The name Imogen, popular in England now, is another example. It was originally Innogen, but according to one story, Shakespeare himself misread it and changed it to Imogen for his play "Cymbeline". The original Celtic name was Inghean.

I have a friend named Brittainy because her father didn't know how to spell Brittany when the nurse asked.

I am both horrified and impressed at these parents' choice to keep the accidental spelling (some of which result in pronunciation changes as well). As a card-carrying NE, I can't imagine that I'd lie back meekly on my pillow and say, "Well, I guess he was just meant to be a little Peeter." Egads! But how cool that some people can do that--it makes the world of naming all that much more interesting.

I agree with Elizabeth T. I knew a Melony, who should have been a Melanie but the registrar had no idea how to spell it as it was an uncommon name at the time. I would definitely have gone back and changed it. However, in those days there was a lot more deference to authority. People weren't encouraged to stand up and fight for what they wanted as much as they are now.

My grandmother was an avid Oprah fan, and I watched it with her when I visited one summer. I remember one episode focused on unusual names. One guest was also named Oprah (around the same age as Ms. Winfrey) - the hospital had made the same mistake on her birth certificate and the name stuck with her as well.

Random thought: I wonder if any parents are accidentally spelling the name Neveah (ranked in the 900's) vs. Nevaeh (top 50 name). I admit, I have to think about it when I attempt to write the "correct" spelling, I could easily see it being mispelled.

My mom tells a story of another mother she met while in the hospital with me. The nurse asked the name and the mom (I guess she hadn't quite decided yet) said "No Amy". The nurse wrote it down as the name. I'm thinking it was ultimately spelled Noami though. I wonder if Noemi which I've seen on lists, is really "No Emmy"? And I suppose we could also infer a rise in Noelle as "No Ella" or such. Hmm.

A good friend's middle name is "St3v3ns" not because of the last name, but because his dad accidentally included an extra "S" when filling out the paperwork after his (premature) birth. The most ironic thing about it is that the dad's middle name is Steven -- I've always wondered how that was managed.

I'd heard Oprah's name story a long time ago, and it always fascinated me. I think it's for the best in her case, though--Oprah does sound better to me than Orpah, and the happy coincidence of it spelling Harpo backwards is nice, too. I would certainly not let something like this slide in my life, though--if there was an error, I'd correct it!

I have a story kind of along those lines--my dad misspelled my name on my birth announcements, and for the rest of their lives my grandparents always used that wrong spelling--now I'm not sure if they couldn't remember which was right, or if they liked that spelling better, or what. Similarly, I just noticed that my MIL is spelling our daughter's name incorrectly--I don't know if it's willful (since she did have some advice for us on how she thought we should spell the name while I was in labor, and we didn't follow that advice), or if she's just forgotten how we chose to transliterate the name, since she thinks of it in Korean anyway.

I can't believe that someone wouldn't change the spelling when a nurse spelled it wrong! I've known several people whose parents spelled their names wrong...I know a "Kylia" pronounced 'Kyla' and a "Marlynn" pronounced 'Marilyn', but I'd think that if it was a nurse's fault most people I know would definitely change the name.

In California a birth certificate cannot be changed or corrected even if there is a typo. If you need to fix an error you have to amend the birth certificate and it becomes a 2-page document. The original never changes.

I imagine that is a pretty strong influence in parent deciding to just roll with a typo. I triple checked the spelling of my son’s name before we handed the filled out form to the nurse.

I could see not bothering to change the paperwork if it was a hassle, but to actually call the child by the "mistaken" name just seems wierd. I would have referred to my child as Orpah, and just said, "yea, well it's just spelled wrong on your birth certificate." That said, I do like Oprah better than Orpah, but still, just sayin'

AmyElizabeth, nice point on the Neveah vs. Nevaeh spellings. Ya never know. I, too, have to pause when typing that name.
Did any of you have to dictate to a nurse? I have to fill out my kids' own birth reports.

Actually, my old boss consistently mispronounced my last name. It begins with an AL, which we pronounce like the name Al, but she always used an ALL pronunciation. I would make it a point to introduce myself to new people in front of her, but it just never clicked. I guess I was too chicken to set her straight!

