[name_f]Tabatha[/name_f] is one of my all time favorites that I would definitely use in the future, but would it be a problem to use this spelling? It is an established English spelling of the name, just not the most common one. I recently participated in a “rate the previous signature” thread and one person thought it must be a different name from [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f] and another said people would think it was a misspelling.
Usually I am TOTALLY for using the standard spelling, it just makes life easier for everyone, but in this particular case I don’t like the most common spelling. I would even pronounce the two differently- Tab-uh-tha vs. Tab-ih-tha. Plus I think the name looks much prettier with the three repeating a’s rather than an i. However I would want to use the name as a namesake for the Biblical character, which is spelled [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f], and in general I don’t like names that are unnecessarily difficult to spell or pronounce. Would it be better to cave and just use [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f] or is it ok to go with the one I like better? Do you pronounce the two differently?
When there are two standard spellings of a name I would usually say just go for the one you love but, in this case, [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f] is the spelling that people know whereas [name_f]Tabatha[/name_f] is almost unheard of so it may create some problems with spelling. Honestly, I think that [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f] looks much better [name_f]Tabatha[/name_f] seems too broad and full of 'a’s.
As long as you’re prepared for and willing to deal with the difficulties that might come from using a less familiar spelling then it’s probably fine. I would probably pronounce them both the same (I don’t know where you are but I’m in Southern [name_f]England[/name_f] and in my accent there is not a very noticible difference between the ih or uh sounds)
I prefer [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f] because it looks more familiar to me, but I would recognize [name_f]Tabatha[/name_f] has being a spelling that also has history but is just less common. If I met someone named [name_f]Tabatha[/name_f], I woudn’t think that spelling was wrong or misspelled or anything. I might initially assume their name was spelled [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f] unless I saw it written down somewhere, however.
I love [name_f]Gwendolen[/name_f] and prefer it over [name_f]Gwendolyn[/name_f], but [name_f]Gwendolyn[/name_f] is a much more common and familiar spelling, so I understand the dilemma.
Thanks for the feedback! You’re right, I would expect most people to spell it with an i initially, I guess I don’t mind that much. Annielouise, I’m glad you don’t really hear the difference in pronunciation! If I say them quickly it really is difficult to tell them apart, I’ve probably just obsessed over it too much so now it seems obvious to me 
I would pronounce both of them as TA-be-tha, so because of that I would go with the more well-known spelling [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f]. But if you want to pronounce it differently, then I think you should pick whichever spelling best reflects the pronunciation.
[name_f]Tabitha[/name_f]
have you ever thought about [name_f]Tabetha[/name_f] [i think i prefer and E to an A as it looks like others may pn is [name_m]Tah[/name_m]-BATH-uh]
[name_f]Tabitha[/name_f] is the proper spelling and [name_f]Tabatha[/name_f] just looks silly. They’re both said the same; [name_u]Tab[/name_u]-ith-uh.
[name_f]Tabatha[/name_f] makes me think of tabata (workout). Actually, sometimes tabata is spelled tabatha