[name_f]Love[/name_f] this name (pronounced kew an) but the spelling is killing us! What to do?
uh…[name_u]Quinn[/name_u]?
Those spellings are difficult. At first I thought, “who would name their baby that!?” but when said out loud, it’s quite nice. Rhymes with [name_m]Ewan[/name_m]. So the trick is to find a spelling that suits the sound. I think Cuwen does make the most sense. Cuen is second best. Kewen also works.
If you take the “M” off the last name [name_m]McEwan[/name_m] (which I believe is the sound you’re going for, yes?) you get Cewan. It’s kind of ugly though. To find the spelling you like best, I would take the list of alternative spellings for [name_m]McEwan[/name_m], chop off the “M” and see how it looks.
[name_m]MacEwen[/name_m] = Cewen
McEuen = Ceuen (my favourite)
[name_m]McEwan[/name_m] = Cewan
McKeoughan = Keoughan (preferable to Cewan/Cewan)
MacQuewen - Quewen
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That is a toughie, because we don’t immediately think to pronounce “cu” as a “q” sound. I would go with Cuen, but be prepared that your child is probably going to have to explain to people how to pronounce his name fairly often. Once they know though, they will love it.
it’s a traditional irish name so I would not alter the spelling. that would be disrespectful to me.
I think it’s a reasonable idea to alter the Irish spelling. It’s been done with [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] (Meabh), [name_m]Ian[/name_m] (Iain), [name_f]Neve[/name_f] (Niamh), [name_u]Declan[/name_u] (Deaglan), etc. We’re used to seeing these modified spellings, and for practical reasons, it makes sense you’d want a widely pronounceable name. There really are just so many great sounds in Irish names! It’s too bad the spellings can be so challenging.
I take more offence with names that have been modified to be less intuitively spelled, ie. [name_f]Ellenore[/name_f] or Sayleur 
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This is 8 years old
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Quewen.
Cuen