What's in a name?

I have often pondered on the current obsession of naming babies something not a single person on earth has ever before heard, or choosing a relatively popular name but spelling it in a "unique" way in order to make that baby unique. I admit that it does not make sense in my mind. Spelling the name Emily with an "A" instead of an "E" and adding an "h" and adding and "ie" on the end instead of the usual "y" doesn't quite shout unique to me. Instead, it screams confusion. Instead of looking at a list of names and knowing exactly how each is pronounced, I find that the more recent reality is blankly staring at a confusing mesh of letters that seldom aid the reader in the quest for correct pronunciation. Allow me to illustrate this issue.
Today I received a note from my sister-in-law. Included with her note was an article taken from a Southeast Idaho newspaper about baby names. My sister-in-law and I have had many conversations about seemingly unique names that seem most prevalent in Utah & Idaho...as well as my husband's family. :) In his family there are not only Rob, Becky, and Jeff, but also Dasily, Shallie, and Kemais. Not to mention a nephew named Tae (pronounced "tie") and a niece named TeAnna. Now, in this situation these creative names were mostly a combination of names of people who had a profound influence on the lives of the mothers. I understand the concept behind that, even if I don't agree with it 100%. However, as this newspaper article brought to light, not only are people making up names, they are misspelling older names on purpose in an attempt to achieve a facet of originality.
The article begins with a picture of "HELLO my name is..." stickers that have been submitted from parents when their child is in the hospital. Those stickers include "Ryiley", "Tayzlee", "Breklyn", "Eivan", "Austyn", "Izak", "Iziah", "Aarik", and "Story". And those aren't even the best ones mentioned. The article talks about unique names, such as "Traigyn" and "Chyloh", "Traeley", and "Xoie" and I'll leave it to you to guess the gender for each of those children. It also goes on to explore when parents name their child a mainstream name but choose a unique spelling. For instance, the name "Addison" is fairly common, definitely heard of and one that I can reason is an acceptable, socially appropriate name for an infant. Not only is this name used frequently, it is also spelled "Addisyn", "Addysen", "Addyson", "Addisynn", "Adicyne", and "Addysann". Another example is a mother who changed the spelling of her daughter's name Aubrey Lynn to AuBri Lyn when she found out that there was a 1 year old girl living close by with the same name and spelling. This mother stated that she chose to use multiple capital letters because "I just like the way it looks. It's pretty on paper". Forgive me if I seem to think that simply changing the spelling of your child's name does not automatically make them unique. Most girls who are named the same thing simply assume that they are spelled the same way and do not often go around comparing the arrangement of alphabet letters that have been combined to form the appropriate sound.
There was one oversight in this article that I personally feel is an important trend in baby naming in Utah and Idaho is the confusion of racially identifying names. The article mentions a volleyball team in southern Idaho that has players with the names of "Ontaya", "Brindi", "Tailie", "Jase", "Destine", and "Danae". This is after the mention of names such as "DaniKa", "JaKolby", and "TaNeal". I learned early in my relationship with Rob that his sister Dasily had dated a young man named "Tyrell" in high school and I was immediately shocked that there had been a black guy in her school to date. I was quickly informed that this man was actually white and I was the only one that found it strange that he had a name that basically labeled him as African American. I assume that the racial confusion of these names stems mainly from the relative lack of racial diversity in the region and perhaps the innocence and ignorance of the parents that naming your child something like "JaKolby" will make people assume that he is an African American male who was named after his father and has the potential to enter the NBA.
Overall, the article was a confirmation of my already suspected notions that naming children has entered a new phase. Perhaps instead of thinking that people have personalities that make them unique our society now seems to think that the spelling of your name is what makes you different. Obviously just plain Emily is boring. But change her name to Chasitie (read that name carefully) and she suddenly is full of pizzazz and spunk. Forgive me if I think there is more to a person that how their name is spelled. Call me old fashioned but I think that if you want your child to be unique and to stand out from the crowd, then you should put them in equestrian classes and teach them the Irish jig. Enroll them in a calligraphy course and teach them to speak Hebrew. Or even just teach them morals and bring them up to be a good person and they'll stand out all on their own. Even if they have a name like Ashley.
It is not what our name is but how we represent our name that makes us unique. I guess Bevyn's and Berta's moms would disagree.



p.s. Feel free to make fun of any names we come up with for our children. I promise my feelings will not be hurt. :)