My first name is spelled Caroline, but pronounced Carolyn (Care-oh-lyn or Care-uh-lyn). I am named after my Great Aunt Caroline and my Great Grandmother Louise, one relative from each side of my family. My parents always pronounced it Carolyn and never used Carol as a nickname because they didn't like it.I was born and raised in the Southern U.S. region. My name was frequently misspelled or mispronounced especially since there is a mismatch between people's expectation of the pronunciation associated with the spelling and vice versa. My mom claims that where she was raised in Michigan that the Caroline typical pronunciation was not commonly used and that the Carolyn pronunciation was spelled both ways. My mom was born in 1945 and I was born in 1974, when neither version was super popular. According to the frequency charts the Carolyn version was popular among my mom's age range peers in the U.S. in 1940s as she was growing up.I like my name now, but sometimes didn't as a child since it was longer and I had the spelling/pronunciation issues. My parents had also considered Mary for my first name, and at one point I wished I had been named that.I like my family's pronunciation of my name better than the typical pronunciation of Caroline, but I get frustrated sometimes with it rarely being spelled or pronounced the way I want or that is correct to me. I will attempt to correct people a few times and then drop the issue, but sometimes still be privately annoyed at the error. My own paternal grandmother often misspelled it as Carolyn. My mother and father always intended the Carolyn pronunciation but wanted it spelled like my mother's first name ended, with the -ine in Jacqueline, which doesn't have a difference in pronunciation between Jacquelyn and Jacqueline.
I was born and raised in the Southern U.S. region. My name was frequently misspelled or mispronounced especially since there is a mismatch between people's expectation of the pronunciation associated with the spelling and vice versa. My mom claims that where she was raised in Michigan that the Caroline typical pronunciation was not commonly used and that the Carolyn pronunciation was spelled both ways. My mom was born in 1945 and I was born in 1974, when neither version was super popular. According to the frequency charts the Carolyn version was popular among my mom's age range peers in the U.S. in 1940s as she was growing up.
I like my name now, but sometimes didn't as a child since it was longer and I had the spelling/pronunciation issues. My parents had also considered Mary for my first name, and at one point I wished I had been named that.
I like my family's pronunciation of my name better than the typical pronunciation of Caroline, but I get frustrated sometimes with it rarely being spelled or pronounced the way I want or that is correct to me. I will attempt to correct people a few times and then drop the issue, but sometimes still be privately annoyed at the error. My own paternal grandmother often misspelled it as Carolyn.
My mother and father always intended the Carolyn pronunciation but wanted it spelled like my mother's first name ended, with the -ine in Jacqueline, which doesn't have a difference in pronunciation between Jacquelyn and Jacqueline.