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Pedants' corner
Original poster

Lilly - an incorrect spelling - is the 33rd most popular girl's name of 2007!

164 replies

DarthVader · 18/12/2007 17:27

How can people give their child a name which is spelt wrong???

Lily is the name of a flower - there is no alternative spelling, just one that says to the world, "my parents cannot spell".

OP posts:
onepieceoflollipop · 19/12/2007 13:30

Cod, good job all your names are easy to spell!
Imagine if your children had long, 12 letter names. You would type them differently every time I bet.

WanderingHolly · 19/12/2007 13:32

Oh, I thought he meant he'd called her Northanger, bk.

UnquietDad · 19/12/2007 13:44

I should have said a character in a Jane Austen novel, who's in the title of one of the "official sequels"!

5GoldenFIMBOs · 19/12/2007 13:53

My friend is called Susan because when her dad went to register the birth he couldn't spell Jacqueline. Her mother was none to pleased.

A lady I worked with had a niece called Julie but spelt Ju-Leigh

CantSleighWontSleigh · 19/12/2007 13:55

Not that I'm pedantic or anything, but the thread title is incorrect. Lilly is actually the 55th most popular name.

krabbiepatty · 19/12/2007 14:06

I have pedantically just looked up "spelt" - it seems it can be the past participle of spell as well as a grain used for livestock feed.
Still looks wrong to me.

itsahardknocklife · 19/12/2007 15:42

What's wrong the name 'Sean', or 'Shaun'?
I just don't like it when it's spelt 'Shawn', but that may just be because I met a rather unpleasant man called that once!
And I thought it was the registry office too!

CrushWithEyeliner · 19/12/2007 15:55

I have an unusual Italian name that is always mispronounced and misspelt but it just dosen't bother me. I just see it that it is hard for people to remember first time around - no big deal. I really am mystified by people who let this kind of thing rile them, honest question why does it bother you so? (To all of those who do get mad at this!)

WanderingHolly · 19/12/2007 17:28

This is pedants' corner, that's why.

Everything bothers us.

Respec' to the REM name, btw. Are you also SHP?

Scotia · 19/12/2007 18:06

Debithescot, not sure if you made a typo, but it's Ruairidh, I'm pretty sure.

On another note, Calum or Callum? Rona or Rhona? Gemma or Jemma?

PaulaYatesbiggestfan · 19/12/2007 18:09

my ds middle name is sean

well actually it is Séan !

Scotia · 19/12/2007 18:13

That's my dad's name too - well without the accent on the 'e'.

WanderingHolly · 19/12/2007 18:14

at the fada!

readysalted · 19/12/2007 22:24

To all out there that are so far up their own arses to have to tell other people how we are to name our children "GET A LIFE"

UnquietDad · 19/12/2007 22:39

But before you do that

lookee here

and guffaw for hours.

It's funnier than having a life.

harpsichordcarrier · 19/12/2007 22:46

there is a girl in our pre school called Pheobe. which does my head in.
Lilly is a surname, though? like Eli Lilly?

MrsGrinch · 19/12/2007 22:50

I used to work in the register office. I've registered some seriously dodgy names.

From memory
Sharn.
Kristofer.
Shevorn. I did try to sway them towards the proper spelling.
LooLoo - I almost refused that one.
One named after almost a whole football team - I think it was Leeds United.
And several just initals - KC, JD, KT that sort of thing.

nooka · 19/12/2007 22:52

I think that lots of people think Lilly is the normal spelling - dd who's short name is Lily has had most of her cards this year spelt that way. Just looks very odd to me, but then I didn't realise that both her first and middle names have alternate spellings (she is named after two grandmothers). One thing that new parents should consider now is the impact of e-mail - not helpful to have a name that means you will never actually recieve your mail because your name hasn't been spelled the way other people may expect. I have an unusual name but because it sounds unusual I always spell it, and once people have got the hang of it it's not usually an issue, but alternate spellings are asking for future trouble I think.

SnowMuchToBits · 19/12/2007 22:57

Actually one of the names that really annoys me is Caitlin - because people seem to use it not realising it is Irish (the Irish variant of Kathleen) and then pronounce it Kate-lin instead of Cat-leen. I have nothing against the name per se, just the way people are using it.

MerryPIFFLEmas · 19/12/2007 22:59

My middle name is Siobhan
The times I've wished Mum and Dad had spelt it Shevorn

unknownrebelbang · 19/12/2007 23:02

Could have been worse MrsG, could have been named after the Vale team.

33kjs · 19/12/2007 23:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hellish · 19/12/2007 23:52

When my dh went to the registry office - the registrar asked if we knew we'd misspelled 'Lilly' (middle name). DH rang me in a panic, but I bluffed and said 'yes of course I knew, and that's how I wanted it.'

Dd thinks it's really funny now. (poor child of illiterate trailer trash)

girasole · 19/12/2007 23:53

Paulayatesbiggestfan, the fada or accent in the name Sean should be on the letter A and not on the E. (I don't know how to get accents on my keyboard, that's why I haven't included it )

Swedes2Turnips1 · 20/12/2007 00:52

I once started a thread about parents pretending to have got God in order to get Lily into the faith school. I have been in traction for 8 weeks now.