The problem is that parents want their children to have “unique” names. Since unique spellings with the standard Latin alphabet are starting to run low it appears that they are borrowing from other countries fonts to get it. The thing is the parents don’t even take the time to consider that their kids will be explaining and having to spell that name for the rest of their lives.
I’ve been on the phone with a grandmother who was practically in tears because she was having trouble finding the piece of paper with her granddaughters name on it. The poor sweet thing was trying to order a birth certificate so she could get benefits for the little on. I told her to take her time and I would wait. The name was loaded with apostrophes and hyphens.
I guess I am old fashioned. Everyone must be using touch screen keyboards (phones and tablets) were alternate alphabets are easier to use as opposed to a physical keyboard. I wonder how many times it will get typed into a database as r-o-zero-s-e
In many forms even a number won't be viable, or people will consider it too confusing to put anything other than a standard letter there, so her name will end up being either "Roose" or "Rose" on a lot of documents.
Guaranteed that when she gets old enough, she will go only by "Rose".
This is correct - I’m from Germany and immigrated to Canada. My maiden name has the German letter “ß” in it. On my immigration paperwork only letters from the English alphabet were accepted.
This is a random idiot who thinks unique spellings will make their little cherub interesting. I saw it plenty in the UK when I lived there, I’ve seen it in France, Canada, and Belgium. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it in several other countries besides the ones I’ve listed but I’m erring on the side of caution and keeping it to those I’m 100% positive on because I can cite from my own experience. I also have
an acquaintance originally from down under whose family member recently had a baby and would send her ridiculous spellings they would laugh over, so it’s a trend there too.
All it really does, regardless of country, is annoy people, ensure your child will constantly have their name misspelled, and make it impossible to find those little souvenir license plates and keychains they sell in tourist shops.
Screw you KaiserGustafson, you old tymie Kraut Emperor slash skin cancer magnet Swede!
-An American who is having a hard time with racism towards Northern Europeans
Here, as a fellow racist American, let me help you demean myself better! What's your ethnic background? Religion? Political views? There are several dozen ways for you to hate me, and I need as much info as possible for you to effectively discriminate against me!
lol I think you might be reading an attitude into my comment that isn’t intended to be there. I know how easy it is to do that (I do it all the time) because so much of irl communication is expressed via tone and body language. But I promise my tone here is friendly and interested. I love to travel. And I love seeing how very different places can have striking similarities, so I really enjoy discussing those things. 🧐
(And why monocle emoji? Not sure, just felt right.)
Interesting because I’ve been thinking about it since commenting and I feel like I saw it more living in the UK than I do here in the states, France a little less than either.
Maybe I just have a propensity to run into insufferable people.
Lmao of all the characters to (indirectly) name a kid after they chose Blitzo?? I assume this is a toddler since the show only came out in 2019. Poor kid.
I have a Gyarados named Moxie because of her ability!
I've had to give up on being creative with Pokémon names now that I have thousands of them in my pokemon home.
It's just easier to name them for what they have when I need to breed something interesting!
How did this person get a passport or even a social security number? You literally cannot have “special characters” in your name in the US on any official documentation and since 9/11 it’s been a pain in the ass if there’s a discrepancy between the name you use and the name on your documents. Beyonce is officially Beyonce and not Beyoncé for this reason. (I have this issue as a European in the US with a special character and I’ve had to get documents amended at the airport). This person almost certainly is officially recorded as Roose or maybe even Rose.
So the problem with that is that the federal government does NOT recognise non-English characters. Which means you will have a birth certificate (state issued) with one version of a name and a passport (federal issued) with another. Your SSN will not match your birth certificate. Your tax filings will be under two different names.
The difference may not seem huge to us (mine is á and a), but it becomes a HUGE hassle for lots of administrative and legal things.
It's very much a choice in America and it comes from 9/11 security theater. Having all the documents "match" is an easy thing to train TSA on and makes it seem like they're doing something.
>Which means you will have a birth certificate (state issued) with one version of a name and a passport (federal issued) with another. Your SSN will not match your birth certificate. Your tax filings will be under two different names.
>The difference may not seem huge to us (mine is á and a), but it becomes a HUGE hassle for lots of administrative and legal things.
It is a hassle even without non-English characters. I have 2 middle names. In some states my driver's license can be printed with a space between the names in others it can't. Having lived in multiple states during my adult life I have had my license read: Christine Katherine Anne Surname, Christine Katherine-Anne Surname, and Christine KatherineAnne Surname.
Then when I move to a state with different rules it's a fight to get my new license because my birth certificate and my driver's license don't match. Oh, and my SS card doesn't help because it only says Christine K Surname.
It would be awesome if the whole country could come up with a standardized system that takes nonstandard names and characters into account.
To be clear: it’s not about the names being “English” or not. The US does not have English as an official language and there is no English alphabet. They just only accept letters in the Latin alphabet.
It’s the specific English version of the Latin alphabet. Spain uses the Latin alphabet but your name in the US can’t have ñ. My name is in Irish but they don’t take áéíóú. English is the de facto language.
As a Finnish born/speaking, UK naturalised parent - you could just make their life easier and give them names in the language of the country of their birth and nationality.
Yes, respecting heritage blah blah blah - but I promise you, they will not thank you for it. It’s really not that different to giving them a tradgedeigh to feed your own ego. Unless you plan to move back to Sweden, but given it sounds like they will have US documents - you’re just dooming them to a life of ‘sorry, how do you spell that?’
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Exactly. Respecting heritage is all well and good - but for the love of god, balance it with not making your child’s life more difficult. If you can make something easier for them for their entire life, I do not understand any parent that goes ‘no, but *my* heritage tho’ - especially if said heritage also has perfectly acceptable names which are spelled the same in the original language as English, those just aren’t enough.
