Common Baby Names - Can You Pronounce: "La-a"

The other day my boss came into town.  She took us out to lunch and quite naturally, we started to talk about something that all four of us could relate to.  Kids (or children for people who are sticklers about kids being called kids).  Everyone at the table has a little person under the age of 3. 

We got to conversing about our kids’ names and how we came to name them that.  Needless to say, the naming of your child is a BIG deal and a lot of thought goes into it.  All this talk got me to thinking.

Some people decide on names that honor their parents or grandparents.  I personally, am not a fan of this unless the name transcends time and remains modern from one generation to another.  Names that come to mind are Michael or Elizabeth.  Yet, I find that those names are much too safe and lack a certain unique quality.  On the other hand, it just seems torturous to name a kid Edwina, Betty, Wilbur or Edgar.  My maternal grandmothers name was Reather May.  The name just doesn’t fit the times anymore.    And if you are absolutely dead set on naming your son Hiawatha after your great grandfather, at least hide it in their middle name.  It makes no sense to me to name him something that he will not go by.  Which leads to my next point.

Name your children what they shall be called.  Do not name him Joseph if you are just going to call him Joe or Joey.  Yeah, I think there is some novelty to names that grow with you as you age, but I guess I’m not a fan.  Take the name William for instance.  Throughout your life, you can go from William to Billy to Willie to Will (by the way, Will Smith’s first name is Willard…lol) to Bill.   And let’s not even talk about Richard. 

The going trend these days is to name your kid off-the-wall, never-heard-of-before type of stuff.   Apple, Trigg, Tripp, Bristol or Piper to name a few.  Is Piper really a girls name?  During our lunch one of my coworkers stated that she knew of a girl whose name is…… get this:  ‘La-a’ .  Can you pronounce that?  Here’s a hint.  It’s three syllables.  Phonetically the name is pronounced La-Dash-uh.

Are you kidding me?  Who puts a ‘dash’ in their kids names.  Who puts a number in their kids names? (De4Shae) I’ve heard of people with weirdly positioned silent letters in their name (i.e Shahlah (pronounced: Shayla), Xopher (pronounced: Christopher).  Heck, I went to school with a handful of them.  Which leads me to my next point.

For my African American brothers and sisters.  Please, watch what you name your children.  For the love of all things sacred, please stop it.  I’m not going to lie.  When you’re a kid these made up names seem normal to you, but honestly, the rest of the world doesn’t quite see it that way when you have to enter the work force.  Be it right or wrong, it is a proven fact that you are less likely to be considered for a job based on your name.  Put your resume up against someone with the same skill set and credentials with a more common name and there’s a good chance that the person with the more common name will be called for an interview.  If your name is or sounds like any of the following, you might need to do some name modification to make it sound more professional or use your middle name IF you can.  Ashinkashea, Bonequeeta, BiQuaysa, Carmelontae, Cornbreesha (lol), Jhaquatta, Sanquinetta or Shondrekia.

There are times though when the names come out kinda okay though.  Like Reignbeaux, Kenyatta, Aurora, etc.  But, more than anything a name should be easily pronounceable.  If I have to break your name down into 12 syllables to be able to pronounce it, then it’s too much.  Now the difference between, let’s say a ghetto name or a Indian name is a much different case.  I think that people in business can clearly recognize a name of a person who may have been born in another country and a name that has been pieced together consisting of 8 syllables from 8 of your most favorite people on the planet. :o).

But, some might say, who am I to talk, right?  My name is Seneca.  Although my name is becoming increasingly more common, most people still struggle to say it correctly.  I’m usually the first Seneca anybody has ever met.  Pronounced Sen-uh-kah.  Not Seneesa or Sinaka (Binaca with an “S”).  Lots of people don’t know that there are cities and streets with my name in the U.S. or that I share a name with a Greek philosopher or that I have a food company and clothing with my name on it.  Or even that I have a timber company and a famous thoroughbred with my exact name.

Name your children whatever you want but, please make it something that they will appreciate for the rest of their life.

Blessings!