"Unusual Spellings of Baby Names Out of Control"

[Bathsheba]

I'm just reading Monday's (July 6) Herald Sun newspaper. Last Friday 980 people responded to a poll asking "Are unusual spellings of baby names getting out of control?" The results were:

YES: 91.2% (894 votes)
NO: 8.8% (86 votes)

What do you think?

(Please try not to be too harsh regarding specific names as we don't want to upset members with this name or who have chosen a particular name for their children).

Personally I prefer traditional spellings but in some instances I think it would be a good compromise to change the spelling of a name if for example another family member shared that name.

[maz]

im one thats out of control lol.

BUT all my boys names are tradionally German

[Bathsheba]

Nah, I LOVE the names you have given your children Maz!

[Trillian]

I don't usually have an issue with creative spelling, so long as it doesn't take away from what the name is supposed to be in the first place kwim? I have seen some shockers that don't even look how you would pronounce them. I think it shows a lack of foresight at times because children with really unusual spellings will spend the rest of their life correcting people and making sure that it is always spelt right on official documents etc. But I haven't ever seen anything that's even mildly bad on here with overly creative spelling - there are some gorgeously unusual names, but nothing that would ever make you go what the?

[Bathsheba]

I've mainly seen some shockers in the newspaper birth announcement section... names that are meant to have vowels having them removed and replaced with about 5 unnecessary consonants.

Also meant to add that I have an interest in numerology and can kind of understand making small changes so that a child is given a name with a number combination that is more fortuitous.

[Arimeh]

Hmmmm I probably shouldn't comment...lol

[feeb]

LMAO

mel and maz you both have cool names not weird spellings and out there!

[Trillian]

LOL, I have had 31 years of having to spell my name for people, and my name isn't even 'creative' LOL. Thats why I have a beef with it

[Fleur]

Hmmmm I probably shouldn't comment...lol

but, I think the difference is that your kids names are unusual in themselves, kwim? (& pretty cool too )...not some everyday name that has been jazzed up to make it seem more interesting... like spelling say 'Jane' in some strange way...(just as an example)

I am a fan of different & unusual names and I don't mind a slight spelling variation... I agree though it gets a bit OTT when you have to constantly tell people how to spell / pronounce it, surely it just makes life frustrating for those kids?

ETA - Bathsheba you have just hit on one of my pet hates...definitely another thread there! but yes I agree

[~clover~]

I love different spellings, but the name still has to be simple iykwim.
I didn't change Bri's coz it looked right how it is. Bri/Bre - I liked Bri better, & anything else woulda been too long (Breeanna/Breannah atc)
Jesse I left as Jesse coz anything else woulda made it too girly. People think he's a girls when I say his name anyways.
I wanted Jaz to have her own name. Thats why I changed hers. Jazmyne instead of Jasmine. I wanted it to be unique for her, but not too uncommon iykwim.

[DaintreeDream]

I'm not a fan of creative spelling at all.

I hate seeing an unnecessary added letter in names, eg: our boys name is going to be Mason, I hate it when people add in a 'Y' for instance, Mayson... I personally do not see the point! Just means that he would be spelling his name out all his life for the sake of having a 'Y' in his name.

I have spent my life pronouncing and spelling my name to people and really it is not that weird, so I decided that when I chose names for my children they would be names that whether or not popular, when said the person would be able to recognise and spell it and when written it is recognised and readable.

[Taurean]

Totally agree with the poll - it has gotten out of hand.

I think it bothers me most as when you say a lot of these creatively spelt names, they sound identical to the traditional spelling so I don't see the point in adding/switching letters in an attempt to make the name original. It still sounds the same but the parents and child just have to correct everyone when it comes to spelling it for the rest of their lives. I just don't get it.

[Phteven]

Jayne is a tradition spelling personally I don't regard it as being an unusual spelling, it's just a variant, lot's of names have a number of spellings all of which are normal. Jhaiyn on the other hand, hmmmm.
We tried to chose names that are pretty simple and spellings that are fairly phonetic, I didn't want my children to have to tell people how to pronounce their name or how to spell it. It gets so tedious always having to help people out.

[Laranna]

I tend to agree with the poll and I'm not a fan of creative spelling of normal names. Although I do like the unusual names, it irks me seeing a lovely name all messed up with silly spelling.

I thought my name (Lynette) would be easy to spell, but I am always spelling it out for people as I get so many variations of it. Even if I just call myself Lyn, I get variations on that too! DF has even tougher time. He's a Mathieu which is the French spelling of Matthew. Even when you spell it out for people they still stick a 'w' on the end. It's like they can't get their head around it! LOL

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I ruddy HATE creative spellings. Adding in Ys and Zs and Xs to look "cool". Fair enough if it's a spelling from a country that you can call your own... but not just randomly! (I have a Welsh name and I AM NOT WELSH! It was also popular in the late 60s/early 70s so people are shocked at how young I look... I'm about a decade younger than my name, I don't just LOOK young, I AM young!) I do like Irish names but DH's Mum's parents were both Irish so we can just about get away with that - or could if DH liked them!

I hate having to constantly correct the pronounciation and the spelling. I hate having people think my last name has a Y in it because my first name does... NO. Yes, I can spell my last name... I can spell my first name too. Just you who thinks that comment is amusing.

Having said that, children with "normal" spelling suffer. Liebling gets two As in his name rather than A then E. His middle names get it too. I don't understand - we picked three very normal names! The first two names, when combined with the last name, are breweries. Why is there this problem? Because other parents made it a problem for us.

[Jellyfish]

Don't they say Imogen originated from a misspelling? Guess those of us who use it are a bit screwed either way then

[paradise lost]

Nelle -

Ruaridh's, Siobhan's, Muireall's and Iain's

Rory, Shavaun (which i realised i typo'd when first typing it, lol), Muriel, Ian.

Because its a way to make your child unique, putting your stamp on them for life...that child is part of you and their name is one of the most important and most valuable thing you can give them bar life its self.

I have to say, i totally disagree with that. I know 4 Olivia's and every one of them is an incredibly unique individual. Two of my very good friends have the same name, are utterly different and i NEVER get them mixed up in my head or otherwise. When i was at Uni i worked on a welcome desk and practically every man i met from the middle east had a name that was some variation on Mohammed, but they were all very different people. I think a sense of individuality goes way way beyond a name and that, although the name is the 2nd Very Important Parenting Job (after getting them earthside as healthy as possible) of a new parent, in the course of years it pales, as the birth does, in terms of importance. My mother gave me the most popular girls name of the time when i was born, because, she said, she felt it could fit in anywhere. On paper i could be a lawyer or a lapdancer. In person i am as unique as anyone else. As has been said by one more eloquent than me "what's in a name, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". JMO

Bx

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I have to disagree with Maz and Skye too - Liebling isn't the same as all the other people out there with his name and his spelling. He's HIMSELF.

I have an uncommon name but that just made me cross that my parents can't spell. It is fairly common in my family - Zaidie also originated from a spelling mistake, but a few women in my family have it now. As a child, you don't want to be different. You want to fit in. And teachers calling you "Crane" because they can't pronounce your first name properly isn't what I call fun and exciting.

As an adult you want to be different - but by then you realise that you're more than just a name, you're YOU. OK so some people do change their name, but more people change from odd name to normal name than from normal name to "no-one has a hope in hell of spelling this" name. A lot of people change "Jaymz" to "James" or "Seaufeighya" to "Sophia": they have the same name, but none of the spelling hassles. I do know a Jaymz but thankfully not a Seaufeighya.