Possibly risking offending some, but genuine question.

Talking of misspelled names - some fifteen or more years ago, someone was telling me how they had decided to call their child Kadie. That is how it sounded anyway, though I have to admit that I am not sure what the most common spelling of that name is. However, they wanted it to have a twist, so decided to spell it Cadé, in the mistaken belief that an e acute was pronounced i. As a result, anyone with even a smattering of French assumed it was pronounced Cadday (approximately).

I once knew a child called Judas!

One of my brothers was born on the anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar and my mother wanted to call him Horatio ... thankfully, my father steeped in there.

Worst apparently true life naming I have heard of was a child named Skyone, pronounced Sky-oney ...because ' She was conceived when we were watching Sky One'.

Like Galen I had a narrow escape when my parents named me. My father had been reading King Arthur and the Round Table to my older brother and when I was born asked my brother what name I should be given - he said Guinevere!! My father thought that would be a good unusual name -my mother, thankfully, put her foot down and refused.

Having worked in "elderly" care in the past with beds filled with Annie, Mary, George and Bob, I can't wait to see them in sixty years time. All these little old ladies and gentlemen called Elli-Mae, D'jon, Tinkerbelle etc. What might fit a little child will surely not fit a grown adult. Or maybe we will all be used to it by then.

I've got a case this week where a child is called Charon. Wasn't he the ferryman for the dead across the Styx. I believe he had a nice puppy with three heads called Cerebud (. Or was it fluffy?)

My father wanted Prudence, Patience Charity or one of the virtues. Thank heavens he was away fighting the war! I could never have married my husband if I'd been named Charity.

This has brought back so many memories. The longer I taught the harder it got to spell and pronounce the names. It was a nightmare. Kayleighs and Kylies and Kay Lees and. Kyleighs and Kylees. And every time a new celebrity or actor was in the news it would turn up a few years later- Kyannu, Keean, Keanoo, Keeannu
dread to think what has been added since!

My mother wanted me to be called Janet. My father objected, saying it made him think of Scots girls with red elbows.

Neither my brother or I are called by our first names. We each have three; he's called by his second, me by my third.

My parents later divorced; their children's names were not the only thing they disagreed on.

I appreciate that sometimes parents choose to spell names differently. Although sometimes they do not know how to spell the names either. Another problem I have come across in school is a girl called Leslie (male spelling) we were split site and I did not realise for a good while that the child was female.

Do you teachers know if the fad for two letter names is still going. BJ, PJ. etc etc.?

My DGS1 will start in reception in September. There will be three little boys all with the same forename.
Embellishing the spelling of that short name could be difficult. I expect teachers have long ago found ways of dealing with this.

When I worked in a school we used to wait with bated breath for the annual school lists to see what amazing names came up. I have also got to say that the weirder the name the worse the behaviour in many cases. I think the best name was Nefferteetee and then there were the T'Shan, T'lise, TJ (not an abbreviation).

And what about the Australian baby who was to be called KVIIIy?

A reporter called "Candida", can't remember her surname, said she was lucky. Her father wanted to call her sister and her "Gonorrhea" and "Syphilis" because he thought they sounded lovely!!! She felt she had had a lucky escape... I think so too

School maybe the place where unusual names are difficult but it is Midwives and Health Visitors who have to tactfully say, "And how are you Spelling that."

Oh for goodness sake lighten up GGMK2! How ironic that you wonder what people will choose to be judgemental about next, when you say that you find these posts to be "xenophobic" and "small minded"!

I've got an adorable Amy in my life. She has never shown any interest in changing the spelling, but it she did I don't think I would mind too much and would regard it as just a phase. But, as others have said, there are many variations of the name Amy anyway.
I have a neighbour called Jane who has recently inserted a y into the centre... Jayne. I think it's a bit daft, but I can't get up the energy to really care too much about such things.

When my brother was born my gran told my mum she didn't like the 8 letter name chosen as it would be shortened to 3 letter version. She was the only one who ever called him by the shorter name.

DH , when visiting children 'educated otherwise' met Ariston. His parents liked the white goods!

I have known many children with unusually spelled names including Jorja, D'wayne, Krysteen & Kristel. I would concur with the anecdotal evidence that the children with the 'created' names or 'creatvely ' spelled names tended not to find learning as easy as others with more conventional names. of course there were exceptions Glorya was a real high flyer. As a result of my teaching encounters my DDs, who had a long family name, we chose short first names and traditional spellings.

I don't find the OP in the least offensive but I do find it very small minded and possibly xenophobic. Aimee is French (Aimée). It is a perfectly good name. There was a never a moment when names were decided and set in stone. My daughter's name is spelt the old English way - we liked it so why should someone else think their opinion matters a jot? My DGS has a French name with a very Aussie pronunciation. What will people choose to be judgemental about next!

I assumecshe meant thectraditional spelling.
I came across alittle girl called Desstannee (Destiny) and also know a girl called Shanece (made up t her mum. )
I do agree that children with similar names are a nightmare for teachers sometimes. I remember two girls in the same class called 'Lisa' - one pronounced with a hard 's' and the other a soft one (Leeza and Leessa) and i suppose it vould be pronounced Lyza as in Eliza. They got really upset if you got the wrong pronunciation. So did Sophie versus Sophia, and Ellie and Ella. With so many classes and ao many names it could get difficult even with traditional names! Anthony with the soft th sound pronounced was another pitfall.

My boys have unusual names partly because, as a teacher, all the common names had connotations for me, none of them terribly good. Although there are times when they have found it frustrating, there are times when it has positive results. It is always a conversation opener for the boys so breaks the ice...particularly with the girls! Secondly, when I ring their schools, etc., people always know who I am talking about without having to specify their classes or which one I am enquiring about. That saves a bit of time.
The frustrating times are when the Passport Office, my boy's work place, etc., refuse to believe his name can be spelled the way it is so change the I for an L. Once people have seen it, they always say the name wrong no matter how much you correct them and because I mispronounced it whilst he was growing up, the Welsh always say it the correct way rather than the one he responds to. However, if that is your biggest problem in life, I reckon you are doing quite well!

Lilyflower when you say "All the correctly spelt" names do you mean names that you considered to be correctly spelt? Just because a name isn't spelt the way you expect it to be doesn't necessarily mean it's not the way the parents want it to be

Did you know the name Tiago is James in English and the disciple we call James, is called Tiago.
Hence the place Santiago, capital of Chile is St James. Santiago and Tiago are common names in many latin language speaking counties but rarely heard in UK.

So sometimes the spelling depends on the language. Other times because the parents can't spell!