What's up with parents changing the spelling in their kids' names?

Question

Like, my cousin just named her newborn daughter Ashleigh, instead of Ashley. I know parents want their child's name to be unique, but won't kids also have a harder time understanding why their name is spelled a certain way in kindergarten??

Whoa, people. I didn't mean for this to get all "ggrrrrrr." I was just wondering why people do it besides the "uniqueness factor," because I'm not on that side of the fence. Trying to get another point of view, and thinking the kindergarten scenario was the first thing I thought of where there might be some conflict with it.

I can also ponder anything that I like. I wasn't being rude, and you don't need to be either.

You took time out of your day to answer a "stupid" question. I guess we're both guilty then, huh?

Answer 1

Because they are selfish and think that this will make their child more unique or special.

Answer 2

How do you know that they are changing the spelling and it doesn't have to do with heritage? My daughter's name is Molleigh (Molly) and I didn't change the spelling of it Molleigh is the Irish spelling for the name and we are Irish. Maybe Ashleigh is the spelling that whatever heritage that name is is the way they spell it. Besides that who says that Ashleigh is not the way it is supposed to be spelled and at some point somebody else started spelling it Ashley and that's what caught on. Everything is a fad and names get spelled one way and catch on and then years down the road they get changed around so what. My son's name is Collin but I usually see it spelled Colin so did I change it? My daughter's name is, oh you all that are bitching about the original names will love this, her name is Malayleigh and it is original because I made it up. The leigh part was used after her sister's name since she died when she was 5 months old. I don't care what anybody says I like it and she is definitely a Malayleigh no other name would fit her unique personality.

Answer 3

I think it's only for the uniqueness factor. I named my son Eian because I didn't like how Ian looked but that's the name his father picked out. Putting an E in front made it look more like it sounded and I've gotten a lot of compliments on his name.

The thing is, the more people that use these unique spellings, the less unique they will be. 7 years ago I had never seen Eian spelled that way. I picked up a baby book the other day and it was in it.

As for the kindergarten thing. The kids won't know any different because that's when they will learn it and it will be normal to them. Personally I always felt sorry for the kids with the really long names in KG, not the ones with the weird spellings.

But, to each his own.

Answer 4

I have a "unique" name. It's "Kathee". I'm ok with it now, but, growing up, I hated it. NOTHING was ever spelled correctly. I'm not just talking about those little pencils or keychains or whatnot. I'm talking the awards you get at school, athletic jackets, etc. When you're a little kid, it's very annoying and frustrating, and half the time people don't even listen to how you spell it. At least with "Kathee", people would say "with a K or C" and I could say "with a K and two Es" A name like Ashleigh, people will assume it's Ashley, because, really, how many other ways is it "commonly" spelled.
One of our best friend's is having a baby and naming it "Haleigh". Poor kid's going to go through the same thing. It's hard when your "identity" (which is, after all, what a name is) is misspelled constantly.

Answer 5

i agree that there is a point where respelling a name gets to be a little ridiculous, but at the same time there are a lot of ways to spell names- it just depends on what looks better to parents. look at sara/sarah, no one thinks either one of those are weird today.
to me, ashleigh isn't a big deal. but then again my daughters name is Rylie- not Riley. I spelled it that way because I thought it looked prettier, and I wanted people to know she was a girl by looking at her name on paper, like at school, etc.
so, i guess i'm guilty- but i don't feel like i have to apologize to all you other mothers who have kids with "NORMAL" names. :)

Answer 6

um...spelling of a name is really not a big deal and im sure the kids could really care less about the spelling of their names in kindergarten and by the time they do start caring they might actually appreciate not being one of the other 566464557 "ashlys" in the school...get a life and find something more amusing to ponder over

Answer 7

People think its stylish and unique. Its better to spell the name differently than name your child Pilot Inspektor, Candy, Rainbow -- -- You get the point.

Answer 8

Yeah my niece is ASHLEIGH .. my hubbys ex sister in law thought it was "cute" to spell the names differently . She named her younger daughter KYLEIGH... some ppl are just "different" i suppose.

Answer 9

They do it to be unqiue. The name won't seem wrong to them in kindergarten because to them that's how it is spelled. Plus I don't think you should base a name on how easy or hard it will be to spell in kindergarten because that's just one year out of their whole lives.

Answer 10

Probably but for ordinary names people like to mix up the spelling (Ps. my daughter name is Laurynn Ashlee------instead of Lauren Ashley)

Answer 11

I spell my daughters name.. Aleigha Kacie. or.. Aleah Casey. I think my way looks nicer how its spelled. And is still 'pronounceable' when you look at it. I like the different spellings of original names, but I don't get carried away like some people do.