Skatje has been off marrying people!


My daughter has been marrying other people to each other, that is. It’s good to see someone making the world a happier place.

skatjewedding

Comments

  1. carlie says

    ‘Tis her real name, from her family heritage.

    That’s cool that she’s doing weddings. I’ve married one couple myself, and it was immensely satisfying. So wonderful to help add to the joy in the world.

  2. samihawkins says

    Skatje has been off marrying people!

    Hundreds of them! Whether they want to or not! She’s just shoving random people toward each other on the street and shouting ‘I now pronounce you married’!

    On a serious note good for her, that’s a wonderful picture, and I really needed a happy post like this after that last one.

  3. Alex says

    That’s quite wonderful! I’m curious how she came to be an officiant…

    @richardelguru:

    It’s probably an electrical wife. That also explains why they couldn’t get a church wedding.

    /snark

  4. HolyPinkUnicorn says

    @richardelguru:

    What’s with the wire that seems to be coming out of the bride’s back?

    I think it’s just a microphone on a stand so guests can hear the vows a little better–perhaps this ceremony is in front of hundreds of people (or even thousands!).

  5. says

    Our original idea for her name was to call her Skaði, after the norse goddess. We got worried, though, that no one would have the slightest idea what to do with an eth, and also that everyone would call her Scotty…so we looked for variants that would feminize it a bit more. We shouldn’t have bothered, since she grew up into a fierce person with an interest in linguistics who wouldn’t have been daunted by an ð at all.

  6. says

    PZ Probably a good idea to de-eth her name. I called my eldest Rædwald (after the Bretwalda) and even that simple æsc can’t really be used (Unicode notwithstanding), and he has to be ‘Raedwald’. He gets called ‘Raid-wald’ by strangers, instead of the expected short ‘a’, but he did get called ‘Rad’ in high-school, which was considered really rad!

  7. says

    Oops!
    And (since there aren’t really any OE girls names that look good to modern eyes) I named my youngest ‘Rowena’, with the OE version ‘Hroþƿyn’ as a middle name and—chicken me, modernised to ‘Hrothwyn’.

  8. Nerull says

    Oh my. I didn’t expect to see this here!

    We have been good friends with Skatje for many years, and she is largely responsible for us meeting. She did an excellent job.

    — The Groom

  9. Alex says

    Congrats, Nerull!

    btw. being married is not half as bad as people say! :-)

    @PZ

    Scot as in Scotland?

  10. Alex says

    <- I should be more precise: Scot as maybe a Brit would say it (with a round mouth o), or more like the American "Scawd"

  11. Sastra says

    In weddings we congratulate the bride, the groom, the parents of the bride, the parents of the groom, the grandparents of the bride, and so forth and so on. It’s time we started congratulating the officiant, the officiant’s parents, and so forth and so on. Congrats, PZ! You must be so proud….

    And Skatje chose a great dress for the occasion, too!

  12. Sastra says

    Oh, I sympathize on the name, btw. I named my son “Stefan” and a lot of people had a meltdown. The schools wrestled with it constantly. It was as if that “f” made it just too exotic and bizarre. It had to be another name, something similar but normal. Like “Steven.”

    At least “Skatje” is so unique that it’s more likely people will pay attention … and not blithely turn it into “Sharon” or “Katie.”

  13. Nerull says

    She considered going by Kat professionally for a while, shortened from her middle name. I can’t imagine what a pain it is to have a name no one can pronounce without coaching, but she puts up with it.

  14. Nerull says

    actually I remembered that wrong, professionally would have been unshortened.

  15. says

    Yeah, we intentionally made our children suffer with their names. Made ’em strong.

    Shoulda given the boys girls’ names to be really sure.

  16. seraphymcrash says

    My parents named me Robert, and called me Bob. Strong unique names have always fascinated me, and left me a little envious.

  17. azhael says

    I can’t imagine what a pain it is to have a name no one can pronounce without coachin

    As someone whose name is horribly mispronounced by almost anyone who is not a spanish speaker, i have to say it’s rather a lot of fun :P It’s also quite useful when i fail to pronounce an english word, if someone points it out i can always ask them to say my name and watch them squirm. Then you have the people who feel confident that they can pronounce it properly (they can’t…although there’s the rare unicorn that gets close) and make a show of it, those are the most fun.
    I’m not too bad about it, though, i’m perfectly fine with people mispronouncing it as long as they make some effort at all.
    My name is Rodrigo, by the way. No weird letters or anything….looks deceptively easy, right?

