Hey again berries, sorry to bug again. Now I’m having issues with our older daughter’s name, and I knew you guys would be the best ones to ask!
My daughter [name]Gabriella[/name] is 3 years old and we call her [name]Gaby[/name] for short. When she was a baby and we discussed how we were going to spell her nickname, we liked the French way “[name]Gaby[/name]” because it seemed a little more elegant and refined than the “[name]Gabby[/name]” spelling.
My problem is, NO ONE freaking spells her nickname correctly. My mom and [name]Brent[/name]'s mom are seriously the only ones who spell it right. [name]Gaby[/name]'s daycare providers (she’s had two) both spell it “[name]Gabby[/name]” constantly, even after corrections. My friends and other family members spell it “[name]Gabby[/name]” or “[name]Gabi[/name].” I asked my mom about it the other night to see if she thought the “[name]Gaby[/name]” spelling was dumb and she said, “No, but it could end up being pronounced ‘[name]Gay[/name]-bee’.” (Which would understandably be awful for a kid!)
So, do you berries think it would be wise to just change the spelling to “[name]Gabby[/name]” while she’s still young? I think we have like one [name]Christmas[/name] tree ornament that has her name spelled “[name]Gaby[/name]” (and we have a few photos of her cake on her 3rd birthday spelled “[name]Gaby[/name]”) so it’s not like [name]Gaby[/name] is permanent and embroidered on a whole bunch of stuff. Or, I don’t know…are nicknames even fair game for spelling declarations? I remember my cousin [name]Jennifer[/name] spelled her “[name]Jenny[/name]” nickname differently every week when we were growing up! Should we just keep it [name]Gaby[/name] for now and she can decide how to spell it when she’s older, or spare her any trouble and spell it [name]Gabby[/name]? What do you guys think?
When reading that, even though you said it was ‘[name]Gabby[/name]’… I kept saying ‘[name]Gay[/name]-be’. It just looks like that to me. I think you should keep it how you like it though… it’s your daughters name and if she wants to change it when she is old enough to realize then let her.
We have this discussion in my family all the time, as many of us (including my sister and I) go by nicknames derived from our names almost exclusively to close family and friends. My sister’s name is [name]Rosa[/name], but we call her [name]Rosy[/name] (as in rosy cheeks!) She hates it when people spell it [name]Rosie[/name] (and it used to drive our mother to teeth-grinding rage) but in our experience people tend to take more license when spelling nicknames than they would a full name. I don’t like my name to be spelled [name]Fee[/name] or [name]Fia[/name], but my closest friends sometimes spell it that way in emails and cards etc! I wouldn’t change the spelling if you love it, I agree witb you that one B seems more streamlined and sophisticated. [name]Gaby[/name] doesn’t look at all like gay-bee (gabey might?) to me. [name]Just[/name] resign yourself to people spelling it incorrectly sometimes. Look at it this way: you already have two alternative spellings, [name]Gabi[/name] and [name]Gabby[/name]; if you change it then you’ll probably still get some people writing [name]Gabi[/name] and [name]Gaby[/name]!
Great to see you back! [name]Hope[/name] all is well.
I think [name]Gaby[/name] ([name]Gabby[/name]) will be old enough to decide very, very soon how she wants her name to be spelled, and I think she should ultimately make that decision. It is her name. I don’t think it’s a huge deal to spell it several different ways in the meantime. So what if Aunt [name]Susie[/name] spells it wrong- it’s a nickname, so there really is no proper spelling, and I think spelling the full name wrong is far worse. I myself have family members who spell my (full) name wrong, and I just kind of ignore it. It really doesn’t bother me. In [name]Gaby[/name]'s case, it’s not like her legal name is misspelled on her driver’s license or anything. My friend [name]Kaitlyn[/name], who goes by [name]Kaitie[/name], has spelled her name [name]Katy[/name], [name]Katie[/name], [name]Kaity[/name], and [name]Kaitie[/name] throughout the course of her life and finally decided she likes [name]Kaitie[/name] best. She writes “[name]Kaitie[/name]” on stuff, but when other people spell it wrong she doesn’t really mind. [name]Gaby[/name] may decide, like you, that she prefers [name]Gaby[/name], only to discover that it’s constantly misspelled. She may then decide to change it, or just say to hell with it all and spell it how she wants and let everyone else spell it their own way. So if it were me, I’d just stick it out for now, and by the time she’s in kindergarten she’ll be able to tell you, given the choice, whether she likes [name]Gaby[/name] or [name]Gabby[/name] (or [name]Gabi[/name] or [name]Gabbie[/name] or [name]Gabriella[/name], as the case may be.)
[name]Long[/name] time no speak I hope [name]Gaby[/name] and [name]Evie[/name] are doing well
[name]Gaby[/name] is my favourite spelling. I think it looks sleek and sophisticated and personally I’d just push for it. It’s funny because it’s only in the modern world, via texts, emails and social networking sites etc that we actually really see nicknames written down, or at least that’s my experience.
My cousin is called [name]Francesca[/name] but we’ve always called her “Cesc” - now I’d never thought about how to spell that until we were teenagers and I was setting her up with an email address that included her nickname and suddenly thought, oo how do we spell that. So we agreed on Cesc but I remember her mum used to sometimes txt her and write it Chesk, but she just corrected her and it was fine.
A similar think happened with my auntie [name]Suzanne[/name] who has always been “[name]Suzy[/name]”. In my head I always spelt it [name]Susie[/name] or [name]Suzie[/name] but she txt me one day and signed it [name]Suzy[/name] so I’ve easily switched to that now.
I do agree that [name]Gaby[/name] will have her own opinions on this over the next few days but I do also prefer [name]Gaby[/name] like you, so I think you have the ability to push for that now while she’s young and I would do that with family members and daycare etc.
And I also agree that it’s worse if your full name is spelt wrong! Like my step-sister [name]Jemma[/name] who is almost 21 and who’s grandmother STILL spells her name [name]Gemma[/name], despite being corrected many times!!
Honestly, the spelling [name]Gaby[/name] really bugs me. It really does look like gay-bee, and most people are going to get it wrong for the rest of her life. I would personally spell it [name]Gabi[/name] or [name]Gabby[/name], but it’s your choice for now. When she gets older, your daughter can choose for herself. Good luck!
Now I’m having issues with our older daughter’s name, and I knew you guys would be the best ones to ask!
Or, I don’t know…are nicknames even fair game for spelling declarations? I remember my cousin [name]Jennifer[/name] spelled her “[name]Jenny[/name]” nickname differently every week when we were growing up!