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?

I know a klowy...

One of my daughters is named Victoria. Last years Christmas card spellings included vicktorya and viktoreea. I wasn't bothered nor was she :)

I have a strange name and its always spelt wrong so I didn't want my kids to go through the same. My last name is only 3 letters but you would be suprised how often that's wrong too

It can go the other way around too, a conventional spelling with an unconventional pronunciation. I went to school with a girl called Karen whose parents insisted it be pronounced "car-wren", everybody used to get it wrong, much to her/their annoyance.

Dd has a less common spelling of an incredibly popular name - ends ie instead of y - but in DH's language they would be flummoxed by the y, and her name is totally correctly spelled as far as the in-laws are concerned. It's only in the UK we get any confusion over it tbh, and even then, it doesn't really matter to any of us.

DS had the number one boy's name of his birth year, spelt correctly, and we still get random spellings, the best so far being Roland (his name begins with an O and he will be 5 soon, to give you a clue as to his actual name...). Mad.

I have a first name that's spelt different. It gets comments. I don't care.
If I need people to know its spelt differently (official stuff etc) I spell it out.
I don't expect people who don't know to care, nor to spell it correctly. It doesn't affect me.

I do get slightly eye rolly when family or people who have known me years get it wrong but that's more about knowing someone iykwim

Slightly going off at a tangent but imagine having both mine and my brother's first names (they're Russian/Polish - one is a name, the other is a word/nickname).

My dear nana bless her mis-spelled my name on several occasions. My brother got the same too....

my brother's middle name is Sacha and mine is my mum's maiden name which is French which she wanted to keep in family as no male heirs.

Luckily teachers were good on spelling/pronouncing - friends weren't bad either - my name you can pronounce with an ush which is correct but it can sound like oosh which has grated on me sometimes. I rarely correct it because I can't be bothered!

Some names have different spellings that are long established in different languages. My name can be spelt at least half a dozen ways and mime is one of the less common in the UK but mainstream elsewhere.

I do agree though that some spellings look a bit daft and are clearly made up such as Jaymee.

How do you pronounce Harleaux?

I have a very odd name. I've heard every version of it you could possibly think of, and then some. I've got very used to just spelling it out. With a name like Holly I probably would spell it with a y, but might check with the person first.

Maybe a slightly different angle, but I think it's much worse when it results in an incorrect pronunciation as well.

As a teenager, I had a friend at school named Caroline but pronounced Carolyn. She spent so much time explaining to people that it was Carolyn but no, they hadn't spelt it wrong, they'd just said it wrong. I remember adults debating with her, saying that if she was going to be pronounced Carolyn, she should change the spelling of her name. It seemed incredibly harsh and I do think that people should just respect what people say about the spelling and pronunciation of their name.

Her mum defended her choice by citing that her name was Catherine and not "Cathrhyne". I suppose it's a fair point but it was a massive pain in the ass for her daughter. She's mid 30s and a doctor now and lots of people still know her as Caroline and not Carolyn simply because she can't be arsed to explain every time. Kinda sad.

What about 'Amie'?

I've known 3 Amies.

Where does that spelling come from?

YABU to insist there can be only one correct spelling. Plenty of names have perfectly acceptable spelling variants. As a bit of a spelling pedant myself, it offends me that somebody might think I made a mistake in the spelling of my son's name, when the chosen spelling is actually the traditional version, and much more commonly in use in the place where he was born. However, I can't quite bring myself to chill out and say that parents are always right in this department. I'm happier with totally off-the-wall names like Fenella-Wonderbucket than something like Issac.

I agree, very annoying when parents spell their kids names wrong, but I think it's stunningly rare, surely most parents learn rapidly, and those that didn't must have some sort of writing / spelling disability.

What you appear to be actually complaining about is parents who choose names spelt in a way you don't agree with. So YABVU.

Karen pronounced KAH-ren is completely legitimate and I think is Scandinavian.

Harleaux I'd pronounce Harlow. Like the place.

My DM spells my name incorrectly - to be honest I think she does it just to annoy me. Anything to be awkward!

I particularly dislike Sharlot.

Hollie is also a legitimate alternative spelling of Holly.

YANBU, deliberately changing the conventional spelling of a name and then getting cross when the conventional spelling is used, is ridiculous

I have a very common name, the spelling is traditional and not unknown, but many people default to the more commonly used, more modern incorrect version. I don't mind the first time, but I do get annoyed when I have already corrected people once and they still insist on spelling it incorrectly because I think that is just rude.

No way Hollie! Since when?

I agree with others that pronunciation is my bugbear. I've even had people on the phone, never met me, say my name fine until I spelt it, then they started calling me by a different name. My name is spelled correctly, it's just a non-English name that is one letter off of a more common English name that people seem to just imagine that extra letter which though silent completely changes how they see and say it.

The extra letter seems to be our family curse as my partner keeps having people add one to his name as well (like Jon/John), even people who've known him and his family his whole life.

It is rather frustrating as ones' name is often an important part of how we see ourselves and our identity.

I think ya

I know a 30 odd yr old Hollie

I wondered if this might be about parents who can't actually remember how to spell their child's name, rather than just the usual, boring variant spelling arguments.

I say this because I know someone who spells her DS's name as both Harvey and Harvie in her Facebook posts and I'm yet to work out which is the spelling on his birth certificate

Bloomin phone... Try again

I think yabu with some of the examples you give but def nbu in principle.

My name has two spellings, mine being the more unusual one but certainly isn't wrong. However, my friend told me she knew of a 'felyzitee'!

unreal are you asking since when has Hollie been a legit alternative spelling?