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AIBU?

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To not use proper spellings when naming your child

934 replies

Catterpillarsflipflops · 19/03/2025 18:17

Am I being unreasonable to think it's ridiculous to use a funky spelling of a normal name. I spent today dealing with lost paperwork for a child as the person that took the details didn't think to check the spelling as there is no other spelling of the name.

It looks silly and just causes no end of problems for the child. It also disadvantages them as straight away people get an image of what the child is like.

I've seen

Jaymz
Ezmay
Lil-leigh

OP posts:
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10
Lunde · 19/03/2025 19:33

eMjae

(pronounced MJ)

BarqsHasBite · 19/03/2025 19:32

MissDoubleU · 19/03/2025 18:19

It’s a fucking Tradgedeigh

I thought you were mocking an Irish name for a minute there 🫢

RedOnyx · 19/03/2025 19:32

oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends · 19/03/2025 18:48

Is it Germany that has a list of acceptable names - no deviation allowed ?

I called my DS Mark, can't do anything with that. But the nursery called him Marky until I protested.

Germany has rules surrounding names but you are allowed basically any name as long as you can prove that it really is a name and it wouldn't cause the child any distress. Unisex names have to be followed by a middle name that's clearly male or female, so you can't have Ashley Robin for instance, but Ashley Rose or Robin John would be fine.

Iceland is the one that's really strict - if even one parent is Icelandic they have to choose an Icelandic name from an approved list.

JanglingJack · 19/03/2025 19:32

browsyork · 19/03/2025 19:30

My son is George, that's going to be fun!

Maybe I should have spelled it Jorj

Yep, phonics are fun!

They're not.

RedOrangeSky · 19/03/2025 19:31

tulippa · 19/03/2025 18:34

I work somewhere where there is a sign to contact Kacper if you need a certain thing doing. I spent months thinking that's an unusual name until I realised it was a funky spelling of Casper. Parents obviously didn't know the letter c only makes 's' when followed by i, e or y.

Edited

Isnt that just the Polish or similar spelling?

You are in danger of judging people for being foreign.

8misskitty8 · 19/03/2025 19:31

tulippa · 19/03/2025 18:34

I work somewhere where there is a sign to contact Kacper if you need a certain thing doing. I spent months thinking that's an unusual name until I realised it was a funky spelling of Casper. Parents obviously didn't know the letter c only makes 's' when followed by i, e or y.

Edited

That’s a polish name. Have had a few children with the name in my class over the years.

browsyork · 19/03/2025 19:30

JanglingJack · 19/03/2025 18:23

I had to think about Jaymz!

I'm not fan, but then naming my son with a common traditional name starting with G but sounds like a J, there were times he was trying to learn how to spell it, and I wished I had just called him Ben.

My son is George, that's going to be fun!

Maybe I should have spelled it Jorj

JanglingJack · 19/03/2025 19:30

cait967 · 19/03/2025 19:28

This! I have one of those first names that can legitimately be spelled about ten ways

i spend my life correcting it.

To be fair, his name is George, so not really.

Gemini29 · 19/03/2025 19:29

Side note - but the name llacey with a welsh Ll is actually growing on me 🤣🤣

TheEllisGreyMethod · 19/03/2025 19:29

There is a child in my DDs swimming group - I've only seen her name written down - Ezma, so I thought it was Ezma. No, it's Esme, somehow.

JanglingJack · 19/03/2025 19:28

Sporadica · 19/03/2025 19:26

Perhaps little Jaymz's parents worried that the trad spelling "James" might lead to accidental mispronunciations like JAY-mess, JAH-mess or jaw-MEZ?

He probably has a sister called K8.

Nah she's K8T

Rightsraptor · 19/03/2025 19:28

When I was a midwife we used to get parents decorating their baby's name with random accents - a cedilla here, an acute accent, or perhaps a circonflex there - apparently unaware that it might change the pronunciation. Well, it might if you were in the know, but as they clearly weren't it didn't bother them.

IVFbeenverylucky · 19/03/2025 19:28

Once came across an "Abbeygayle". Took me a while to work it out. How silly.

cait967 · 19/03/2025 19:28

JanglingJack · 19/03/2025 18:23

I had to think about Jaymz!

I'm not fan, but then naming my son with a common traditional name starting with G but sounds like a J, there were times he was trying to learn how to spell it, and I wished I had just called him Ben.

This! I have one of those first names that can legitimately be spelled about ten ways

i spend my life correcting it.

JanglingJack · 19/03/2025 19:27

Undethetree · 19/03/2025 18:26

I met an Evon last week

Years ago at work we had a customer that had called her daughter Wy-vone-ee

Yvonne.

Summerishere123 · 19/03/2025 19:27

Best one I have seen was Jaymelee

BowTiesPinkTail · 19/03/2025 19:27

tulippa · 19/03/2025 18:34

I work somewhere where there is a sign to contact Kacper if you need a certain thing doing. I spent months thinking that's an unusual name until I realised it was a funky spelling of Casper. Parents obviously didn't know the letter c only makes 's' when followed by i, e or y.

Edited

That is actually the Polish spelling of Casper.

tillytoodles1 · 19/03/2025 19:27

LittleBearPad · 19/03/2025 18:23

Was it in Wales - though the double LL would make it a completely different sound so it can’t have been! but why do that!!

In Wales it's pronounced Cly. Poor kid

Sporadica · 19/03/2025 19:26

Perhaps little Jaymz's parents worried that the trad spelling "James" might lead to accidental mispronunciations like JAY-mess, JAH-mess or jaw-MEZ?

He probably has a sister called K8.

BumbleBeegu · 19/03/2025 19:26

I had a ‘Sharn’ in my class a few years ago…constantly got spelled ‘incorrectly’ as Sian on forms (like when a TA was filling out a bumped head slip etc) 🥴

I recently had a Teighler (Taylor) 🤦‍♀️

JasmineAllen · 19/03/2025 19:25

BatchCookBabe · 19/03/2025 19:08

YANBU. I fecking hate it. I know a Bexleigh, a Jordonne, and a Nylargh. What the actual F?!

They are setting their child up for a lifetime of NO-ONE spelling their name correctly! Why do that to your own child?

One of my old neighbours (where I used to live) named her child Deekonne (instead of Deacon) and pissed and moaned because NO-ONE ever spelt it right.

Edited

Who names their child Deacon ? 😂
Unless it's a middle name, first name Joey (one for older MNs'ers)

Pallisers · 19/03/2025 19:25

I know a Ryleigh. Her father is Irish. I judge.

Also know someone whose surname was A'hern. Something dreadful must have happened on Ellis Island. I lived in fear that he would have to visit our Irish office.

Arcticrival · 19/03/2025 19:25

Yellowpingu · 19/03/2025 18:38

I might be wrong but I think that’s the Polish spelling. DS was at primary school with a Kacper who’s parents are Polish.

It is. We have a Kacper at work. It's Eastern European, not made up

Decorhate · 19/03/2025 19:25

@oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends I’ve come across several names that in terms of how they sound, could be the same. Eg Kieran/Kiran. Ken and Sean both with similar sounding Chinese names. Tara common in Ireland and India.

JasmineAllen · 19/03/2025 19:21

PowerhouseOfTheCell · 19/03/2025 19:02

A random US influencer post came up on my insta with a birth announcement 'Lefty Luck' she had turned the comments of as she was getting, quite rightly, abuse about calling her poor child that
Lefty has a big sister called Towne Belle Confused

Towne Belle sounds like a euphemism for a prostitute 😂 As for Lefty Luck, I'm not even sure where to begin with how awful it is.