Before any spelling geeks attack me ;), there’s a story behind the spelling! When I was around 14, I heard a parent yell to their child [name_f]ANNA[/name_f]-LEEZ and I thought the name was beautiful. I had never heard of it before and, me being me, added it to my list under ‘Annaleise’, unfamiliar with the spellings [name_f]Annaliese[/name_f] and [name_f]Anneliese[/name_f]. [name_u]Ever[/name_u] since then, I found out the ‘correct’ (if you will) spellings and I like [name_f]Annaliese[/name_f], but I can’t seem to shake off Annaleise.
What I’m asking is, would Annaleise be okay or should I stick with [name_f]Annaliese[/name_f]? I think the story behind the spelling is something I could tell a future daughter, but I don’t know if people would think it was just a silly misspelling. I love Annaleise more than [name_f]Annaliese[/name_f] and my name is [name_f]Eryn[/name_f] and I’m constantly correcting people but I don’t mind doing so, so the ‘having to correct people on her name’ issue isn’t that big of a problem for me.
Honestly, I’d just stick with the regular spelling. On a birth certificate, or a job application paper, it’d look like someone forgot the “i before e” rule. [name_f]My[/name_f] preferred spelling is [name_f]Anneliese[/name_f].
I think it’s unusual enough with enough legitimate spellings that people will ask how to spell it anyway, so it probably won’t be a huge issue.
I personally prefer [name_f]Anneliese[/name_f] but Annaleise isn’t offensive by any means (the only spellings I’d avoid are the ‘anal-’ ones). The ‘‘leise’’ part for some reason makes me think of the word leisure. Not a terrible thing.
Annaleise is lovely! I know one [name_f]Anneliese[/name_f], so it’s not common in my area and many don’t know how to spell it. If you love the story behind the spelling, choose Annaleise! It looks beautiful, and you may run into spelling confusion with whichever (Annaleise/[name_f]Anneliese[/name_f]/[name_f]Annaliese[/name_f]) you choose.
Thanks guys for your help, it’s appreciated. I totally forgot about the ‘i before e’ rule but I guess that’s not really relevant in names is it? Names such as [name_u]Leigh[/name_u], [name_f]Sheila[/name_f], [name_m]Keith[/name_m] etc don’t follow the rule.
Since I come from a culture which was one of the likely sources of this name and thus its original spelling, this spelling really makes my eyes and brain hurt badly. You’ll probably get away with it where you live but I thought since you’re asking that you might want to know the perspective of a whiny foreigner/non-native English speaker.
Well, while I prefer [name_f]Anneliese[/name_f], [name_f]Annaliese[/name_f] is ok, and I’ve seen it spelled that way. I really don’t think Annaleise is ok. It looks like you just didn’t know how to spell the name properly (like when you see “[name_m]Micheal[/name_m]” or “[name_m]Antione[/name_m]”). I do think the i before e matters here.
I prefer the [name_f]Anneliese[/name_f] spelling, but Annaleise isn’t that bad. There will probably be a lot of spelling issues though because of the i before e rule. Names like [name_m]Keith[/name_m] and [name_f]Sheila[/name_f] can break the rule, because they’re really familiar and only have one correct spelling. [name_f]Anneliese[/name_f]/[name_f]Annaliese[/name_f]/[name_f]Annalise[/name_f] is familiar as a name, but there are a few commonly excepted spellings. None of those common spellings have an e before the i though, so I think the Annaleise spelling would create a bit of confusion.