Ah, so that's why Oprah is #1 on the list of "Words that only make sense when you hear James Earl Jones say them."

Still, I think that "seems better than what we originally picked" is a good reason for accepting a new spelling over an old one.

But since the unintentional spelling will be enshrined in one's SSN, then, say, do Neveahs go through life as Nevaehs in all but official documents?

It's interesting how these people seemed to actually like the alternative spelling, since it didn't fit their original expectations. I find it cool that they can spontaneously say, "Hey, I never thought of that spelling, but I like it." But as Tycho suggested, I have to wonder how many more parents just accepted the misspelling because they didn't want to bother with the legal issues. The parents have their baby, they have a lot on their plate, and doing battle to fix a legal spelling is probably just not worth it.

I think that Haddison's comment about their being more deference to authority--especially medical authority figures--in the past than there is now might account some of these typo-names in the past.

My grandparents took it to new lengths. They had two first name-middle name combos put together when my mom was born and they couldn't decide between the two. They let the nurse decide and her choice is my mother's name.

It also makes me stop and think of the name-police's gossip when going over birth announcements in the local newspaper. How many of those misspellings that name snobs are condemning the mother over are actually accidents that someone else made?

That reminds me of a friend who directs opera productions in London, who having filled out some city forms one day, subsequently discovered that he was being described (by whoever typed up the forms) as an "Oprah director".

My mother mentions a family she met with a son Male and a daughter Female, because "that's what the hospital named them on the certificate."

(The pronunciations were MA-leh and fe-MA-leh.)

I knew a family with a daughter named Valarie whose named originally was spelled "Valaria" on the birth certificate. The mom went through the paperwork hassle to have it fixed because she didn't want people to think she named her baby something so close to Malaria.

i'm going to go ahead and agree with elizabeth t. as well. "horrified and impressed" is a good way to say it. i can't imagine--after spending so much time trying to choose the perfect name (because i'm quite sure i would)--that i would be able to just accept a chance typo as my child's name. in fact, the more i think about it, the more sure i am that i would pick up the phone immediately and try to correct it.

but on the other hand, i do admire that these people are flexible enough to roll with the punches, etc. apparently it's a quality that i don't really have.

oh, and i agree with mom of 3--there's definitely a distinction between "oh, your name is wrong on your birth certificate, but i don't really care; i'm calling you orpah" and "oh, they wrote oprah...well, i guess i'll call you that." i can't imagine the latter at all.

oh, and i do think it's likely that a lot of neveahs are typos. /aeh/ isn't really an intuitive set of letters in the english language. and the neveahs that are intentional...well that's just weird to me. doesn't that negate the purpose of the name?

By the way, how do people pronounce Nevaeh? I've seen ne-VAY-uh as being the standard, but I've never met a Nevaeh, and so I've never heard it said.

I ALWAYS misspell Nevaeh as Neveah, and ALWAYS say Nev-ee-uh (which is probably why I misspell it...)
Good thing I've never met one!

Linnaeus, it can be pronounced the way you wrote and I've also heard it pronounced Neh-vay (just 2 syllables).

emilyrae, I do think there are quite a few moms out there who pick their children's names on a whim - sometimes right after the birth. And this is just a guess, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear some of these parents were just superstitious about changing their baby's names - like the mispelled/different name was somehow meant to be.

amyelizabeth,
i agree. i'm sure there are many moms out there like that, and i do think it's kind of cool that they are spontaneous in that way; it's just not a choice i would make, i think. but, i think my opinion on this is being biased by the fact that i'm so anal about using traditional spellings. i'd probably be quite appalled at the idea of my child legally having a name that i considered a creative spelling. *but* on the other hand, if i didn't feel as strongly about choosing a spelling as i do, and my daughter's birth certificate came back alivia instead of olivia, i can certainly see thinking, "oh, that's kind of cool! i like that!" so, i think my feelings on one issue are heavily influencing my feelings on the other.
if the typo resulted in another traditional name (such as olivier/oliver or amelia/amelie), i think it would be much more likely that i would accept this new name as serendipity and decide to keep it. so maybe, if the circumstances were right, i could make the decision on a whim like that. but while i remain such an insufferable spelling stickler, i'm guessing i would find most of the typos not to my liking.

