help with spelling needed.

[maybemaybee]

My partner and i are set on the name leif for our baby boy, but we cant agree on the spelling. I thought it was Leif as in the singer, Leif Garret, but DP knows a friend who's spelling is laithe. Another friend of ours has a friend spelt laithe too. Help needed!

How do you pronounce it?

well i pronounce it Lay-f but with DP's spelling i presume it would be lay-th?

Ok, for some reason I thought Leif was pronounced leaf.

Personally I like Leif better than Laithe.

Why are you askng us? Why not just go for what you want.

Unless you are in Ireland everyone will pronounce Laithe as 'Layth'.

sorry is there something wrong in asking?! Its because my DP and i cant agree, so i was hoping to see how others would spell it, to make a choice.

EI togther is an 'a' sound, like rein or freight etc.

is that how they would spell it as well mrs badger? Laithe? That would explain why the people my DP and friend know are spelt laithe, they arent irish.

It IS pronounced leaf.

Never heard of it being spelt Laithe - I'd go with your choice of spelling LEIF - at least it bears some resemblance to how the name is pronounced.

Leif as in leaf?... that would be the only way I would spell it...

A friend's father was called Leif, pronounced "leaf". He was Canadian, if that makes any difference.

well i dont want him called leaf so that helps a lot, i will go with laithe!

how is that pronounced

layth i hope going by mrs badger!

wasn't Leif Garret pronounced leaf though?

Oh I might be wrong - I assumed it was a Gaelic name hence the nonphonetic spelling (eg Siobhan, Aoife etc) would make Laithe sound as 'Leef'

do ignore me

Leif is a Scandinavian name though, pronounced life.

i dont know it was before my time! my parents are from manchester and they say lay-f for him, but who knows. I would have thought lay-f as well, because of the ei.

bit of a can of worms here! i had a look and found this one:

www.babynamesworld.com/meaning_of_Laith.html

spelt laith, pronounced lah-eeth! But my DP's friends ex hubby is definately called lay-th (as in the pronouciation, its how we heard the name to begin with.

I think LIF has summed it up!

Laithe will always be pronounced LAY-th

i agree so i will go with that. We are having david for a middle name, thats abit more ordinary.

I taught 2 children called Leif - both pronounced "leaf". Maybe the spelling and the prounciation is regional? Personally I quite like "leaf" version and prefer the spelling "Leif" but maybe because I am more used to it - I think more people will say "leaf" to "Leif" and "lathe" to "Laithe"..

One teeny word of caution over it: I do remember both of the boys being bullied huge amount thanks to the name. If they were not going on about the "hippy" name (they would get "rainbow" and "storm" and "feather" etc etc as alternatives from "friends") they called one the elf because they reckoned it sounded like an elf of pixie name out of a fairytale! Also I know it was frequently mispronounced and mispelt which is frustrating for many children (coming from a person with an unusually spelt name - the "urggh?" down telephone lines when giving out your name is irritating. Saying all that - it is nice

more on Leif

i think if kids want to bully they will regardless of name, and that most names, even the most plain, can be used to bully by children. Amazing what they can make rythme, or not even bother rythming just be nasty about!

ah so leif can be pronounced layf, but i doubt many people would then, thanks geek girl.