Monday, August 29, 2011

Call me Milo

When deciding on a name for our little boy, we thought about a lot of things. We wanted a name that wasn't common but wasn't weird. We wanted a name that was simple but had meaning for us -- Milo is a variation of the S.O.'s father and grandfather's name. I wanted a name that he didn't have to constantly spell out for people or correct their pronunciation (as I did with my maiden name).

I thought we did a pretty good job meeting those criteria, so imagine my surprise when twice in the past week, someone asked about the pronunciation of Milo. The first time it happened, I thought it was just a fluke. The girl at VillaKids asked, "Is it Meelo [she pronounced it with a long e] or Milo [with a long i]?"

The second time it happened, it was an older lady I've known for a while but have only corresponded with by email for several months. She's only seen Milo's name in print. "Are you pronouncing Meelo or Milo?" she asked when I saw her over the weekend.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that Milo's name wasn't as cut and dried as I'd thought.

For the record, it is Milo with a long i.

My maternal grandmother was Nina, pronounced with a long i rather than a long e. So I should have known that some people might look at his name and think "Meelo."

Tell me, have I doomed my little boy to a life of correcting the pronunciation of his name?


Sometimes I just call him "Cutie Pie."

2 comments:

  1. Incredible, isn't it? I doomed my oldest (Bree ON uh NOT Bree ANN uh) and my youngest (ANN dree uh NOT AHN dree uh)! My middle, well, you can't really mispronounce Megan, although you can indeed spell it 632 different ways.

    You can't win. No matter what. (Just be sure to teach him to correct folks who pronounce it wrong!)

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  2. He *is* a cutie pie! I'm loving the last few entries on your blog, the photos are all great. He has a great smile.

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