Spelling mistakes in children's names.

[user789653241]

This is not a serious thread. Kind of a rant.
Just wanted to know what people think generally.

My ds(10) brought home books from school, he showed me one of them, which had his name written with wrong spelling, with permanent marker.
He didn't seem happy about it. So I asked him if he told that to the teacher. He did, and he said teacher's reply was "It doesn't matter, it's not important. I can't remember how to spell everyone's name."
To be clear, his name is nothing complicated, just ordinary name, with one of alternative spelling.

Obviously it happened while back, and not a big deal, but talking to him made me realise he was hurt to be told his name doesn't matter.
I am kind of upset that the teacher said this to him. Is he too sensitive to feel this way? And I am being unreasonable to be upset for him?
I just expected the teacher to cross out and change, or tell him to correct the mistake, rather than tell him it doesn't matter.

Any thoughts appreciated.

As a teacher with a less common but not completely unheard of first name which is often misspelled and a surname which can also be a first name which sometimes confuses people (who don't pay attention) I am perhaps overly careful to spell children's names correctly. It's not difficult with a primary class as you write their names all the time and it's easy to get used to unusual spellings pretty quickly.

The teacher who said it's not important was basically saying she didn't care. Which is rude.

My surname is spelt wrongly so often that I actually think the incorrect spelling looks better now!

Is it something like Eliot/Elliot/Elliott or Neil/Neal/Neale?
The teacher is in the wrong.

we have a "mac" surname if you accidentally use Mc I'm ok with it but I'm not ok with being told but all mac's are Mc, they are not and they are not interchangeable

if you are from highlands of Scotland originally it will almost certainly be Macdonald (no capital D) if you were originally from Ireland it is probably McDonald

That’s interesting. I didn’t know that. I knew Mc and Mac both mean “son of” but would always spell MacDonald with a capital D thinking it was son of Donald.

Is is always Macsomething but McSomething? are MacSomething or Mcsomething wrong?

It’s not the OPs fault for her child’s name! Plenty of very classic names have various equally valid spellings (Ann/Anne, Steven/Stephen, Katherine/Catherine etc), it’s not like she’s chosen a yoo-nique name, even if she had, her child’s teacher should still make an effort to spell it right and correct it if they’ve spelled it wrong!

I’m a Brownie leader so mostly only write names on very occasional certificates. I’d apologise and make a new one if a child or their parent told me I’d spelled their name wrong. Just like I apologise and correct myself if I pronounce a name wrong.

My name is unusual but despite having a couple of different spellings, I usually get the right one. My theory is that most people won’t know any others, so there isn’t the same confusion as trying to remember which Ann/Anne has an E and which doesn’t.

It was OP's child's surname that was misspelt.

Thank you everyone.

tulippa, yes that's the thing made me upset, that she said "it's not important", not the fact she misspelt.

Cauliflower, my ds may feel the same in the future.

Good to know that I am not totally unreasonable to feel this way. I am not making a big deal out of it in real life, just shrug off and move on, but just wanted a stealth rant somewhere, hoping people would understand.

And Teacup, you sums it up. My dh is half Scottish, and we have Scottish surname!

Was MeanTangerine correct with Clarissa? I don't see how anyone could be confused with its spelling unless people mistakenly double the r rather than the s!

I'd mark it 😂 with an explanation of why it's incorrect

Just circle it in red pen and mark it with question mark and a 'X' and return to teacher

Of course it's important to get someone's name right!!

Really pisses me off.
I have a slightly unusual first name, very common in America just not in London!
All my life mid spelled and mis pronounced, I'd kind of expected it until I went to college and my diploma was spelled wrong. They got quite offended at me complaining but a class mate from Sri Lanka with a really complicated name, they couldn't keep checking on her spellings enough!

My sons name is always mispronounced and spelt wrong despite me writing it on everything!! They always just say it how they assume (a very similar popular name) he is 6 and always corrects people lol

I use the less common spelling of my name, it is regularly spelled wrong, and DD's school keep adding a g on DDs surname (it ends in ins and the way she says it does sound like there should be a g to be fair) it is very annoying, especially when DD was small coz she started spelling it wrong too!

I have had so many different spellings of some names in my class that it does take me a while to get the spellings right each year, I do my best but I do get it wrong sometimes, I will always apologise and change it as soon as I realise/someone points it out though, saying it doesn't matter is just rude.