odd spellings/deliberate wrong spelling

[discobeaver]

Why do people do this? The name sounds the same, and all it means is the poor child will spend its life telling people how to spell their name, with people getting it wrong on cards and letters and forms and so on.

Sometimes I think parents get carried away and don't think about the implications of actually living with a name.

Strange as it may sound my mother didn't even pick the spelling of my name and there are plenty of them!! She was rather unwell the day the birth was registered and told the woman my name and she spelt it how she thought it should be spelt without even consulting my mother. Years later when my mum came to enrol me in school she had to consult my birth certificate to find out the spelling. Even worse is when I went to university and my dad had to fill in a form for me he spelt it wrong!!

I have come across some weird and maybe not so wonderful name spellings. The ones that stand out off the top of my head are Abbie-Gayle and Khaiyl (Kyle)

Kristoefer [donut]

sorry there isn't a donought is there??

Another fan of the Bad Baby Names site here.

I don't have a problem with ethnic differences in spelling (Amy/Aimee etc, but I can't abide names that have been deliberately spelt incorrectly. These parents are dooming their children to a lifetime of correcting other people.

And as for the random "y" that has entered common usage [shudders]....

Proudfoot, I didn't say I judged children as a teacher if they have odd spellings - I said it's irritating. Which it is. And Jakob is NOT the standard spelling of Jacob in Britain, therefore counts as an odd/deliberate spelling choice IMO. All the Jakobs I have known have not had any German/Eastern European heritage - but have had parents who were determined to give their kid a "cool" name.

Micheal is a legit spelling . Popular in US and with a fada on the 'a' it is a gaelic version of Michael.

debby or debbie?

Ellie, Micheal maybe a legit spelling in America, but its not here.

I think there's a difference between somebody having Gaelic/Irish connections and spelling Micheal this way and somebody who has just spelt it wrong!

My name is a fairly common name but it is pronounced differently (the old english rather than the more popular continental way). Whilst I expect to have people pronounce it the more common way on reading it, I get seriously pissed off when people tell me that my name is this and that it is spelled wrong when I correct them. I had many teachers do this to me at school so as a teacher myself I am ultra careful when pronouncong names etc.

I thought of Treyc from xfactor also. Strange way of spelling, but it's spelt how it's said I guess.

There's many ways of spelling my name and I have to spell mine out a lot but it's just become an automatic thing for me to do.
My friend has called her girl Caytlyn rather than Caitlin that I'm used to seeing. I don't think there's a proper way.
I know an Ivie, ( Ivy) at DS nursery. A school friend was/ is called Raechelle

Even if Rueben and Micheal are legitimate names, they smack too much of misspelling to me.

If Micheal was Irish there would be two fadas, one on the I and one on the A (pr. Mee-haul)

I would assume it was just spelled wrong without the fadas. Even in the US, the UK standard version probably accounts for 95% of Michaels. I would assume it was a misspelling in the US too.

The one that takes the is a girl at school with DS, who rejoices in the name La-a, pronounced Ladasha.

Oh that is the best name ever! Whatever goes through a person's mind to name their child that?

Absolutely, without the fadas I assume it is spelt incorrectly. However, Micheal had nothing on La-a!!

dh and i come from different countries and spelt dc1's name the way it would be in his country despite us living in britain at the time! it caused a lot of people to have trouble spelling her name even tho we had only added one letter to it!

but we now live in his country and there's no more trouble.

but it made us very aware of making sure dc2 and 3 had names that you could really only spell one way!

'La-a, pronounced Ladasha'

But surely that should be Lahyphena?

I don't think using a foreign spelling is unreasonable, I have Welsh roots and would love to have an Alys if I ever have a girl to reflect her Welsh heritage. I don't see why I should spell the name Alice just because I'm in England, not Wales. Same with Huw/Tomas etc. Using a foreign spelling when you have no connections to that country is a bit different though I guess - but at least the spelling is legitimate. Like Elisabeth/Elizabeth, Katharine/Katherine/Kathryn etc.

MintyMoo, I believe Alys is in fact the old English spelling, and Alice the French one which became more fashionable post the Norman invasion. But I don't think that's the same thing - Alys is rare, but it is an established alternative spelling, as is Huw and all the variations of Katherine etc. Treyc, Katey, Maddelyn and their friends are in a different category.

But at some point people had to make up names. Why are we so against people getting creative and making up some new ones now?

(although I am very confused by $eisha or whatever her name is)

whats the point. if your trying to be 'original' then choose an original/different name, not just a common name with a different spelling!! And as for Trayc from the x-factor...although she didn't choose the name it just makes me think less of her :/

I know someone who has a Micheal. The family are not Irish or American - the mum simply spells it the wrong way and doesn't really seem to care.

You can argue about the origins of Micheal all you want. The fact of the matter is that the majority of Micheals spell their names this way because their parents can't spell.

I'm sure I read somewhere (maybe on here) about someone whose son is known as 'Matthew with the two t's...'

I know of a child called Alys, a uni friend of my school friend gave birth to her last year. She is English, the father is Welsh and my friend wrinkled her nose 'they can't even spell'. My Mum once wrote in to Lincolnshire life because the editor wrote a nasty piece about someone who named their child Ceri saying that she hates 'funky' spellings. Yeah, it's Welsh - no connection to Kerry.

Treyc is an abomination, DP calls her Trayke. Not as bad as 'Danyl' last year though!

I assume either that they are trying to be original (in which case why not pick an original name?) or they just can't spell.
I don't think they should use a foreign spelling of British name, unless they have connections and/or family reasons for using it.

Isisanddivan, thats the bit that has always perplexed me too. Why not just choose a more unusual name?

I thought Matthew was spelt with 2 t's. Everyone I know called Matthew spells it like that. It even just came up on my auto text.
I agree about the making up of names, ours were all made up by someone. Why not try something new.

There was a kid in the local rag the other day - Lucinder, I assume it is supposed to be Lucinda.

I have come across the following:
Chellea (Shelly)
Caycee
Melonie
Ju-Leigh