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Why are these names so… I don’t know…tacky?
What is it about names that have an ‘ay’ sound in front and an ‘en’ or ‘lyn’ sound at the end that makes them so tacky sounding?
Shaylyn/Shaelyn
Jaylin
Jayden
Kaylyn
Braeden
Raylinne
Grayden
Why do they sound tacky? Is it because I associate them with the people who like them, the women who shop at Wal-Mart, wear pink leggings, have considerable bellies, still spray their bangs really high, have chin acne, are 17 and pregnant (for the second time), live somewhere in the South, etc?
Or are the names just tacky all on their own?
This is such a good question, Another!
I think the problem is this: parents want something “just a little different.” But instead of turning to literature, history or their own family trees, too many modern parents simply assemble a few random elements in a Frankenstein’s monster of a name.
While I don’t prize a name’s meaning over all other elements, I do think that choosing a name without precedent is a mistake.
A boy called Gray or Grady because it’s his mother or grandmother’s maiden name has a strong, distinctive moniker. A boy called Grayden because his parents liked the sound? Not so much.
And the names tend to blur into one mass. Taylee is blending an Orange Julius a few stores down from where Jaylah and Kaelin are shopping with their mom at Old Navy. Go a few more steps and Jaylynne is working the register at Target, where someone is buying baby gifts for little Haylie.
The intent is to be distinctive, but instead it’s a shared blob of a name.
Someone told me yesterday that she liked McKaylin for a daughter because it was different; “you never hear it!” she chirped.
I summoned my best poker face and said, “Kind of. But you do hear a lot of Mikayla, Kayla, Kaylee, McKenna …”
If you called your daughter Mackenzie 30 years ago, you were daring, stylish and probably highly educated. You also probably had a reason – a personal connection to the name.
Choose the name Mackenzie – or worse, McKenzi – today, and none of those things are likely to be true.
Bottom line? Choosing a name JUST because you like the sound is almost always a mistake. Compound your error by changing the spelling to be different, and it does tend to lead to tack-tastic inventions like the ones you’ve listed. above.
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