A few replies duplicated from the end of last blog thread:

@zoerhenne:

We're down to 6 weeks officially, but there's a history of early babies on both sides so maybe we won't have to wait that long.

I'd been having some serious (irrational) anxiety about the gender after an acquaintance "just had" to share her story about a couple whose "guaranteed" girl had turned out to be a boy! So I was relieved to be told at our final ultrasound, "Nope, definitely no surprizes. This one's a girl for sure." So at least I can keep the pink dresses my MIL keeps sending ;p

As to "THE NAME", it's pretty much in a Schrodinger's Cat paradox: Aoibheann has not been expressly forbidden, but Sorcha has not been explicitly confirmed. So DH and I have agreed to bring our top 3 names to the hospital, and "see" what/who she looks like. I mistrust this process, because I can predict with a great deal of certainty that she'll "look" like an Aoibheann to me, and she almost certainly won't to Adam.

Sigh..."if the half-life of a name is less than or equal to 40 weeks, the baby in the box is both named and nameless until the box is opened..."

Totally off topic, but does anyone know if Amazon is now shipping the new edition of the BNW reliably? I've checked periodically at my local Border's but they're still peddling the old one--and I want the new one!

@haddison:

Actually, Inghean wasn't a name in any sense of the word in either Irish or Scottish traditions - it was simply the word for "daughter", which Shakespeare appropriated (and then misspelled). Typical Shakespeare - total culture thief.

Also, from last thread, a new baby bron to a friend-of-a-friend yesterday: Summer El1zabeth.
Was posted on facebook, as was another announcement mentioned last thread, and responses were unanimously positive. Of course, in most cases the caveat is that very few people will risk being impolite on a public board full of friends/family....

PPP:

What are your top 3 names, and what are Adam's top 3 names, out of curiosity?

PunkPrincessPhd, that is fascinating. Thanks!

@Linnaeus:

2 of my top 3 have been well-worn in discussion on this board (thanks again to all who have helped!):
1. Aoibheann ("EE-van")- means radiant
2. Sorcha ("SOR-ah-cha", soft ch)- means clarity
3. Laoise (LEE-sha) - means light,

Adam is still"deciding" what his top 3 are, but at the moment he's going with:
1. Samthann ("SAV-ahn"), unknown, but possibly related to words for either summer or autumn
2. Fionavar ("Fee-OWN-a-var", or "FINN-a-var") - means pale ghost
3. Saoirse ("SEER-sha") - means freedom

His *top* pick was Verity, which has been decided on as the middle name. For those who haven't guessed, they're all Irish, with the exception of Verity of course.

How exactly does it work with birth certificates? A nurse asks the parents, fills out the paperwork ...and the parents sign it without reading it? Or the nurse signs it?

I think obvious misspellings (eg Jonh or Kenenth) are in a different category than small-mistake-makes-new-name names (Marilyn->Marolyn). I don't have a problem with parents accepting these typo-names (assuming they aren't forced to do so). Maybe Marilyn was the best compromise the parents could come up with, maybe they instantly thought 'that's it!' when they heard it. Can a name not be 'perfect' just because it is chosen 5 minutes after the birth compared to 10 years prior?

My guess on Neveah (which is the more intuitive spelling) is that the parents are going for the sound and the meaning, and don't actually stop to think about how 'heaven' is spelled. They just hear that Nevaeh is heaven spelled backward, think "cool!" and spell it the way it naturally comes out. I don't know whether to think that this is a triumph of the public school system (hey--people know that the 'eah' combo is more common!) or an utter failure (um, don't you realize that you just ruined the joke by misspelling your daughter's name?).

Linnaeus, the Male/Female story is a common urban legend.

For my daughters' birth certificates, I'm pretty sure that my exact handwriting was transferred on to the official form. That's one way to make sure that there are no errors on the certificate!

A pregnant co-worker told me that she is going to name her unborn daughter Allegra. The son is Tristan. The mom is a recent immigrant from China. I'm impressed that her naming skills are so on the mark.

PunkPrincess, I think Summer Elizabeth's actually ok (though VERY odd considering it's now Autumn...) In my experience visiting baby boards, when people don't like a name, they just don't mention it at all - or they will only comment on how cute the baby is!

