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| Photography by Genie Leigh Photography |
In the quest of choosing a name that is
seemingly “unique”, more and more people are putting their own
fresh twist on a familiar name by changing its' spelling. It's a
trend that is making it harder and harder to get a true feeling of a
name's popularity. A name may seem to be number 50, but when you take
into account the 20 different ways people have chosen to spell it it
could be much higher than that. Yet on the playground, all 20 of
those spellings will sound the same. Kelli at Name Freak did a great
post on this a few months ago, called a Playground Analysis, which also appeared on Nameberry.
While many names have received this
treatment, there is no group of names where this is more evident than
girls names ending with the “Leigh” sound. I'm sure you've all
come across this yourself - or even have a child with a “Leigh”
name.
So what it is about “Leigh” names
that makes them more tempting for people to play with? First, the
spellings Lee, Leigh and Li are all actually widespread as names in
their own right for both genders. Therefore people could be choosing
the “Leigh” spelling that honours a loved one, or the one that
they feel is more “masculine” or “feminine”. As an example,
Leigh is often a popular choice for girls as many people perceive it
to be more feminine. Or some may want a name with a certain amount of
syllables, and “Leigh” tends to be a sound that works well with
many girl names. Just think of Annaleigh, Emmalee or Amberley.
Looking at the 2012 SSA girls name data
for America is quite revealing:
It seems that the spelling used in the
highest number of names is the Lee spelling, followed by Ly. However
the spelling you'll most often see on a young girl is Ley, followed
by Ly.
And for those of you interested, only
two names appeared with every possible ending – Charlie and Kayley.
Kayley is a particularly interesting case, as there are multiple ways
to get the “K” sound, the “AY” sound and the “Leigh”
sound. There's easily over 30 different spellings for this name on
the charts!
It's quite an interesting trend. Many
people are against variant spellings, and while I have seen some
absolute shockers, I have also seen some delightful and lovely ones
which make it easier to see the appeal in “creating” a version
that suits you. What do you think? Which are your favourites, and
what unusual variations have you spotted in your neighbourhood?
I am not crazy about variant spellings but I am one of those people that winces at bad spelling in general. I don't mind it as long as it's not overly complicated or if it's to make something more phonetic for the country in which you live. After all that's why there are so many international variants of names already. The swapping of C and K in names dates back pretty far if Greek names and their modern variants are anything to judge by (Kalypso and Calypso, etc.)
ReplyDeleteFrom the post you linked, I have to say Madeleine is my very favorite and I'll always prefer that spelling.
Interesting post! This definitely will give me some food for thought in naming when we start having children in a couple years :).