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What do you think of the name Alice spelt as Alys?

103 replies

rilesm · 20/01/2011 15:15

Just that really.Is it pretentious? I just don't like the original spelling as much. Hubby grew up in Wales but not Welsh. Thoughts please.
Thanks

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suzikettles · 20/01/2011 17:48

I like it. It reminds me of Chaucer (was the Wife of Bath's name)

JojoMags · 20/01/2011 17:51

Don't do it. Alice is beautiful. Alys is awful imo. Looks like you're trying too hard and not nearly so pretty.

sophiesmummie · 20/01/2011 17:52

I think Alys is lovely - easy to spell/pronounce and not overused these days.

Janni · 20/01/2011 17:52

Unless you live in Wales your daughter will have to spell it out or correct it every time she has to give her name.

KittyWalker · 20/01/2011 17:56

I hink it will lead to a lifetime of "Actually it's ALYS not Alice" conversations

Bunbaker · 20/01/2011 17:58

If you don't want to keep telling people how to spell it or have to convince your child's teacher at school that you can really spell then I would go for the traditional spelling.

I'm not keen on alternative spellings for traditional names. Like another poster I have spent a lifetime telling people how to spell my name.

I admit that I have never come across Alys before and would pronounce it Aleece. Is that correct?

monkeyfacegrace · 20/01/2011 18:01

My best friends daughter is an Alys. I love it, because I love that little girl Grin

MrsvWoolf · 20/01/2011 18:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PlanetLizard · 20/01/2011 20:20

I like it.

Rhubarbgarden · 20/01/2011 20:54

The Gardener's World presenter has probably made it more widely known as a spelling. But only amongst a certain demographic. Dislike it, personally. (And Titchmarsh was a better presenter.)

Wigeon · 20/01/2011 21:26

Your child won't be called Alys, she'll always have to say her name is "Alys, A L Y S, no, not A L I C E". Alice is by far the more common spelling and people will automatically spell it that way.

I am a Catherine, and I always have to add "with a C and an E", but then it's much more common to have the variations of Catherine than it is to have Alys.

SylvanianFamily · 20/01/2011 21:30

It sounds a bit medieval bordering on witchy to me.

Why not add an 'a': Alyssa ?

DorisIsAPinkDragon · 20/01/2011 21:47

It's my dd1's middle name! We had a welsh connection and I had a Fantastic great aunt alice who never able to have her own children.

LittleCheesyPineappleOne · 20/01/2011 21:51

I think it's lovely.

ShowOfHands · 21/01/2011 09:34

I don't understand the argument about having to spell it all the time. I've never met anybody with my name, certainly nobody ever spells it right without being told. Or pronounces it right either.

But each teacher only needed to learn it at the beginning of term, my family had it down by the time I was about a week old, friends seem fairly bright and can manage to remember the order and pronunciation of each letter.

Yes the doctor's surgery might shout it incorrectly but I'm only there once in a blue moon. Largely it's not a problem. And it takes about 3 seconds to spell out my name should I meet somebody new.

KangarooCaught · 21/01/2011 09:37

Love it - very middle Ages! Germanic links. Have also seen it spelt Alis.

Edmundo · 21/01/2011 09:41

I know an Alys and it's pronounced A-lees, so I see them as different names.

MollysChambers · 21/01/2011 09:43

Personally I'd go with Alice.

But then I'd never seen the other spelling and thought you'd made it up.

I have an unusual name and have spent my life being asked to spell it out or correct pronounciation. It gets a bit tedious.

McHobbes · 21/01/2011 09:45

Rubbish.

It's Alice, and that's that. Everyone else in the whole world will spell it correctly anyway. Alice is a fab name, but spelling it Alys is well wanky.

SoupDragon · 21/01/2011 10:06

How is using a real name "well wanky"? It is the correct spelling of a real name. What's the problem?

FWIW, I have a very common, bog standard name. I still have to spell it out as there are two spelling variations (of which mine is the most common version).

BuntyPenfold · 21/01/2011 10:06

Alys is lovely and is surely the original spelling?

McHobbes · 21/01/2011 10:41

Well....it's difficult.

My ds2 is Rudi - we researched into this and found that commonly a boy with the name will end in an i - whereas a girl will have a y.

Everyone else spells it Rudy though. It is a pain correcting people and you feel a right tosser when you do.

Our daughter is Anoushka. There are many ways of spelling it, but the original spelling is Anousska. We picked what we thought was the easiest, most foolproof spelling, but it still causes confusion everywhere.

I did not know that Alys was the original spelling. I was taking it like Robyn, or Caitlyn....you know....that twist on a spelling that is so poular these days.

So - given it is a bona fide spelling then it's fine, but be aware the EVERYONE will spell it Alice and she will have a lifetime of correcting them, as our Rudi will.

Either way, fab name.

MrsvWoolf · 21/01/2011 10:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

chickadeedee · 21/01/2011 11:30

Dd is called Ailish which is a gaelic variant of Alice - I suspect that is 'well wanky too'. Innit.

ThatllDoPig · 21/01/2011 11:41

Alys yn wyndyrlynd