Holly or Hollie?

[dadtobe22]

My wife and I are due a baby girl later this year. We'd settled on the name Holly.

However, my wife sprung a surprise on me Tuesday night be saying she wanted to spell the name Hollie. I don't feel this is the traditional spelling and I worry that they would spend their life correcting people. It is also a different spelling to holly, the plant, which the name is obviously derived from!

It's a shame I can't do a poll but what do people think. It would be helpful to get a sense check.

Holly or Hollie?

Having a name spelling slightly different from the usual spelling can be a PITA.
It's your name and you don't want to have to spell it to people.

A friend has a -ie ending to her name when the -y version is the usual and as a child she got given personalised tat with the -y spelling. She hated it. Little Lucie did not want a ruler with Lucy on it.

Personally, I prefer Hollie. But then, I have a DD Kirstie, instead of Kirsty. Occasionally she has to correct people on the spelling but it's not exactly hard work!

I don't have a massively unusual name, but as a child in the 70's/80's I could never find anything with my name on. It's silly but I always vowed I wouldn't do that to my kids. In my opinion Hollie would struggle to get anything with her name on. I know that shouldn't be a deciding factor, but I've never forgotten it

Please just spell it Holly

Holly
Hollie is a spelling mistake

I have a Holly and she was born at Christmas but we would have called her that even if she was born any other time of the year! I love her name ❤

We have a Lucie and yes we do have to spell it out sometimes but she definitely doesn't feel "lumbered" - she actually seems to like saying "It's Lucie with an ie" when the need arises. She says she loves her name. (I'm not even sure why we chose it except that I thought it looked nice written down, as a PP mentioned). A tricky one if you can't agree! I really like both Holly and Hollie.

Holly

If a December baby Holly if not then Hollie. I know a 6 hollies and all but one spelt ie.

Ivy

'Whole-eye'

My friend used hollie but her reason was the older child had an 'ie' ending name and she wanted them to go.

I prefer Hollie personally, but I prefer ie names to y names.

My own name is a y name, and I always thought it looked nicer spelt ie. And to be honest, even though my spelling is the more common, I always have people asking "is that with a y or an ie" !

I don't think Hollie is that uncommon. Not like Hollye, like a pp mentioned, which really is uncommon.

Ok I will be serious now. I would suggest finding an new first name which will be her formal name then use Hollie as a middle name, but call her that. This way she has choices if she grows up and hates being Hollie.

Holly

Definitely stuck to your guns. Names with an ie spelling are so twee, you're right to use the traditional spelling.

If you spell it with a Y then your daughter can always choose to change it to the more nicknamey ie option later if life if she desperately wants to copy her mum.

I think your wife needs to get a grip really. Why does she feel it so necessary to have the same name ending?

Pretty much all names that end in ie are twee and girly and nicknamey so if you start looking for another name you might find you have the same problem.

Hollie is a sillie spelling and too frillie.

Definitely Holly. In my view (although I do try to challenge myself on it) misspelled names give a bit of a bad impression of someone from the get go! You are right in standing your ground. If the same name ending is very important to your wife, you could always choose a different name that is correctly spelled ending in -ie and go for that instead of Holly?
Like Maisie, Rosie, Julie, Marie, Sophie, Katie, Tillie...

Or even Hallie? Very similar but correctly spelled with -ie

I’m a Hollie, I’ve never felt I was ‘lumbered’ with the wrong spelling. It bothers me more that people assume I was a Christmas baby, I wasn’t.

I’ve had to correct people before but I can’t say it’s ever really bothered me. A lot of people these days know there are 2 spellings and will say is that with a Y or an IE so it’s not a big deal got me.

I know a Hollie and I like the spelling. There are also several Hollys at my children’s school.

Both spellings are ok, but personally I prefer Holly.

Love the name itself.

For what it's worth I'm a Holly and would hate it to be spelt Hollie. Feel the same about Poppy/Poppie and Lily/Lillie. There's just no need for it and will cause pointless hassle and confusion.

Holly is my preference
But I know a few Hollies and don’t think it’s a massive deal
if you like a name though I’m not sure why you’d try and be different with a spelling
as you say, hollie doesn’t really mean anything

Tilly is the more traditional spelling here not Tillie.

Katie is an interesting one because both Katie and Katy seem equally OK these days