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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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mathanxiety · 30/07/2025 01:27

SilenceOfTheTimTams · 27/07/2025 16:38

I really don’t think a missing é or ë or ẽ or whatever on a passport is remotely similar to the abomination of the Atlantic slave trade or to the pre-suffrage democratic exclusion of women.

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That wasn't the point.

We have computers now. We are aware that more than just the King's English exists in the UK. We should do better. What compelling reason is there not to?

TheOriginalEmu · 30/07/2025 00:19

tinytemper66 · 29/07/2025 21:55

in my part of Wales we don’t say butt; however where I work, loads of people say it, usually men. I was shocked.

Butt is very specific to men from a very narrow geographical area. My brother says it. I’m from port talbot.

RaininSummer · 29/07/2025 22:27

I don't think my work systems support this for customers registering with us. This is a big government dept.

tinytemper66 · 29/07/2025 21:55

in my part of Wales we don’t say butt; however where I work, loads of people say it, usually men. I was shocked.

gotmyknickersinatwist · 29/07/2025 21:48

It's a bit Father Ted, isn't it?
I don't think I've ever heard anyone say 'top of the morning to you' either.

Whatpatternisthis · 29/07/2025 21:40

They don’t!!
Never that I’ve heard anyway.
Just wondered if you’d actually heard it said.

gotmyknickersinatwist · 29/07/2025 21:30

perhaps people do say begorrah though...

gotmyknickersinatwist · 29/07/2025 21:29

Whatpatternisthis · 29/07/2025 18:24

Do people actually say begorrah?

I was being facetious, and exaggerating ever so slightly to distinguish the Northern caricature by use of 'wee' and the Southern caricature by use of jaysus, grand, so...

ETA I realise I didn't ham up the Northern one as much as the Southern, but that was to counter the piss-taking nature of the exchange

Whatpatternisthis · 29/07/2025 18:24

Do people actually say begorrah?

gotmyknickersinatwist · 29/07/2025 17:17

HotCrossBunplease · 26/07/2025 16:10

To a Scottish person, “wean” is pronounced two ways- “ween” for the verb of introducing a child to solid food, and “wayne” to mean a child (in very very common use in the Central Belt and not all related to Gaelic, before anyone suggests it).

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I'm just seeing your reply, in my example I was using the verb 'wean' as in, to wean a baby.. The PP had used 'bean' to suggest a word that would rhyme with an anglicised pronunciation of 'sean' without the fada, and I was suggesting other rhyming words.

Wean to mean child is very common here in NI too, and your example of the 'wayne' pronunciation is typical in Derry, due to the spoken accent (as I was talking about earlier when I mentioned accents in Belfast - oops! - not diacritic accents).
Outside Derry, the word 'wean' to mean child has two syllables and is typically pronounced with a diphthong as in 'wee ahn'.
It's clearly a portmanteau of wee one, i.e. little one, and it would make sense that it's used in both NI and Scotland.

My Southern mates enjoy making gentle fun of us Nordies' excessive use of 'wee'.
N: Do you fancy going for a wee pint?
S: Ah jaysus, a 'wee' pint-sized pint would be grand, so. Begorrah. etc.

TheOriginalEmu · 28/07/2025 12:22

SilenceOfTheTimTams · 27/07/2025 16:38

I really don’t think a missing é or ë or ẽ or whatever on a passport is remotely similar to the abomination of the Atlantic slave trade or to the pre-suffrage democratic exclusion of women.

Show quote history

I didn’t say it was. My point was about those things being accepted and ignored becuase ‘that’s the way it is’ .

gotmyknickersinatwist · 27/07/2025 23:46

@FightingTemeraire

Bill Murray Drink GIF
FightingTemeraire · 27/07/2025 22:43

gotmyknickersinatwist · 27/07/2025 22:31

#in Germany I'm Johann, in England I am John!#

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Thank you for that childhood earworm which I will now be humming for the rest of my life, probably. 😱😀

gotmyknickersinatwist · 27/07/2025 22:31

ErrolTheDragon · 27/07/2025 18:06

Isn’t the mutation of names very common though? I believe Sean (in its various forms) is part of the many and various ‘John’ family all originating from the Hebrew Yohanan. So mutating the spelling to an English phonetic transliteration doesn’t seem particularly extreme or unusual.

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#in Germany I'm Johann, in England I am John!#

Names spelled with diacritics
theresadinosaur · 27/07/2025 21:51

2chocolateoranges · 26/07/2025 18:49

our eldest is called Zoe and we were talking about people pronouncing names and she says everyone knows how to pronounce her name even without the accent over the e.

we have family and friends all over the world and it’s always been pronounced correctly. The accent in my opinion isn’t needed.

