Qhristopher

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hey, this is Chris from McKinney, Texas.

Welcome to the program.

Well, thank you.

How can we be of service?

Well, I called because I had spelt my newly born son’s name fairly different.

And my name’s spelt different kind of as well.

His name is Christopher.

Mm—

And I spell it Q-H-R-I-S-T-O-P-H-E-R.

Chris, is that how you spell your name?

No, mine is actually spelled K-H-R-I-S.

-huh.

And I was wondering, the main part of the question, I guess, would be is,

You know, I was kind of playing with the English language a little bit on it,

And I really feel like, you know, the Q sounded like a C and a K if the U wasn’t there.

So I kind of went ahead and did it.

-huh.

And I just wanted to know, is this something else somebody else has done,

Or am I starting a totally new trend with it?

And is there a reason that somebody hasn’t done it?

Probably because nobody really wants to go through the scrutiny.

Oh, so every time you spell your son’s name,

You get people who cock an eyebrow at you and wonder if that’s what you meant?

Kind of, yeah.

I mean, even at the hospital, the nurse had to redo his paperwork three times.

Oh, really? Okay.

So it’s already turned out to be sort of a high-maintenance name for you?

Yes.

And your family, your wife, everyone is on board with this spelling?

Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

Okay.

I’ve got to say, looking around here, I do find a few uses of Christopher with a QH around the Internet,

But it is not common.

It seems very unusual.

Okay.

And I guess you’ve kind of laid out the biggest issue with it,

Is that you and he, when he’s old enough to write,

Are going to be spelling this name and correcting this name for a very long time.

Yes, I did.

Are you up to that?

Yeah.

I mean, personally, I dealt with it my whole life already,

So I’m pretty sure I could prepare him and help him.

Oh, yeah.

The burden of the father is also on the son.

Yeah.

You know, I always appreciate an effort to name a child in a way that’s familiar

And yet still unusual.

I think you’ve done that.

Well, you’ve definitely done that.

Well, people who meet Christopher

And learn the spelling of his name

Will surely never forget him.

Exactly.

I hope so.

I hope he’s a very good person

When he grows up, you know?

Oh, no doubt, no doubt.

Well, sounds like you love him a lot.

Enjoy those early months.

They go so fast.

Oh, yeah.

Little sleep, a lot of days.

Take care of yourself and your family.

All right.

Thank you, guys.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Tell us the story of your unusual name or your kids’ names.

Call us 1-877-929-9673 or send those emails to words@waywordradio.org.