My two year old came home talking about his friend “Tape” and it cracks me up every time he mentions it. The boy’s name is Tate.
What are your favorite and/or the funniest mispronunciations you hear from your little ones?
My son has a Laundry who has a sister…Umbrella. (Briella)
Omg we had an Umbrella/Aubriella situation when my son was young, so funny
LOOOL
My friend named Audrey told me that “Audrey” is often difficult for non-English speakers to pronounce. So it’s not just Laundry’s friend who has trouble!
My daughter kept telling me about her friend, Greasy. Took me a bit until I realised the kid's name was Gracie.
I was 2 when my sister was born and proudly told everyone her name was grapey it was Gracie lmao
I apparently told everyone my brother was called Damn.
His name is Adam. I guess at two, I thought it was like a + noun. A Damn.
mother: what should we name him? father: any of our faves, I don’t give a damn mother: that’s it!
I was 3 when my sister was born, and her name was Brianner. But that's my mom's fault for having a Boston accent.
Boston accents are wild. They add R’s to words that don’t have them, and drop the R’s from the words that do. 😂
This is why my friend didn't use "Carter", her mother's Boston accent.
I had a friend named Grace and my daughter called her Grapes.
We were Catholic. My little sister's version of the Hail Mary went, "Hell Mary, full of grapes, the lord is indeed."
My sister came home from Sunday school singing Gracie Gracie have you any children, it was praise him praise him all you little children x
A friend of mine’s kids are Grace and Scott. My son (~2 and the time) thought they were Grapes and Sock
I have a video of my daughter in the car loudly singing “Amazing Grapes”.
Lol I can 100% understand this one. My cat's name is Gracie. Quite often when I set reminders with my voice, the virtual assistant transcribes it as greasy.
I just almost peed myself
My friend's kid went to school with twins. He thought one was called Samand because they were always called SamandGeorge.
My kid thought the twins in her class had the same name. “Look mom! There’s Brooklyn and Brooklyn!”
Mine called them Cooper and more Cooper, or Cooper and other Cooper.
“More Cooper” has me ROLLING
Poor other Cooper 😂
My daughter randomly started chatting to a wee boy when we were shopping. Kid's name was Cooper.
"Bye Pooper" she shouted when it was time for them to part ways.
My daughter insisted there was a boy named Pooper in their class. Another classmate confirmed his name was Pooper. It was of course Cooper but he had a bit of a speech impediment so it did sound like Pooper when he said it.
Lmao my son calls our cats "kitty" and "other kitty"
Love that!!!
My eldest thought the Pledge of Allegiance ended with “Thank you and have a nice day.” Because the Principal always concluded the morning announcements with “Thank you and have a nice day…” and the Pledge was the last thing shared on the announcements. My child was The Only One in class who ended The Pledge of Allegiance with Thank you and have a nice day when we moved. His new teacher and I had a nice little laugh…
My friend thought the pledge of allegiance said "and to the republic of Richard Stans..." 😅
Your friend isn’t the only one! I’m pretty sure I thought that as well when I was a kid… many many moons ago.
When I was little I used to watch Sesame Street and I thought that "Kermit the frog's" actual name was Kermithy Frog... you know, like Timothy!
My daughter would say, “Let us spank him for our food,” when she said the blessing.
I work in an elementary school. Each day, a different child leads the pledge over the loudspeaker. There is a copy of it next to the microphone, with the title at the top. Most of the kids recite it “I pledge OF allegiance to the flag…” because they are reading the title. I keep telling the office secretary to cut off the title LOL
When I was young I thought my identical aunts were the same person and what we called “her” just depended on everyone’s mood that day. 😂 I was 5 or so when I finally saw both at the same time and my mind was blown.
That reminds me of the twin pranks people were playing on their kids being like which twin is dad and which is uncle.
