Why, when naming a child do people intentionally screw up the spelling?

It's not cute. A name doesn't make a person unique. So why force this person to go through life constantly correcting the way others spell his/her name? Or worse yet, why give them the names that are so off the wall, they're nearly impossible to pronounce?

Why, when naming a child do people intentionally screw up the spelling?
I think people do it to be unique. It really hurts the child because when they get to Kindergarten and they are learning letter sounds, they have difficulty with their name and other letters. I am a reading teacher.
Reply:My name is a common name with a very uncommon spelling (at least in the US). It is a cultural thing. They spell my name differently where my Dad comes from.





So sometimes they are not intentionally "screwing up" the spelling, but staying true to their cultural heritage.





Same goes for many "off the wall" names.
Reply:I don't get that. Why mess the kid up with always having to spell their name for everyone. I have seen names such as; Stefany(Stephanie), Zacery(Zachary), and Mycol(Michael).





My daughters are Paige and Mackenzie. People are always spelling Mackenzie wrong, even thought it is the most popular spelling!!
Reply:I know. If you want a child to have a unique name, give them a rare (but real) name. I think having a Delaney Paige is a lot more unique and cute than Mhaddysonne Graisse.
Reply:different reasons i think,some do it to be unique others simply can not read or write so they misspell everything! it is sad though cause unique should not mean fake,made-up,misspelled trash!!!! poor kids it really will impact their lives and not in a good way!
Reply:My husband and I have 4 children each with names that are slightly unique or have a unique spelling. I am not sure that I can give you a concrete reason as to why we chose to do their names that way. While you may not think their names are good, we do and so do they and that is what really matters most. Our children are now 28, 26, 23, and 10 and each is very happy with their name and how it is a little different, especially since there is a little story behind each child's name. We get many more positive comments on their names then we do negative. Both my husband and I have rather ordinary, common names and each of us was just one of many in our age group with the same name. Perhaps that is one reason why we chose slightly unusual names/spellings for our kids. Nothing too wild or unpronounceable, just a little different. Many things come in to play when choosing your kids' names and pleasing perfect strangers typically isn't high on the list of reasons why a name is picked.
Reply:because its the cool thing to do. Hey- lets name my kid something off the wall because "im soo unique!" what if a girl doesnt want to be named "chase" or Laqueefa, or a boy named jennifer??


wtf is wrong with people.





and these strange names make the parents look stupid and uneducated- but it also unfortunately makes the child look uneducated as well. sad to say
Reply:Some people think that by misspelling names they come off as unique or maybe even upper crust, but in fact it make them seem uneducated.
Reply:Amen!





I like an unusual name, but I think many people confuse "bizarre spelling" with "uncommon."





My son has a Kaylie and a Kaylee in his class. Despite the different spellings, they're still known as Kaylie H. and Kaylee M.





And while I can see that Kaylie and Kaylee are both reasonable ways to spell a name that I personally dislike, I cannot imagine why someone would raid the vowel store and come up with Caeleah, Cailea or Kaeyleigh.





If you grew a Jennifer or a Michelle, I can see wanting to spare your child a lifetime of being on in the crowd. But why that makes some women land on Peighton instead of, say Allegra or India, Hadley or Journey as a name, I'm sure I don't know.





And don't get me started on the abuse of the word "unique" that goes on here.





*Ahem.* Thanks for the chance to rant. I am now putting my soapbox away.
Reply:I agree. Sometime I like the name but the spelling is way off. Imagine the poor child in preschool trying to learn to spell it. It is ridiculous.
Reply:Well, just recently someone posted on here the name "Paysleigh".... What is that?





I know someone named Christel and when I first saw it I pronounced it Chris-tell - not knowing it was actually Crystal. Gag!





I have a list, and none of the names are "weird" or "unique" per say, but none of them have been on the top 1000 names list in the past 25 years, if ever..... No strange spellings either.
Reply:I have a spelling that most people think is weird but I love it. My name is Lisbeth instead of Elizabeth. But it is a very common name in Denmark, sweden, and Norway (my heritage). I love it because it is different, but I am not going to lie sometimes with a weird spelling it gets really annoying trying to explain it to people.
Reply:*shrug* I have a unique name, but not because of spelling. Its never really bothered me. Its annoying when people do crazy names, but it doesn't really impact my life, so I just say "cute name" and move on. No big deal.





-When I was a teacher for a Sunday school class for awhile, if I couldn't pronounce the name, I'd just simply say "I can't figure out this name. Will you guys help me?" I'd sound it out as best I could, then all the kids would say, "No Miss Glenna. Its "Ta-ni-ah", not "Ta -ni-ya-ha" (spelled T'Niyaha) Then we moved on. Again, no big deal.
Reply:*cheers* I hate hate hate hate hate ridiculous spellings of names!





There are acceptable variants, like Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn (though I can't stand Kathryn), then there's crap like Kathyreinne. I had a lady write down my name (Katherine) as Kathyreinne because that's how she spelled her daughter's name. Poor, poor girl!





I went off the other day on this lady who wanted to name her child Kyndall MaKayla. Come on, the name isn't that bad to begin with, but that spelling is just bad. Same with Ceighleigh, which I saw on an account at my work the other day. I still can't decide if it's Kaylie or Keely.





I much prefer unusual names, but that's why I like Daphne, Eleanor, James, and Theodore. Excepting James, they're all pretty underused, familiar, and spelled right. Why don't people understand that Aidan, Aiden, Aadyn, Aydyn, etc, are are still the most common boy's name? Aydyn doesn't make it 'unique'. Yell MahKaeyelah on a playground, and Micayla, Mikaila, Mekaela, and Michaela all come running. MahKaeyelah has run away from home because she can't spell her name.
Reply:Naming a child is a personal preference.





Who are you to determine how any particular name should be spelled or pronounced?





I had a teacher in 4th grade that forced me to spell my given name (on birth certificate) differently because she didn't like the way that it was spelled. If I were my mother I would have sued her!
Reply:LadySable...





You took the words right out of my mouth!