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Original poster

Names spelled with diacritics

314 replies

Anonymousmember667 · 26/07/2025 08:40

Apologies if this has been discussed or answered before but I have a question if anyone knows the answer, or who to ask or has any experience please?

So some names have diacritics, usually the name originates from another language other than english. Maybe the most common ones being Seán, Siobhán, Chloé, Zoë, René, Beyoncé etc etc.

Say for example, the name Chloé, Are there any issues registering this name with the diacritic on the “e” in England; on the Birth Certificate, with the NHS, in the school system, with banks, on her passport, driving licence etc etc.

Most people wouldnt know but Its simple to press the alt gr button + the letter to get most of these diacritics on a keyboard or hold the button on an apple keyboard, but do government systems and organisations systems generally support diacritic names?

Is there a right or expectation for organisations to spell your name correctly in England? Doesn't GDPR say this?

Is she destined for a lifetime of her name being spelt wrong or is she allowed to be a Chloé with an “é” !?

Thanks for any advise or experience anyone has 🙏

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ErrolTheDragon · 26/07/2025 10:45

Morgenrot25 · 26/07/2025 10:09

Accents might not be, but German umlauts certainly are (though can't presently think of a person's name that starts Ä, Ö or Ü).
Edit - there might be some Turkish names.

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I don’t know about umlauts but Swedish names can start with ‘A-ring’ - the most obvious example is Ångström, the Swedish physicist after which the non SI unit of length the ångström is named. Although the unit is now commonly referred to as the angstrom, its symbol is Å not A.

(‘Commonly’ among chemists and structural biologists - the ångström is a tenth of a nanometre which is conveniently the same order of magnitude as chemical bond lengths. It’s the unit of length I use most often!😂)

sashh · 26/07/2025 10:39

Interesting, I have only ever seen it as Chloë.

Ddakji · 26/07/2025 10:39

Lacitlyana · 26/07/2025 10:19

Lol. I don't know everyone called Zoë in this country, so sadly I cannot give exact numbers! But I do know 5 Zoë's and 3 of them use the dots when handwriting, one is plain Zoe, and the 5th is Zoey.
I only know one Chloë and she uses the diaresis as well.
You said 'i doubt anyone in this country is spelling Zoe or Chloe with an accent anymore'. Well they are.

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I stand corrected from your anecdotal data.

BlueandPinkSwan · 26/07/2025 10:37

Unless you are of German /French etc extract this all sounds pretentious.
Majority of people won't understand or even care about diacritics.

Mrseasy · 26/07/2025 10:32

most people wouldn’t ensure to use the accent IMO. It is an extra step and mostly, I’d say lots of people wouldn’t even know how to access those.

ErrolTheDragon · 26/07/2025 10:31

Morgenrot25 · 26/07/2025 10:19

I've seen Zoe, Zoey, Zoë and have a vague memory of a Zoee (though maybe that was a bad dream). While Zoe technically is pronounced Zoh in English, most folk accept that it's Zo-ee.

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Most people can manage to pronounce other names with Greek origins like Penelope or Hermione correctly. Zoe similarly is not ‘technically pronounced Zoh in English’ because our standard pronunciations usually respect Greek origins.

I’m not sure but in some cases there may be reasons for restricting characters used to the standard 26 letters of our alphabet. There can be security problems with people using characters which look like something else but from a coding POV are a completely different ASCII code.

Morgenrot25 · 26/07/2025 10:25

AussieManque · 26/07/2025 10:20

Ok, but referring to the OP's question, she will never get an accent on the E of Chloe in her UK passport. Or the A of Sian.

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I was replying to your comment regarding capital letters.

AussieManque · 26/07/2025 10:20

Morgenrot25 · 26/07/2025 10:09

Accents might not be, but German umlauts certainly are (though can't presently think of a person's name that starts Ä, Ö or Ü).
Edit - there might be some Turkish names.

Edited
Show quote history

Ok, but referring to the OP's question, she will never get an accent on the E of Chloe in her UK passport. Or the A of Sian.

Wilfrida1 · 26/07/2025 10:20

LadyGreySpillsTheTea · 26/07/2025 08:48

There’s even more of a complication with Chloé because I’m more familiar with the spelling Chloë - so people might choose the wrong diacritic or none at all.

Yes, this is how it is spelt.

Lacitlyana · 26/07/2025 10:19

Ddakji · 26/07/2025 10:16

Lots? How many in this country?

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Lol. I don't know everyone called Zoë in this country, so sadly I cannot give exact numbers! But I do know 5 Zoë's and 3 of them use the dots when handwriting, one is plain Zoe, and the 5th is Zoey.
I only know one Chloë and she uses the diaresis as well.
You said 'i doubt anyone in this country is spelling Zoe or Chloe with an accent anymore'. Well they are.

