGillicuddy said:

The long boulevard in San Francisco, named for an early mayor and Civil War general, is pronounced Gear ee. 
Some folks enjoy using different spellings for first names like Shawn, Jon, Mychael, Davide etc. 
 

Seamus

this , thats how i would pronounce it , 

 

i used to be baffled by the pronunciations of US citizens names for their children , no more - we have so many non-citizens here as well as those taken in as refugees whos names i can even begin to pronounce nor do i want to ...ill just call them carl or dave or lisa or lucy ............im getting old enough to just not give a darn anymore  

[Brock]

What do you think of a culture where you can only use state approved names?

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

42 minutes ago, Brock said:

What do you think of a culture where you can only use state approved names?

Not much.

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

On 7/7/2026 at 12:53 AM, Alpo said:

This is a character in a story I am reading. And I'm sort of stuck is to how to pronounce it.

 

So let's pretend that you are a school teacher taking the roll for the first day. And you see this child's name on your roll book.

 

Geary

 

Would you call him Gary, or Jerry? Or something else?

 

Different story, same author. High school kid. Mikel. The girl that is narrating the story says that she does not understand why his parents did not name him Michael. That's how it's pronounced anyway. So why in the world did they spell it like that?

 

That's what I'm wondering about this other kid.

 

I'm sure everyone has heard about Le-ah. Pronounced "Leedasha".

Like Erie (lake or town in PA) with a hard G in front.

[Trailrider #896]

I would think Seana would be pronounced "Shawn-uh", just as Sean is pronounced "Shawn". These would be Anglicized versions of the Gaelic.

[watab kid]

On 7/8/2026 at 1:10 PM, Brock said:

What do you think of a culture where you can only use state approved names?

i think those that accept that should stay there - we dont do that here , and we dont need that BS herev