    @11 Richard

    If i remember correctly the “Hroþ” in your daughter’s name is the same root as in mine. Just bragging…it’s a cool sounding root xD

  18. tccc says

    The best part of a difficult to pronounce name for me is that it serves as a great filter to separate people who know me personally from people who are only pretending to know me for some reason.

  19. Moggie says

    PZ:

    Yeah, we intentionally made our children suffer with their names. Made ‘em strong.

    You could have gone with a Puritan naming style: Lament Myers, or Forsaken Jesus-Christ-came-into-the-world- to-save Myers.

  20. numerobis says

    Shoulda given the boys girls’ names to be really sure.

    MY NAME IS SUE. HOW DO YOU DO.

    My first name is a completely normal first name for my mother’s ethnicity, and my last name is a completely normal last name for my father’s ethnicity. In sum, my name is unique on the internet. And it’s not like they could google to make sure, given I predate the web by some years.

  21. wondering says

    @24 Azhael

    I’m going to guess that your name is pronounced in the Portuguese way “Hodrigo” rather than the Spanish “Rodrigo” or Italian “Rodreego”.

    But I would’ve assumed “Rodrigo/Rodreego” without the “people can’t pronounce it” clue.

  22. azhael says

    @26
    Sorry, no, try again :)

    @30
    Oh no no, it is the spanish way, “Rodrigo” but people never get the “r” and the “o” sounds right (sometimes thye think they do, but they don’t).
    Actually the portuguese “Hodrigo” version is completely new to me xD I’ve only ever heard “Rui” as a portuguese variant. Thanks for the new info!

  23. moarscienceplz says

    Yeah, we intentionally made our children suffer with their names. Made ‘em strong.

    You said it, Paul Zachary! (oops! sorry, Pee Zee.)
    ;-)

  24. wondering says

    @azhael

    And now I’m assuming I pronounce the Spanish way wrong. I know that there are differences that I don’t seem able to even hear, so just mark me as another dumb anglo lol

    If it makes you feel any better, people get my name wrong a lot too. They always assume I’m a Diana at first, although on occasion I get things as off as Janet. As for my last name, well, it’s got 5 consonants in a row in it, so most people are intimidated into not even trying.

  25. jste says

    As for my last name, well, it’s got 5 consonants in a row in it, so most people are intimidated into not even trying.

    My wife’s parents decided to do her a favour, and give her a unique name. It’s not as complicated as 5 consonants in a row, but any new acquaintances look at her name and go bug-eyed trying to work out how to pronounce it. A few of her teachers didn’t even bother calling her name doing a roll call (Seriously, how many unis bother with roll call for lectures or tutorials, anyway??) and would just write it up on the board.

    Her family are South African, to boot, so next to no one here in Aus can pronounce her surname properly, either.

  26. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    This has the looks of a low budget wedding. The marriage should be a long one.
    Congarats to the new couple.

  27. says

    PZ:

    Yeah, we intentionally made our children suffer with their names. Made ‘em strong.

    I’m drawing a blank on the names of your other children (you have two more, correct?).

  28. says

    My first name’s Nelson, relatively easy you’d think, but the number of people who think I’m a Nathan, yeesh. Not to mention the occasional beggar who calls me “Malcolm”. What? How do they get that?

  29. azhael says

    And now I’m assuming I pronounce the Spanish way wrong. I know that there are differences that I don’t seem able to even hear, so just mark me as another dumb anglo lol

    We make things complicated on purpose with the strongly rolled “r” :) Still, i bet you get close, plus like i said i apreciate it when people try!

    As for my last name, well, it’s got 5 consonants in a row in it

    O_O
    Yeah, ok, i’ll shut up about my run of the mill name now…

  30. Alex says

    Skatje is West-Frisian for Schatje, which means, little darling or little precious.

    Is it a coincidence that the yiddish name for a matchmaker is Schadchen? :)

  31. mjmiller says

    Congrats to teh newlyweds, and to PZ’s spawn. (Skatje is a very cool name by the way). To Nerd of Redhead: low budget wedding = long marriage? Maybe. The spouse and I paid for ours ourselves, very low budget… 30th anniversary in October