Names spelled with diacritics

She’s operating in the U.K. which has at least 2 native languages that use diacritics. So, it really shouldn’t be as difficult as it is to spell names correctly.

It’s the term used in linguistics for ‘accents’ on letters, but also for markings in IPA that affect how a sound is pronounced.

I have an Irish name with a fada over my é and it’s on my passport, however it is an Irish passport!

I have an accent on my birth certificate as do two of my family members. How do you know if people do or not?!!!

Sean (with an accent) in English though is just Sean, surely? It's not spelt wrongly, it's just the English form. We don't use accents in English so the accents get dropped but the name sounds the same.

I'd just pic a name without an accent if the accent is going to be really important to you OP.

No they wouldn’t, the name in English would be Irish. Irish isn’t Gaelic. Scots Gaelic is a language.

Because the names do have the diacritics, but they might have been entered on the BC without the diacritic.

Like with the name Seán, the diacritic changes the sound, so the individual might always have used it.

I’d never heard it before either. 🙂

A diacritic is the correct term for it.

@Anonymousmember667 my daughters name contains and â, it’s Welsh, and it’s not on her passport or driving license, but is on her birth certificate and her bank card.
She isn’t precious about it if the system says no, but tbh I think the fact it doesn’t in 2025 is ridiculous.

My (Portuguese) name has one and it's really not practical to use it in the UK.

I've found that most IT systems in the public sector don't accommodate for it and it's chaotic to try to "enforce" it.

Of course I haven't seen their birth certificates - but I was in school with people with these spellings, why would they use a different spelling in school to their birth certificates?!

(I am from a Welsh speaking area so I accept that I know more people with accents on their names than most people would).

The ICAO document in question is 9303, do have a read if you’re genuinely interested. It was part of a major review around 2014/2015, prior to which date some UK passports did include diacritic marks.

The stated aim was to harmonise international standards for machine-readability, in order to enhance security of air travel/borders.

Its legal status is a “SARP”, which is short of “standards and recommended practices”. What this means is that ICAO strongly encourages adoption of this standard by all states who are signatories to the Chicago Convention (most in the world) and makes life difficult for those who do not, but it can’t force them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standards_and_Recommended_Practices

Presumably Ireland, with its controversial history of suppression of the Irish language, chose to prioritise domestic political sensitivities over international harmonisation.

You may do, but have you seen all the birth cerificates? I know for sure that three of those names were registered in Wales without the diacritics.
Sïan is very unusual (and a bit ) but it is used.

Noone, least of all me, said you were lying, I was merely stating an fact that there will always be someone who knows someone who has is etc but it is usually four, five and more on a lot of threads on MN.

No idea but coming from someone with a surname that’s Irish and has an apostrophe in it, think O’Donnell, literally 90% of websites and official forms don’t recognise having an ‘unusual character’ which gives me rage!

I have a diacritic on my name and just checked my 1970s birth certificate, and it's not on there, even though it is in the format Firstname SECONDNAME. It's therefore not on my passport either (although that is FIRSTNAME SECONDNAME).

I've always used mine when handwriting my name (even in capitals for forms etc) and still do. I don't when typing though, although I definitely used to and I don't really know when I stopped using it - it's not in my work email signature. I'm so used to seeing my name both with and without the diacritic that I don't really notice it any more.

Both my work and personal emails are firstname.surname@ so I wonder if it was the wider use of email (which I don't think you can use diacritics in) that made the use without just look equally as normal to me?

My sister is called Zoë. She lives in France, even there, online forms make her just be Zoe.

I have taught thousands of children over the years. I'd say about half the Zoes I've come across have been Zoë and half Zoe.
There's no need to be snippy. You asked pp to "prove" people use Zoë, and she did so in the way she is able. She isn't your personal researcher.

I personally know people with everyone of those names. Not everyone with those names have accents, but they are used and everyone should have their names spelt correctly - accented or otherwise. Siân x

I have â in my name -it is on my birth certificate but not on official documents. Gripes my shit as I only have that name!

Yup - I've got an Irish name, so it's always spelled wrong and pronounced wronger. It... doesn't matter at all.

They're not. They might be in some areas, and it might be age dependent.

I have an apostrophe think o’something lots of places can’t cope with that and it’s not even unusual. You can but I’d expect it to be routinely spelt without.

Quite a few Welsh names have accents - Siôn, Siân, Sïan, Gwenllïan, Llŷr, Nêst. These are included on birth certificates and used in every day life, but as others have said, they are not on official documents such as passports. Not fair in my opinion, its not like we're using foreign letters. Accents should be included on our documents. Siân x

I have a Zoë, no big deal at all. I choose to use the ë as it’s easy as pie, pretty, and stops it rhyming with Joe (we have a Joseph. See also Joe and Zoë Sugg). You can teach your child not to be uptight about it though. A lot of the time it’s not possible to include the diacritic - computer says no etc.