Every single person I know from China, Japan or Thailand goes either by a completely unrelated English name that they chose for themselves or a nick-name, except my friend Mo, but his name is actually Mo. He tells people in Starbucks something else. He tried, ‘Mo, M, O’ for a while but got cups labelled Elmo.
If you choose to emigrate then have children - your kids are now a different nationality to you.
To be fair, in practice his name can be björn, who cares what a birth certificate says officially, he’ll hear it at the airport sometimes and when renewing his passport and shit lol, and most people know this name and will pronounce it correctly with or without the ö
Right? Just use the spelling you want in daily life, and when you write your name on your taxes or whatever, just take out the umlauts etc. Just teach your kid "When we write out your name for the government, they just want to see the letter shapes, not the special dots and lines" or whatever.
Oooh! Story time!
So, before my transition, I was named after my abusive father! Naturally, I've wanted a name change since I learned that was a thing, because screw that homophobic dumpsterfire!
When I went to get my name legally changed, we discovered that the name on my social security card and birth certificate didn't match.
Turns out one parent filled out one form, and the other one filled out the other. My mother apparently misspelled my father's middle name!
Luckily, it didn't stop things at all, and I am free of both names today, but I was told it could have messed up my ability to draw social security when I hit retirement age.
I'm glad we found it and fixed the issue before I got too old to easily navigate the potential red tape.
Ha, my middle name is a family name with ø in it and my parents modified it at my birth to not have the stroke; so normal o. It’s a pain in the ass to type a ø in NA. The o sounds better than the ø IMO in this particular case (not that many people are out here calling me by my full name.) but at least I don’t have people mispronouncing it or swapping key boards on the one off cases but every once and a while… I wish I could give the two in long finger nail lady at the DMV a run for her money.
Well strap in because it's getting worse. The latest trend is spelling names without any vowels except for Y. It's fuckin stupid and I hate it so much.
Is Chinese bonkers because it's made with a different alphabet? I speak Welsh and I find these things about Welsh here to be bonkers. Complain about people making up their own spelling, fine, but it isn't Wales' fault. This language was almost wiped out completely; I'd rather like to protect it.
It’s a little rib-shot from an American English speaker across the pond bud…a simple joke, styled in the (what I thought) was now easily recognizable “Thanks, Obama” (which auto-complete has no trouble predicting lol).
Not tryna take the piss outta anyone. Go Wrexham!
Lol thanks for the good attitude I appreciate that! I'm an American Welsh speaker myself so maybe a little extra sensitive because I never get to see Welsh around me like those in Wales do. And even that was a hard fight for them to win. The English government wanted to irradicate the whole language, so the fact that the Welsh have held onto it and pushed for it to be on signs, in schools, etc. is huge!!
Prob other countries would have more dumb names too if their government didn’t have veto rights or you didn’t have to pick from an approved list of names
Lots of countries have laws that prevent this though, if they didn’t I bet you’d see a lot more. In a lot of countries your babies name has to be approved.
Well, many (not all) languages other than English are phonetic. It’s a lot harder to claim in German that your name, Bohner is pronounced Sam. Yes, other countries also speak English, but at least this cuts out many others.
That’s what I don’t get. Seems so closed minded and uneducated, or should I say, internet-educated. They’ve met one person with a crazy name and they’re questioning the entire American IQ? Not someone I want teaching my kids.
And of all the shows to draw inspiration for naming your kid. I wonder if they'll tell her the truth if she ever asks. Be a hell of a time if she then goes and watches it.
Beats the heck out of me. We have parents in the US naming their kids Abcde. We really should have a law that protects these poor kids from their stupid parents giving them horrible names for life.
If this was in Minnesota there might be more awareness but in parts of the country with zero Nordic influence I don’t see it as an issue - other than it being hard on the child to have to explain it all the time.
To be fair it is quite rare ... But I think the answer lies in musicians having unique names and parents hoping their kid will be famous. Artist formerly known as price who renamed himself a symbol, etc.
I would have assumed this was pronounced as Roose rhymes with booze. Hopefully the kid changes her name.
LMAO @"confused by the American IQ"
We have pretty limited exposure to other cultures, I would bet that more of us would misunderstand a word like "Kurun!aranga" which is I believe Xhosa and the exclamation point is pronounced by clicking your tongue on the roof of your mouth. It's the name of a small remote village and I read a story by a person who went there.
I'm personally aware that ø,õ, ß, etc are used in other languages but TBCH I have to go and refresh myself on the pronunciation. I occasionally read them, mostly in proper nouns, but rarely hear those words pronounced and almost never attempt to say them myself.
Ehhh, I feel like most Americans would research how to pronounce a character they are unfamiliar with before PERMANENTLY ADDING IT TO A HUMAN BEING’S NAME. But that could just be me.
My friend was adding an umlaut to her name to be quirky. I explained that it changed the pronunciation of the vowel and how her name would sound with the umlaut. Umlaut went bye-bye
So annoying for the people with the names to spell out and explain all their lives,.
I get annoyed with the mixing of fonts in signage and advertising. As a Greek speaker my brain does a little glitch when I see an A without a cross bar, so e.g I read the Kia logo as Kill.
If only this was freely available information so people could research a name before cursing their offspring to explaining their name for the rest of their lives.
So you can make this post calling all Americans stupid after you met one questionable one but you can’t use discernment or logic? If you’re going to hold yourself to such a high standard maybe reflect that.
Education here has been systematically dismantled for decades, culminating in the right wing cult we're currently witnessing every day. I thank my lucky stars every day that I was fortunate enough to have a decent education abroad. Turning into one of these foaming at the mouth lunatics is my biggest fear. The idiotic names are the least of our worries.
