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?

"Names do evolve just as words do, though - very few "Daisy"s in the last century or before would have been christened Daisy - they were mostly Margarets or Marguerites - but now Daisy is a relatively common given name."

Not true. At the beginning of the last century (1904) Daisy was 47th most popular name for girls. That would make it relatively common even back then.

That's so true. Before I even met Racheal I looked at my class register and unconsciously thought: 'well that's a thick one' then was HORRIFIED at myself. I mean, she didn't name herself, did she? I do think that if my name was Racheal I would just change it to Rachael or Rachel as soon as I realised that my parents had actually got it wrong. Not an alternative spelling, just incorrect.

My daughter's name is a foreign version so 'wrong' in English. It's because her dad's foreign. We do get some raised eyebrows and some odd spellings and pronunciations but we just shrug. What's more annoying is her new teacher not wanting to call her by her (much easier to pronounce) shortened form, because she thinks it looks like a nickname.

Sophy - Jane Austen's Persuasion has a 'Sophy'. Can't get much more English than that.

I believe Jorja is a common spelling of Georgia in Eastern Europe, before people get too judgy.

I will not buy into the 'people shouldn't but they do so lets change the way we behave to accommodate this'

We won't do that about anything else so why about this issue?

I think it is interesting that there is the perception that different spellings = attention seeking.

This comes up on 'try hard name' threads as well.

It seems to be hard for posters who prefer what they perceive as traditional/proper names to understand that Jazmeena's or Wilder's parents picked those names because they like them.

It sometimes seems as if posters have to find ways to justify their prejudices by dressing them up as concerns or imagining motives where none exist.

"No worse than Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn really."

But everyone knows that there is more than one way of spelling those names. Just as they do with Ann/Anne, Lyn/Lynn/Lynne, Jane/Jayne etc.

Spelling a name differently that normally has only one way of spelling it does invite criticism. I know someone who has a little boy called Konner.

A quick google finds Phebe to be a legitimate spelling.

"I will not buy into the 'people shouldn't but they do so lets change the way we behave to accommodate this'

We won't do that about anything else so why about this issue?"

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But that's easy to say because you're not the one dealing with the consequences, your children are. (not "you" specifically, of course!)

My neighbour's girl was called Kaylinn. It took me ages to work out that it wasn't Caitlin pronounced with an American accent.

I have a bog standard, dull as ditchwater name.

Everyone's heard it.

But my parent's didn't really notice the name until they went to America. There the name has a different spelling.

My parents gave me the American spelling of the name. It's not wrong. It's just different.

Almost always, when I first meet someone, they spell my name the British way. That's ok. If they're going to be writing my name a lot I will correct them, but mostly I go by my nickname which has even more variants in spelling and is almost always spelled incorrectly.

It does bother me, but only if the person should know by now. It has made me careful to check the spelling of other people's names and never to assume the spelling will be the standard spelling.

Jimmycorkhill you have a good soap memory!

Gillian with a hard g might come from guillaume which is French for William.

DS is Isaac. Other people insist on spelling it Issac/Izak etc. now that's annoying when you use the normal spelling and they make one up!

bunbaker I think Conor has more than one spelling already.
I never understand why people make an issue out of this. I usually have to spell my name (a very boring 4 letter one), it didn't ruin my life or anything.

Unless you have Polish origins, how on earth can you spell Isaac any other way than that?

But that's easy to say because you're not the one dealing with the consequences, your children are. (not "you" specifically, of course!)

How do you know? You don't know what my name is.

Besides, you could use that sentence about any of the stupid prejudices people hold.

According to some me and OH shouldn't have had children at all, never mind named them.
Because the are mixed race and you know, people might not like it, might say things, they might get teased or whatever.

Yes it does, but I had never come across Konner before.

I shall add people who judge on names along with people who judge on tattoos to my list of people to avoid.

Honestly, why would anyone get annoyed at the way someone else choses to spell a child's name? I could understand the outrage if someone chose to call their child Fart or Foof, just for shits and giggles, but a different spelling?

I can think of a few things that upset/worry me in life, and names and their spellings isn't one of them.

My mum was shamed by an elderly neighbour in the 1970s for calling me what is a very popular name nowadays. She told my mother "You should have called her Wendy instead" My mum chose to ignore her

fatlazy its not a real issue. Its a MN issue. One that is made up so people can be rude about other people's choices but not admit they are just being a snob/uptight/rude/ignorant etc.

People always come up with 'wrong' spellings on these threads that are perfectly correct but they just don't know they are.

Name threads are hilarious for showing up people for being a bit dim as they laugh and point at names they don't recognise.

On the subject of Jemma having its roots either in Jemima and warm dove, or Gemma, Latin for jewel, I guess the point is that you think about what is the name inspired by first, The spelling comes later.

A colleague of mine shares a name with me, however we both spell it differently - neither is right, they are just different. Why does it matter?

I went to school with a Kamaran. He was the first "Cameron" I'd met. For a long time I thought "Cameron" was the imaginative spelling.

No worries Carmine

I do prefer Alys to Alice. Not just because I'm Welsh but also Alice on paper makes me think 'a lice". Grammatically incorrect, true. But I still think it. Didn't even meet an Alys until high school, I don't live in a very Welsh speaking area. Though Welsh names have exploded in the last few years.

Yes but in which alphabet, surely a j in Eastern Europe (wild generalisation) is pronounced as a Y?

When I spent some time in America (lived with real Americans, it wasn't just a 2 week holiday), they thought my name was weird. As in the spelling. Although hugely common in sound there, of the various spellings used, mine was by far the least common. Whereas in the UK, all the name sharers I have come across have spelled it the same way.

That was an odd experience.

When I stayed in Germany for a bit, a lot of Germans struggled to get their tongues round my name. Again, a bit odd because I'd always thought it was so easy.