Message: "Honesty" - Behind the Name

Honesty

by queenv

2/13/2020, 5:09 PM

I spoke to someone who had a creatively spelled name that sounded just like Honesty. Upon hearing it, I was fully expecting to type "Honesty" and was surprised when I didn't. I'm not asking about that creative spelling for two reasons: It was so unusual, if not unique, that it would make me nervous to do so since I heard it through work, and I am quite sure that it would just be ridiculed anyway, and I don't want to appear to be all "This is awful, let's make fun of it."

But it put me in mind of Honesty, which I must admit I like the sound of. But what if she's a liar lol? What do you think of Honesty?

#Honesty

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- Fiammetta (lady murasaki)

2/14/2020, 8:43 AM

It sounds like one of those Puritan-type virtue names. So not completely out there I guess?

- Manipura (glaucous)

2/14/2020, 6:15 AM

I randomly like names that include the word/sound 'nest'. And I like flower names. And I thought Honor was adorable when I heard it a few weeks ago.

So, probably I'd like it.

This message was edited 2/14/2020, 6:16 AM

- Anneza +2

2/13/2020, 11:17 PM

I think of it as a nature name: it's a nice garden plant with flat, round, pale seedpods. But, yes, it's a lot to live up to. We all fib sometimes, after all! And that's the issue with most if not all virtue names: Grace, falling over her own feet; Joy, glum and hostile; Christine, an atheist ...

- queenv +1

2/14/2020, 2:30 AM

I believe that Amphelise is an atheist Christine.

- Anneza

2/14/2020, 3:28 AM

An atheist Jewish friend of mine from uni married an equally atheist Christine! Not Amphelise, though she certainly is one.

- mirfak

2/13/2020, 7:15 PM

Honesty is better than Honor and Honora IMO.
It just hasn't got the sounds & letters that I like, though. If it did, I think I'd like it.
I like the sound of Verity better. But Honesty is a little less abstract and aloof, more of a virtue name - since a person can't really embody Verity (Verity and Liberty are both more "value names" imo than virtue names).
I think I've seen Honesty spelled with Aun- as the beginning, before. It looks like Aunesty has been used 10-15 times per year for the past couple of decades. And Honesty itself has been rising! Around 200 girls per year since 2010ish.

- Kerilyntaryn21

2/13/2020, 7:06 PM

sorry dont like it

- Gracie (YMPvt)

2/13/2020, 5:32 PM

I think it sounds good in a virtue name sort of way, where it's a beautiful sound and has lovely sentiments. But then it does feel like it could have that ironic edge. Like I might be less likely to trust a person named Honesty. So I guess also undecided?

- PrincessZ +7

2/13/2020, 5:16 PM

Not keen on Honesty, like many virtue names.

What was the spelling of this name, do you remember? If not, what do you remember of it?

- queenv +6

2/13/2020, 5:20 PM

I remember it exactly. Okay, I just Googled it and it turns out it's on several websites as a personal name, so apparently it's not as unusual as I thought and definitely not unique. I'd just sure never seen it before. The sites say the usage is African-American. It was Aunestie.

- Manipura (glaucous) +1

2/14/2020, 6:08 AM

One of my friends is a teacher and had a student who spelled her name Juanastie, pronounced like the word honesty. That always comes to mind when people ask "what's the worst name you've ever heard". Aunestie would typically get on my nerves as a misspelled word name, but it seems great in comparison.

This message was edited 2/14/2020, 6:11 AM

- PrincessZ

2/14/2020, 12:12 PM

Oof that poor kid

- PrincessZ +3

2/13/2020, 5:48 PM

With that spelling I feel two things; mostly that its pointless and will subject the kid to a lifelong "how to you spell that?". However, I also that it seems to be pushing a certain pronunciation. In England, we pronounce the "h" like HON-iss-tee (or if your common as muck like I am, it'd be ON-iss-teh) but Aunestie seems to force you to pronounce it a very American "AWN-iss-tee". So I can see why it might be used that way, to force a pronunciation

Still, it seems pointless.

I can't seem to find much on it, myself. Is it an alternate spelling or does it originate from a different source?

This message was edited 2/14/2020, 5:41 AM

- Manipura (glaucous) +1

2/14/2020, 6:48 AM

I doubt it's meant to make the preferred pronunciation clearer, because, I'm struggling to imagine an American pronouncing the H in honesty (so no reason to differentiate), the 'aun' would be more confusing if anything because some people pronounce 'aunt' like 'ant', and there'd be no reason to switch y to ie for pronunciation's sake.

My guess is it's a creative spelling or an unintentional misspelling that caught on and became its own thing.

- PrincessZ

2/14/2020, 12:16 PM

I see some people pronouncing the "y" like "tay" and the "ie" forces "tee" but I don't know what accent that is

- queenv

2/14/2020, 3:14 AM

I don't know. I can't find that information either. I just took the fact that when you Google it, things come up, to indicate that it's an established, if unusual, name, and not the complete neologism I'd thought it was.

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