# What first name, other than the obvious ones, seems to have the most spellings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 20, 2018, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893 "2018-08-20T01:13:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/21 "2018-08-20T14:17:18Z")
Catherine, Katherine,Kathryn, Kathryne, Kathryn, Katharyn, Katherin, Catharine, Cathryn, Katheryne, Catherine, Katharine, Katharina, Ketherane, Katerine, Katrine, Katrina, Katrin, Karina, Kathrin ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/22 "2018-08-20T14:18:52Z")
There are a ton of variations of Jasmine, all of which seem to be quite popular among African-Americans. Rachel would seem to be straightforward enough, except some people want to spell it Rachael and some are even the actual name of the girl. Luckily Bob is pretty easy, you can even spell it backwards and I don’t mind. Just don’t add an extra ‘o’. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/23 "2018-08-20T15:01:12Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > This summer I met a woman named “Jeanne”. No problem, right? > > How does she pronounce it? > > ja-NEEN > > She acknowledges that the spelling doesn’t match but I didn’t want to hear the whole back story. I have a South African friend named Jeanne, and she says her name is pronounced similar to “Johnny.” ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/24 "2018-08-20T15:28:44Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > This summer I met a woman named “Jeanne”. No problem, right? > > How does she pronounce it? > > ja-NEEN > > She acknowledges that the spelling doesn’t match but I didn’t want to hear the whole back story. Monty Python’s “Bookshop” sketch comes to mind. Next time you see her, you can just call her “Ethel The Aardvark” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/25 "2018-08-20T19:53:56Z")
Sheila, Sheilla, Sheyla, Sheylla, Shelagh, Sheelagh… Plus any E can be swapped out for an I and vice versa; and then you can reverse the order of the E and the I… j ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/26 "2018-08-20T20:18:30Z")
Katherine and Kathleen in all their varieties, I would agree with whoever said that. In college I had two friends. Karolyn and Caroline. They were not only spelled differently but pronounced differently. I’m not even sure about the spelling of the one with the K, any more, although I knew it at one time. I can think of about eight ways to spell this name that are all ordinary and acceptable. Fortunately I could call both these girls by their nicknames, which were very different and had nothing to do with their given names. There was also a girl (not my friend) called Nana, only it was pronounced “nuh-NAW” as opposed to my grandmother, pronoucned “nonnuh.” Also Elizabeth, Lizabeth, Lizbeth, Lisabeth, etc. Not to mention all the nicknames. My son had four Ashleys [sic] in his class, the last time he had to do valentines for the whole class (I think that was about 10 years ago). Ashley, Ashleigh, Ashlee, and Ayshly. It wasn’t even that big of a class. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/27 "2018-08-20T20:39:33Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Luckily Bob is pretty easy, you can even spell it backwards and I don’t mind. Just don’t add an extra ‘o’. Bobo? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/28 "2018-08-21T00:24:48Z")
Alexa and many variations were in the lil’wrekkers class. Two of them had the last name Smith. It was very confusing. I think there might have been 6-8 Alexa’s. And several boy Alex’s. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/29 "2018-08-22T02:05:58Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > There are a ton of variations of Jasmine, all of which seem to be quite popular among African-Americans… In the book [Freakonimics](https://www.amazon.com/Freakonomics-Economist-Explores-Hidden-Everything/dp/0060731338/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1534903159&sr=8-3&keywords=freakonomics), the authors cited (or implemented?) a study of the various spellings of the name Jasmine. They found that the more unorthodox the spelling, the higher the correlation to lower levels of education and socioeconomic status. Jasmine, Jazmine, Jazzmin, Jazzmyne, Jazzmynne, etc. mmm ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/30 "2018-08-22T17:49:20Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Catherine, Katherine,Kathryn, Kathryne, Kathryn, Katharyn, Katherin, Catharine, Cathryn, Katheryne, Catherine, Katharine, Katharina, Ketherane, Katerine, Katrine, Katrina, Katrin, Karina, Kathrin I was gonna say that. When my SIL was pregnant they favored Catherine if it was a girl and we came up with 17 variants (_not_ counting ones like Katrina). Turned out a boy so it was all for naught. His name? James, occasionally Jamie when he was little but firmly James as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/31 "2018-08-22T21:43:03Z")
This clip is from a movie that came out in 1990, in case anyone needs evidence that the “funky name” thing is an old trend: [SanDeE](https://youtu.be/1HRzloVtUPA). ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/32 "2018-08-22T21:56:40Z")
