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My college roommate had a sister named Karen, pronounced KORE-en, with the first syllable sounding just like the word core, as in "apple core.". I have always thought that so ludicrous. Karen was a very popular name, so I can only imagine the constant corrections that are necessary, and Karen pronounced the usual way is much prettier anyway. Seemed to me so pretentious and silly. Now Karen's sister, my roommate, was named Zoe and was born in 1960, the same year that I was. Very few babies were being named Zoe in 1960, so I think it obvious that Zoe's and Karen's parents wanted unusual names, but I think that to take a common, popular name and insist on some counter-intuitive pronunciation is not the way to go about that.

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My friend had a daughter named Leigha, which I think is an abominable spelling.