Morgenrot25 · 26/07/2025 10:19

Ddakji · 26/07/2025 10:16

Lots? How many in this country?

Show quote history

I've seen Zoe, Zoey, Zoë and have a vague memory of a Zoee (though maybe that was a bad dream). While Zoe technically is pronounced Zoh in English, most folk accept that it's Zo-ee.

Ddakji · 26/07/2025 10:16

Lacitlyana · 26/07/2025 10:15

Lots of people called Zoë officially use the two dots. My daughter does.

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Lots? How many in this country?

Lacitlyana · 26/07/2025 10:15

Ddakji · 26/07/2025 10:12

By diacritic do you mean accent?

Is this a known problem for systems not to cope with accents?

Though I doubt anyone in this country is spelling Zoe or Chloe with an accent anymore.

Lots of people called Zoë officially use the two dots. My daughter does.

ScaryM0nster · 26/07/2025 10:13

Anything on the main gov.uk platform won’t take accents.

Ddakji · 26/07/2025 10:12

By diacritic do you mean accent?

Is this a known problem for systems not to cope with accents?

Though I doubt anyone in this country is spelling Zoe or Chloe with an accent anymore.

Lacitlyana · 26/07/2025 10:10

AlwaysTheRenegade · 26/07/2025 10:03

Do you pronounce Zöe "zo-way"?

No, Zo-ee

If it was an acute accent it could be Zo-way I suppose, but the diaresis shows the "e" should be voiced (as an "ee" sound).

The usual way of saying single syllable words ending in "oe" in English would be to use an "oh" sound like in doe or toe. That's why there is a diaresis on the e (not the o) of Zoë.

Morgenrot25 · 26/07/2025 10:09

AussieManque · 26/07/2025 10:04

Names in UK passports are written with capital letters and capital letters don't come with accents. Even in French you don't write the accent if it's in capitals. Hence French passports only capitalise the first letter of each name so accents can be included.

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Accents might not be, but German umlauts certainly are (though can't presently think of a person's name that starts Ä, Ö or Ü).
Edit - there might be some Turkish names.

HowToTrainYourDragonfruit · 26/07/2025 10:09

Morgenrot25 · 26/07/2025 10:05

Where's the 'w' coming from?

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it's how zo- ayyyy will come out, the mouth makes a w sound on the way between those two vowel sounds because it's not fluid to create a glottal stop between the vowels of o and ae.

HowToTrainYourDragonfruit · 26/07/2025 10:07

HowToTrainYourDragonfruit · 26/07/2025 09:29

Do you really honestly pronounce your UK child's name "Chlo-AY" not "Chlo-EE"??? I bet you don't. The e acute makes it rhyme with hay, may, (wheh said in a southern English accent).

actually it's even more different " chlo-AY" versus "CHLO-ee". The stress is completely weird. Like "Gay Par-EE" not PA-riss.

LittleRobins · 26/07/2025 10:05

As others have said it will change the pronunciation to Clo-ay which is odd. I have a common Irish surname with an apostrophe in it which causes me enough headaches with online forms. Some websites accept it, some don’t. Surnames we’re fairly stuck with but first names we aren’t. Please don’t burden your child with a name that you will probably be pronouncing incorrectly just to make it look ‘pretty’ or ‘different’ which will cause her issues in the future. Just leave it off.

Morgenrot25 · 26/07/2025 10:05

AlwaysTheRenegade · 26/07/2025 10:03

Do you pronounce Zöe "zo-way"?

Where's the 'w' coming from?

AussieManque · 26/07/2025 10:04

Anonymousmember667 · 26/07/2025 09:57

Actually Siân is good example as its a welsh. But a PP said accented names are not allowed on UK passports, is that correct? A Siân has to just be Sian on a UK passport?

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Names in UK passports are written with capital letters and capital letters don't come with accents. Even in French you don't write the accent if it's in capitals. Hence French passports only capitalise the first letter of each name so accents can be included.

AlwaysTheRenegade · 26/07/2025 10:03

Do you pronounce Zöe "zo-way"?

Spies · 26/07/2025 10:00

Anonymousmember667 · 26/07/2025 09:57

Actually Siân is good example as its a welsh. But a PP said accented names are not allowed on UK passports, is that correct? A Siân has to just be Sian on a UK passport?

Show quote history

Yes it's not allowed on passports or driving licences.

TeenToTwenties · 26/07/2025 10:00

We made a conscious choice not to put accent on. Most people don't know how to when typing, we thought it would just add unnecessary complications. No one has ever mispronounced.