Why is the Czech Republic pronounced like Check? My name is Christina, and it's not pronounced like Chuh-ristina, is it? I think you picked a bad example, since Zach is actually a correct and traditional spelling of a common, biblical name.The Bum said:
Now, onto egregious failures of naming. I'm glad you brought this up. It bugs me so much. I used to think it was just a thing that American celebrities did, but, no, it's spread to all corners of the globe, and to all variations of trailer trash and bogans.
Kristal instead of Crystal? Crystin instead of Kristen (which is already kind of a designer name in itself)? Aleesha instead of Alicia? Aden instead of Aidan (a real Irish name)? All these deliberate misspellings of names annoy me, or attempts to make your child's name 'unique' when it just marks them as a privileged WASP. There's basically an entire list of so-called "Modern Names" on Behind The Name [http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/eng-m.php] and I advise checking it out if you want to see some of these 'variations'.
Should we even get started on ghetto names? Okay, friends, there are traditional African and Arabic names which are perfectly justified and quite lovely, but then there are ones that you're just making up. Latreesha? Destinee? LaShawnte? The sad thing here is that these kids are unfairly marked by these names. It unduly prejudices people against them, and causes people to make inaccurate assumptions about their worth and intelligence. The fact that there was a Secretary of State called Condoleezza doesn't mean that discrimination isn't prevalent in the work place.
Statistics have shown that people with stereotypically ethnic names (I don't remember if it was specifically African-American names, or names associated with a wide variety of minorities) have their resumes passed over for those with stereotypically Anglo-Saxon names, regardless of how qualified they are. I have to ask why people would name their child something that they know is going to have a detrimental effect on their ability to find work and achieve in the future.
Put it this way; there's a reason nearly all of my Asian friends have alternate English names or nicknames they go by in Australia, and a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean name that's their real name at home. They know people are more likely to hire someone whose name they can pronounce, so they take on two names to help them fit into both worlds. I personally think that's really clever.
I also feel sorry for anyone named after a car. I actually know a girl named Portia Carrera.
