Spell It Like Everyone Else

Let's start simple. I have a feeling society is going to provide a lot (A LOT) of fodder for this bad boy, so I'm going to start close to home. Now my first name is Jennifer. Decent? Yes. Options for nicknames? Obviously. In my brief 29 years, I have been Jennifer (on all of those officially document kind of things), Jenny (from birth to 8), Jen (8 to now), and even J.J. I admit it, my parents did join the legions of other parents who named their kid Jennifer. According to the Social Security Administration (www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/), Jennifer spent from 1965 until 1998 in the top 20 of baby girl names in the U.S. Jennifer was in the top ten for 26 of those years, and it was the number 1 name for 16 years straight peaking in 1974 at 4.03% of girls born in that year sharing my name. At least my parents spelled it like the majority of humanity spells Jennifer. Not Jenifer. Not Jeniffer. Not Genifer. Not Gennifer. Thank you mom and dad.

However, Erinn has a different story. No, that's not a typo. Erinn. Two Ns. According to Erinn's mom, "it's Gaelic." According to Erinn, it sucks having a common name that is spelled weird. She has spent her entire life, and will continue for the rest of her days, spelling her name for people. As a young child, she had to make sense of why all of her regularly named siblings were able to find little keepsake key chains with their names on them while she was out of luck.

Which brings us to...

Baby Naming Tip #1:

Which ever name you choose to give your child, spell it like the majority of humanity spells it. Otherwise, you will subject your child to a lifetime of close, but not quite, acceptance in society.