Why chose an alternative spelling for a recognised name?

Hate made-up names, but of your own heritage is fine.

By the way, on the prevous list, Ambar is the Indian way of spelling it. I know lots of Asian families that have chosen Ambar as it works well in both languages.

My name is always spelt wrong. It does bug me when it is people like my workplace, my family or my oldest friends.

It especially bugs me in email. If they've just found my address which is [email protected] then they have it in front of them and could surely just copy it correctly!

Although mine is the traditional spelling, there are a couple of famous people with the alternative out there.

I just fancied having a son whose name starts with a Z.

My ds is called Zpatrick. The Z is silent.

I know someone who named their son Alexzander, which I think is awful! The "z" is pointless as the "x" gives the z sound.

I also know a beautiful little girl called Ruby and was most disappointed when I found out that they spell it Rubie . It's none of my business and it's up to the parents how they spell their children's names, but I just think that it's such a lovely name ruined.

There's a big difference between an accepted cultural spelling (Marc/k, Soph/fie/y, I/ysa/obel/le), accepted variations in one language (C/Katherine/arine/ryn, Eli/ea/anor/e) and being 'different' (Gecciwhatever).

I would be slightly eye-rolly but tolerant of the first if someone spelt my name wrong - how do the mispellers know that it's a cultural thing after all but after the first time you'd think they'd remember - prepared for the second (years of Elinor with an i in the middle), deserving of the third!

What does annoy me is when family can't spell it or people are just plain ignorant if the male/female demarcations (Francis/Frances etc).

I don't think most spellings are done to be pretentious, there's often a cultural or family link. Taking the Alison example I know an Alyson and an Allison, both family names for generations.

It is one of my pet hates.

I used to know a Sophy, the first time my Mum encountered a Sophie (whose name she saw written down) she was very surprised by the 'unusual spelling'. This was a year ago!!

Charmian is a totally separate name. That must confuse everyone

I know a Charmian (pronounced Charmaine) and a Rubee

for the love of God....

Hmmm that may be the case but I know she just spelt it that way to be different, she spelt it how you say it.

I thought Jorja was a traditionaly spelling somewhere, Eatern Europe poss.

I know someone who called their daughter Georgia but spelt it Jorja

i have a v unusual spelling of catherine. used to drive me up the wall as no one would ever spell it right. Now i have given up, but still - all rather pointless.

when my mum suggested that i spell my son's name Mathew (as it was more unusual) I politely declined....

lots of hassle and no real point IMHO

But nowwearefour, Sophy is the traditional English version - look at the book Tom Jones. Sophie is actually a more pretentious French version of the same name which has somehow prevailed. In Germany it's also spelled Sofie.

in my dd2's pre school class there is a sophy which i find to be rather

In Welsh certain letters don't exist and others are pronounced differently to English (though always consistently) e.g. there's no K so Karen is Caren or Caryn, Mark is Marc, Kerry is Ceri and there's something different going on with i's, hence Martyn. It's not just people trying to be different!

I cared before I had DD but her name has 'iet' on the end..(difficult to guess her name hey? ). From the day she was born it's been spelled iot, iott, iette and iett. I thought the name was a well known, easy to spell name. Apparently not.

Thing is, people get judgy about this stuff, but you could have the most "everyday" of names eg Claire, and have it spelt "wrong" all the time eg Clare, Clair, or Catherine/Katherine/Katharine/Kathryn. Even Ann could be Anne, it's just a case of learning it or not minding people asking/occasionally making a reasonable but incorrect assumption. My DD has a very pedestrian name with a less used spelling and I take it on the chin that it will often be spelt wrongly (blood boils when the in-laws can't manage the correct spelling though!!)

I have a dd called Baylee we chose not to use the spelling Bailey as this was used for the boys the Spelling we chose was in the girls name section of a baby name book & was a varient spelling mainly given to girls.People who dont know the way we spell it do spell it Bailey & it doesnt bother me because i knew this would happen we just didnt want to give her the boys spelling.

oh god, i hope you don't all represent the general public: my DS is named after the Cornish saint and place we live - Mawgan - obv this is pronounced the sam as more "common" nane Morgan. we thought best of both worlds - not too odd, but still culturally relevant to us.

do you think everyone will think we're/he's an arse?

i love his name but hadn't realised how irksome some find "alternative" spellings (who is actually to say what's "right" though?)

"The reason I chose to spell it that way is I thought the shape of the word when written down looked better. It looked more balanced with 5 letters instead of 6, and the text flowed better. Also e is one of my least favourite letters so I'd rather it wasn't in his name."

I knew a Micheala - shouldn't it have been Michaela? Pro - Mik-ay-la.

i like esmae not esme im not trying to be special just like the way it looks better! if we all liked the same thing would nt the world be a boring place!?!?

I have a Scarlett & Sienna ..... hate it when people spell Scarlett - Scarlet (which is the colour not the name!) and Sienna like Siena (the city whereas she is the colour version !!!!)
I knew someone who called their girl Elise but spelt it Ellesse, as they liked the sportswear and how it looked (??)- they didn't realise Ellesse is not pronounced the same as Elise, she has a lifetime of mis-spells !!

HelenFF that's reassuring to know that it's seen as acceptable in some parts (the spelling of Martyn). I had a feeling it was the Welsh spelling...

Yes maryz DH just seems to like it spelt Martyn rather than Martin, he just said to me he doesn't like the conventional spelling of this name. But DH doesn't really conform to most things so this is normal for him to be awkward (in my eyes!) I think Martin is lovely really, nice way of spelling it and I know most people would spell it that way when writing it down. Unless living in Wales, I doubt most people would spell Martyn