Names spelled with diacritics

[Anonymousmember667]

Apologies if this has been discussed or answered before but I have a question if anyone knows the answer, or who to ask or has any experience please?

So some names have diacritics, usually the name originates from another language other than english. Maybe the most common ones being Seán, Siobhán, Chloé, Zoë, René, Beyoncé etc etc.

Say for example, the name Chloé, Are there any issues registering this name with the diacritic on the “e” in England; on the Birth Certificate, with the NHS, in the school system, with banks, on her passport, driving licence etc etc.

Most people wouldnt know but Its simple to press the alt gr button + the letter to get most of these diacritics on a keyboard or hold the button on an apple keyboard, but do government systems and organisations systems generally support diacritic names?

Is there a right or expectation for organisations to spell your name correctly in England? Doesn't GDPR say this?

Is she destined for a lifetime of her name being spelt wrong or is she allowed to be a Chloé with an “é” !?

Thanks for any advise or experience anyone has 🙏

I don’t know about her “rights” to have her name spelt correctly but I would imagine 90% of the time it’ll be spelt Chloe I’m afraid 🤷‍♀️

I doubt there’s a rule or law. People can’t be bothered even if there’s an easy solution.

Yes you can register the name with an accent (the more commonly used term in the UK) I'm not sure you can use them in a passport though you definitely didn't used to be able to include them.

Also I'm really not sure what gdpr has to do with this situation??

The standard form of the name Chloe has no accent- it’s Greek not French. Chloé is the brand.

Of course you can register it however you like but people will miss the accent off a lot. Whether you make a point about it will be up to you/your daughter.

There’s even more of a complication with Chloé because I’m more familiar with the spelling Chloë - so people might choose the wrong diacritic or none at all.

I imagine so too! Most people wouldn't notice it or know how to do it, but if I or she really wants the “é”, is she allowed to have it or demand it or have a right to it.? Thats my question, Its pedantic maybe I know, but I don't know and wouldn't even know where or who to ask!? 🤷‍♂️

She is allowed to have the é, and she is destined to have a life of it being spelt ‘wrong’.

Demand from who?

On the GDPR question, there is a right to rectification of inaccurate personal data and I suppose that could include the accents on a name. So you could apply to organisations to amend their records if they record the name without the accent. Life is short, however.

I could be referencing the wrong thing mentioning gdpr, but I thought it said companies and organisations have a legal obligation to hold correct information about you and keep it secure and spelling a name correctly would fall under that?

Gosh would someone really go to all that fuss. You're right life really is too bloody short!

It'll just be spelt Chloe by most as most won't know how to type it

How are you pronouncing it differently with the accent?

Any company or organisation spelling her name wrong who cannot update to the correct spelling if requested for whatever reason?

You might have some level of control over legal agencies, but you will never be able to control every letter, email, card, every time it is handwritten at school, mention of her in text messages, every commercial organisation she ever gives her name to, every informal note…

If it’s that important to you that your child’s name is spelled correctly, don’t choose a name that is so open to confusion.

I know a teenage Zoe who is just always a Zoe. No one bothers with the two dots even though it isn’t right.

If you’re in the UK then her passport won’t be issued with diacritical marks in her name, so good luck taking that one up with the government - see p6 here

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67f6782fb7e44efc70acc410/Names_that_cannot_be_used_in_passports__v14.0+for+GOV.UK+publication_.pdf#page6

It’s a random consideration, but you may find it’s harder to find your name in a database. I’ve recently raised this at school as an issue: when you search our MIS for a name, if it’s recorded with a diacritic, you must search with the diacritic, or the database returns no results. I think it’s a minor safeguarding concern.
Of course, you may think that’s an advantage, especially if you want to be a spy!

I have no experience with diacritics, but our kids have hyphenated surnames and even that causes the occasional problem, e.g. with online forms that won't accept hyphens - crazy, right, it's not exactly rare. And then sometimes they get an issue when a form that wouldn't accept a hyphen gets automatically matched against one that would and it fails...

We have a double barrelled surname without a hyphen and that is also an issue with some online forms that will accept a hyphen but not a space!

Diacritics smack of chav trying to be posh to me,

unless it is relevant to the persons non English language

apologies if you don’t fall into this category,

this is just my bias / stereotype

Do you really honestly pronounce your UK child's name "Chlo-AY" not "Chlo-EE"??? I bet you don't. The e acute makes it rhyme with hay, may, (wheh said in a southern English accent).

You can register her birth with a diacritic, but the home office will not include it on her passport. Neither will the DVLA.
If you want it then do it, but as others have said be prepared for it to be misspelt regularly.

I have a relation with exactly this name. As you can see I am not even going to bother to put the speech mark on. Although her parents persisted with the accent nobody else did. When she got to nursery and school it was always spelled without the accent on it and I don’t think she uses the accent now. She is known to her friends by a nickname. If you live in the UK why do you have to be different and difficult. You have told people here how to put the speech mark on but this is not something everyone is going to remember or bother to do. Certainly not at school.

I would guess Seán is the most popular name in the UK that should have a diacritic but is spelt incorrectly as Sean.