To not use proper spellings when naming your child

[Catterpillarsflipflops]

Am I being unreasonable to think it's ridiculous to use a funky spelling of a normal name. I spent today dealing with lost paperwork for a child as the person that took the details didn't think to check the spelling as there is no other spelling of the name.

It looks silly and just causes no end of problems for the child. It also disadvantages them as straight away people get an image of what the child is like.

I've seen

Jaymz
Ezmay
Lil-leigh

Oooh! I have a friend called Anna! So that's English covered. What are the others? Russian, presumably? (Anna Karenina, Anna Netrebko). Italian? French?

The joke here isn’t about unusual spellings or pronunciations, it’s that white teachers are known for mispronouncing “ethnic” names. It’s a recurring joke in minority communities in white-run countries.

In my parents generation it was common to have a Gaelic or Scots first name, then English middle name, often a direct translation, not always obvious. So my father was, eg. Iain John X. He had two equal parallel identities, and he switched between them at will, Iain X at home in Scotland, John X out in the world. Documents could be in either or both.

In these days of security paranoia we're pinned to one formal identity for pretty much all administrative purposes. No more flexibility. So I do a lot of (hopefully invisible) wincing at pronounciation and spelling attempts, and offer up a nickname instead.

People think it makes them yoouneek, in reality it just makes them look tacky and/or stupid. I saw an Amerlie on a class list recently. Not sure if that one was a deliberate spelling mistake or not but either way it’s not good.

I met my first Jaymez this week.
I thought it was Spanish, like Jose etc. but no. James.
The headteacher said they’ve a whole key stage of unique spellings.

You have GOT to be kidding!

Educating yourself would save embarrassment

Reading the thread would save embarrassment @ClairDeLaLune

Isa is quite a common abbreviation for Isabelle in Spain.

Yes, and the dash (as in -) in a name, to be pronounced as "dash", is pretty common in some Black communities. Might be a Caribbean-diaspora thing, I'm not sure.

@Stravaig said "In my parents generation it was common to have a Gaelic or Scots first name, then English middle name, often a direct translation, not always obvious. So my father was, eg. Iain John X. He had two equal parallel identities, and he switched between them at will, Iain X at home in Scotland, John X out in the world. Documents could be in either or both."

Fascinating. I knew a British friend of a friend whose wife was Hong-Kong Chinese. IIRC her forename and last names were obviously Chinese, but then she had a European/English/American middle name, to use 'over here'. (Think Edna or similar.) Her brothers were named similarly.

I can go one better. When Dd was a baby I used to go to our brilliant sure start centre. One of the workers was talking to a new family who had arrived with their baby girl Amy Beau. The lovely worker Kris said hello Amy Beau (pronounced Bow) and the dad said no it's Amy Bew like Beautiful. The worker just made a 😳 face at me over their shoulders. The worker was known as Kris but was actually a Krystall who often wondered if her mum was still on the gas and air when she chose that spelling.

I was at school with a Caron. I'm nearly 60.
I didn't know there was another way to spell it for many years.
I thought she was named after the posh coloured pencils but that was Caran.

"Fascinating. I knew a British friend of a friend whose wife was Hong-Kong Chinese. IIRC her forename and last names were obviously Chinese, but then she had a European/English/American middle name, to use 'over here'. (Think Edna or similar.) Her brothers were named similarly."

I recall two sisters from when I was at university in London in the 1980s. Exactly the same thing. One sister was Dora and the other was Flora. They came from a very well-off Hong Kong family.

What???
Where? Not in Ireland for sure.

Would you like me to pronounce that "fave"? I'm afraid you'll have to put an e on the end.

That rapper Flava Flav is Flarva Flavv to me.

Nobody Irish would put an r in Siobhán. I have seen it spelt Shivaun once though.

I don't think unique versions of Irish names is that common in Ireland. There was certainly a trend to anglicise spellings (Maura instead of Máire, Maeve instead of Maedbh) and more recently there is a trend towards older Irish spellings of names (back to Maedbh, Meadhbh etc).

But nobody on here has said anything about Lynisha. And I'm sure if I met someone from the Caribbean with that name I wouldn't say a thing because there'd be nothing to say. It's their name. End of.

This thread is about more and more ridiculous spellings of names in English that have a perfectly good traditional spelling. Jaymz? What's wrong with James? etc...

(And yes most of us are looking down our noses at those white parents who land their kids with them.)

I don't like the way Iain is spelt; it just looks SO much like it should be pronounced E-ayn.

Souxie
Jakki

The Freakonomics thing is more complex than that though.

It points out how upper classes aren't held to the same rules. And this doesn't affect their education.

Indeed there's a pattern of the upper classes adopting a weird name, it being copied becoming popular and then becoming regarded as unspeakably awful by the middle classes in the UK. Best example I can think of off the top of my head is 'Harper'.

In 2011 43 girls were born with the name. Then a certain Beckham had a daughter, and just a few years later in 2018 over 1500 girls were named Harper and in 2023 it was the 22nd most popular name. Normally names gradually increase in popularity and you can see a general trend. Harper is unusual because it came from nowhere and no one saw it's popularity coming.

It's actually a nice name, which doesn't have a crazy spelling - and that's why it's gone nuts. But it'll be regarded as chavvy soon enough due to the above association.

Going back to Freakonomics, it says an unusual name CAN be a hindrance but it can also be to your advantage too. The CV with the unusual name to make it stand out from the crowd and is memorable. It's a really fine line between getting it spot on (which arguably Harper did) and just being plain weird.

The whole argument is a complex one and it's not as straightforward as many make out.

Freakonomics also argue about causation and correlation. Lots. Lots and lots. The point about causation and correlation is one of Freakonomics core repeated points but it never fails to amaze me how many people miss this.

Low attaining parents are in a different cultural bubble and are more likely to have low attaining children cos genetics. You can't discount this.

There's a whole host of things about how a name can inspire and perhaps unwittingly influence someone too.

Then there's the psychology of having a dull as fuck name and becoming the wallpaper (and how you might kick back against that when you have your own children)

You have to read what they say on names multiple times - some of it is really contradictory.

(Guess who read it a lot about names whilst pregnant... It hit me just how significant a name is. It's not just a name - it potentially is a gift/curse.)

Good post

I don't like "pre warn" because it's tautological.

What is it - the warning you give someone before warning them about something?

This makes it fun for researching family history when you get back far enough!

Formal names and spellings are really a modern thing.

Language generally was more flexible even with the literate.

Honestly, this subject turns me into an UberNerd.

Romelu Lukaku is a cool name. It's in a totally different league from the others.

Also, some 'normal' names have much more recent roots than people realise.

I think people would consider Wendy a normal girls name. Not common, but normal.

Except it's essentially a made up name dating from 1904 when it was used in Peter Pan. Prior to that it has usage as a surname and occasional male name.

The reverse is true too. Names we consider very odd, can have incredibly long histories and we're very common but fell out of favour.

You won't find too many girls called Fanny born in 2025.