Yep. My husband is an identical twin, and when my kids were little, he and his twin were always "Daddy" and "Uncle Daddy" :P
My twins had a friend who thought they both had the same combo name, i.e. they were both named Samandnathan.
I am a twin. When my brother was little, he thought my name and my twins name were the same combo name, eg. Grace'n'Ava (Names changed for privacy reasons)
I was this kid in nursery school. We had identical twins in the class and since I couldn’t tell them apart I called them both “TheoBilly” (names changed)
I thought Marykate N'ashley was one person because people always said their names together. Then I learned it wasn't one person, and thought they were triplets named Mary, Kate, and Ashley.
Same! And I thought that DCs mayor at the time, Marion Barry, was two people, but the news only showed the man.
I clearly remember thinking, "There's Barry, but where's Mary? Why don't they ever show her?"
I had triplets in my year, who were collectively known as Izzie, Lucy and Tildy (Isabelle, Lucinda and Matilda).
My mother thought they were Izzie, Lucian, and Tildy and was very confused when she met three girls instead.
“Mateo” pronounced as “Matato”— like, potato
My friends have a boy named Mateo and they call him Tato as a nickname. It suits him! Lol
My son had the same one in his kinder. Insisted the boys name was potato.
I accepted it for a while since we couldn’t figure out what the actual name would be.
This is what my daughter calls her best friend’s brother. He’s Baby Potato.
Yep, I wondered who potato was for awhile. It was Matteo.
My son does the similar, Tato!
My kid thought her classmate Mateo was "Potato."
My daughter had a classmate called "Pigeon"...her name was Imogen
I giggled.!!
I had a friend called Imogen when I was little and according to my parents they swore I was saying midgie (which for those not in the UK, is a word for a very small and annoying type of fly)
The toddler I nanny for has a bff at school “Plarp” aka Clark.
That one made me cackle. Plarp. Poor Plarp.
I’ve never thought about it before but Clark would be a super hard name for a lot of kids. I’m a speech therapist and between the k sounds, the kl blend and the r it’s amazing anyone can say this name.
Sounds like a recipe for getting a nickname like “Duck” because someone with a speech impediment called a Clark “Quack”.
Sounds like onomatopoeia for a fart.
Not a classmate but my daughter talked about ‘Silly Umbrella’ for weeks before I realized it was Cinderella.
In first grade she told me the new vice principle was Danger Mouse, it was Daniel Maus
As a vice principal, Danger Mouse would be a badass name to go by
My first grade teacher was Mrs. Watermelon to all the kids. It's just how she was known. I think she was really Mrs. Waterman.
You just reminded me my daughter had a teacher she referred to as Ms. Sniff for two years (her teacher, Ms. Smith, never corrected her because she thought it was cute). ☺️and I’ll add in my daughter came home one day, and told me she was saying her teacher’s name wrong the whole two years. I asked her, “so what’s your teacher’s name then?”. She goes, “it’s Mrs. Sniff not Ms. Sniff.” I could only agree and laugh. Kids.
That's completely adorable!!! I'd go by Mrs Watermelon too 🍉
My daughter spoke for weeks about her friend ‘Pill’. I eventually asked at her nursery… Pearl.
i busted out laughing at this one
I’ve shared this one a few times, but many years ago when my (then) youngest kids were 4 and 5 they were so excited to tell me about their new friend Oval. Could her name be Opal, I asked? No, they insisted, her name is OVAL.
Yeah, it was Opal.
To be fair, a kid named Oval isn't entirely out of the question these days.
Yes, my kids are older now and have friends named Soap and Paper. I'm about 80% sure that "Soap" is an NB name derived from Sophia, but I'm not sure about Paper.
Maybe Piper?
The kid's name is definitely Paper, but I don't know if it's a self-chosen name or what.
I went to middle school with a guy whose self chosen name was "Four". I was trying to tell my mom about him and she kept asking if I was saying "Thor"...
I'll stand by this one being the funniest ever, I've posted it before but heck, let's go again!
