Elvis Costello spelled it Alison, if that holds any weight with you.
Always, always, always go for the SIMPLEST spelling. “Allison” or “Alison” would both suffice. Extra Ys are a terrible, terrible idea.
Your daughter’s name will SOUND just as pretty no matter how it is spelled, and how it sounds is really what counts. There’s simply no reason whatsoever to complicate the spelling. You’ve chosen a very pretty girls’ name, and it’s just as pretty whether you use an I or a Y. So why would you give your daughter the headache of having to spell the name for people 1,000,000 times over?
Chiming in to agree with Alison or Allison. Go for the most straightforward spelling.
Twiddle
Thank you all for your suggestions! I can’t believe how tough of a decision this has become!
“Allison” Paige Skerrett - Coming soon… 
(Watch it be a boy… we couldn’t decide on a boy’s name)
I like Alison best. Ys in place of Is always seem a bit trendy to me.
Alison.
“I’m highly against spellings of names that would require my child to have to correct people for the rest of their lives.”
I couldn’t possibly agree more. Well put.
Nooooo… “Alison” trust me is much better.
This is the standard spelling, isn’t it?
If you vary from the standard then people will forever by writing it incorrectly.
Fretful said:
You said:
Nooooo…! “Alison” trust me is much better.
This is the standard spelling, isn’t it?
If you vary from the standard then people will forever by writing it incorrectly.
Congrats by the way. Wish you all the best.
Well, then my original post stands:
Al.
Now I’m torn. So much support for “Alison”…
Hmm, I’ve known a lot of Allisons and very few Alisons. Perhaps there are some generational and regional shifts in the preferred spelling.
Of course, if you’re looking forward to having a LOT of sons-in-law, you should certainly go with “Alisoun.”
Actually, my great grandfather and great uncle’s names were Allison. So you could still use it. If you wanted to subject the poor kid to having a “girl’s name.”
Coming from an Ashleigh, go for Allison (or Alison, whichever is more popular, which I thought was Allison). I never had anything personalized growing up. I get a lot of crappy comments on my name (your name is spelled HOW? That is the strangest spelling. You have such a weird name. Blah blah blah). If I ever have to wear a name tag, I print my name as Ashley so that I don’t have to deal with the comments.
So she shines sweetly: Allisun
i vote for alison. because that is one of my many aliases.
…although if you want something a little more modern, you could try al1s0n.
Alison
(i’ll always pronounce Allison like AWL-i-sun in my head, sorry)
I’m in the “Allison”/“Alison” camp. This advice comes from a Kristin - not a “Kristen”, “Kristyn”, or “Christen”. Not to mention that folks often get my name completely wrong (Kristine/Kristina/Kristian).
Here’s my $0.02: When the class roll is called, “Allyson” sounds the same as “Allison”/“Alison” if pronounced correctly (sometimes a problem with an unusual spellings). The only difference, IMHO, between “Allison” & “Allyson” is that the latter is more likely to be misspelled/possibly mispronounced.
I’m for Allison, but definitely not Alison. The double-L gives the name more substance, I think.
Go for the traditional spelling. I wish I’d done that with my daughter’s name - I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted spelling it for people and the poor kid is only 19 months old.