In 2010, 6 American girls were given the name Ahnesty.
I like virtue names. I even like weird virtue names. I think that Reverie is lovely and wish that Freelove didn't have X-rated connotations.
But I do not particularly like misspelled virtue names. Usually, there is little point in quibbling over the "correct" spelling of a name. Who cares if you spell it Catherine or Katherine or Kathryn? I mean, when we get into Qhathyrynne territory, I might start to raise an eyebrow, but I'm generally ok with choosing among various received spellings of names.
Virtue names are a little different, though, because they are common nouns. In my mind, Catherine and Katherine are equivalent, but Grace and Grayce are not. In the latter case, you have taken a word with meaning and turned it into a hollow string of sounds approximating a virtue name, but fundamentally different. Perhaps this is an arbitrary line to draw — after all, Katherine comes from the Greek word for pure, which starts with a K, so isn't the C version just made up? I think not — Katherine/Catherine is a name that exists in many forms in many European languages, some of which use a K and others a C, and the fact that Catherine is a separate word from catharsis makes a difference. If someone wanted to name an English-speaking child Catharsis, I would insist on the C.
For this reason, I am not a big fan of Ahnesty. I think that Honesty is an adorable name, just like its cousin, Honor. But Ahnesty does not cut it for me. It seems like a needless misspelling that robs the name of its exhortation to upright living.
In 2010, 181 American girls were given the name Honesty. I like this so much that I am adding it to my personal baby name list.
Also born in 2010: Aunesty (19), Onesty (5)
Also, Onesty reminds me of that movie That Thing You Do, where the band is called the Oneders and people keep pronouncing it o-NEED-ers.
You make a valid point, and one I find myself agreeing with. Grayce is like a splicing of the name Grace and Gray together for me, and it kind of defeats the point, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well, but find it more interesting that you would mention Catharsis as a name. Is it something you think could work?
ReplyDeleteI didn't even recognise this as a form of Honesty, which I would say ON-ehs-tee.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like they tried to spell Amnesty but got very confused.
Think of "Ah" as the ending sound of the word "hallelujah" or "mitzvah", as the letters "Ah" are pronounced Ahhh. So it would be pronounced Ah - nest- tee. But you are right, many people want to give it the long A sound like in Amnesty or many other variations.
DeleteI think Catharsis would be a tricky name because it sounds like the sort of thing you would name a baby based on the birth being redeeming/cleansing/healing for the mother, rather than the sort of virtue name that holds promise for the child. That said, it doesn't sound terrible.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't really suggesting it as a name — just drawing a distinction between a name derived from a particular word and that word itself.
Hello Dorcas,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to let you know why my name is Ahnesty, I was born on August 2, 1981. My mother had 4 daughters, I am the third. All of us have 7 letters and start with A's, there is Alethea, Arriana, Ahnesty, and Adriena. You can see why my Mom chose to manipulate or favorite song Honesty from Billy Joel to fit her name pattern. I love my unique name, it use to be very rare. Now I see it quite often, there is even an Ahnestyrecords.com, which is rap music. Not quite my style, but just the same my name can't stay unique forever. Just thought you would like to know where one Ahnesty came from and why. Thanks for your opinion.