Used to work in nurseries little boy with the surname "sucharewycz" pronounce "sook-ra-vich" and his little best friend used to call him "soandso SUPERBITCH" 😭😭😭
My friends called their dog “Milo bitch” his name is Milovitch so pretty close lol
by husband had a cat when he was younger named "catbitch" and people would ask, "why did you name your cat "cabbage"?"
My daughter said her best friends name was Carpet 😂 it’s Harper!
my kid made a friend at the playground one day and apparently didn’t think it strange that the girl was called Candle (Kendal)
There is a kid in preschool that all the kids swear is named Booger. I tried to get clarity and was assured by multiple kids that it is definitely Booger.
It was Booker.
booker's parents should have really anticipated that one.
My son can’t say Declan, he calls his buddy “Ducklin” 🐥
That is very cute.
"Quiet" turned out to be Wyatt.
Mine asked to invite a girl, "Charlie" to his birthday instead of "Charlise" (he is in speech therapy and can't pronounce zzz sounds). Both from another group kids from school so I didn't know them personally but they have recess together so they know each other. I just wrote Charlie on the invitation without knowing they was a Charlise and then, like always, the teacher handed out invitations for us.
He hates Charlie. Charlie didn't even remember him. Charlise was pissed she didn't get an invitation.
Oh no, hopefully Charlise wasn’t too disappointed by not being invited
I managed to find the parent's number and explain the situation, we made an excuse telling Charlise the invitation must have been lost and arranged a play date.
It was really great of you to salvage the situation for the kiddos :')
Oh gosh. Reminds me of the time I sent a Christmas card to Daniel instead of Danielle - everyone thought I had a crush on Daniel and Danielle was upset cuz she thought I’d forgotten her 🤦🏻♀️
My daughter did "Loogan" (Logan) and Medicine (Madison).
I’ll never be able to unhear ‘medicine’ when I say ‘Madison’
Right? How have none of us ever realized how freaking close these sound.
My son insisted his friend was called Question. It was Preston
When my sister was really little, she used to call this girl Paige from our church "Paper." She kept forgetting her actual name so that was her closest association.
That is super cute. I know a lady named Paige whose married name is Turner. In my head, I call her Good Book. 😆
“Baby Anne” we learned later was Vivienne
My daughter had a good friend in kindy she would always talk about, Bucket! 🪣 Man they had fun together, her friend Bucket and her.
"Who'd you play with today?" (Excitedly) "Bucket!"
"Who sat by you at lunch?" "Bucket!"
Idk why I never asked the teacher... then one day she was sad that her friend Bucket was going to be moving away. (I kind of just thought it was an imaginary friend at this point)
Then first grade came and she was SO happy that Bucket didn't move! He was still in class! (Ok, we are REALLY committed to this imaginary friend) but we talk about other kids too, so it seems harmless.
Second grade happens and what do you know, Bucket is still in class! And part way through the year she discovered his name was Beckett, not Bucket. 😆 but he was in-fact real! 🤷🏻♀️
“It’s pronounced Bouquet!”
You thought it was her imaginary friend for 2.5 school years!!? That is hilarious 😂
My daughter has a kid in her class named Lennon and she calls her Human Lemon (out of genuine confusion). Kills me every time.
I love how kids’ brains work because that makes perfect sense.
When he was 2, my son kept saying the word “Dominate!” excitedly whenever we’d talk about school. We were so confused. One day at drop-off, he pointed to a woman in the parking lot and yelled “DOMINATE!” Her name was Dominique.
Fountain. (His friend’s name was Felton.)
Edit to add: just remembered another one. Both my kids, in different grades, simultaneously had a classmate they each called Wheat Thin. (The kids were named Ethan.)
My daughter can’t do the L sound yet, so the Liam in her class sounds like Wii-am, which is also how she says William. 🤷♀️
My son is balancing your daughter out, cause his buddy Liam is Lee-lum 😅
There’s a Willow in his class too, it comes out sounding like “llolllo” or any variation of Ls lol.
