# What's worse: "creative" name spelling, or "creative" name pronunciation?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-creative-name-spelling-or-creative-name-pronunciation/721699>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 5, 2015, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-creative-name-spelling-or-creative-name-pronunciation/721699 "2015-06-05T12:51:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-creative-name-spelling-or-creative-name-pronunciation/721699/61 "2015-06-08T14:58:16Z")

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Heck, I have a perfectly common name with a perfectly common (and I think the most common) English spelling and I still get all sorts of crazy variations even after I’ve spelled it to them. I’ve tried saying “Spell it just like it’s spelled in 1 Samuel” but that doesn’t help all that often either.

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**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-creative-name-spelling-or-creative-name-pronunciation/721699/62 "2015-06-08T15:09:54Z")

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> [@asterion](#):
>
> Heck, I have a perfectly common name with a perfectly common (and I think the most common) English spelling and I still get all sorts of crazy variations even after I’ve spelled it to them. I’ve tried saying “Spell it just like it’s spelled in 1 Samuel” but that doesn’t help all that often either.

Zuph? I always have trouble with that one.

My grandmother had a creatively spelled name. Her parents were barely literate, and thought it was a pretty name, so they did their best. Their best was terrible. Since she herself wasn’t a great reader or writer, and spent her career farming, it didn’t much matter to her, but it’s the sort of name people would look askance at. Think “Guadalupe” \> “Waddaloopy.” (Okay, maybe not that bad, but it’s close.)

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-creative-name-spelling-or-creative-name-pronunciation/721699/63 "2015-06-08T21:43:03Z")

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> [@BigT](#):
>
> Have you tried not reducing the last e, so the last e has the same vowel as the first e? That’s how I would say it my head to remember which spelling to use.
> 
> I do that with pen and pin, even though most people I know around here pronounce them the same way.

Oh, I pronounce both syllables in Gwendolen as “en” – Gwendol_en_ and Gwendol_yn_ are pronounced differently by me. Others just don’t think about it, and go with the vastly predominant spelling. I don’t blame them if I haven’t spelled it out, but if I bother to spell it, listen to what I am saying!

But years of this have dulled any real frustration. 🙂

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