I am pretty particular about names, especially for those people related to me.
Matthew is Matthew, unless he’s Matt (work, friends, etc.)
Graham is Graham, unless I call him Gramillion, which I have been doing recently for no reason whatsoever. G-Force makes an appearance every once in awhile as well.
Nathan is Nathan, not Nate. Never ever. Though he has been know to sign himself in at Sunday school as ‘Nate Dawg.’ Because of course.
Emily is Emily, not Em. She’s not Dame Judy Dench (though we love her).
As for me, I am Angella. Anything short of that seems too familiar. Ange is completely acceptable if you are a friend of mine. To introduce me as Ange to someone new is completely unacceptable. To call me Angie means that you are a horrible person who probably kicks kittens for fun. That’s not my name.
Do you know what else isn’t my name? The pronunciation you probably hear in your head when you see my name in writing.
ANgella.
Christmas came early for Matthew yesterday and I brought home an iPhone 5 for him. His previous phone was an iPhone 3 (Not even a 3s!) and it was TIME. He spent some time after dinner setting up the phone and then decided to get to know Siri.
Him: “Siri, my wife is ANgella.”
Siri: “I don’t see a contact with that name.”
He chatted with her some more, and they found my contact information.
Siri: “Oh, you mean AngELLA?”
My mind was blown. It still is. You see, the “correct” pronunciation of my name in AngELLA (Think ‘Ella’, with a soft ‘Ang’ in front of it.) It sounds … pretentious to me, so I’ve always introduced myself as ANGella. But Siri! She KNEW. And Matthew has to pronounce it correctly or she won’t text/email me for him and I feel so ridiculously geeked out. And kind of fancy. I don’t even know why. Maybe because that’s my name?
That’s my name.
I don’t know why I’ve always gone with ANgella (People pleaser?)(LIKELY), but I’m not sure that I can introduce myself as AngELLA without bursting into laughter.
Maybe one day.
Comments:
I thought you were referencing this song in your title: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1c2OfAzDTI
Ha! I’ve had that song stuck in my head since I wrote the post.
Having never met you, I’ve always read your name in my head as angELLA. Me and Siri.
Because you’re a smart cookie.
I learned something new about you today! Somehow, I’d missed your previous “Dykstra Family Pronunciation Guide” posts, and I’ve been pronouncing your name the wrong way all along. I don’t think AngELLA sounds pretentious; it’s unique and beautiful! (like you)
I also suffer with some name frustration. My name, as printed on my birth certificate, is Jenny. But people insist on calling me Jennifer. It’s not my name!!!! I respond to Jen and Jenny, but that’s about it. I HATE it when people call me “Jenny From The Block” (this happens more frequently than I can possibly understand, from friends AND strangers who inexplicably think it’s cute to associate me with irritating pop stars). One friend of mine insists on calling me J-Pizzle. But it might be the death of him.
J-Pizzle! It has a nice ring to it…
AngELLA is beautiful, I had no idea! (Seriously, I am in love with the spelling/pronunciation…and now have a little (more) of a girl crush on you.)
xox
Aw, I have a girl crush on YOU. Now we just need to finally meet.
I had no idea! AngELLA it is!
Okay!
I AM SO CONFUSED. We’ve all been saying your name incorrectly for…FOR SO MANY YEARS? I think my head just exploded.
Also, I tend to instantly truncate/go to nicknames with close friends and family. I never mean it as a dishonor to a person’s true name, but for (potentially unknown reasons) for me nicknames/shortened names have always been equated with closeness and affection.
Which is why I love when good friends and family call me Kerr, or, when they elongate my name like my grandmother does and call me (wait for it…) Kerri Anne.
I totally don’t mind if close friends — such as you — truncate my kids names. It’s more when people we barely know, do it.
And, yeah. I never introduce myself that way, or even use it at all ever. But that may change now that Matthew has to use it with Siri – maybe I’ll get used to hearing it.
(My step-dad would only use that pronunciation when I was in trouble.
)
I am pretty sure I say it wrong and for the life of me, I can’t figure out the difference. I will have to have you say it to me properly next time I see you or talk to you
I feel the same way about our last name. The h messes people up and it kills me slowly.
I know! And I will.
I wonder if it’s because there are two L’s in your name? Because I have a friend called Angela (“ANGella”) so I have always read (and pronounced in my mind) your name differently to hers (AngELLA). Because of the extra L. Maybe Siri did the same? Nice that she got it right!
It is. I was pretty geeked out. And I would love to hear you say it one day in your NZ accent.
One of Kaylie’s Regina friends calls her “Kayles”. I hate it. All my kids have full names for a reason, the only exception being Liliana, since I wanted to call her Lily in the first place.
I guess I’m the only one in the family that goes by a shortened version of my name. Because I’m only Jennifer when I’m in trouble. Call me Jenny and I’ll punch you.
Ha! I won’t take that dare.
I, too, have always said your name “AngELLA” in my head…but then once a long time ago, you posted that your name was “ANGella” and I’ve been trying to correct it in my head ever since, but haven’t been able to!
You should embrace the classy!
I’ll try!
She pronounces MY name correctly TOO!!!
MOST people say “Uh-laine” but the true pronunciation of my name is of course, EE-laine.
I have to say, coming from the south, it’s definitely ANgella down here and I’ve actually never hard the AngELLA pronunciation. But I like it.
Thanks! It’s all because of that extra L.
This post is hilarious to me because I would have been taken aback and embarrassed if you’d introduced yourself to me as ANgella because I’ve always pronounced it in my head as AnGELLA. I’m so relieved that I haven’t been doing it wrong all this time!
Ok, so maybe I’ve been sitting her for the last 2 minutes saying your name 82 times trying to figure out if I’m saying it right….
Also, I have a million nicknames for our girls and I love them all. They are “love” names, I have many from my past too. However, unless you are my mother (who birthed me so she has special rights) or my husband (who’s hot) you may never call me “Ash”. It will result in me hockin’ a loogie right on your shoe. FTR