I think William is particularly hard for early learners. Ours pronounces her friend’s name “Willy-wam”
When I was little and learning to talk, I couldn't say the L sound either. So I called myself Cowie (Callie).
Isn't Liam a nickname for William, though?
Yes, it can be, and that’s why I think it’s funny. Liam is a stand alone name too, the kid in her class is Liam not William.
My couldn't pronounce L either, his brother was Wes-wee.
I had a friend in high school who had been adopted from rural Guatemala a couple years previously and didn't understand English that well.
There was a guy in our class named Drake but she heard Shrek. We called him Shrek for the rest of the year
Not a classmate but when my daughter was 4 she was talking about somone called “show and tell”.
Her name was Chantelle
My 2 year old has a friend named Thaddeus, called “Thad”.
She calls him “Dad” 😂
My brother came home from first grade talking about his friend Silverdoor Always. Salvador Alvarez.
I have a student named Igor who gets called Eagle a lot by his classmates. Which is actually an awesome name, and I think he prefers it
“Pizza” (Theresa)
My son is too young to talk, but when I was a kid I had an old man neighbor I called Chalk. His name was Clay. I knew it was some sort of art supply! 😅
That reminds me of the girls up the street who were sisters, Brooke and Paige. I didn't know the name Brooke, I guess, and I thought Paige was like "page," so I thought Brooke was named Book. Made sense to me at age 5!
"Her name is Sin."
The child's name was Flynn.
I was very excited about my new friend in nursery Leaf Leg. I would tell my very confused mom all about him.
One day she asked the teacher which little boy was Leaf.
Turns out his name was Lee Flegg.
My daughter told us about her classmate Grownup. His name was Rowan.
My little niece has a classmate named Quinn, and another classmate named Gwendolyn. She is convinced they are the same person and their name is Quinndolyn.
My daughter can’t pronounce Penelope and calls her friend Canelope!
Not classmates, but when my daughter was 2 she started walking around talking about people named "Puppy and B!tch". Took me a while to figure out that she started talking about them after we watched Trolls for the first time. She was referring to Poppy and Branch.
This is my favorite thread of all time
When i was a kid my cousin called me “Bictorya” because he couldn’t pronounce the V lol. Can’t wait to hear what my nephew’s try to call me when they start talking!
My little sister, in kindergarten or first grade, was very confused about a kid named "Man"... "His name is Man, but he's just a boy!"
Guy. His name was Guy.
As a young kid I had a good friend at Playschool (Kindergarten) who I called "Jacon", instead of 'Jacob'.
Jacon
Before I got to the end of your sentence I thought, Oh of course, and his real name was Bacon. 🤦♀️
My 2 year old called the girl across the street "Happy gal" for Abigail. Lol
I had kids in my preschool class named Ansel and Axell. Most of the kids in that class had moved up through the center together since infants.
Their friends called both of them @sshole
Darlene came out as Darling.
My daughter kept coming home from school and talking about her classmate "Lemon". I had my doubts that was her real name but my 3 year old was adamant! And you never know! Come to learn later in the year that the child's actual name is "Lennon" 😄
"beef" - we had no idea for months who that was. Turned out it was Niamh (pronounced Neev)
I used to say I had a friend burrito. Her name is Breda.
I knew a Didrik, I called him Drikkdrikk
“Dirt” (Colt)
My middle child’s best friend at nursery was “Gorgon” for ages. We couldn’t decide if it was Gordon or Morgan.
My nephew insisted he had a friend named “Pussy” in his daycare class. We spent weeks trying to ask him various names that might sound like Pussy. Percy was the leading guess, but he kept saying “no, pussy!”
The kid is named Brooks and all the kids call him Brooksy.
