# Special characters on an iPhone

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters-on-an-iphone/623561>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 30, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters-on-an-iphone/623561 "2012-05-30T17:22:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters-on-an-iphone/623561/1 "2012-05-30T17:22:42Z")

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I am of HIspanic descent. My last name is properly spelled with the letter ñ, which follows the letter n in the Spanish alphabet and is pronounced ‘n-yah.’

I have an iPhone, and I’d like my e-mail signature to have my real name in it.

Does anyone know how to generate that letter on an iPhone?

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**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters-on-an-iphone/623561/2 "2012-05-30T17:25:04Z")

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I’m on an iPad and I get additional character choices if I simply hold down on the letter.

N ń ñ, etc.

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**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters-on-an-iphone/623561/3 "2012-05-30T17:28:36Z")

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Yep, just hold down the n key for a second and a selection of alternate N’s will come up.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters-on-an-iphone/623561/4 "2012-05-30T17:30:37Z")

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Yeah, same on an iPhone. Just hold down on a given letter for accented variations thereof. To save time, of course, you can also set up a typing shortcut for your name, through Settings\>General\>Keyboard, then “add new shortcut”, e.g. if your name is Ibáñez, you could set up a shortcut that would turn “Iba” into “Ibáñez”

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**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters-on-an-iphone/623561/5 "2012-05-30T19:31:28Z")

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N/M. Subjects already covered.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters-on-an-iphone/623561/6 "2012-05-30T19:35:43Z")

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> [@Toucanna](#):
>
> N/M. Subjects already covered.

Yes, but to save having to do that, you can set up a shortcut, so that you can type the unaccented form (or just an abbreviation) and it replaces with the correctly spelled version.

iPhone typing shortcuts are very handy, e.g. in a text message I can type “otr” and it replaces to “On train, should be home about”, then I can just fill in the time and send it to let my wife know when to expect me. Saves a bunch of typing.

Edit: weird, your edit also changed the quoted text! 🙂

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**Author:** ![BunnyTVS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BunnyTVS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyTVS)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters-on-an-iphone/623561/7 "2012-05-30T23:53:34Z")

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> [@Colophon](#):
>
> Yes, but to save having to do that, you can set up a shortcut, so that you can type the unaccented form (or just an abbreviation) and it replaces with the correctly spelled version.
> 
> iPhone typing shortcuts are very handy, e.g. in a text message I can type “otr” and it replaces to “On train, should be home about”, then I can just fill in the time and send it to let my wife know when to expect me. Saves a bunch of typing.
> 
> Edit: weird, your edit also changed the quoted text! 🙂

For the love of Og, Don’t let **Snowboarder Bo** find out.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters-on-an-iphone/623561/8 "2012-05-31T00:17:32Z")

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How did I survive not knowing this?

Thanks to all!