New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesRe: Month names
in reply to a message by Profe Esteban
Hi, Profe - nice to hear from you!
Yes, I agree with you from an English-speaking perspective. But there are two complicating factors. One is the fashion in America and in celebrity circles elswhere for using words (Apple, January) as names, and the other is the long-standing practice among black South Africans of using words (Goodwill, Matric) as names. In South Africa the words tend to be inspirational though they may be related to the situation prevailing at the child's birth; a baby born to an unmarried mother might get the name 'Silence' to discourage gossip, or something like 'Matric' or 'Doctor' might be used as sympathetic magic to ensure a good future for the child.
But English spelling is a minefield at best, and the spelling of names is no different. There are several examples of women named Queeneth, for instance, which I assume is somebody's best attempt at Gwyneth; and they do sound very similar.
Julie, a form of Julia, has the first syllable emphasised. July, the month, has the second. So the spelling there is useful, but if July is used as a given name a lot of English speakers would be puzzled! Presumably then it would sound like the month.
My problem with July as a personal name was that I was dealing with a document written by a non-native speaker of English in which a character, July, appeared in an invented case study. I decided to treat it as a simple spelling error and changed it to Julie, in the interests of not slowing its readers down for no good reason. (It certainly slowed me down.) But I could have been very wrong; if so, I am confident the author will let me know.
All the best
Yes, I agree with you from an English-speaking perspective. But there are two complicating factors. One is the fashion in America and in celebrity circles elswhere for using words (Apple, January) as names, and the other is the long-standing practice among black South Africans of using words (Goodwill, Matric) as names. In South Africa the words tend to be inspirational though they may be related to the situation prevailing at the child's birth; a baby born to an unmarried mother might get the name 'Silence' to discourage gossip, or something like 'Matric' or 'Doctor' might be used as sympathetic magic to ensure a good future for the child.
But English spelling is a minefield at best, and the spelling of names is no different. There are several examples of women named Queeneth, for instance, which I assume is somebody's best attempt at Gwyneth; and they do sound very similar.
Julie, a form of Julia, has the first syllable emphasised. July, the month, has the second. So the spelling there is useful, but if July is used as a given name a lot of English speakers would be puzzled! Presumably then it would sound like the month.
My problem with July as a personal name was that I was dealing with a document written by a non-native speaker of English in which a character, July, appeared in an invented case study. I decided to treat it as a simple spelling error and changed it to Julie, in the interests of not slowing its readers down for no good reason. (It certainly slowed me down.) But I could have been very wrong; if so, I am confident the author will let me know.
All the best
1