My niece has a second cousin that used to babysit her named Whitney. Whitney's husband's name was Chris. They were wee-wee and piss. I wasn't a fan of them so 10 years later I still think of them as wee-wee and piss
My son came home from preschool SO excited to tell us about his new friend Elmo (Alma).
When my daughter was around 5 i picked her up from dance class and she was telling me about her new friend “Pickle”.
Turns out the girls name was Olive.
My daughter would always get the foods olive/pickle mixed up so naturally she also did it with the name.
Edit: other daughter had a friend at daycare she called Lee-boy for a year or so. Real name Leroy.
I KNEW SOMEONE WHEN I WAS A TODDLER NAMED TATE AND I THOUGHT HIS NAME WAS TAPE HAHA
When I was about 3 I kept telling my parents about my friend "Idiot."
Elliott. His name was Elliott!
I love how they just choose the closest actual word they know... Mine told us there was a new girl in the class named Ostrich. Her name was Astrid.
“No one” as in “No one played with me at recess” “No one sits with me at lunch” “No one is my friend”. we kept reassuring him he’d eventually make friends. It turns out No one was his best friend Nolan.
i don’t have kids yet but my mom’s friend’s son calls his friend Jacup, like a cup. it’s JACOB
“Bryce” became “Rice.”
Little girl called clementine with the nickname Clemmie at my daughters nursery, gets mispronounced as Clammy.
My son calls his friend Marcus “marshmallow” it cracks me up every time
My son had a best friend in preschool named Parkerby. I thought it was an awesome twist to Parker. Turned out that there were two Parkers. His BFF was actually Parker B.
A boy named Kieran - my child calls him Karen
My daughter swears she has a Conan in her class…. It’s cohen.
There’s 3 Avery’s and 2 Everlys so a lot of the time she tells me she played with Averylee and I have no idea who it could be lol
My kids are grown now, but the middle and the youngest couldn’t say their older siblings names.
The eldest is Katie, but the middle couldn’t say it so she became TT.
The middle is Lexi but the youngest couldn’t say it so she became Auggie.
My brother had a friend named Blake and he would call him “Blank”
Also Miss Virginia became Miss Belinda
We got a lot of “Q” for a kid in my son’s preschool class whose name was actually “Hugh”.
Didn’t question it at all - my honest assumption was that the parents were just big Star Trek fans lol.
One of my son's pre-school classmates is named Janiah, but he mispronounces it as "Jy-nuh"... which sounds exactly like the last 2 syllables in "vagina" 🫠
My brother used to tell my mom about his friend Matrum. My mom then chaoeroned the field trip and kept calling the kid Matrum. It was Matthew.
In kindergarten my son always talked about a kid named Oda. Took almost half the year to figure out his name was Arthur 🤣
"Medicine" it was Edison
My son started PreK & quickly bonded with a kid he called “Potato”. At the first field trip, I learned it was Matteo, but he has a speech impediment and introduces himself as Potato lol.
Our daughter is friends with two Scottish brothers called Gregor and Fungus. I mean, Fergus. But I like Fungus.
My son had a friend that he thought was the coolest because his name was “Magic”. He talked about playing with “Magic” every day at recess because they were both at the same school but different kindergarten classes. The little boy’s name was not “Magic”, it was Maverick.
My son kept referring to Dolphin. Turns out it’s Dalton.
My wee one met some other kids her age when she was at my mums house and they were playing for ages. Later on she was telling me about her new friends, xxxxx and “I think her name was paper”
Her name was Paige
We have two.
Weasel = Hazel
Amphibian = Vivian
We have a drawing that my child did of their class and Vivian is indeed labeled as Amphibian and I will keep that drawing forever. We got to meet Amphibian at a birthday party too and my child called her Amphibian TO HER FACE and Vivian did not correct her.
He insisted for months there was a kid in his class named “Grammy” (what he calls my mom) turns out the kids name is Remi.
