Random thought: Kris and variants

[pne]

I think that the spellings "Kristina" / "Kristopher" / "Kris" with initial K- look ugly. As in, icky icky "who would want to call their child that, that's just Wrong" ugly.

Oddly enough, perhaps, I'm fine with "Kristen", "Kristin", and "Kirsten" (and "Kerstin", which I haven't seen on a native English speaker)—possibly because I haven't seen those names spelled with Chr-.

Comments

K vs C

[pne.livejournal.com]

Mostly I prefer the Cr- spelling of Cristina.

Is that the Spanish spelling?

I… darn, my English has left me. "I've hardly never seen that spelling"? "I haven't seen that spelling hardly ever"? "I've nearly never seen that spelling"? I hope you know what I mean; how does one say it in proper English?

How do you feel about Katherine vs. Catherine?

I feel that "Katherine" is unusual (and perhaps not preferable) but not ugly.

For an English name, that is. The German variants I'd expect to see written with K- (common ones being "Katharina, Kathrin, Katrin"), and initial C- on a German name seems pretentious and/or strange to me. (As for -th- vs -t-, I think either is fine.)

OTOH, "Carina" I've only ever seen spelled with a C- even in Germany, though I'd expect "Karin" and "Karen" (less common) to be spelled with a K-.

I think I'd expect K- on "Kathleen", though, in English. Also always K- on "Kate" and "Katie" even if they belong to a "Catherine".

Katrina vs. Catrina

I haven't seen either name much. In German, I'd go for K-; in English I suppose I could take either.

(vs. Catriona, the Scottish spelling which is pronounced the same and trips me up every time)?

And it's apparently Caitriona in Irish, though I'm not sure whether it's also pronounced the same. A quick Google search implies that it is.

I knew an American Katrina once (I think that's how she spelled her name) whose name I'd occasionally write Caitríona to annoy her (though I'm not sure whether the accent is warranted or correct).

Re: K vs C

[pne.livejournal.com]

I feel that "Katherine" is unusual (and perhaps not preferable) but not ugly.

Oh, and I think that "Katharine" is even more unusual, though I've seen it.

Re: K vs C

[marikochan.livejournal.com]

I would say, "I hardly ever see that spelling."

I have a cousin named Katharine and I know a friend of the family named Catherine -- the various spellings make it very difficult to know which to use when you're just meeting someone.

Re: K vs C

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that Cathryn and Kathryn are pretty common here (in the US) as well.

Re: K vs C

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Is that the Spanish spelling?

Spanish and Italian. Perhaps other places as well. And marikochan is correct, it's "I've hardly ever seen that spelling." (Or "I've almost never..." but that's less common.)

Gareth and I have this discussion all the time re: possible kids' names (though hopefully that's several years in the future) because he likes Scottish and Welsh names (his and his sister's names are Welsh; their dad is Welsh but the family always lived in Scotland) and (although I like Scottish names) I refuse to give my children a name that's difficult to spell and/or pronounce.

I told him we can name a daughter Catriona if he accepts that everyone will pronounce the O and we will not correct them. It didn't go over too well. (He has a cousin named Katrina for that very reason; his aunt and uncle live in London and apparently English people find "Catriona" as difficult as Americans would.)

Welsh names

[pne.livejournal.com]

he likes Scottish and Welsh names

I like (some) Welsh names, too; for example, "Meredith" was a favourite of mine for quite some time.

I refuse to give my children a name that's difficult to spell and/or pronounce.

However, this meant that such a name would not really fly in Germany. Unfortunately. (I'm even having second thoughts about "Amy", since it's often mangled into "Emmy" or "Ahmi" or "Émi".)

Re: Welsh names

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

"Meredith" is lovely. I really like it, and it's common enough for people to have heard of it (unlike "Gareth," which is funny because it's *so* common in the UK) but not so common that there's one in every family.

G's sister is named Bronwen. The only other Welsh names I know off the top of my head are Gwyneth and Megan (quoth my [US/UK dual citizen] friend Megan: "I get really tired of everyone assuming it's Irish. It's Welsh! Welsh!").

Names are such funny things, especially when you consider all the names in a family. Gareth's [Scottish] mum's brothers are Bruce, Iain and Hamish (he doesn't find this as amusing as I do); his [Welsh] dad's brother and sister are Glyn and Carys. Lots of pride in one's heritage going on there!

Then there's me and my sister, Bethany and Susanna. (My mom says it's 'cause our last name was so short.)

Re: K vs C

[robnorth.livejournal.com]

My wife's Swedish-born aunt Kristina has a nanny for her son who's named Karina. I guess that's what's typical there.