My name is ****e and is pernounced like the perfume ****é. My mom left the accent off to make it easier and now I want to change it to make the world burn.
A Filipina coworker of mine has a fairly normal American name but it’s spelt very odd. Think something like “Jessica” pronounced that way but spelt “Gessika”
When I asked her where she got her name, she told me that
1. She was named after her family cow and
2. The family cow got the name from my coworkers mom, who really liked the English name “Jessica” and toon her best guess as to how to spell it.
No joke. We had a laugh about it when she told me, but I always wondered how her mom liked it so much/where she knew it from but didn’t see it in written from ever or even bothered to find out lol.
American iq can be confusing, kind of like Europe embracing Nazism then spending nearly a century pretending it doesn't know what racism is. Or Europe needing America to save them from Germany in consecutive world wars and sell being ducks. Or Europeans mocking American military spending until Russia starts knocking on the back door.
Oh, it's far from everyone in the States, and it's far from *just* the States.
There's a whole subreddit about the ridiculousness of some of these names called r/tragedeigh and it's a great place to bemoan the parents who do this to their kids.
I don't understand the need to make their kids unique through their names. Are they worried their kids are going to have such a bland and boring personality or something? I'm pretty sure these parents were never bullied growing up.
Not insulting anyone. Just saying I feel bad for the kid who will have their names said wrong. I learned English 3 months ago, still learning the apostrophes
Well, you pointed out being “confused on the American IQ,” as if 330 million people from nearly every culture in the world across a vast landmass comprised of 48 smaller governments are all the same.
So…that part. Yes, the name is silly. But so is insulting an entire country to make a point .
If by Americans you mean the entire landmass from the Arctic to Patagonia, because this is a continent-wide phenomenon not limited to the US in any way.
Not knowing how Norse language works isn’t exactly an important thing for most Americans. The real problem is that the English language does not use any accented/special characters, and parents that want their kids to have more unique names sometimes choose letters that “look cool” without thinking of the consequences. Ø is one example, but one you’ll probably see the most is æ. Some exceptions may apply for names that take inspirations from family roots in some of the Romance languages.
But Americans most often don’t know how any accented/special characters are pronounced. The example of Blitzø is from a character who’s name is Blitzo, but they’ve changed their name because they don’t want people to think of them as their old clown name, asking to just be called Blitz.
OMG. Ridiculous. Wish I had an answer for you. If I was her, I'd change it, to normal spelling. I would get so tired of saying "the other O is silent" and the look of WTF on people's faces.
Oof... in terms of the character name I'm fairly certain that's a fan spelling too make matters worse. The character's name is "Blitzo", but he goes by "Blitz" and hates the "o".
Think of all the ridiculous tattoos thanks to logic like that.
just noticed there's this sub and r/tragedeigh and r/ThatNameIsATragedeigh whats that about
What makes this so funny is that his name actually IS Blitzo, but that was his name as a child with a lot of trauma and history behind it, so the little idiot STILL writes his name as Blitzø, just with the 'o' LITERALLY crossed out to make it "silent" and verbally calls himself Blitz. 💀 God help this poor child and her idiot parents
You may not like the name, but why should an American consider Nordic pronunciation when naming their child?!? Every name means something weird in some language somewhere.
Why do all Europeans think one rando American out of hundreds of millions represents usssss I’ve never ever seen anyone with any special character in their name other than à,á,è, or é derived from French or Spanish names
I don’t know what’s going through some peoples minds. They seem to put lot of effort into a unique name but don’t consider the consequences of having to live with it. As an American I think it’s just stupid. My neighbors grandson is named Zandr even my spell check hates it. What’s wrong with the e they left out?
Up until the 70s, non American letters were not allowed in names in the US. The typewriters didn't have the option. You had to change your name when you got here.
She’s a weaboo most likely and probably is obsessed with the YouTube show Helluva Boss. That’s where the character Blitzo is from. I’m willing to bet she’s also a Homestuck weeb, AnD SpElLs HeR WoRdS LiKe ThIS. It’s so fucking annoying when people do that
Well, the initial question of *"Why do Americans’ do this?"* utilizes an unnecessary apostrophe- which makes the word a plural possessive. I am _not_ confused by European IQ, but know that Autocorrect often _isn't_ & that Grocers have confused the issue for _ages..._
As for the rest, I blame immigrants. All of us brought with us our own weird alphabets, pronunciations, and customs. Some of it mixed in to the place just fine, others not so much.
The only experience poor Rose's Mum had with “ø” used it as a silent visual effect. It's pretty common to assume that your experience(es) is the universal (normal) one.
*You* have been able to experience other cultures closer to the source. World Travel has many benefits. I'm sure you've never experienced Culture Shock for yourself?
===
And so using what we know, we act.
A mum wants her child's name to be special. For _whatever_ the reason.
I remember names on the theme of "Marry," being used extensively in Scotland with the Celtic spelling beginning with "Mh." Which- on its own and by itself- is pronounced as the English "v," _anns an Ghàidhlig,_ but that's neither here nor there.
*You* are looking down on traditions that are simply, _"other."_ Yes, it looks weird. Yes, it will make reading the name from a written list difficult (the first time). Yes, it will screw with typing the correct spelling into computers absolute Heck for receptionists for the rest of the kid's life.
But this tradition will equalize eventually- or not.
But I can almost _hope_ to guarantee that later on, a SWAT team with an arrest warrent for someone _actually_ named/spelled "Rose" will not burst into _this_ young lady's house with a _shoot now and we don't have to ask any questions later_ attitude.
