Unusual name spellings

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AIBU to think that people who give their kids unusual name spellings should not get upset at 1) incorrect spellings and 2) incorrect pronunciation.

For example: There is a child I know called Leyah. (pronounced 'lee-uh' as in Leah)

Now, the mum get upset when something had 'Leah' on it, and also upset when someone, upon seeing the name, pronounces it "lay-uh" or "lee-YUH"

AIBU?

It's common in Ireland for Mahon to be pronounced as one long syllable, something like Maahn.

Same for Mahoney to be pronounced something like Maah-nee.

The "marnie" version is only going to work if you speak with a non-rhotic accent that mutes the sound of r in certain constructions, as with several accents in the south of England. It doesn't work in a rhotic accent - where all rs are sounded out - at all!

Totally agree that 'Maah-nee' (or in English, Marnie) is the right way to say 'Mahoney'.

And - this is going back a couple of pages - Aingeal is not a mistake; it's the correct spelling of the Gaelic version of 'Angela'.

My DD has a Welsh varient of a name. Her name is Alys. I'm sure some people think it's just an affection but its not. But I get that most people would spell it Alice so I am in the habit of saying 'Alys, spelt. A l y s'. It's not something I get annoyed about from strangers. however when her teachers or my friends/family spell it wrong I reserve the right to be narked.

I also agree on the pronunciation of Seren. It makes a pretty name quite ugly.

This has been doing the rounds on Twitter for ages, is it your friend DisappointedOne?

My cousin named her son Konner - yes spelt exactly like that!

My brother's friends named their daughter Ayva. My niece looked like she wanted to scream at the spelling. She couldn't understand why little Ayva's parents decided to ruin the name by adding a "y". (Thank god she doesn't know the spelling of her second cousin's name.)

Although not a misspelling, when my nephew was born, for the first year, my mum insisted on calling him Leroy.. even though his name is Layton. I'm not sure what my mum was on but it must have been some pretty strong stuff.

I know an Eevie.

She's going to spend her whole life saying "It's Eevie with three es" and evening going in response.

*everyone

the "-ran" at the end of my second child's name gets pronounced "-run" and it enfuriates me... it's not difficult to say!

and the "-wen" at the end of my daughter's name gets turned to "-wyn" which is the male version... by her grandmother ffs!

(we won't go into how no-one here bothers to pronounce the R in the eldest's name, entirely changing it)

I met a lovely lady called Angel this week. Spelled Aingeal.

That's Irish, not a deliberately bonkers spelling.

I have a common last name but an unusual spelling, since before I could remember ive always had to say it's a u not an o. It doesnt bother me in the slightest as I'm used to it but on the other hand my son has a very unusual name with an odd spelling, I don't mind people spelling it incorrectly or getting the pronunciation wrong but I do get miffed when his teacher of 9 months still says it wrong! 5 days a week woman, you should know by now!!! All the kids do

When people choose an unusual spelling or pronunciation, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise when others misspell or mispronounce the name. That's just a risk you take, I think. It's hard to blame other people unless they are close friends, family members, or anyone else who sees you an a regular basis. In those circumstances, people should certainly make the effort to learn the correct spelling or pronunciation. But someone you will never see again? Can't really get too upset in that case.

I have a name with various possible spellings and pronunciations. I generally don't bother correcting people. I'll answer to anything remotely similar. My husband's name can be spelled many, many ways in English, and any English spelling is only an approximation since the name is originally spelled with an entirely different alphabet. We actually keep a running list of the variations we have encountered.

I know an Erinn her siblings all had five letter names and she didn't want her to be left out

I have a cousin named Catherine. She told someone on the phone once that her name was "Catherine, with a C, surname" and when the thing she was ordering arrived, it was addressed to "Katherine Withersee-Surname"

I teach a child called Le. He hates it and writes it with two Es, but officially it's Le.

I'm wincing at some of these names.

I have one of the most ubiquitous surnames in Britain, and people still manage to spell it wrong. Including close friends and family.

Before I was married I was double-barrelled, and had to spell my name out all the time. You would be amazed how many people don't know what a hyphen is. All sorts used to turn up in there: apostrophes, forward slashes. . . Thought I was past that now but no, it's just as bad.

Why you would complicate things by giving a child a misspelt 'unique' name is beyond me.

Wrt teachers- it's very difficult, even when you have had the class for 9 months, to get spellings straight in your head! Don't forget, you only have one Mathew with one t to remember, the class teacher has 30, plus other children that they might have on occasion, plus all their previous children's names which 'interfere' with the current class. Sometimes the 'yooneek' spellings actually stick better.

As an example, we have 2 children in the class with the same common surname, one is spelt with a 'e' on the end, one without, both versions are as common as each other, and I cannot for the life of me remember which has which version!

We also have 4 different spellings of 'Connor' in the school, 3 different Caseys, 3 Chelseas... You see the problem? Sometimes your brain just goes on autopilot and you make an error. Like confusing their/they're/there. Even with checking and proof reading things, you can still make errors because you read the name and 'hear' it in your head and don't realise it's the wrong version.

I saw a card for a 'Zakariyah' on Cbeebies the other day, awful. It looks stupid. It's parents inflicting their immaturity and attention seeking behaviour on their unfortunate kids. Deed poll people, deed poll

I had an Irish housemate (surname O'Driscoll like the rugby player) about 5 or 6 years ago. She ordered takeaway from somewhere a few times so they had her name and address on file. I'd often hear her spelling it out over the phone.

When this particular curry house changed the menus, they posted a new one to "Awdrei Skool"...

My issue with these 'creative' spellings is, that parents often do it because a name is too popular, but I never get the point of it.

I know someone who used Jake, but "as it's too popular, we've spelt it Jayke."

Why?!

He's still a Jake, he's still got a popular name, just with a 'creative' spelling.

Again I ask, what's the point?

If it's still said the same way, it's the same name, so parents may as well spell it the right way.

Drinkscabinet - same popular 70s name here, same spelling problem from my Grandmother, every card

Some years ago whilst working in a setting supporting parents I had occasion to visit a new mum in hospital
I dutifully cooed over the baby and asked - so what are you calling him/her?
The response was not a name that I was familiar with and as am rather deaf thought I'd better double check so asked - how are you spelling that?
I was rather surprised when she said - oh we haven't decided that yet!!

I saw a card for a 'Zakariyah' on Cbeebies the other day, awful. It looks stupid. It's parents inflicting their immaturity and attention seeking behaviour on their unfortunate kids. Deed poll people, deed poll

Yikes. Zakariyah is a common transliteration from Arabic and often used by Muslim families. I think Zakariya (no h) is more common though. Or there's also Zakariyya (2 ys).

The way it's usually spelled in England - Zachariah - is from a Judeo-Christian origin and derived from Hebrew, so just a different transliteration really.

Just because you're used to seeing one particular spelling doesn't mean other spellings are automatically yoo-nique attention-seeking devices. You might just be unfamiliar with the language it comes from, so why not give the benefit of the doubt?

My middle name is so unique and unpronouncable (Greek) the bank, GP, whoever just change it to a fairly different Englishhy name. And the proudly tell me " omeone wrote your anme down all wrong but I fixed it for you! Then I have to tell them what it is. And spell it. And write it. I think it's hilarious!

... of course, if the parent has actually told you that "we spell it Lillleey to make it unusual" then judge away

someone name obvs!