Loving this gem on Twitter

[BuggeringNora]

Just in case you thought it was only the UK that went in for 'youneeq' spellings....,
twitter.com/petit_elefant/status/999404443345993728?s=21

I'm staggered at the amount of ways you can spell Madison....

Starkid, it's a junior high school. It could have as many as 2000 students.

Maybe one reason for the multitude of Ys and the odd looking spellings is the Deseret Alphabet en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deseret_alphabet which was an attempt to rationalise English orthography conducted by Brigham Young, the second Mormon leader.

I think SHADEE is my favourite!

What in fresh hell is a Ryker?!

Sounds like something my dog does when she ears grass.

I don't think the constant use of Ys has much to do with that alphabet - it has more to do with the desperation to have a Yooneek spelling. See also the use of i, e, and ie where a Y would normally be used.

@ProfessorMoody that’s one of the ones I thought was more usual - it’s German I think, I associate it with a very serious and very Germanic young man I once met

In Utah, the Deseret alphabet most likely does have something to do with the preference for off the wall spellings. Elsewhere, not so much, except by inspiring others.

Rikers Island is NYC's main prison, an island in the East River. I can't imagine why parents would choose Ryker unless they knew almost nothing of geography/history/general knowledge and wanted some variant of the popular 'Ryder'.