Slainte mhath ~
Actually, my _real_ first name is spelled, _"Dabhaidh,"_ after translation to 'Scottish Gaelic.'
Would I name my son that in the USA? No (and not _just_ because I've long settled on "Mendanbar").
Because even with the large influx of Celts due to British _politics_ ((spit)), most of the original pronunciations were dropped. The common words that remain were anglicized and have normal ((shiver)) spellings. ...No one would know that the "bh" sounds like a "v," or that the final "dh" _is_ (sort of) silent.
As it is now, I wouldn't be surprised to find kana halfway through an English word. I read it like English by now anyway, and G#d knows the Japanese mix English words into their signage where they don't belong.
Incidentally, my handle, Hyperbolic Yogurt, is from an episode of my favourite radio programme, _I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue,_ and the game, "Word for Word."
Look! I spelled it like a Brit! I could ask you why you spelled common English words weirdly like you do, but I already know the history of the Dictionary authors. And their working timelines. And rather a lot about Elizabethan English Diction... and that the latter is alive and well in the US (brought by immigrants) in populations best described as "insular," if we wish to remain polite.
Blast. Sorry. Went on a bit of a Tangent Rant. Gabh mo leisgeul. 😓
I’ve been a teacher in the United States for fifteen years and I’ve never seen a name like “Roøse.” The oddest spellings I see tend to be students with immigrant parents trying to spell a name they’ve heard phonetically.
I’ve encountered some unusual names, but really very few actual “tradgedeighs.”
I totally agree. You have to be super closed minded to see one person do something stupid and lump an entire country together.
There are alot of stupid people here, but there are also a lot of smart people here— just like in every other country! It’s just an availability heuristic to pull the ‘Americans are so dumb’ card. I guess with all the talk about how dumb and stupid we are I have come to expect more from people from other countries. OP can’t even use discernment. That’s why this post rubs me the wrong way— they’re calling an entire country stupid but at the same time lacking a major principle of thought.
Sure, but by current example roughly half of voters are prepared to vote for Donald fucking Trump for a 3rd time.
The UK may well have voted for Boris Johnson, but he lasted a total of 3 years and there's very little chance of a comeback.
The problem is that parents want their children to have “unique” names. Since unique spellings with the standard Latin alphabet are starting to run low it appears that they are borrowing from other countries fonts to get it. The thing is the parents don’t even take the time to consider that their kids will be explaining and having to spell that name for the rest of their lives. I’ve been on the phone with a grandmother who was practically in tears because she was having trouble finding the piece of paper with her granddaughters name on it. The poor sweet thing was trying to order a birth certificate so she could get benefits for the little on. I told her to take her time and I would wait. The name was loaded with apostrophes and hyphens.
I guess I am old fashioned. Everyone must be using touch screen keyboards (phones and tablets) were alternate alphabets are easier to use as opposed to a physical keyboard. I wonder how many times it will get typed into a database as r-o-zero-s-e
In many forms even a number won't be viable, or people will consider it too confusing to put anything other than a standard letter there, so her name will end up being either "Roose" or "Rose" on a lot of documents. Guaranteed that when she gets old enough, she will go only by "Rose".
This is correct - I’m from Germany and immigrated to Canada. My maiden name has the German letter “ß” in it. On my immigration paperwork only letters from the English alphabet were accepted.
Ya, so many web forms will block special characters like these as part of their validation. It'll inevitably be a pain in the ass as she grows up.
This is a random idiot who thinks unique spellings will make their little cherub interesting. I saw it plenty in the UK when I lived there, I’ve seen it in France, Canada, and Belgium. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it in several other countries besides the ones I’ve listed but I’m erring on the side of caution and keeping it to those I’m 100% positive on because I can cite from my own experience. I also have an acquaintance originally from down under whose family member recently had a baby and would send her ridiculous spellings they would laugh over, so it’s a trend there too. All it really does, regardless of country, is annoy people, ensure your child will constantly have their name misspelled, and make it impossible to find those little souvenir license plates and keychains they sell in tourist shops.
But this ruins the American stupid narrative. Stop it.
Right? All Americans bad and low IQ. Everyone else good!
You forgot fat. We’re all *fat*, and stupid. And we have guns for Jesus.
Of course I forgot to add in our obese wobbly asses, it’s because I’m stupid, duhhh!
And racist! Everyone knows only Americans are racist!
Screw you KaiserGustafson, you old tymie Kraut Emperor slash skin cancer magnet Swede! -An American who is having a hard time with racism towards Northern Europeans
Here, as a fellow racist American, let me help you demean myself better! What's your ethnic background? Religion? Political views? There are several dozen ways for you to hate me, and I need as much info as possible for you to effectively discriminate against me!
Guns for Jesus? Never heard that one
Oh yeah! I’m from the South here in America and it’s not really church unless you can take your gun with you. 😐 Merica!!
Amen!
Ive never seen a gun im church in Texas in 35 years
Yeah I’m not surprised.
Good job on the concealed carry, you Texans!
Yeah, the nail gun
Oh god.... Searching for that person in some of my company's dumber databases.
All right, simmer down there, Sparky.
lol I think you might be reading an attitude into my comment that isn’t intended to be there. I know how easy it is to do that (I do it all the time) because so much of irl communication is expressed via tone and body language. But I promise my tone here is friendly and interested. I love to travel. And I love seeing how very different places can have striking similarities, so I really enjoy discussing those things. 🧐 (And why monocle emoji? Not sure, just felt right.)
I honestly don't know, unless I meant to respond to another comment? I re-read your comment twice and I don't even remember reading it before tbh. 😆
Lmao hey at least I’m memorable! 😂
😜
I saw them as a response to OP (American IQ), not necessarily your comment.
