Does this bother any of you?

Is it really THAT big of a deal to have to correct people when it comes to the spelling of your name?

My name is [name]Marianne[/name] (in my 20s). Not weird, not unique, not overly common, but certainly not unheard of. There are a few different spellings of this name that are accepted. Does anyone ever spell it right? 99.2% of the time, no! Most people spell it [name]Mary[/name] [name]Anne[/name] (most people also mispronounce it, which is something I’ve yet to understand…). I about double-over when someone does spell it right without knowing me well. [name]Do[/name] I want to lash out at my parents? Um, no, because it isn’t a big deal and I actually think [name]Marianne[/name] is the best spelling of the name, anyway. Unless we’re talking about a legal document, I won’t even correct the person. Again, no big deal. And if I’m really concerned about it, I’ll say, “[name]Marianne[/name], M. A. R. I. A. N. N. E.” to leave any questions out of the mind.

Disliking a certain spelling (or name) is one thing. Disliking it only because it has the potential to be misspelled constantly is silly, to me.

I agree with ladybug on this one. I happen to have been born with a very unusual Hebrew name that most people have never heard of. Nobody ever knows how to spell it, let alone pronounce it :slight_smile: . (Incidentally, it’s the “correct” Hebrew spelling, people just aren’t familiar with it.) It’s a bit of a pain to have to constantly spell my name, but really not that big a deal. As a kid I would have preferred something more popular, but now I like my name.

Regarding the larger topic of “correct” vs “incorrect” spellings, I ultimately believe that it’s up to each parent to decide how to spell her/his child’s name. I think names are in a different category than regular words and do not need to be held to the same standards of spelling.

That being said, “yooneek” spellings usually are NOT to my liking and, in fact, kind of bug me. But, hey, I still believe people have a right to spell their childrens’ names however they please. It’s their kid - who cares if I like they way they’ve spelled the name?

On the other hand, if someone decides to name her child a real “word” name - like [name]Heaven[/name], etc. - I personally believe they ought to try and get the spelling right, simply because not to do so makes the name look unintentionally misspelled, rather than intentionally creative or distinctive. I noticed on the 2009 Name List that 40 people had named their daughters “Sarenity” last year. To me, it just looks like they were going for Serenity and forgot to use spell-check. However, again, even though this bothers me, I believe the decision is ultimately theirs.

My name is never spelled right, but that is because it’s technically spelled wrong. I prefer my spelling of [name]Lyndsay[/name] because with an i it looks masculine to me, and I think the e makes it look especially masculine. I don’t think there’s any doubt that [name]Lyndsay[/name] is a girl, but [name]Lindsey[/name] could be questionable. I mean, normally i don’t like variant spellings, but I do actually like mine. I think it looks just as professional as [name]Lindsey[/name] or any of the others, so I’ve never had any issues on that front. I do have to spell it for people all the time, but it really isn’t a big deal to do that. I have to say lYndsAy, and it always does confuse people. But I would wager that most girls who share my name, any spelling, have to spell their name out all the time. Same for [name]Brittney[/name] and [name]Britney[/name] and [name]Brittany[/name], and tons of names that have multiple common spellings. Annoying, but not a big deal.

On the other hand, if my name was [name]Linzee[/name], i would hate it. It looks so unprofessional and silly… Like when youre little and try to find cooler ways to spell your name ([name]Jane[/name] might think [name]Jayne[/name] is so much more sophisticated when she’s 11, but i bet she’ll be happy she’s [name]Jane[/name] when she grows up). I know I would feel embarrassed to spell my name for people if I had a silly spelling like that. Names like that look like a joke. Names ARE words. [name]Just[/name] because you can eventually figure out how to say Schkaarellettt, doesn’t mean that it’s not spelled wrong. It IS spelled wrong.