@PPP--Not sure if you listed the names in preference order, but I'm guessing you may have since Aoibheann was up top. I think if you'll be spending any amount of time in North America (you're Canadian, right?), I wonder if Samthann won't be mistaken as Samantha over and over. So many of the same letters in roughly the same spot. I think people will just "fill in" Samantha (in much the same way we find people stop listening to Astrid's name once they're sure it's Ashley).

As for leaving a typo on a birth cert, I couldn't do it. Just couldn't. It would drive me batty. I do admire others' flexibility that allows them to roll with this. I'm just not that person.

Reposting and adding some other comments:
PPP-Love your paradox analogy, sorry you are still having "issues" though. I remember now that you said you were due around Veterans Day, so I will just wish you well until then.

*Okay, maybe one last comment :)
I'm pulling for in order:
Aoibheann
Saoirse
Samthann
I think they sound lovely with Verity What-I remember-to-be-your-LN. The others don't flow as well for me.

Guest-Those names are a bit different. Imperial is the one that stands out the most for me.

emilyrae and others-How would it be if you knew your own name was a misspelling? Would you feel differently about your own identity/name? Emily vs. Emilee something that doesn't change the ACTUAL name. I know to me it would feel different. We talked a bit ago how names ending in Y are a bit different from those ending in EY, EE, IE, IEGH, etc. I think though a misspelling that CHANGES the name would be even more weird. I can't imagine being a parent deciding on Emily (for example) and seeing it written as Meily and saying "You know we never thought of "My-lee/May-lee" and asking "What about it?".

I know about the urban legend, but I also tend not to contradict my mother. ;)

PPP, just make sure your daughter isn't accidentally named Evan, Leesha, or Samantha, and that she isn't named Fiona as a compromise between the two of you and the form-filling staff.

(I guess I'm in a silly mood.)

My mom misspelled my name on my birth certificate--not in a major way she just left one of the Ls out of Michele--which is a legitimate spelling of the name. But they didn't pick up on the error until I was 3 or 4 (they had been writing my name with 2 Ls the entire time) when my dad noticed that my birth certificate name only had one L in it so they just switched to that spelling and I've used it all my life. Not a big deal, but most people do use the 2 L spelling. Doesn't really bother me and I never correct them.

I didn't fill out my daughter's birth certificate or dictate the spelling. Its a pretty traditional name so I guess they figured I'd give them a creative spelling if I didn't want the standard version--which I did (and I received thank goodness--because I would have made them change an error--no doubt).

Ehhhh... that 'A Baby Named Female' story has been pretty thoroughly debunked here and elsewhere
http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.asp

Once you read the explanation you'll probably think twice about the implications before repeating it.

I want to add a have a friend whose middle name
was supposed to be "Claire" but whose dad couldn't spell it and it turned out as Clarr.

@Amy3:
For Dh, the Samantha connection was actually one of the main reasons he liked "Samthann", so I guess it's a double-edged sword. Given that the "m" is silent (it can also be spelled "Samhthann", which is more accurate in modern vs middle Irish), I do think it creates more spelling-to-pronunciation discrepancies than some of our other options.

We've talked through the unwieldy spelling issue quite a bit though, and in most cases it doesn't bother us (there are, however, some relatively pretty Irish names with very unfortunate spelling/pron. problems: e.g Eiscreach, which means "to blossom", is pronounced "A$$-crack". So...that's out). Yes, most are unfamiliar to Canadian (and US) ears, and even to some of our families, but on the other hand, she's going to grow up around a hardcore group of Irish Studies academics - in Ireland or here in Canada.

@zoerhenne:
Thanks as always for the votes, I do agree with you for the most part. I have to say, DH's picks surprized me in terms of their style and relative proximity to mine - especially given all the UN-style peace talks we've had over the last 4 months... Some work better than others, but I could at least "see" most of them on a child of ours. (don't tell, but when I talk to the belly, I still call her Aoibheann).

@Linnaeus:
Thanks for the word of caution :) I'll have to double-check on Newfoundland, but in Alberta where I was born parents apply for the birth cert themselves, in writing. So in theory any errors would be mine (hubby still asks me how to spell them - even *his* favourites - so I won't put him in charge of the paperwork :)

She still pronounces it Claire, but it is indeed her legal name- birth cert, drivers license, the whole works.

