I’ve been looking at names and ideas to change mine(for a plethora of reasons)
I really like the name micah, but I don’t like the definition(who is like god)
So I was thinking about changing the spelling, but does that actually change the meaning because it’s not the same name anymore, or does it not change the definition because it’s just a few different letters?
Thanks
I wouldn’t say it changes the meaning, unless it’s now a different name or word with the new spelling. Something like [name_u]Mica[/name_u], maybe, since mica is a type of mineral. [name_u]Mycah[/name_u], maybe not.
Have you considered [name_m]Makai[/name_m]? It has a similar sound, but it’s a Hawaiian name meaning “towards the sea.”
There is the feminine name, [name_f]Maika[/name_f], which has several possible origins and, therefore, meanings.
Interesting question. I’d say that people usually regard different spellings/forms of names as having the same meaning as the original. For example the name [name_f]Susan[/name_f] is very different in terms of spelling and pronunciation from the original Hebrew form, [name_f]Shoshannah[/name_f]. However, people treat [name_f]Susan[/name_f] as having the same meaning as [name_f]Shoshannah[/name_f], regardless of how different they are.
With [name_u]Micah[/name_u] I think the situation is complicated by the fact that there is a feminine name [name_f]Maika[/name_f] which has the same sound but a different origin.
I don’t think changing the spelling would change the meaning, sorry.
You’d have to change the ‘root’ (so like the [name_f]Susan[/name_f]/[name_f]Shoshannah[/name_f] example, the root of the name is the same where as [name_u]Mica[/name_u] vs. [name_u]Micah[/name_u] the root has changed so although they sound similar they have different meanings).
A good example is [name_u]Noah[/name_u] and [name_f]Noa[/name_f] - they look and sound almost exactly the same, but their meanings are actually complete opposites because their roots come from different Hebrew words that just so happen to have the same sounds ([name_u]Noah[/name_u] is roughly ‘stillness’ or ‘calm’ while [name_f]Noa[/name_f] is ‘movement’)
Similarly lots of Hebrew names have been translated multiple times and to an extent they’ve been spelled odd ways for ages e.g. [name_m]Jacob[/name_m] - there’s no J in Hebrew, it’s Ya’akov but even that’s not quite an accurate representation of the name in Hebrew…
Sorry, that was a long way to say ‘no spelling doesn’t change the name mean, sorry’
I think you’d have a better chance looking for names that sound like [name_u]Micah[/name_u] (see [name_u]Mika[/name_u], [name_m]Makai[/name_m] or [name_u]Mica[/name_u] as mentioned above) with different meanings, than changing the spelling of [name_u]Micah[/name_u], because that doesn’t change the ‘root’.
There are some names that come from different roots, like [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] vs [name_f]Emilia[/name_f], [name_u]Noah[/name_u] vs [name_f]Noa[/name_f], [name_m]Cohen[/name_m] vs [name_m]Coen[/name_m], but for the most part coming up with a creative spelling doesn’t change the meaning unless the alternative spelling is an established name with its own separate roots like these examples