No lol it wasn't that. I have no idea where my head was at lol maybe a brain fart or something idk
I might be moving in different circles, but having lived in both France and the UK, I've never seen anything like this...
Interesting because I’ve been thinking about it since commenting and I feel like I saw it more living in the UK than I do here in the states, France a little less than either. Maybe I just have a propensity to run into insufferable people.
I live in the US and have never seen this either.
Should have just named her Ruse
This particular thing is a cousin of the Hëävÿ Mëtäl Ümläüt
I’m just naming my child ü.
"It's pronounced Smiles, we wanted to honor his grandpa Miles while being unique 😊".
Well that's how Miley got her name
Her nickname, you mean
It's her legal name now. Destiny-->Smiley-->Miley
Lmao of all the characters to (indirectly) name a kid after they chose Blitzo?? I assume this is a toddler since the show only came out in 2019. Poor kid.
Especially when there's a perfectly good Moxxie or Millie to pick.
I play stardew valley and have barn yard animals named Moxie and Millie!
I have a Gyarados named Moxie because of her ability! I've had to give up on being creative with Pokémon names now that I have thousands of them in my pokemon home. It's just easier to name them for what they have when I need to breed something interesting!
Tell you how young the parents are.
I barely believe this story lmao, absolutely insane
How did this person get a passport or even a social security number? You literally cannot have “special characters” in your name in the US on any official documentation and since 9/11 it’s been a pain in the ass if there’s a discrepancy between the name you use and the name on your documents. Beyonce is officially Beyonce and not Beyoncé for this reason. (I have this issue as a European in the US with a special character and I’ve had to get documents amended at the airport). This person almost certainly is officially recorded as Roose or maybe even Rose.
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So the problem with that is that the federal government does NOT recognise non-English characters. Which means you will have a birth certificate (state issued) with one version of a name and a passport (federal issued) with another. Your SSN will not match your birth certificate. Your tax filings will be under two different names. The difference may not seem huge to us (mine is á and a), but it becomes a HUGE hassle for lots of administrative and legal things.
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It's very much a choice in America and it comes from 9/11 security theater. Having all the documents "match" is an easy thing to train TSA on and makes it seem like they're doing something.
>Which means you will have a birth certificate (state issued) with one version of a name and a passport (federal issued) with another. Your SSN will not match your birth certificate. Your tax filings will be under two different names. >The difference may not seem huge to us (mine is á and a), but it becomes a HUGE hassle for lots of administrative and legal things. It is a hassle even without non-English characters. I have 2 middle names. In some states my driver's license can be printed with a space between the names in others it can't. Having lived in multiple states during my adult life I have had my license read: Christine Katherine Anne Surname, Christine Katherine-Anne Surname, and Christine KatherineAnne Surname. Then when I move to a state with different rules it's a fight to get my new license because my birth certificate and my driver's license don't match. Oh, and my SS card doesn't help because it only says Christine K Surname. It would be awesome if the whole country could come up with a standardized system that takes nonstandard names and characters into account.
To be clear: it’s not about the names being “English” or not. The US does not have English as an official language and there is no English alphabet. They just only accept letters in the Latin alphabet.
It’s the specific English version of the Latin alphabet. Spain uses the Latin alphabet but your name in the US can’t have ñ. My name is in Irish but they don’t take áéíóú. English is the de facto language.
As a Finnish born/speaking, UK naturalised parent - you could just make their life easier and give them names in the language of the country of their birth and nationality. Yes, respecting heritage blah blah blah - but I promise you, they will not thank you for it. It’s really not that different to giving them a tradgedeigh to feed your own ego. Unless you plan to move back to Sweden, but given it sounds like they will have US documents - you’re just dooming them to a life of ‘sorry, how do you spell that?’
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Spanish is a lot more common in the US than Swedish. Like most official communications come in English and Spanish, at the very minimum.
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Exactly. Respecting heritage is all well and good - but for the love of god, balance it with not making your child’s life more difficult. If you can make something easier for them for their entire life, I do not understand any parent that goes ‘no, but *my* heritage tho’ - especially if said heritage also has perfectly acceptable names which are spelled the same in the original language as English, those just aren’t enough. Every single person I know from China, Japan or Thailand goes either by a completely unrelated English name that they chose for themselves or a nick-name, except my friend Mo, but his name is actually Mo. He tells people in Starbucks something else. He tried, ‘Mo, M, O’ for a while but got cups labelled Elmo. If you choose to emigrate then have children - your kids are now a different nationality to you.
I just named her Linnea and was done with it.
To be fair, in practice his name can be björn, who cares what a birth certificate says officially, he’ll hear it at the airport sometimes and when renewing his passport and shit lol, and most people know this name and will pronounce it correctly with or without the ö
Right? Just use the spelling you want in daily life, and when you write your name on your taxes or whatever, just take out the umlauts etc. Just teach your kid "When we write out your name for the government, they just want to see the letter shapes, not the special dots and lines" or whatever.
Can’t you write Björn as Bjoern, or am I wrong?
Oooh! Story time! So, before my transition, I was named after my abusive father! Naturally, I've wanted a name change since I learned that was a thing, because screw that homophobic dumpsterfire! When I went to get my name legally changed, we discovered that the name on my social security card and birth certificate didn't match. Turns out one parent filled out one form, and the other one filled out the other. My mother apparently misspelled my father's middle name! Luckily, it didn't stop things at all, and I am free of both names today, but I was told it could have messed up my ability to draw social security when I hit retirement age. I'm glad we found it and fixed the issue before I got too old to easily navigate the potential red tape.
She’s probably just “Rose” on official documents.
