AIBU to ask why parents give deliberately unusual spellings of otherwise common names?

[Ihateasthma]

Why do parents give their DC names which sound normal but differently spelt to the normal way?

Maddyline for Madeleine
Febee for Pheobe
Pheo for Theo

You have shot yourselves in the foot from day one as you get angry, roll your eyes when others spell their names the normal way. If you gave DC the normal spelling- you wouldn’t react like this

Then when the DC are older they do the same thing and say “it’s spelt ….”

to be yooneek 🤷

Don’t you know anyone who has done this that you could ask?

A childish desire to stand out
Poor kids

I see multiple examples of this working in education - sadly in a lot of cases it's not being unique, they're just genuinely that thick they don't know how to spell the name.

OMG not another thread about Chav Names.
This is the fourth one in two days.

Yes. Shivon or Arron for example.

Some people struggle with spelling. I've come cross someone who couldn't spell her own DD's name. That was quite sad.

Round here, there's a good chance that "Pheo" would be pronounced like that. And if that's how you are going to pronounce it, as the parents, it might as well be how it is written. Another child we've known pronounces the 'th' in his surname as a 'v', to the extent that we all thought it was spelt with a 'v'.

One of the challenges for this sort of thing is escaping the prejudices that come with it.

Pause
reread

More historical examples of the same phenomenon: Rachael and Kathryn (there's a passage in Jeeves and Wooster when one of the aunts is very critical of this 'American' spelling).

I know that registrars are not allowed to comment on spellings when doing birth certificates in the UK. I think this is a shame as there are some who would much prefer their child to go through life with the conventional spelling but just haven’t known how to spell it. I don’t see why they can’t say ‘do you know this name is usually spelt xxx?’ And then parents have the chance to change to conventional spelling or stick with the spelling they’ve chosen (as, of course, there are some choosing to be different).

It’s like it’s 2008 again

This reminds of a thread a few years ago where a poster was adamant that calling her baby Ame was a perfectly legitimate substitute for Amy, and nobody would be stupid enough to pronounce it as rhyming with “name” or “fame” 🤣

I used to know a baby Bethynie.

That’s the weirdest spelling I’ve seen.

I don't know why, but it is a form of cruelty. I would allow registrars to veto anyone so unkind doing this- would not stop nicknames but at least official documents would be sensible.

They do this in some countries and I actually agree with it.

I think it’s to try to be yooneek in most cases. I don’t understand how though as it’s hardly creative to just choose a common name and change the spelling.

You have to be careful as sometimes it’s a cultural difference and not the parent choosing a weird spelling.

For those who don’t know the spelling I don’t know why you couldn’t look it up or if that’s too difficult then couldn’t you ask when you’re registering? Someone said they’re not allowed to comment on the spelling but surely it’d be ok to ask?

Because they are idiots

Some have a list of names you're allowed, and must see the church if you want to have another, I believe? I suppose that would stop a lot of bullying, and stop judgment of a child before you meet them, as all the names are presumably considered acceptable, and there is one spelling for each. The thing is that many people aren't Christian, so I'm not sure what they're supposed to do.

How many Febees & Pheos are there? Presumably those people never learned to spell.

I thought Phoebe was spelled Phoebe not Pheobe

and the parents are probably called perfectly normal names like Claire, Emma, Rachel

and yet they thought, in all their infinite wisdom, I know how I can get a bit of attention… by an unusual misspelling of my child’s name

In the last few weeks I’ve seen Klowy and Mellony 😳

In what context have you seen these names written down?!

OP can’t spell either!

You've misspelt Phoebe, OP. Which is ironic.