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?

Also now remembering Aunt Izzie from The Katy books. She must have been an Isobel/Isabel I think.

Merrytide, have you ever seen responses to Bunty over on Baby Names? Ouch!

It's wrong because all names have meaning but that meaning is destroyed if you change the spelling. So it doesn't sit right with people that have been taught grammar or languages or history. I would far rather people named their children India or Saffron or Clematis or Noodle or Sofa or Elbow or Hairbrush or Skype.

Changing a couple of letters on a proper name is just affected and pointless.

Depends on the situation as to whether YABU or not.

If it's someone you know well and you continue to spell their name your way instead of their spelling then YABU.

If you're replying to an email and use the more common spelling instead of the variant then YABU (personal bugbear; the number of people who used the other version of my name in emails at work after putting in the correct one into the address bar to email me was astounding).

If you hardly know the person, and especially if you've never seen their name written down, then YANBU if they get upset at a misspelling.

How odd. I'm Harriet (in my view the simplest spelling) and get Harriot, Harriett, Harriette a lot. There can be more than one spelling of a name you know.

You would clearly not cope in America.

But whojamaflip, why does it need the zz sound in Izzy but you're ok with the s in Isobel? To follow your logic her full name should be Izobel to ensure you get the hard s/z sound you want in her nickname.

I don't think that you're wrong by the way - both Issy and Izzy are acceptable short formse, as are any number of spellings of Isobel - but it's a good example of why people choose different spellings for their children's names. Different spellings are right or wrong in people's heads so they choose what makes sense to them.

It's like people shortening Nicola to Nikki. Why does it suddenly need 2 Ks when it doesn't have any in the full name. The most obvious shortening should probably be Nici really, but that's way less common than Nicky, Nicki, Nicci and Nikki. But they're all fine really so we shouldn't get too hung up on it.

elsie ah right sorry. Silly me

I do think names are generally more flexible than words, but I do get annoyed at word names being spelt differently to the word. So if you're using Lily I think it should be Lily really as that is the only way the flower name you are using is actually spelt, not Lilly or Lilli which are obviously made up.

Rubby for Ruby is just utterly appalling :(

my little girl is called Laylah which does get the usual spellings of layla, leyla laila ect i dont consider any of them.are wrong just different i dont get annoyed i choose to call MY daughter laylah and spell it that way doesnt mean in.wrong because you dont like it. i dobt get annoyed but if i need it to be spelled correctly i just say its layla with a h and its the spelt how her name is spelt.

my little boy is called victor and he gets victor viktor ect its just the way it is. Im not going to change my kids names because someone thinks its spelled "wrong" just because its not how you would spell it.

sorry way to late for an answer but maugan is pronounced Morgan

Proud mummy, can you say why you chose the less common Laylah to the one that everyone knows Layla? If I read Laylah I would pronounce it Laylaaah, being pedantic as I am.

Out of interest foes it come from another name like Lilah comes from Delilah?

unrealhousewife but not all languages have standardised spelling, particularly languages that do not use the Roman alphabet and are transliterated into that alphabet - eg different Indian takeaways spelling it poppadom/poppadum/puppadum etc. They're not wrong because there is no one correct spelling of the word in the Roman alphabet. Many names we use are from languages which use a different alphabet. Accepting different spellings is in fact part of knowing about grammar/languages/history.

It's kids with names like "Marrowline" I feel sorry for, the registrar should have refused that one. Variants of names don't bother me, although giving your kid a name they'll have to constantly spell is thoughtless and/ or selfish

Sister of a friend has just called one of her new twins Aime (Amy). I had seen the spelling with ee at the end but not with the single e. The girl will spend her whole life correcting people. Her twin brother lucked out and is called the very simple Ben!

I'm happy with the s in Isobel as its pronounced with a z sound - ss is softer and longer so to my mind if you wanted to shorten the name it should be Izzy or Isy not Issy

Isabel needs an s because it's a French Italian name. Izzy needs a z because it's English and an abbreviated version.

I think what is really being said is it is so common to spell names differently to make them seem unique

really what does it matter

my name is often pronounced wrongly, it is no big deal to correct someone, often I don't bother i feel there is no need

Mollie as well? Whatever next.

Mollie Sugden, star of Are You Being Served?. Born 1922.

Mollie, horse in Animal Farm.

Mollie Hunter, Scottish writer, also born in 1922.

It says here that Mollie used to be far more common than Molly but now the tables have been turned. Personally, I like both spellings but marginally prefer Mollie.

Amy is short for Amelia.

So call the girl Amelia and let her decide how many ees she wants to add.

But Isy would be Eye-Zi rather than I-Zi in my mind. Which I think is the point. Different name spellings seem right or wrong to different people, so they have different justifications for what they use and we probably need to accept that. I don't think Izzy is wrong - I probably agree with you on the logic of it as a standalone pronunciation - but nor do I think Issy is as that more logically flows from the spelling of Isobel as you are not introducing a new letter.

Some spellings of some names are just plain wrong though

Mollie Sugdens real name was Mary. Mollie would certainly not have been on her passport.

No YANBU. If they want to spell it stragely they should expect people to misspell it. I know a Mee-ah and when I asked why they spelled it that way they told me they had invented it to be different. Fair enough, but don't expect people to realise that!

The only one that winds me up is Louis pronounced Lewis.

It's a completely different name and I once heard a mother complaining that 'everyone spells it wrong.' Yes, I wonder why. . . . .

OK, but the standard way of spelling the nickname for Mary pronounced Mollee a hundred years ago was Mollie, not Molly. That is my point. You seemed to be suggesting that anyone using the spelling Mollie rather than Molly was aiming for a yooniq name, but this is not the case. It's exactly the same as using Sophy rather than Sophie or Isabel rather than Isobel. Both are fine.

Everton you are right about ISy. Fine as a full name Isabel because that's the French original. So as a new English abbreviated name we give it a z because that makes it make sense, is legible and easily pronounceable. Sadly that's not what everyone wants.