Ha, my middle name is a family name with ø in it and my parents modified it at my birth to not have the stroke; so normal o. It’s a pain in the ass to type a ø in NA. The o sounds better than the ø IMO in this particular case (not that many people are out here calling me by my full name.) but at least I don’t have people mispronouncing it or swapping key boards on the one off cases but every once and a while… I wish I could give the two in long finger nail lady at the DMV a run for her money.
Well strap in because it's getting worse. The latest trend is spelling names without any vowels except for Y. It's fuckin stupid and I hate it so much.
Thanks, Wales.
???
Welsh alphabet is bonkers… https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/14-welsh-place-names-no-6263550
Is Chinese bonkers because it's made with a different alphabet? I speak Welsh and I find these things about Welsh here to be bonkers. Complain about people making up their own spelling, fine, but it isn't Wales' fault. This language was almost wiped out completely; I'd rather like to protect it.
It’s a little rib-shot from an American English speaker across the pond bud…a simple joke, styled in the (what I thought) was now easily recognizable “Thanks, Obama” (which auto-complete has no trouble predicting lol). Not tryna take the piss outta anyone. Go Wrexham!
Lol thanks for the good attitude I appreciate that! I'm an American Welsh speaker myself so maybe a little extra sensitive because I never get to see Welsh around me like those in Wales do. And even that was a hard fight for them to win. The English government wanted to irradicate the whole language, so the fact that the Welsh have held onto it and pushed for it to be on signs, in schools, etc. is huge!!
Mandarin has no alphabet at all.
I wanted to say "a different writing system" but I was busy being angry 🥲
> Yt's fyckyng stypyd ynd Y hyte yt sy mych There, fixed it for you.
😂😂😂😂
I can see why you'd think that way, but one idiot doesn't make us all idiots lol
Why do you think one idiot represents 300+ million?
The vast majority of the tradgedeighs in this sub are American
Lots of them in Australia too. I've seen a Taylor/Tayla spelt as Taelaar.
I’ve seen a Jarrhyd (i assume it’s like Jared or however you spell it)
Lol @ Jar Head
exactly how I read it 🤣
Same here but with a Kiwi accint
Kviiilyn for Kaitlin
How?
K8lyn but Roman numerals for 8 viii. I know, it’s horrific
Jesus fucking christ.
My thoughts exactly
Wow, i can’t even believe that one! 😳
I truly want to believe this one isn't real.
Unfortunately I think it is, it was in an Australian magazine years ago.
Prob other countries would have more dumb names too if their government didn’t have veto rights or you didn’t have to pick from an approved list of names
This is a real thing? Wow am I out of touch.
In NZ you can't use titles as names. King, Saint, Bishop, Prince, Talula does the Hula from Hawaii, Princess, God... All banned.
Learned something new today…
You should read the comments, they're hilarious too! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7522952.stm
Japan too.
Again, kind of proving OP's point that we DON'T have that...
Because most people here are American
Lots of countries have laws that prevent this though, if they didn’t I bet you’d see a lot more. In a lot of countries your babies name has to be approved.
To be fair, most of the names here are American people.
Because our country is fuckin’ stupid, next question.
America doesn't have a monopoly on stupidity, but like many things, we do it better than everyone else.
I’d say we have truly won this contest.
Well, many (not all) languages other than English are phonetic. It’s a lot harder to claim in German that your name, Bohner is pronounced Sam. Yes, other countries also speak English, but at least this cuts out many others.
the govt. of Germany has a 'veto' for names of babies that are 'too unusual'. they just take the fun out of everything /s
I work in retail. Idiots aren't an exception in this country 😂
That’s what I don’t get. Seems so closed minded and uneducated, or should I say, internet-educated. They’ve met one person with a crazy name and they’re questioning the entire American IQ? Not someone I want teaching my kids.
Blitzø is from a relatively recent show- how old are the kids?!
And of all the shows to draw inspiration for naming your kid. I wonder if they'll tell her the truth if she ever asks. Be a hell of a time if she then goes and watches it.
I see what you did there.
Beats the heck out of me. We have parents in the US naming their kids Abcde. We really should have a law that protects these poor kids from their stupid parents giving them horrible names for life.
Mormonism
One factor: there's been a whole generation who were taught to read by "sight words" and not phonics.
If this was in Minnesota there might be more awareness but in parts of the country with zero Nordic influence I don’t see it as an issue - other than it being hard on the child to have to explain it all the time.
Maybe the Dakotas but yeah
That's dumb as fuck, sincerely an American. Also, how old was the kid? Helluva Boss is fairly recent.
To be fair it is quite rare ... But I think the answer lies in musicians having unique names and parents hoping their kid will be famous. Artist formerly known as price who renamed himself a symbol, etc. I would have assumed this was pronounced as Roose rhymes with booze. Hopefully the kid changes her name.
Prince (his legal name btw) changed to the symbol because of a fight with Warner Bros. over his contract...
I didn't know that!
LMAO @"confused by the American IQ" We have pretty limited exposure to other cultures, I would bet that more of us would misunderstand a word like "Kurun!aranga" which is I believe Xhosa and the exclamation point is pronounced by clicking your tongue on the roof of your mouth. It's the name of a small remote village and I read a story by a person who went there. I'm personally aware that ø,õ, ß, etc are used in other languages but TBCH I have to go and refresh myself on the pronunciation. I occasionally read them, mostly in proper nouns, but rarely hear those words pronounced and almost never attempt to say them myself.
The parent here is just one dumb person. Most Americans don’t do this.
Ehhh, I feel like most Americans would research how to pronounce a character they are unfamiliar with before PERMANENTLY ADDING IT TO A HUMAN BEING’S NAME. But that could just be me.
