There has been a discussion going on in our house for a couple weeks about Matea. It has come to our attention that many people see the name "Matea" and instinctively pronounce it mah-tee-ah rather than mah-tay-ah, the way we pronounce it. It was never even a thought of ours that people might pronounce it with a "tee" sound, so it has come to a surprise to us that so many people have! Of course, looking at the name, I can understand the confusion.
So this brings us to the question - do we change the spelling of her name? The spelling that comes to mind is "Mataya," which I think would dispel any confusion of pronunciation. Aaron isn't a huge fan of this spelling, mainly because culturally people are adding "y" to names to jazz them up. I do agree with him that our original spelling seems more classy. So we aren't sure if we should change it or not.
Thoughts, anyone?
Mr. Banker
6 years ago
Posts
9 comments:
I don't know how anyone could pronounce Matea with a "tee" sound. I saw "Mataya" and thought it should be pronounced "ma-tie-uh". What about Mateia?
I have to agree with Aaron here and say leave it. I think no matter what you do, people find a way to mess with it. Names are either too popular, too weird, too unique, spelled weird, sound weird, etc. etc. I think the "y" thing is a bit out of hand.
I didn't think people could mess up Kylie, either, but they do! Kylee
Good luck whatever you decide!!!
I vote for the spelling "Mataya"! Sorry, Aaron!! I love the way it looks, and it does away with the confusion!
Grandma Lynn
Honestly guys, when I very first saw it I pronounced it Ma-tay-ah so I personally think that you should keep the original M-A-T-E-A. I think it is absolutely beautiful! So she may have to correct a teacher or two.... who cares? Don't we all? I had to correct teachers for Hankins!! I mean, can it get more phonetic than Hank-ins?! That is just my opinion! Love you guys!
leave it the way it is--you can always correct people if they say it wrong, and it looks nicer the original way. Also, people might still pronounce it wrong if you change it, since they might look at it and think it should sound like 'Maya' (like the ppl from the andes mtns) instead of 'may-a'. Just my 2 cents tho and it's an awesome name no matter how you spell it.
I say leave it - you'll always have people pronounce it some weird way regardless of the spelling. You wouldn't believe the different variations of my name I've heard from telemarketers - it's not that difficult, people!!! :)
I don't care how you spell it, either way its such a beautiful name and I'm just soooooo excited to meet her! Congratulations, guys! We're praying for you and all of the upcoming details :)
This debate brought to mind how many people have asked me if Aaron and Aimee are IDENTICAL twins?? I even had a nurse ask me that recently (again)!! DUH!! How can a boy and girl be identical? I didn't think you had to go to med school to know that, but oh well. I guess I have always heard the name Matea said as Mataya, so I agree that no matter how you spell it, someone will mispronounce it. I used to work for a guy named Anil (pronounced Ah-neel), but you can't believe how many called our office asking for ANAL!! Pretty funny! You two need to make the decision, but this is just my opinion.
Hi, I don't know you personally, but I am a self proclaimed baby name fanatic. Anyway, I have met boys named Mateo and most people can say that, so I don't know what people are thinking. Of course, my son's name is Amory and I've heard it said a million ways. (It's Aim-or-ee if you care.)
I realize this is an old post and I don't count for anything, but the unknown vote goes for Matea, it's gorgeous. Of course, several months later, you have probably figured out what to do and I just "stumbled" on this page.
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