"Stealing" a Baby Name

[KarenK]

Maine weighing in!

Aaron and Erin sound completely different to me. I pronounce Aaron as Air-on, while Erin is Air-in. Also, the first syllable is slightly longer in Aaron.

[Outdoor Girl]

I know a woman named Dawn.  She was a singer and ended up in the UK for something that included diction lessons.  They went around the circle the first day and introduced themselves.  She said, 'My name is Dahn (Don)'.  Her instructor said, 'No, your name is Dawn.  Say it.'  She tried but couldn't get the difference.

The next day, they went around the circle again.  She told me she wanted to introduce herself as 'Elizabeth' so she wouldn't have to go through it again.

[MommyPenguin]

The Don/Dawn and Mary/Merry/Marry/Murray distinctions are classics for determining differences in dialect.  I remember doing a linguistics project where we had to find somebody who grew up in a different part of the country/world from us, and compare these (and a few others) for which were different and which were the same.  There are *all* sorts of different combinations for which sound the same and which sound different.

[BeautifulDisaster]

Thought of this thread today when I read this Miss Manners. It's the second letter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/miss-manners-food-not-to-your-liking-doesnt-need-to-be-announced/2014/02/25/a456ac18-9b3d-11e3-975d-107dfef7b668_story.html

The gist of it is, the letter writer has a 6yo son. Her husband's brother, who lives in another country and only sees them once a year, gave his child (who is now a year old) the same name. The letter writer is "devastated", told her sister in law how she feels, seemingly expecting them to change the boy's name. It makes her "so sad" whenever she has to tell her son someone in the family isn't talking to him....once a year.

[twiggy]

I have a sister Chris, a male cousin Chris, and an Aunt Kris.  No one is confused and no one felt usurped. 

Tell your friend to get over her bad self.  Seriously.

My cousin Chris married a Kris! 

And my uncle Joseph married a Patricia, same name as his sister.  Their eldest son, about 5 years older than me, was always Pat, same as his mom (and aunt).  Shocked at his wedding to learn that he was Joseph Patrick.  Joseph Patrick III came along two years later. 

You are expecting and she isn't.  She may never need the name.

I have a pretty common name, say Ann. My maiden name was Smith, and my married name is Jones (not really). My brother married Anne last year, and it has been a bit head turning for me to hear Anne Smith again and realize it's not me they're talking about.

Now BIL is engaged to a woman who is also named Ann. When he married this summer, there will be 2 Ann Jones in the family. At least with Bro's wife, she's a Smith and I'm a Jones now

[Elfmama]

Thought of this thread today when I read this Miss Manners. It's the second letter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/miss-manners-food-not-to-your-liking-doesnt-need-to-be-announced/2014/02/25/a456ac18-9b3d-11e3-975d-107dfef7b668_story.html

The gist of it is, the letter writer has a 6yo son. Her husband's brother, who lives in another country and only sees them once a year, gave his child (who is now a year old) the same name. The letter writer is "devastated", told her sister in law how she feels, seemingly expecting them to change the boy's name. It makes her "so sad" whenever she has to tell her son someone in the family isn't talking to him....once a year.

  And it would be so difficult, during these family visits, to refer to "Big Johnny" and "Little Johnny"? 

[LifeOnPluto]

To my (Australian) ear, Aaron and Erin, and Don and Dawn sound completely different.

But then I tried saying them with an American accent, and yeah, I can see how they'd sound the same.

[sammycat]

No matter how hard I try, I can't make Erin/Aaron sound alike, nor Don/Dawn. (Aussie/NZ here). In my little world:

Don - rhymes with John/Ron/con.
Dawn - rhymes with thorn/corn/morn/Shawn.

Aaron - rhymes with baren/Karen (or basically just Karen without the K).
Erin - rhymes with Kerryn/Merryn (ear-in).

[RingTailedLemur]

No matter how hard I try, I can't make Erin/Aaron sound alike, nor Don/Dawn. (Aussie/NZ here). In my little world:

Don - rhymes with John/Ron/con.
Dawn - rhymes with thorn/corn/morn/Shawn.

Aaron - rhymes with baren/Karen (or basically just Karen without the K).
Erin - rhymes with Kerryn/Merryn (ear-in).

UK here, I agree.

However, this discussion does clear up a minor mystery for me.  I attended a lecture about Aaron T Beck's work, and wondered why the (British) lecturer pronounced it "AIR-on" rather than "A [as in apple]-ron".  Looking Beck up, I see that he is American, so I guess he would pronounce it that way.

I also had trouble with Colin Powell, as I would get stuck on pronouncing the first bit of his first name the same as the first bit of "copper".

[Free Range Hippy Chick]

And even in the UK we're not consistent. I would say Aaron is Air-on. If you want it to rhyme with Karen, it's spelled Arron. Different name. And Erin is Air-in.

But I agree with you about Colin Powell.

I've mentioned before, I wince at Caitlin pronounced Kate-Lynn, because where I come from it's Kathleen, or possibly Cashlin. I tell myself it's different other places. I don't know why that one annoys me, when other name variants don't. 

[BioformCassie]

No matter how hard I try, I can't make Erin/Aaron sound alike, nor Don/Dawn. (Aussie/NZ here). In my little world:

Don - rhymes with John/Ron/con.
Dawn - rhymes with thorn/corn/morn/Shawn.

Aaron - rhymes with baren/Karen (or basically just Karen without the K).
Erin - rhymes with Kerryn/Merryn (ear-in).

U.S. here and to me Shawn rhymes with Don. And Don and Dawn are the same as well.

[Allyson]

West Coast Canada here and to me John, Shawn, Dawn/Don all rhyme, and Erin and Aaron sound the same. The latter two also rhyme with Karen, Darren etc.

[Mary Lennox]

Dare I bring up the Sarah/Sara debate?

Sarah - short a, like air --> sair-ra
Sara - long a, sar-ra

[kckgirl]

Sara/Sarah sound the same to me. Dawn/Don only sound slightly different. Aaron/Erin sound the same.

[kherbert05]

Thought of this thread today when I read this Miss Manners. It's the second letter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/miss-manners-food-not-to-your-liking-doesnt-need-to-be-announced/2014/02/25/a456ac18-9b3d-11e3-975d-107dfef7b668_story.html

The gist of it is, the letter writer has a 6yo son. Her husband's brother, who lives in another country and only sees them once a year, gave his child (who is now a year old) the same name. The letter writer is "devastated", told her sister in law how she feels, seemingly expecting them to change the boy's name. It makes her "so sad" whenever she has to tell her son someone in the family isn't talking to him....once a year.

  And it would be so difficult, during these family visits, to refer to "Big Johnny" and "Little Johnny"? 

My father and his sister were both little first names - they hated it with a blazing fire of hatred. Especially as they got older. Aunt switched to her middle name. Dad the little didn't get dropped until his father died.


Given the large number of other people with same names in the family that don't cause problems, I don't know why my grandparets did the little thng with their kids.


I do know that suggesting doing that with their kids our grandkids by family or neighbors was quickly stopped. So much so that our neighbors remember it as one of 3 things my father put his foot down about. The others were forbidding the use  of the enny meany minny moe rhyme at our home for racist content, and being the driving force to get a safe hike/bike trail in the neighborhood. (Neighoor wasn't invovlved with the bully problems so doesn't remember those confirtations.)