Hi Duana,
My husband and I are expecting our first baby boy and are really struggling with finding a name.
We really like "Guerin" (Ga-rin), especially with the french "gue" spelling as my husband's family is French. Are we cursing our child with a lifetime of mispronunciation?? We also are considering Dutch names (my father's family is from/in Holland) such as Willem and Hendrik.
Any thoughts??
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Oh, rapture and delight. To see a new name that nobody’s heard before – and one that’s here because “we really like” it. Yes, by all means name your son Guerin.
Because you know, it is going to be a name that needs pronouncing but at the same time, it’s only going to need pronouncing once. Teachers, classmates, babysitters – after it’s explained the first time, they’ll never forget again. If this was a daughter and it was Ghislaine we were talking about I might have more pause, but Guerin is simple once you get the hang of it and it’s “easy” for non-native speakers to pronounce properly. (Lainey: might not be as difficult as you think, especially for Canadians due to the hockey – Bill Guerin.)
I love Willem & Hendrik both, but ironically I think either is more ripe for mispronunciation. Depending where your child grows up, it’s easy for Willem to become William or Will, and for Hendrik to have the “d” dropped. Not reasons to skip them, but if you were worried about mispronunciations, something to keep in mind.
Baby Guerin is going to join legions of happy kids whose unusual names both fit in and stood out. Crazy as it seems, there once were girls named Zoe who had to explain how to pronounce that “crazy” name…
