Possibly risking offending some, but genuine question.

ethelwulf
You and I must know the same 'Rafe Chumley-Fanshawe'!?

Lived in (auto correct shouldn't be allowed on a spelling forum grr)

We lid on Northumberland and have a lot of place names ending in sick with the w being silent worst name spelling I saw was Derwick (Derek)

Human nature perhaps? My DS is Huw...

My granddaughter had a friend named Gorga, not Georgia, and I always felt that I wanted to call her Gor-ga.
Still I think that the worst name I have heard I read on the internet. A young woman in the USA called her baby Asshole, pronounced Ash Holy. Can you imagine what would happen when the child started school?

To add to the variations of Catherine my best friend at secondary school was Kathryn. I have sadly lost touch with her but believe her married name is Price. So Katie Price!!!
My husbands family were Ukranian and our favourite name for a boy was Zenon but we didn't want him to have to always spell it as (well as his Ukranian surname) so we made it his middle name.

One of my grandsons is Lachlan, a Scottish name, his paternal grandfather wasn't happy with the choice as he said it was 'a highland name' and they are not from the Highlands. He is the only one in his school although there is a Lochlan(Irish) in his year. I am a Rainbow and Guide leader and have had allsorts of spellings over the years for various names although at the moment all have many lovely old names such as Olivia, Emily and Sophie.

My grandson is Albert (Bertie) and my granddaughter is Mabel, then we also have a Layla, a Peter-John (named after his grandfather) and a Sanmarie ( a typical South African name combining the first 2 names of her maternal granny, Susanna Marie) I am South African and have now lived n the UK for 15 years, and also dislike the "contrived" names, though it is worth mentioning that some South African names are even worse !

I think many parents insert a quirk just to be different. Some are hard wired to a dream name and if someone close in the family 'beats them to it' albeit innocently they find it hard to settle for an alternative. Certainly happened in my family.

I agree. The parents can't spell. That said, my mother didn't spell my sister's name properly either.

As a teacher I noticed that all the correctly spelt names were in the top sets and the made up names and misspelt ones were further down.

Was it sad to have a burden round the neck from birth - or a spur to achievement? For some it might have been the push to prove themselves and do well. My sister did well for herself.

Grannynise I love the 'named after the mustard'. Perhaps Mum or Dad were hot stuff!

School is definitely the place to see lots of weird and wonderful names. I always ask children how to say their names or, if they have a long one, I'll ask what they are called. The increase in calling children by initials e.g. AJ makes me laugh and the desire to have foreign names resulted in one poor lad being called Seven - to be pronounced Sven! The poster who put about Elly-May Ellie-Mai, Elli-Mae etc variations could have been teaching my last year's class. It's even more confusing when Jude and Jude are a boy and a girl.

42 years ago in my first class I had 6 Sarahs. All were spelt the same way. So some of today's more unusual names might at least avoid that situation.
My own pet hat is names with apostrophes, for example D'Jon (pronounced Dijon and named after the mustard).

My pal Ralph Cholmondely-Featherstonehaugh was complaining about this trend recently...

I sometimes meet unfortunate girls named 'Candida'. It's a pretty name, but I can't help thinking of thrush infections of the nether regions!
( Candida Albicans is the organism causing thrush for those of a non-medical leaning!)

The worst "atrocity" I have come across is a friend of mine's grandaughter...her name is Chevaun...it should have been Siobhan...they couldn't spell it but liked the sound of it!

Hi a funny slightly different example when I was nursing years ago you could tell the younger elderly were emerging as patients with more modern names to find they were in fact from a while ago like Clare Helen etc I once nursed a lady called Patience It was fun on the phone booking her appts like X rays etc as when they said what is the patient's name I would say, Patience Hedley ..and whats her first name? err Patience yes but what is her proper name? !!!

My daughter is Clare but everyone wants to put an I in it but she has I's and e's in her middle name and surname so I missed the one out of Clare and no one shortens it and so I thought with my son Simon but his friends call him Si! His twins are Isaac and Amelie and one of my friends was calling Isaac Zac all the time so had to remind her he wasn't a Zac!

My niece is called Channen, pronounced Shannon! My brother said it was to ensure it was always spelled correctly....

I know of a boy named Hill. Unsure if that's relative to where he was conceived??
My dd has an Irish spelt name & hates it. People don't know how to pronounce it & even when they've been corrected they can choose to carry on mispronounced it.
I chose it because of its meaning & the Irish family connection.
She chose a traditional name for dgd with a slightly different spelling! I did point out the possibility of people spelling it incorrectly but hey ho ?

I was named after Janis Paige, an actress my DD liked .

I didn't really like my eldest dgs's very unusual name at first, but now after three other gc with non-traditional names, I've come to appreciate unusual names giving the children an identity.

As a teacher in the past I once had a new class with four boys called variations of Tom. Tom, Thomas, Thomas and Thom. On the second morning of term one boy (Thom) brought in a lengthy letter of complaint from his mother because I had apparently called him Thomas by mistake once!

Just had a Lochlann and a Lorcan in my class but nothing beats Sh'v'n.

My cousin in NZ is Marc, the French version after his grandfather. The Kiwi teachers patronisingly told my aunt that that was OK as he is dyslexic! She was furious.
I used to loathe my name but now like it as it is fairly different to anyone's. Not many Matties around...
My DCs names are very ordinary and easy to spell except No.3 who is dyslexic has a PH in his name. He found it hard to spell his name to start with.
Once taught a "MelOnie", an Odin, a Venus and various Jaymee etc. These days, the parents seem to choose the most outlandish names for their children so that they stand out. Children don't like standing out!

My gd had a girl in her class with the name Jaydeen think that's how you spell it.
Another friend from primary was Jordon. Both girls.

Ana - Cicely was referring to Sicily!