Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

to think it shouldn't take EXHs family 2 years to learn to spell a 5 letter name

88 replies

Thing3 · 16/08/2012 23:57

DD3 turned 2 today. Her name is Niamh, maybe a little unusual if you haven't heard of it before but easily learnable.

She got a card today saying to Niamph.

Is Niamh really that hard to learn or are they simply not bothering?

I'm not upset about it, just wandering if this is usual?

OP posts:

WorraLiberty · 17/08/2012 00:01

Oh fuck my son's been with his girlfriend for 2yrs and I still can't remember how her DD's name is spelt.

It's not that I don't try, it's that I only write it twice a year...on Birthday and Christmas presents.

I do ring and check before I write it though.

ProPerformer · 17/08/2012 00:03

Don't really know about the spelling thing, but agree it would be nice for them to at least check.
Really just posting to say for some reason as soon as I saw the thread title I thought 'I wonder if the name is Niamh?' - don't know why but I did.

joanofarchitrave · 17/08/2012 00:04

YANBU but it is amazing how many people don't seem to pay attention to words at all. They will not get there in the end.

numbum · 17/08/2012 00:04

I spell my SIL's name wrong on cards because I don't like her. But she started it first spelling mine wrong

Maybe you should remind them every time they do it.

WelshMaenad · 17/08/2012 00:05

Depends. Randoms, maybe a bit. Grandparents and aunts/uncles, they should know how it's bloody spelled ! It's not like it's a made up name.

I may be a bit bitter because it took several years of corrections before mil managed to pronounce dd's name correctly, and it isn't at all difficult!!

Sirzy · 17/08/2012 00:06

My nan spelt my name wrong every year for 27 years. Not worth getting upset about IMO

loveulotslikejellytots · 17/08/2012 00:06

My Neice is called Niamh. For the first 2 or 3 Birthdays and Christmas cards I had to check the photo SIL gave me with her name on the back to check the spelling. She is 5 now and I have noticed that various family members spell it wrong.

SIL just accepts that it's one of those things that comes with having a name like Niamh that isn't spelt as you would think.

Funily enough MIL sometimes asks if it has a 'P' in it!

I dont think it's because they cant be bothered I just think it's a thoughtless mistake.

Original poster

Thing3 · 17/08/2012 00:07

Yeah I guess it's not something they would write nearly as much as I do but its her own Grandparents and 5 letters!

EXH said when we chose the name that he wanted to spell it Neve as his family would never be able to spell it. He text her to let her know our chose and she phoned to tell me how much she really liked Naomi

OP posts:

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 17/08/2012 00:09

My son's grandmother has always spelled his name with an A where there should be an E. She's just to be blunt not that literate, and we haven't ever made a big thing of it as she would be hurt. She really genuinely can't spell very well.
I only found out in June that I've been spelling my pfb's fiancee's name wrong since they got together over four years ago - it is a name with a lot of variants but that's not really an excuse. I just never checked properly, and as she calls herself a really naff shortened version most of the time hadn't seen it written down often enough for it to sink in.

Cabrinha · 17/08/2012 00:11

Well, speaking as someone with a daughter whose middle name is Niamh, I think you have to accept it'll always be a tricky one to spell - and don't use it if mistakes will bother you. I can sort of get why the 'p' - makes 'ph' and v/f are close sounds. We don't generally have mistakes - family is Irish, and friends use first name. But her first name ends -an and grandmother very often puts -en. It's not the end of the world.

Original poster

Thing3 · 17/08/2012 00:18

numbum I don't think they dislike her but she has got an obvious preference for FIL so maybe it is MILs revenge

WelshMaenad We are from the South West and don't think they had even heard of the name before DD3 was born. I had wanted to name her Tahlia but MIL kept pronouncing it like Italia so went off it :(

It doesn't upset me, I have got used to having to spell it out for people. I just laughed and said I think she is a little young to called a Nymph.

OP posts:

BenjiAndTheTigers · 17/08/2012 00:23

Always had problems on remembering correct spelling of nephew's name. DB said to just remember to put Jo and Nathan together.

I never gorgot after that. It sounds strange but I have come across a lot of differnet spellings for Jonathan.

BenjiAndTheTigers · 17/08/2012 00:25

My fingers are not really working today

Original poster

Thing3 · 17/08/2012 00:34

There are loads of things that I can't spell, as I am rubbish, but I always check a spelling if I don't know.

Like I said I don't get upset about it, if anything I find it funny. Was just sat here tonight and thought it's nearly midnight instead of going to sleep like I should why not start a thread about it.

OP posts:

FanjoPingpong · 17/08/2012 00:43

My nan can't spell my name right. It used to bother me, but now I'm just grateful to be thought of.

Cathycomehome · 17/08/2012 01:01

My grandfather has called me Kathleen for 35 years now. It's not my name, but it's near enough!

Try not to worry about it, even though it's annoying!

wannabedomesticgoddess · 17/08/2012 01:09

My fathers family purposely drop the last letter of my name "because it looks ridiculous."

Sunnydelight · 17/08/2012 01:13

YANBU - if you know you have difficulty it's even more reason to check or think about it before you write it down!

DD has an Irish name - I'm Irish. MIL decided it was too difficult and told all her (French) side of the family what she had decided it would be in French so we started getting Congratulations cards using a name that bore NO relation to DD's. I was majorly pissed off as my mum died when I was pregnant so the Irish name thing was particularly important to me.

scaredycat12 · 17/08/2012 01:19

I think the p being inserted comes because Steven can be spelt StePHen and that has a v sound like Niamh. So they are trying and next year they only need to remember to drop the p and they will have it sorted!

I think if you call a child Niamh you have to accept there will be a number of misspellings in the beginning. Even from close family.

Bosgrove · 17/08/2012 01:32

Both my sister and I have first names that can be spelt with or without an E at the end, she has the E and I don't. I think it took my Grandparents nearly 30 years to get it right. They didn't do it to upset us, it was just an accident. I just wish Grandad was still alive to mispell it now.

You would have thought that would make me more careful though, both my girls have names that can be spelt a number of different ways, so their names rarely spelt correctly at in cards.

StuntGirl · 17/08/2012 01:43

I think you just have to accept it when you choose an unusual name. Mine is a less common variant of a common name and I get it spelt wrong all the time. It's mildly irritating but not the end of the world.

Wowserz129 · 17/08/2012 01:57

It's just rude to misspell a name like that. No its not hard Niamh, see? Didn't even peek

Bosgrove · 17/08/2012 02:16

My name has 3 letters, it still was spelt wrong for years.

PoppaRob · 17/08/2012 02:55

One of my ex's surname ends with pf (her Dad is German) and inevitably she gets ph. The other one has a ue in it (once again of German origin) and she gets eu. Neither gets bent out of shape about it. One of my neices was coming to visit and said she was bringing a friend named Mairead who we'd not met before. The neice sent the message on Facebook so all we had to go on was the spelling. When they arrived we made her welcome and I just asked her how to pronounce her name as we'd looked it up and found about 10 different pronunciations! And finally when my daughter was pregnant she told us the named the'd chosen. I like the name and said "like Keira Knightley?" to which the daughter rolled the eyes and said no, it was Kierah. The name game can be tricky! :)

Thumbwitch · 17/08/2012 03:00

YANBU. I have similar issues with my own name and 45 years on, family members still insist on adding a random e onto the end of it. Used to piss me off more than it does now but still irks some - how fecking hard can it be? And why write more letters than you need to?
They fuck up my email address by adding the random e into that as well, DESPITE having had emails from me with address included.

Some people are just weird.

Flip

1 2 3 4