Unusual spellings of names

[tigermeow]

Have you come across many unusual spellings for names? Please share!

I've met a Micheal, a Kloe (Chloe), Tigher (as in big cat), Macks (Max), Sofi, Jorg (parents were not Scandinavian)

Went to school with a Zowie (Zoe)

I have a Jimmy. Very simple, cute name I think. Sometimes when receiving bday or Christmas cards, people tend to write JIMI or JIMMI....I would not spell it like that...it's pretentious IMO

...I saved a selection of the names of babies entered into the photo competition of the local rag this year because they were so good...
(first/middle names only)
Caiden
Ryse (pronouced Rhys maybe?)
Jorja May
Tyler Loki (boy? girl? demon?)
Tiger Rae
Amber Geyser
Kaydn Leni
Chelci

ooops... that should have been Kadyn Leni, not Kaydn

My name is Sian and I hate it when I see it spelt 'Sharn' - I always think if you like the name, at least make the effort to learn to spell it! It's just looks bastardized like that.

I find it bad enough that i'm Rachael (i know its old fashioned english) i would be mortified if i'd been given any of these names having said that we are always asked if DS2 (Freddie) ends in Y or IE

I taught a Sumer, pronounced Summer. Made a mockery of the spelling I was trying to teach them.

Krystyna is the Polish spelling of Christina and not someone messing around.

The problem with a thread like this is, you can quite easily slate a name and its spelling just because you're used to the standard UK version, but we're supposed to be vaguely multicultural now, and people are influenced by all the other cultures around us. Just because it's not common to you doesn't make it wrong.

(Having said that there are some fairly ridiculous spellings of names on here )

Some names though are other language versions. I know a Sumer and a Hana and they are the english transations from the arabic of the name. Not mis-spelling of english names. Also the polish versions of Phillip is Filip, Olivia is Oliwia etc.

MIL was a registrar for years and she saw some absolute shockers. She was convinced it was usually more down to poor spelling than originality. If I remember rightly registars are allowed to question but aren't allowed to veto very much unless it's something like Jesus which apparently isn't allowed in the UK!

My mate went out with a Jesus! He was Venezuelan...

This is reminding me of that thread last year where the poster asked people's opinions of her plans to call her son Konor and then got really upset when people suggested she should spell it Connor instead...

I remember that Konor thread. Poor child.

On the other hand, names that aren't pronounced as they are spelled (maybe apart from ethnic / Celtic ones such as Niambh, as above) can be very posh, and deliberately exclusive in that not knowing how to pronounce them marks the speaker out as being of a different, ie lower, class. For instance, there is an Evelyn Waugh novel with a character called Mrs Beste - Chetwynde. You can read the entire thing without realising it should be pronounced "Beast - Chained". Or take Cholmondley, pron. Chumley. The difference is that the spellings complained about here are phonetic, and therefore indicative of a lack of education / money / class.

I know a Suny ('sunny') whose mum is French

DD goes to school with a SOMA pronouced SUMMER - the spelling of her name reminds me of a STOMA.
(The definition is 'A surgically constructed opening, especially one in the abdominal wall that permits the passage of waste.' or poo to you and me.)

I cant think of any right now but some of these just make me cringe.

How could they? I knew there were several different versions of my DDs name, and I knew how to spell it correctly, but i still checked it out to make sure we had it right!!!

Why oh why would you choose to spell your child's name so badly!!

baby I was going to say Sharn actually! My sister's Bfriend at school was called and spelt sharn and as I was young I thought for a long time that was how it was actually spelt

I know a Luce (Lucy) and a friend of mine taught a Nafan (Nathan).

I've met a Cantona! That's my claim to fame. Spelling was a bit off though, was Cantonna. Also an Abby. Why Abby? Why not Abbey?

KT14 there was a jesus in my college class, but he was born in Spain and it was said like heyzoos lol, but spelled jesus.
I know a Sara, but its said like Sarah.. dont know if thats common though.

I once taught a Klee - I thought she was named after the artist until she pointed out it her name was an unusual spelling for Kayleigh.

On parents evening you can quickly work out which parents are desperately trying to be 'different' and those that are just 'thick' - not a pc term, I agree.

Some names don't travel - all those called Milo would be a brand of chocolate milk.