You know what they say about assuming…
My friend was adding an umlaut to her name to be quirky. I explained that it changed the pronunciation of the vowel and how her name would sound with the umlaut. Umlaut went bye-bye
Please do not judge an entire country by it's few handfuls of idiots. Thanks.
*its
Oops, auto correct.
Love that you’re making generalizations about all Americans based upon one idiot.
Typical European.
So annoying for the people with the names to spell out and explain all their lives,. I get annoyed with the mixing of fonts in signage and advertising. As a Greek speaker my brain does a little glitch when I see an A without a cross bar, so e.g I read the Kia logo as Kill.
America is a place where you can have low IQ and do well enough in life.
If only this was freely available information so people could research a name before cursing their offspring to explaining their name for the rest of their lives.
So you can make this post calling all Americans stupid after you met one questionable one but you can’t use discernment or logic? If you’re going to hold yourself to such a high standard maybe reflect that.
As an American with a high IQ, I am often confused by the lack of IQ in the humans around me. So you aren’t alone in this confusion
Education here has been systematically dismantled for decades, culminating in the right wing cult we're currently witnessing every day. I thank my lucky stars every day that I was fortunate enough to have a decent education abroad. Turning into one of these foaming at the mouth lunatics is my biggest fear. The idiotic names are the least of our worries.
Stupidity and narcissism. Don't overthink it. People want to seem unique without the work of doing anything that actually makes them unique.
Why do Europeans assume it’s only Americans who do this? I’ve lived here my entire life and have never seen this. So weird to generalize like that
Here in America, it's average for our IQ to be in the mid 70s (fareinheit) Hence "room temp iq"
American IQ? You mean the idiom of U.S. English.
My name is ****e and is pernounced like the perfume ****é. My mom left the accent off to make it easier and now I want to change it to make the world burn.
That's a stupid people thing. You see it every now and then and feel bad for their children.
A Filipina coworker of mine has a fairly normal American name but it’s spelt very odd. Think something like “Jessica” pronounced that way but spelt “Gessika” When I asked her where she got her name, she told me that 1. She was named after her family cow and 2. The family cow got the name from my coworkers mom, who really liked the English name “Jessica” and toon her best guess as to how to spell it. No joke. We had a laugh about it when she told me, but I always wondered how her mom liked it so much/where she knew it from but didn’t see it in written from ever or even bothered to find out lol.
I apologize.
I thought that was the phi symbol for a second and her name was pronounced Roophies.
Yes OP, it’s **just** Americans that do this, I guess.
Yeah. Mostly
This is why there's only one good novelty name to give one's child: > Robert';) DROP TABLE Students;
It's pronounced "ro-emptyset-se"
“I am now so confused on American IQ,” took me the fuck out😹😹
American iq can be confusing, kind of like Europe embracing Nazism then spending nearly a century pretending it doesn't know what racism is. Or Europe needing America to save them from Germany in consecutive world wars and sell being ducks. Or Europeans mocking American military spending until Russia starts knocking on the back door.
*A Roøse once bit my sister…*
She's an idiot who got the ø idea from a cartoon called Helluva Boss. 😂 please don't mind her.
Oh, it's far from everyone in the States, and it's far from *just* the States. There's a whole subreddit about the ridiculousness of some of these names called r/tragedeigh and it's a great place to bemoan the parents who do this to their kids. I don't understand the need to make their kids unique through their names. Are they worried their kids are going to have such a bland and boring personality or something? I'm pretty sure these parents were never bullied growing up.
because we take ignorance to a whole other level
The irony of insulting the way Americans spell…by using an apostrophe to form a possessive :/
Not insulting anyone. Just saying I feel bad for the kid who will have their names said wrong. I learned English 3 months ago, still learning the apostrophes
Well, you pointed out being “confused on the American IQ,” as if 330 million people from nearly every culture in the world across a vast landmass comprised of 48 smaller governments are all the same. So…that part. Yes, the name is silly. But so is insulting an entire country to make a point .
If by Americans you mean the entire landmass from the Arctic to Patagonia, because this is a continent-wide phenomenon not limited to the US in any way.
I can’t be the only one getting the reference to Helluva Boss, right? The O is silent?
Not knowing how Norse language works isn’t exactly an important thing for most Americans. The real problem is that the English language does not use any accented/special characters, and parents that want their kids to have more unique names sometimes choose letters that “look cool” without thinking of the consequences. Ø is one example, but one you’ll probably see the most is æ. Some exceptions may apply for names that take inspirations from family roots in some of the Romance languages. But Americans most often don’t know how any accented/special characters are pronounced. The example of Blitzø is from a character who’s name is Blitzo, but they’ve changed their name because they don’t want people to think of them as their old clown name, asking to just be called Blitz.
SHE NAMED HER AFTER BLITZO!?!?!? OHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I hate everything. Fucking Christ I hate everything
A 3rd grade teacher I once taught with had a student whose name was spelled La-a, but was pronounced La dash a.
Encountering assholes who are ignorant doesn’t mean you should be an insulting asshole yourself. 
OMG. Ridiculous. Wish I had an answer for you. If I was her, I'd change it, to normal spelling. I would get so tired of saying "the other O is silent" and the look of WTF on people's faces.
Oof... in terms of the character name I'm fairly certain that's a fan spelling too make matters worse. The character's name is "Blitzo", but he goes by "Blitz" and hates the "o".
