Saturday 7 June 2008

What's in a name? Part 2

Some months ago I wrote about how we chose Ainsworth's names.

Before choosing Ainsworth I asked my brother how people had responded to his son's name, which is also unusual, and he said that the response had been "almost universally positive". Well, looking back over the last 15 months or so I'm pleased to report the same. The "oh, wow" that we hear when people first hear the name is a positive one. People tend to like it, and it's been described as very English and very refined. They often ask if it's a family name (it is, but we're not aware of it having been used as a first name before).

A few folk have taken to shortening it to Ains or Ainsy, which doesn't surprise me, and almost inevitably there have been a couple of people who've thought it was Ainsley. One or two call him AJ, which we said we'd use but in fact don't often. What do we call him day to day? We call him Ainsworth.

My one concern about the name Ainsworth is this: I don't pronounce it very well. My enunciation isn't brilliant generally, and this is just one of those words that doesn't easily come out right. "Ains" is fine, it's the "worth" that gets twisted. I've heard myself saying versions that sound close to Ainsuth, Ainswoof, Ainsvuth, Ainswuss and Ainzuss.

I guess I should work on it, because I'm sure I'm going to saying it a lot for the rest of my lifetime.

2 comments:

Smarshy said...

I'd recommend really trying hard not to call him "Ainswuss". I think that one in particular might cause him some problems.

Anonymous said...

I actually found this blog while googling my own name - Rachael Ainsworth!

I am fascinated by names and love your son's. I've often thought of using Ainsley for a daughter should I ever marry and give up Ainsworth.

I always have people mispronounce my name.
Love your son's name!