What do you hate most about your own name?

[augusta_lee]

My name is constantly mispronounced. The incorrect pronunciation of the spelling is in the Top 40. It's the equivalent of being named Isabel but pronouncing it EES-abel, while everyone else says IZ-abel. It's incredibly frustrating. I've given up correcting people.

[lahdeedah]

I hate how hard it is for most people to spell. Really though, C-h-e-y-a-n-n, what's so difficult about that??? Seriously! I think most people just don't care to take the time to remember it, which says more about people than the "difficulty" of the spelling because it's not THAT difficult. In fact, my mom said she just "spelled it the way it sounded." I guess she should have paid more attention in school or actually watched the game show she heard my name on. :P

I used to loathe it with an unexplainable passion. I cringed when I had to tell people what my name was. And for like 4 years I wanted to change it so bad (to Sophie, which is a name I'm not particularly fond of anymore or Temperance which is a name I still love — in a guilty pleasure sort of way.) Buut, I've grown to accept, and even appreciate, that it's a fine name and it fits me really well; I can't imagine my name being anything else.

[yellow]

There are multiple legitimate spellings for my name, but really two core ones. One is Sanskrit, the other Greek and most popular in western and northern Europe. My parents chose the Sanskrit spelling (and perhaps weren't even aware of the Greek version), despite our pale British ancestry.

So I guess what I hate most about my name is that my spelling doesn't match my appearance. People often expect me to be of East Indian appearance if they see my name before meeting me, and frequently comment to that preconception. On the flip side, if they hear my name first, they most often spell it the Greek way since that is the most logical given my ethnicity.

I think that if I had a sanskrit name that didn't have a sound-alike from another language, I wouldn't mind as much.

[yellow]

I hate how hard it is for most people to spell. Really though, C-h-e-y-a-n-n, what's so difficult about that??

Your name is spelled Cheyann, pronounced like the city Cheyenne? I can definitely see the difficulty there. If not Cheyenne, I think I'd probably assume Shaianne/Shaienne, Shyann/Shyanne, Chyanne, Shayan/Shayanne (all arguably legit spellings) before getting to Cheyann

[livytoo]

My name is Olivia and there's not much I dislike about it, but it IS a bit of a mouthful. Two of my best friends in elementary school were Elizabeth and Amelia. Introducing the three of us together took a decade.

@mscrabby I understand what you mean by Zoe sounding like "so he..."! I always think someone is calling my name when I hear "I love you". Many people I know say it like "AH love ya" and I have a moment of wondering who's talking to me.

And of course the popularity of my name now. The year I was born, my name was #123. I didn't meet another Olivia til I was out of high school. Now they're everywhere!

[agxobsessed]

I've always disliked my name! My name is Andrea, I just always wanted a more feminine name. It just never felt like it 'fit'. I also dislike the meaning of my name, 'manly'....I'm definitely not manly, at all! I also dislike how there are multiple pronunciations of my name, one I REALLY dislike. Back when I was in elementary school my 5th grade teacher decided to use this pronunciation and everyone thought I pronounced it like that, I was just to shy and embarrassed to say anything. Every time I hear someone using that pronunciation of my name, it's like nails on a chalkboard. I also really dislike all the nicknames for my name, Annie, Andy, Dre, Drea. In high school my close friends would call me Dre or Drea but it was more of just for fun when we were joking around.

I also never liked that my name is actually a masculine name in Italy and I'm half Italian! Wonderful if I ever go to Italy.

I wish my parents would have picked one of their other choices, Adriana or Katherine 'Kate'.

[lahdeedah]

Sorry my phone is being difficult; this comment was meant to be in response to "yellow".

That's not where the problem is. The problem is when I REPEATEDLY spell it for them and they sit there and spell it Cheyenne or Cheyanne when I've JUST told them how it's spelled. Personally I don't think it's that difficult, Cheyanne is one of the more popular spellings, leave off the "e" and viola.

[happyhenrynathaniel]

My name is Amy Sarah, I like both names but the flow is awful. My maiden name stated with a "K "
But they did not think of what would happen if I married a Smith or Simmons, luckily I married someone with an "A" surname!

[ashthedreamer]

I've learned to essentially love my name. haha. I used to absolutely loathe it when I was younger, though! I still pretty much despise my MN (Marie), though, and I feel that Ashley Marie doesn't really fit me at all. If I could rename myself, I would be either Ashley Lila or Ashley Eleanor Grace. I love Ashley enough that I would keep it, and I feel it suits me really well.

My one hang-up with my FN, though, is its unisex nature--my uncle and his brother are Bruce Ashley and Ashley Bruce, respectively, and then I'm Ashley Marie. I've always found that kind of weird, haha. I feel like it's always held back my femininity--I feel like if I had been a Sarah or Rachel or Grace, I might have been more of a girl, which I admit I would have preferred. I'm not a tomboy by any means, but I'm also not a girly girl, either.

I love the natural aspect to Ashley, though--that it's not frilly, not flashy, feminine enough, and I love how natural it feels, it reminds me of nature, a meadow surrounded by ash trees (fitting, I know, given Ashley's meaning, haha).

My only other problem with Ashley lately is that if I ever want to use Asher for a son (which I likely will!), I'm not sure how we'd distinguish each other. I'm thinking about going by the nn Lela (lee-lah), but I'm not sure it suits me as well as just Ashley does. For sure I won't go by Ash anymore, though, haha.

[jesba]

I think Jessica is a pretty name, and I love how much history it actually has (even if feeling like an 80s-90s trend only), with being coined by and used by Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice) and having a sort-of-presence in the Bible (Iscah, a minor women character, which is where scholars think Shakespeare got the inspiration for Jessica). My mother chose it from a pretty inspirational dream she had about me, so I love that too.

I don't really think it suits me at all. It's very feminine and has a popular girl vibe, neither of which suits me. But Jess does. Simple, straightforward, smart, strong, those are all fine for me. When I had an awkward phase growing up, I was grateful my name didn't make me stand out more.

I love my middle name which I won't share for privacy reasons. I always felt it suited me more, but I never did try to make it work, and now I'm too old : D. Maybe if I ever do decide to have a son named Jesse I'll try to make the change. Seems a lot of work though : D.

Supposedly Frances and Margaret were in the running for me. These might have fit me better (and shows my parents kind of deviated from their natural taste in picking Jessica!). But I like Jess better than the nicknames for Frances and Margaret (although I like those too).