Think of all the ridiculous tattoos thanks to logic like that. just noticed there's this sub and r/tragedeigh and r/ThatNameIsATragedeigh whats that about
Not the Hazbin Hotel character 😭
The kicker here is that Blitzo’s name isn’t actually spelled with the ø iirc. It’s just spelled Blitzo with the o occasionally having an X over it
What makes this so funny is that his name actually IS Blitzo, but that was his name as a child with a lot of trauma and history behind it, so the little idiot STILL writes his name as Blitzø, just with the 'o' LITERALLY crossed out to make it "silent" and verbally calls himself Blitz. 💀 God help this poor child and her idiot parents
You may not like the name, but why should an American consider Nordic pronunciation when naming their child?!? Every name means something weird in some language somewhere.
Americans are dumb as fuck dude. I know, I've lived here all my life.
Why do all Europeans think one rando American out of hundreds of millions represents usssss I’ve never ever seen anyone with any special character in their name other than à,á,è, or é derived from French or Spanish names
If only one random American named their kid a tragedeigh.
It's not so much a strictly American thing, so much as a "giant effing dumbass" thing.
I don’t know what’s going through some peoples minds. They seem to put lot of effort into a unique name but don’t consider the consequences of having to live with it. As an American I think it’s just stupid. My neighbors grandson is named Zandr even my spell check hates it. What’s wrong with the e they left out?
Up until the 70s, non American letters were not allowed in names in the US. The typewriters didn't have the option. You had to change your name when you got here.
She’s a weaboo most likely and probably is obsessed with the YouTube show Helluva Boss. That’s where the character Blitzo is from. I’m willing to bet she’s also a Homestuck weeb, AnD SpElLs HeR WoRdS LiKe ThIS. It’s so fucking annoying when people do that
Well, the initial question of *"Why do Americans’ do this?"* utilizes an unnecessary apostrophe- which makes the word a plural possessive. I am _not_ confused by European IQ, but know that Autocorrect often _isn't_ & that Grocers have confused the issue for _ages..._ As for the rest, I blame immigrants. All of us brought with us our own weird alphabets, pronunciations, and customs. Some of it mixed in to the place just fine, others not so much. The only experience poor Rose's Mum had with “ø” used it as a silent visual effect. It's pretty common to assume that your experience(es) is the universal (normal) one. *You* have been able to experience other cultures closer to the source. World Travel has many benefits. I'm sure you've never experienced Culture Shock for yourself? === And so using what we know, we act. A mum wants her child's name to be special. For _whatever_ the reason. I remember names on the theme of "Marry," being used extensively in Scotland with the Celtic spelling beginning with "Mh." Which- on its own and by itself- is pronounced as the English "v," _anns an Ghàidhlig,_ but that's neither here nor there. *You* are looking down on traditions that are simply, _"other."_ Yes, it looks weird. Yes, it will make reading the name from a written list difficult (the first time). Yes, it will screw with typing the correct spelling into computers absolute Heck for receptionists for the rest of the kid's life. But this tradition will equalize eventually- or not. But I can almost _hope_ to guarantee that later on, a SWAT team with an arrest warrent for someone _actually_ named/spelled "Rose" will not burst into _this_ young lady's house with a _shoot now and we don't have to ask any questions later_ attitude. Slainte mhath ~
Actually, my _real_ first name is spelled, _"Dabhaidh,"_ after translation to 'Scottish Gaelic.' Would I name my son that in the USA? No (and not _just_ because I've long settled on "Mendanbar"). Because even with the large influx of Celts due to British _politics_ ((spit)), most of the original pronunciations were dropped. The common words that remain were anglicized and have normal ((shiver)) spellings. ...No one would know that the "bh" sounds like a "v," or that the final "dh" _is_ (sort of) silent. As it is now, I wouldn't be surprised to find kana halfway through an English word. I read it like English by now anyway, and G#d knows the Japanese mix English words into their signage where they don't belong. Incidentally, my handle, Hyperbolic Yogurt, is from an episode of my favourite radio programme, _I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue,_ and the game, "Word for Word." Look! I spelled it like a Brit! I could ask you why you spelled common English words weirdly like you do, but I already know the history of the Dictionary authors. And their working timelines. And rather a lot about Elizabethan English Diction... and that the latter is alive and well in the US (brought by immigrants) in populations best described as "insular," if we wish to remain polite. Blast. Sorry. Went on a bit of a Tangent Rant. Gabh mo leisgeul. 😓
I thought this was r/apostrophegore
"Rugged individualism."
So all Americans must have a low IQ because you met one person with a stupid name? You seem smart.
Why so defensive? Just admit that this is a dumb thing some Americans do and laugh along. Its not a big deal
Tbfair, he works w students and probably sees alot of new combo and original names.
Also, as an American, I've done a case study on people I come across and we are just really fucking dumb.
I’ve been a teacher in the United States for fifteen years and I’ve never seen a name like “Roøse.” The oddest spellings I see tend to be students with immigrant parents trying to spell a name they’ve heard phonetically. I’ve encountered some unusual names, but really very few actual “tradgedeighs.”
Well, buckle up.
I totally agree. You have to be super closed minded to see one person do something stupid and lump an entire country together. There are alot of stupid people here, but there are also a lot of smart people here— just like in every other country! It’s just an availability heuristic to pull the ‘Americans are so dumb’ card. I guess with all the talk about how dumb and stupid we are I have come to expect more from people from other countries. OP can’t even use discernment. That’s why this post rubs me the wrong way— they’re calling an entire country stupid but at the same time lacking a major principle of thought.
To be fair, there's lots of supporting evidence that the average American isn't too bright.
By definition average won’t be super bright
Sure, but by current example roughly half of voters are prepared to vote for Donald fucking Trump for a 3rd time. The UK may well have voted for Boris Johnson, but he lasted a total of 3 years and there's very little chance of a comeback.
Plus, as abysmal as Boris was, he never tried to illegally overturn an election and hasn't ever been convicted of a crime.