Tuesday 4 December 2012

“what’s in a name?”

William Shakespeare once wrote, “what’s in a name?” well if your name is also your website address, it’s very important, If someone misspells my name they will not be able to find my site! Arfon, (yes it is Welsh it means "Across from Anglesey" which is a coincidence really because I do just that) is not a name that people from outside Wales find easy to pronounce. Throughout my life I have had people drop the ‘r’ and call me “Afon” and after thirty something years of it I have learnt to live with it. But as the world continues to grow smaller my name continues to baffle people, so much so that I thought of addressing this with a recently abandoned business card in which a pronunciation guide could be located on the back of the card, Arfon Jones* Artist /Illustrator *pronounced “Arr-von”. But it’s not so much the pronunciation that’s the problem here it the fact that some people write my name as they would (try to) say it, either missing the above mentioned ‘r’ or bizarrely calling me “Afron” why this happens I have no idea… But either way it’s not ideal when it’s a website address. But what can I do? It’s my name, it’s located at the bottom of my work. I have no middle name, and Jones is the reverse of Arfon, in that it’s a very common Welsh name! Because Arfon is an uncommon name (if you are also called Arfon be sure to say hello at the bottom of this post!) I wasn’t given a nickname I could use instead of my real name (well one that I would wish to use on my work anyway!) I am known simply as Arfon... So how to combat this website address problem? Register the variations people use and redirect them to arfon.net? No, that would be costly! I know I shall write a blog entry about my name, writing it seven times, highlighting it each time and point out that it can also be found on my logo in the hopes that people will pick it up…

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

9 comments:

  1. I pronounce your name without the R, but that's because I grew up in East Anglia, with a non-rhotic accent. I get the 'Aaaaaah' and the 'v' sounds okay...

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  2. Indeed you do! x It’s a funny one isn’t it? My accent tends to result in me rolling my ‘R’s when I speak perhaps giving me the leg up when I say “Arrr-fon”? I fear that this blog comes across as me complaining, believe me I’m not as my pronunciation is far from perfect. I was discussing this site with someone recently and he kept referring to it as “afon.net” and I wondered if he had been writing it out that way too...

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  3. Thanks Arfon. I'm meeting someone by same name tomorrow, so wanted to be sure. I'm worried now that I'll say Afron, now that you've mentioned it. lol Cheers

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    1. Hello Dan, just remember “arrr-von” hope the meeting went well, thanks for taking the time to comment!

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  4. I pronounce your name Arrrrrrr-fon this properly makes you a Welsh Pirate Across from Anglesey.

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  5. I pronounce your name Arrrrrrr-fon this properly makes you a Welsh Pirate Across from Anglesey.

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  6. I like your thinking sir! It also works as a Farmer,(it’s all a matter of preference really) :)

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  7. Coming from North Wales the rolled R is automatic! Thank your lucky stars you're not an Iolo or Ieuan!

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    1. All good if you have that automatic- self rolling R! As for the Iolos and Ieuans of the world they will have to get their own pronunciation guides!! ;)

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