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I would like to agree but in my experience occasionally people don’t know how to pronounce it and pronounce it wrong e.g. my dental hygienist. It amazes me that someone British living in the UK would have never come across the correct pronunciation but it does happen.

GloriaMonday · 27/07/2025 19:32

@Daffodilsarefading , I think you hold they key on a phone, or Alt codes on a computer.
ALT Codes for Foreign Language Letters with Accents

It's a diaresis not an umlaut.

ErrolTheDragon · 27/07/2025 18:06

Daffodilsarefading · 27/07/2025 09:08

There are some quite rude people on here.
I’ve also learnt a few things. Such as why some people pronounce Zoe - sorry not sure how to add umlautes- as ZO. I assumed they were being over familiar. I did know about Sean being pronounced differently with the fada. Again, apologies as I don’t know how to add the fada on my phone.
What irritates me is people taking a name like Sean and spelling it as Shaun, I understand way back when someone would have only heard the pronunciation and never seen it written, but surely that isn’t the case now.

Isn’t the mutation of names very common though? I believe Sean (in its various forms) is part of the many and various ‘John’ family all originating from the Hebrew Yohanan. So mutating the spelling to an English phonetic transliteration doesn’t seem particularly extreme or unusual.

Whatpatternisthis · 27/07/2025 17:53

ScaryM0nster · 27/07/2025 15:24

GDPR protects your data. If the system can’t replicate non standard characters under the relevant jurisdiction then there’s no requirement to include them. Just to have a standard replacement.

Same with any other non standard characters for that jurisdiction.

Don’t you think the characters of all the languages native to the UK should be included as standard in UK systems though? Not just English. Names are one of the parts of language that persist too. For example, someone in Northern Ireland or Scotland mightn’t necessarily be fluent in Irish or Gaelic, yet still want to choose a name from their own heritage.

SilenceOfTheTimTams · 27/07/2025 16:38

TheOriginalEmu · 27/07/2025 16:33

But it is. In the languages that use them they are literally different letters sometimes and at the very least make a difference to how a letter is pronounced. It’s exactly the same.

’That’s how it is’ is a piss poor reason for continuing to do something, there was a time when that was ‘how it is’ for women to be not allowed to vote and black people to be owned as property.

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I really don’t think a missing é or ë or ẽ or whatever on a passport is remotely similar to the abomination of the Atlantic slave trade or to the pre-suffrage democratic exclusion of women.

TheOriginalEmu · 27/07/2025 16:34

HotCrossBunplease · 26/07/2025 23:55

I think you have misunderstood the post that you are quoting. I was replying to a suggestion that people should be forced to transliterate their names in a particular way if a system does not cater for diacritics. I was not commenting on whether it was right or wrong that the system should not allow them in the first place.

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My apologies I did misread it.

TheOriginalEmu · 27/07/2025 16:33

SilenceOfTheTimTams · 26/07/2025 23:52

I’m sorry, but it isn’t.

And anyway, even if I’m wrong, that’s how things stand and nothing bad seems to come of it.

Show quote history

But it is. In the languages that use them they are literally different letters sometimes and at the very least make a difference to how a letter is pronounced. It’s exactly the same.

’That’s how it is’ is a piss poor reason for continuing to do something, there was a time when that was ‘how it is’ for women to be not allowed to vote and black people to be owned as property.

ScaryM0nster · 27/07/2025 15:24

GDPR protects your data. If the system can’t replicate non standard characters under the relevant jurisdiction then there’s no requirement to include them. Just to have a standard replacement.

Same with any other non standard characters for that jurisdiction.

Daffodilsarefading · 27/07/2025 15:05

Whatpatternisthis thank you.

Denimrules · 27/07/2025 14:04

Spies · 26/07/2025 08:45

Yes you can register the name with an accent (the more commonly used term in the UK) I'm not sure you can use them in a passport though you definitely didn't used to be able to include them.

Also I'm really not sure what gdpr has to do with this situation?? Confused

Agree re 'diacritics', I only ever use this expression at work when inserting them into online records and documents

Original poster
Anonymousmember667 · 27/07/2025 14:00

DiscoBob · 27/07/2025 08:52

I don't know what you think GDPR is but it's nothing to do with having 'rights' regarding name spellings.

Names spelt incorrectly. Who or what is responsible then?

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