Changing a name because too many people spell it incorrectly?

[fluffygrave]

He's 14 weeks now. Driving me slightly mad!!! Very rarely do people spell it correctly, even though it's the original spelling. It was super close between name 1 and name 2 anyway but ended up going with the one I had a slight preference to but name 2 wouldn't have the spelling issue...

Just start saying "Elliott with a double t" when asked for his name.

Oh no, please don't do this. I get why you might, but I always remember a new boy at my secondary school introducing himself as "Josef spelled with an f" and that was literally his name for the next 3 years. Every single person referred to him as "Josef spelled with an f" followed by a laugh. ''Twas only when we got to college and he joined a band and turned out to be an amazing singer that people finally stopped taking the piss!

But yeh, I also agree that every name can be spelled wrong. My son has an unusual first name but his middle name is James, very simple. When we took him to be registered we said "his first name is X spelled X, and his middle name is James... spelled the normal way." The woman shook her head and said "trust me, there is no normal when it comes to spelling names, you'd be amazed the number of ways I've seen people insist on spelling James" so we had to spell it for her. I'd stick with the name you have, especially since you've used the "normal" version.

I’m sure Eliot with one “t” when describing it would be fine. My surname is a common one but spelt differently in England and Scotland. It has a double letter in the former and single in the later. Saying “X with one Y” hasn’t caused problems. It’s a large part of the reason why I took my husband’s name on marriage as my maiden name was both unusual and had multiple spellings, of which I had the least common one! My first name also has several “normal” spellings and pronunciations.

Hundred

Who are you take such ire at my opinion

I know an adult Elliott. Doesn’t stop me thinking the doubly tt looks wrong in a first name.

@SemperIdem Personally I think there's a bit of a difference between first names and surnames. First names and their spellings are more of a 'choice', whereas the spelling of a surname is fixed and goes back generations, so it can't really be 'wrong' in my opinion.

I had this with my name. I’m Charlotte but got one t, no e, a ‘sharlet’ (this was at high school) and various other combinations. When I was little, our neighbour (who I think was a relative of a relative) always spelled it ‘Sharlotte’ and wouldn’t be told otherwise! My friend always has to specify ‘Jill with a J’ as she always gets it spelled with a G, which I think is strange.

I have an elliot. (1 t!). Don’t change it.

Agree with PP's don't change it as people can get the most mundane names wrong.

I always automatically say "first name with an ie" & spell out my surname in full as although it's not in any way unusual there are at least 3 spellings.

DD's middle names are Jayne & Anne and they both have to correct people using Jane & Ann regularly... I actually had to go into school as the teacher had DD2 convinced her middle name was Ann even though I'd filled out the registration form with the correct spelling

Even Anne of Green Gables got 'Ann', to her eternal chagrin.

Elliot's not my cup of tea at all, but if it's what you want to call him, keep it. There are relatively few genuinely unmisspellable names.

Just say Elliot 2 l's 1 t ... sorted

MissCharley: Gill is logical when used as a shortened form of Gillian!

Elliot is a beautiful name, fil always writes cards to dd as chloey not sure where he's got the y from!

Great name!

I wouldn't change it because of spelling issues, people will soon learn to spell it correctly.

Oh I know FifthTimeLucky, but I would always presume it’s with a J, unless they were introduced as Gillian but said they were known as Gill. It infuriates my friend!

If you change it to Elliott you will just get people spelling it Elliot surely?

My name has three letters. People still fuck it up constantly.

I have one too. He corrects people himself now. Not that many people do get it wrong but I was cross that his football trophy this year had 2 ts on it. He doesn't care tbh!