To get annoyed when parents spell their kids name wrong

[HelloSteve]

...and then they get annoyed when people constantly spell their names "wrong" (aka the right way)? Or buy personalised items with their names spelt their way?

Not really a big deal I know, but I what do you expect when you give your child a name spelled in a way to be yoo-niq?

Over the past couple of weeks I've heard of a Emma-Leigh, a Sophy and a Jordyn. I can't help thinking 'poor kids they're going to have to go through their whole lives having to correct people'. It seems people don't think about that though.

I know a woman who has two grown up daughters called Jemma (I assume they meant for that to be Gemma) and a Hollie (again, I assume Holly) and she always gets annoyed when people don't ask and just assume they're spelt Gemma and Holly, but I don't know why. She should have expected that/be used to that now? I know she would constantly get irritated when the kids were at school and received Christmas cards/party invites with their names spelt wrong but honestly I have little sympathy. What was she expecting when she spelt her kids names wrong?

Your thoughts?

Love Huw. I have welsh roots so think I can just about get away with it.

Names where there is only one generally accepted spelling in English - I expect there will be lots of corrections to this!

Mary
Susan
Margaret
Martha
Anna
Rose
Olivia
Ruth
Dorothy
Ruby
Iris

David
James
Simon
Peter
Paul
Kevin
Kenneth
Oliver
Nigel
Edward
Henry
William
Charles
Patrick
Robert

I probably definitely wouldn't name my DC 'Rubby' but there is an awful lot of ignorance on threads like this.

Harriot and Sharlot are actually very old, traditional spellings of Harriet and Charlotte - in fact at a certain period of English history they would have been more common.

Polly can be 'short for' a variety of names, including Martha (weirdly).

A name like Pamela which seems normal now was largely popularised through a novel published in 1740 and was regarded then as rather arriviste.

Just name your kids what you want to, and don't worry about other people's. And actually, those poor children with ignorant parents would probably have a better time in life without threads like this stirring up crap.

FloozeyLoozey oops, I almost called my daughter Lucie. To be fair to myself (lol) it's the spelling that held me back, I didn't want her to have to spell her name all her life.

I think there's a difference between people using national alternatives for names/spellings, or using uncommon but existing spellings, and people who purposely make up a new spelling so that their child has a unique name.

It's completely unfair and arbitrary of course, but the former is usually perceived as cultural refinement, and the latter as chavviness (I think). As a parent, maybe you think that's not the way it should be, but it doesn't matter what you think, because people will still make snap judgements about your child, and your child is the one who'll have to deal with it all their life.

Well I tried Badtime. But that's an odd nickname though. An inanimate object. Normally a nickname is something that endears you or describes the child.

Why Michael, Why?

Mimsy, I think I would agree with you on the fact that those names all have one standard spelling, but many of them have variant versions which are separate names. These are either derived from the same name or foreign versions e.g. Susan, Suzanne and Susannah are all derived from the Hebrew name Shoshana.

My names Aimee. With the é but that'll show up strange on this app.

People who hear it say Amy. I have no problem with that but I do get annoyed at people spelling it Amiee once they have seen it written down. Pretty much everyone does that and it doesn't make sense to me. My name is aim eeeeee. Simple. You don't ami an arrow do you?!

Because of DDs DF, she also has a different spelling. Unfortunately, hers isn't a valid alternative. Her DF is a fool who got a tattoo of her name before I came out of hospital. I don't mind people spelling it wrong as it's understandable.

:) for allmimsy and thinkI'vebeenhacked. Huw is indeed the Welsh way. The pronunciation is slightly different if people bother to pronounce it correctly! The u has a different sound to the English.

Poor DD. Raskova. Technically in England your name should be spelt Aimay. I think that's quite nice actually. We can cope with ballet but two acute es is a bit too much for the English tongue. We don't like to open our mouths too much

It may be 'wrong' to you, but it's right for them.

Another Jemma here. My mother has an English degree and prides herself on her spelling. She didn't spell my name wrong or 'mean' Gemma. She chose Jemma because she preferred that spelling, as do I. It's a pretty common variant. I've come across quite a few others and people often ask whether it's a J or a G. If they use G I don't mind.

Where does the name Jemma Gemma come from? Surely that's what should determine the spelling?

Yes my poor DD. She has a life of incorrect spelling and but isn't that a pokemon?

Aimay looks silly. But Aimée would to some people.

Or maybe there is more than one way to spell Jemma/Gemma like Jeffrey/Geoffrey and Jillian/Gillian and countless other names...

Gemma comes from Roman Jewel

Jemma comes from Jemima, from Hebrew warm, or dove.

Two different names.

When I say roman I mean Latin of course...

the thing with mollie/molly being short for mary/margaret/etc is that lpts of children would be given the same name as their parent or other relative still alive and are given a normal name to live by to save confusion.
also John/jack/jackie.

so your mum might be margaret, you could be maggie and your first cousin mollie.
there are absolutely loads of those kicking around.

Surely the 'correct'.spelling of a name is the one the parents/adult in question choose?

That said, I'm not a fan of the anglicised version of some Irish names, although I see why people do it.

When I was at primary school, my teacher was always 'correcting' my work when I wrote about my neighbours, who we spent most weekends playing with and therefore wrote about a lot.
They all had the Irish spellings of their names, and when I told my teacher she told me I was wrong! Eventually my mum asked her if she would like us to
provide copies of their birth certificates!

I have a young family member called Filip, and have had more than one person mention how 'chavvy' the spelling is when in fact its correct in the country if his birth.

Anyone remember the Alessi twins from Neighbours? In real life one was called Gayle and the other Gillian, pronounced with a hard G like a fish gill.

I want to call our daughter Alis or Alys, which are the older/Welsh forms of Alice. I like the sound but not the more common spelling. But my partner says she'll spend her life correcting the spelling at school, college, work, over the phone, on official documents etc...

But I've spent my life saying "Sarah with a H" and it hasn't killed me.

I think I have a solution that will keep everyone happy

If Polly can be short for Mary anything can be short for anything. If you come across somebody called something like J-leen and it bothers you just pretend it is a diminutive of something sensible like Janet.

This would even work if you just preferred Katherine with a C. You would just mentally think "Oh it's just a silly shortening of Janet, I can cope with that, twitch, twitch" every time you had to write it down.

It isn't just a case of looking at the origin of a name. Language in general evolves, and the same goes for names.

(I used to be a lexicographer and what is considered correct changes considerably over time. If enough people make a mistake it becomes an acceptable variant!)

Oh god I teach a Racheal. Takes all my self control not to correct it on the register.

My daughters name is Hollie.

It's not spelt wrong.

Then again my parents spelt my name with an F instead of a PH. It never, ever bothered me - even when it was misspelled. I'd either correct them or just let it be.

The only time it ever bothered me is if family didn't spell it right because obviously they know me well and should know the correct spelling.

The same will apply to my daughter. If people spell it Holly I'll either correct them or let it be - letting it be wont be a problem unless it's on a doctors form or something of the same ilk.

Don't be so arrogant to suggest that you are the one who decides which names are valid and which are not. I haven't seen a book where they say which names are acceptable and which are not and which spellings are correct and which are not.

Language evolves, people adapt.

Most people, anyway

I love to see unusual spellings for names. I have a Molly. I wish I'd have been more imaginative now and spelled it something like Molliegh. Xx