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

I used to work with a woman named SnowWhite, everyone just called her Snow. She hated it and changed it to Amy.

That's a silly comment. How would you know that no one of any nationality or culture is called SnowWhite?

Has nyone met baby Chlamydia yet? The parents thought it sounded pretty....

I think it depends - my daughter’s name has at least four common subtly different spellings in use in the UK - think Lindsay/Lyndsay/Lindsey/Lyndsey (though that’s not her name). We’ve chosen perhaps what is now the most common spelling but any of the other spellings would have been reasonable too.

The first time I encountered this was with a parent who had called her child Antwan. I didn't know what to say.

@DelilahRay
Why would I lie about knowing a Snow White? Believe what you want.. bloody arrogant.

I knew someone called boba fett or along those lines. Granted they changed their name to it but bit weird.

Thanks @KnickerFolder , that's interesting 🙂 At the time I wondered how often the woman would need to give that information as it's an unusual variant. I guess, like with so many names on this thread, it can get tiring for the people involved to keep fielding such questions.

I know an Optimus Prime! I don’t think their parents named them that though. I also went to school with a Chair. His parents did choose that 🙄

She pronounced it in the same (normal) way, but we once knew an older American lady who introduced herself the first time we met her as "Sharon - as in Rose of Sharon".

We had to keep a straight face whilst, as Brits, our first instincts were to think of the slightly less poetic 'as in Sharon and Tracy'!

Whilst I am not a fan of random spellings, there's definitely a happy medium between my parents' approach - pick the most beige, bland name possible and the whackiest whack job names.

As much as the whacky names can be a negative, blandsville isn't the best either. I found an article once about perceptions of people based on their name. I have a name that, apparently, marks me out as plain in appearance (true, TBF) dull, reliable, unimaginative.

Didn't help that, for some reason, there was apparently a beige phase in 1974 because not only was it dull as ditchwater, was also very common. Teacher shouting my name across the hall would have seven girls turn their heads.

Please tell me their last name wasn't 'Legge'?

when I was born my dad registered my name. My name would typically be spelt with a c followed by an h, but my mum wanted it spelt with a k (not particularly unusual but with the h omitted). My dad forgot to take out the h, and I have now spent the last 55 years having to spell out my name. It was even worse before I married as I had to always spell my surname out too as it was unusual. It’s a nightmare for children to have to constantly spell out their names, so I definitely think the usual spellings should be used.

I know one too.

And a Kylo (after Kylo Ren in Star Wars).

And a Justice.

Mine is spelt in a way that is a bit more unusual. The more common spelling is when the name is short for a longer one but mine is not a shorter verson of anything
I never came across another one until I saw a scottish actress with it when I was in my 20's but since then it has got a bit more common. I have never met anyone with the same name as me,there are people out there with it but I have never met anyone IRL with the same spelling.
People usually spell it wrong.

I think there is an Irish name like that but it's not O'Sheayana.

It's like Oshianna or something. My nephew's gf is called that.

It might be a female version of Oisin(n), I don't know.

Plain Jane Superbrain??

😄 at least it isn't Juztyss

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.

It's quite common in parts of Ireland for people to be called both the Irish and English versions of their names interchangeably eg. Sean/John, James/Seamus. I've heard people change between the two in the same conversation
.

I’m Irish and can’t think of any name like that tbh.
There isn’t a female version of Oisín.

We're Northern Irish.
(Well, she probably considers herself Irish).

I'd never heard of it before meeting her either, but she claims it's Irish.

Yeah I had a feeling there wasn't a female version of Oisin.

Edit; it's being spelled Oshiana.

i don’t understand why parents give unusual spellings of normal names. Parents and later the children will waste time in telling people and companies “it’s spelt…..”

Then get posts on here saying “teacher keeps writing DD’s name as Sophia, it’s Zofhera”

Plus children get upset about unable to buy things with their name on. Tourist attractions and gift shops sell water bottles, teddies etc with names on them.

Demin-Blu came up on the screen at my GP surgery.