My 3-year-old told my mom he has a friend at school named Luigi after she was talking about her uncle Mario. We thought he was just into Mario Bros. from someone at school. But he kept bringing up Luigi after that. Turns out there was a new student named Georgina in his class, and she goes by GIGI!
My nieces name is Leona and she called herself Yoda for a long time 😅
My son goes to gymnastics with a kid named Micah. When I asked him what her name was, he enthusiastically told me, "Bike!"
Apparently I told my mum there was someone in my class called Death.
It was Beth lol
Not a name misunderstanding, but the principal would announce when it was time for each bus's kids to dismiss. They were all numbered school buses, except one- "The F Word Bus"
My parents and I got hysterical even though we were trying to hide it, and unfortunately hurt my daughter's feelings. But... Picturing the principal screaming "the f*cking bus!" Every day was too much.
Turns out it was "the Epworth bus"
My Little brother could not pronounce the letters L or R.
My name is Laura.
I was Wawa for years.
Long after he grew out of it, he still called me Wawa. My cousin and best friend would call me Wawa too.
Nobody else could do it though.
They're both gone now. I would give anything to be called Wawa again.
My youngest couldn't pronounce her sister's name (Meredith) and it came out "Enna". That's her special name for her still, 18 years later.
I had a speech impediment as a child, there was a girl named Rena, and well she was Weiner to me.
Son talked about his friend quinoa for weeks. Turns out the kid’s name is Joaquin.
Not a name, but when my daughter was around 5 she came home to tell me that her classmate had his “tonsils and asteroids out.”
My almost 4 year old calls Jenal Fennel. My oldest used to call her friend Katie Cakey. All three of the kids call my friend Sophie Soapy.
My fave in my daughters class is “Gabelele” They’re Gabrielle, by my kid calls them Gah-beh-ley-ley
My friend worked in prek with all the 4 year olds. She named her baby Declan but all the kids say Duckling.
My niece calls her classmate Matteo, “Tomato.”
Not quite a classmate, but my oldest daughter (4) has a best friend named Indie. My youngest (almost 2) always calls her "Undie", which is funny because half the time I can't tell if she's talking about Indie or underwear.
For weeks every day after preschool I would ask my son what he did at school and he would say, "Play Blessy!" It took me forever to realize he was trying to say he played with Westley.
Kid came home talking about new friend “Germy”.
Weeks later we found out about Jeremy.
My 4 year old has a friend at school with the last name Eisenhower. For the first month or two of school he would talk about Issac Powers. Apparently that is how he pronounced Eisenhower.
My nephew had a “Doody” in his preschool class. She was Judy.
When my daughter was in preschool, she was excitedly telling me about what learned in school. It sounded like “Marcin Loser Keen”. It took her telling me that he had been killed to realize she was talking about Martin Luther King, Jr.
Most of the time my daughter would come home and tell me she made a new friend and when I’d ask what their name was, she never knew.
My little brother thought the neighbor kid’s name was Loki. We double checked and he was adamant that he was right. Kids name is Luke, his family calls him Luke-y and my brother got Loki from that.
My friend's daughter used to tell us when she was little that there was a boy called Lauren in her class. At first we thought it might have actually been Lawrence, but it turns out his name was actually Warren!
My 3 month old’s name is Leona and my 2 year old niece calls her “Baby Nona” which is too cute (and funny - basically baby grandma if we were Italian 😂)
My friend had a baby and named her Kate. We referred to her as Baby Kate. My 2 year old thought her name was Babycake. Kate is 16 years old now and her nickname is still Babycake.😆
When I was little, when my Aunt Evelyn would call our house and I would answer, I'd shout. "Mom, Aunt Elephant is on the phone!" My aunt would be so pissed!
My brother had a friend named Ken. He didn’t mispronounce it, but every time he talked about him he said, “a boy named Ken.” Ken is almost 33 and my dad still calls him a boy named Ken.
My daughter had a friend called Laundry.
Audrey. It was Audrey.