In Slavic countries, Catherine becomes Ekatarin or Yekatarin. In Spanish, it becomes Catalina. In Ireland, it becomes Kathleen. And Caitlin was originally just the Gaelic spelling of Kathleen. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/33 "2018-08-22T23:16:11Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > In the book [Freakonimics](https://www.amazon.com/Freakonomics-Economist-Explores-Hidden-Everything/dp/0060731338/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1534903159&sr=8-3&keywords=freakonomics), the authors cited (or implemented?) a study of the various spellings of the name Jasmine. They found that the more unorthodox the spelling, the higher the correlation to lower levels of education and socioeconomic status. > > Jasmine, Jazmine, Jazzmin, Jazzmyne, Jazzmynne, etc. > mmm I used to post on a health-care board that was heavily slanted towards nurses, and they had multiple threads along the lines of, “What’s the weirdest name you’ve ever seen for a baby?” A not-uncommon one in heavily Hispanic areas that needed some explanation was “Candida”, which as “can-dee-da”, like the Tony Orlando song, is a common Hispanic name, and “can-di-da” is a common cause of thrush and vaginal yeast infections. They had people who wanted to name their babies things like “Vagina” and “Gonorrhea”, although not necessarily spelled that way, and you’d be surprised how infrequently the parents decided on something else. When I worked at the hospital, one of the technicians had a new granddaughter, and her son and DIL didn’t know what they were having until it was born. They had decided on a boy’s name, but not a girl’s name, and settled on mad-a-lynn but not a spelling. The nurse came in with a dry erase board and wrote several spellings on it, and they both pointed to the same one and that’s what they named their daughter. Anyway, one thing that came up on the nursing board was that there was a big overlap in unusual names between the NICU and child psychiatry, and other types of special-needs departments. We all attributed it to poverty, and there’s some truth to it. ETA: None of them had ever seen a real-life Shithead, pronounced shi-theed, or the legendary Lemonjello and Orangejello twins. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/34 "2018-08-24T21:47:12Z")
Allison, Alison, Alysoun, Alyson, Alysanne, Alysann, Alysan, Allysson, Allysoun, Allyson, Allysanne, Allysann, Allisunne, Allisun, Allisson, Allisoun, Allisanne, Allisann, Allicenne, Allicen, Alisun, Alisson, Alisoun, Alisanne, Alisann, Alisan, Alicen, Alycen My variation is right at the top, but that doesn’t stop people from guessing wrong frequently. I never saw most of these, and was utter bewildered by Alicen when I was first labeled that by a fast food cashier. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/35 "2018-08-24T22:08:52Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Sheila, Sheilla, Sheyla, Sheylla, Shelagh, Sheelagh… > > Plus any E can be swapped out for an I and vice versa; and then you can reverse the order of the E and the I… > > j I know someone named Shelia, pronounced the same as Sheila. Actually, Sheh-lee-uh would be a pretty name. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/36 "2018-08-24T23:01:30Z")
Isn’t “Shelagh” the Scottish or Welsh spelling for “Sheila”? I’ve always loved the name “Siobhan” which is Gaelic and is pronounced shi-von. One of the women in the 80s New Wave group Bananarama is named Siobhan, and my sister heard some DJs trying to figure out how to pronounce that. She called the station and told them the correction pronunciation, which she got from me; I was in college at the time and there was a girl in my dorm named Siobhan. I’d seen the name before but had no idea how it was pronounced before I met her. And yeah, I’ve seen Chivonne, Shervon, Shevaun, etc. Other semi-popular Gaelic girls’ names, and their approximate pronunciations, are Aoife (ee-fa), Niamh (nee-ev) and Eithne (Enya’s REAL name). ---
**Author:** ![Skinnybones\_Lampshade](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skinnybones_lampshade/32/2872_2.png) [@Skinnybones\_Lampshade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skinnybones_Lampshade)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/37 "2018-08-24T23:25:48Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I just came across someone online named “Cheaun.” I guess it’s supposed to be pronounced like Sean/Shawn? I don’t think it’s a name from another culture, unless I’m wrong. > > I’ve seen people with my name, but spelled differently - Emilie (a sort of French way, not so unusual,) Emili, Emmaleigh, Emilii. I’ve also had my own name misspelled many times by others as Emely, Emilly, Amélie, and - this is a new one - Amely. > > I live in a French-speaking area, where Amélie and Émilie are ordinary French girls’ names, hence some of the misspellings. I never did understand “Emely,” though. Re: the"Emely" spelling: About 120 km north of Montreal (where you’re from) lies the really lovely town of Ste-Émélie-de-l’énergie (note the three e’s in this version of Émélie). So maybe someone tried to anglicize that by changing the “ie” ending to a “y”… just a guess 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/38 "2018-08-25T11:33:54Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > They had people who wanted to name their babies things like “Vagina” Years ago (1973, to be exact), I took a phone message for a fellow college student from a woman named Vagina. I asked her to spell it because it was blowing my mind, so that’s exactly how she spelled it. I did manage to be cool and not make a comment on the name. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/39 "2018-08-25T12:03:57Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > There was also a girl (not my friend) called Nana, only it was pronounced “nuh-NAW” as opposed to my grandmother, pronoucned “nonnuh.” That is how actress Nana Visitor (from Deep Space Nine) pronounces it. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893/40 "2018-08-25T13:14:45Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > ETA: None of them had ever seen a real-life Shithead, pronounced shi-theed, or the legendary Lemonjello and Orangejello twins. I hear these all the time. Also Abcde (pronounced Absedee), Nosmo King (last name was King, mom looked up and saw a No Smoking sign), La-A (pronounced LeDasha, because “the dash don’t be silent”) and twins Beneatha and Betweenda Sheets. Urban legends, all, until I’m shown a cite. ETA: When someone tells me in all seriousness about ABCDE, I ask if they were aware of her little brother, FGHIJ. I pronounce it Fujij. mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-first-name-other-than-the-obvious-ones-seems-to-have-the-most-spellings/819893.md?page=3)