I have a 29 year old co-worker named Ebony. Her name on her birth certificate is Edony. Not sure who made the typo. Other than some teasing when telling the story, she doesn't appear too traumatized over the experience.

Oh, sorry, trying to say too much at once! - and @Guest 35:

I actually like Summer Elizabeth - the classic mn balances out the more trendy fn - I just meant that it's impossible to really get a sense of how people feel about the name on Facebook: unlike a semi-anonymous name board, on FB it's 100% friends and family. I noticed that there is next to no variation in the comments either - just "Lovely name", or "that's a great name" - and that's consistent over a number of announcements for different babies. Maybe I'm too cynical. Or maybe it's just a Canadian thing to be overly polite :)

Yes, the Summer in fall thing struck me as well - but on the flip side, is it verging on twee to name a fall baby Autumn? A June baby June? IDK

Serendipity: the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated.

Or maybe it should be the name Sarandipity??

Also: Nichael Bluth, anyone?

Along with the serendipity effect, there also seems to be the spoonerism as well:

In some random junk mail, instead of *Rebecca Gr@ff-McR@e*, I was addressed as "Rebecca Rae McGrath". Might make a great pseudonym if I drop academic writing for fiction (a la our "romance novelists" discussion?).

PPP:

Hope that the "Rae McGrath" name sticks in junk mail lists. It's such a useful filter. My mother shows up on mailing lists as Michaela (not her name), so filtering her mail is a breeze. Someone gave me the wrong middle initial, and that was fun to remove while it lasted.

Verity is one of my favorite names ever, and I don't think I've ever seen it on these boards before. I hope it doesn't take off over here, although it's not uncommon in England. My teenager has already decided to use it someday -- hopefully far in the future :-) It would make a stellar middle name with one of those Irish first names you mentioned.

oh, wow, so much has been said since i last checked!

first of all,
jayel40: nichael bluth, yes! love that show. i also like the serendipity joke. :]

anna,
no, i definitely agree. i hope i didn't come across that i thought a name chosen on a whim wasn't as perfect or special as one that had been picked out ages before. in fact, i love it when i hear stories about parents who just see their baby and all of a sudden realize she is a helen or whatever. i definitely do not think that choosing a name on a whim is bad or even that seeing this wrong/new name on a birth certificate and loving it is bad. that's also kind of a cool story, playing off the "it was like you were meant to be named this" thing. i just don't think that i personally, in most cases, would be thrilled about it, if it were my child. but who know--perhaps i will be proven wrong one day. i'll come here and tell you all about how i meant to name my baby amelia and she ended up being amelie (actually, i would never name my daughter either, i think, because both are very close to my name, but you get the idea).

zoerhenne,
it's hard to say how i would feel, but...i'm guessing i wouldn't be thrilled. but at the same time, many people have posted about how they haven't minded that much, so perhaps i really wouldn't mind? i guess it's hard to put yourself in that position. assuming my tastes would be what they are now, i can safely say that i would not like being named emilee or meily. but, then again, CAN i say that? i mean, if i grew up being an emilee, maybe i'd be a lot less pretentious about spelling names traditionally and wouldn't mind it at all. so i guess it's hard to say...but i do think it would bother me...i don't personally think i would like to find out that my name came from a mistake. but that's just me. (oh, but i do agree that i perceive names with various endings differently. i.e. emily/emilee or ashley/ashlee are very different sorts of things to me, even though i know they're the same name).

and regarding summer in the fall,
for whatever reason, i don't find it odd. i don't see any reason why a baby in january couldn't be named june or a baby born in july couldn't be named autumn, etc. for whatever reason, it just doesn't matter to me. how many people outside your family will know when your birthday is anyway?

jessica trudy,
i don't know whether you are from the u.s. or not, but i suspect that oprah is just...well it's one of a kind, and it's just...HER name. so it would be very clear that you were naming your baby after oprah. not that this is a bad thing, but...i don't know. it's just that the only thing associated with oprah is oprah. i guess i'm not explaining very well...