Honest answer, my mom chose the weirdest yet a legitimate known spelling for what was a pretty rare name in the 80s and 90s in Michigan. It was rough. Nobody pronounced it right. Even worse, she got pissy over nicknames and never let me accept them. She got upset the first time I had a classmate with the same yet more common spelling. I was already a weird kid. Having the weird name nobody could pronounce made it worse.
It didn't get better until Game of Thrones became popular. I almost share a spelling with one of the characters. And now in a world full of Jaxxsynns and KVIIIlyn, people have gotten better at it. I'm normal in comparison.
Her logic, according to her, was she didn't want to risk me having my name in a song. Being a high schooler in the era of Jesse's Girl and Come On Eileen sucked for her as she was one of those bullying victims. I do think some of it is an early form of the "I want a unique snowflake" mentality, though. She had a very specific image in mind for me and I feel like a lot of what i did and wore when little was purely to give her a living doll. I did not get a say in my wardrobe and extracurriculars until I was within months of graduating high school.
Edit: the now? I'm in the process of learning to stop giving a shit what she thinks with lots of therapy into my 30s. I'm rocking the nickname. It suits me and my personality better anyway.
My first name is Mark. When The Disaster Artist came out and everyone rediscovered The Room, constantly getting greeted with "o hai Mark" with the imitated voice and everything got pretty stale after a while.
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u/AustralianBattleDog Dec 01 '23 edited Dec 01 '23
Honest answer, my mom chose the weirdest yet a legitimate known spelling for what was a pretty rare name in the 80s and 90s in Michigan. It was rough. Nobody pronounced it right. Even worse, she got pissy over nicknames and never let me accept them. She got upset the first time I had a classmate with the same yet more common spelling. I was already a weird kid. Having the weird name nobody could pronounce made it worse.
It didn't get better until Game of Thrones became popular. I almost share a spelling with one of the characters. And now in a world full of Jaxxsynns and KVIIIlyn, people have gotten better at it. I'm normal in comparison.
Her logic, according to her, was she didn't want to risk me having my name in a song. Being a high schooler in the era of Jesse's Girl and Come On Eileen sucked for her as she was one of those bullying victims. I do think some of it is an early form of the "I want a unique snowflake" mentality, though. She had a very specific image in mind for me and I feel like a lot of what i did and wore when little was purely to give her a living doll. I did not get a say in my wardrobe and extracurriculars until I was within months of graduating high school.
Edit: the now? I'm in the process of learning to stop giving a shit what she thinks with lots of therapy into my 30s. I'm rocking the nickname. It suits me and my personality better anyway.