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If you’re expecting a baby and have toyed with the idea of giving your little one a name with an unusual spelling – let this story be a word of warning.

A teenager says the way her parents spelled her name caused her so many problems in her life, so she decided to do something about it, without telling them.

“My parents named me ‘Emily’ but instead of spelling it Emily, they spelled it ‘Emileigh’ because they wanted me to have ‘options’ for my name,” she explained.

“So I could be Em, Emmy, Leigh, etc. The spelling has caused so many problems for me. People will forget themselves and spell my name Emily and then realise it’s not how mine is spelled. I had teachers in grade school think I was being funny trying to spell my name Emileigh.

“So some teachers let me write Emily on school work and even some tests and we’d say nothing. They knew it was a PITA for me. My friends all write Emily if they refer to me. And I always knew I would change it.”

And change it she did, as soon as she turned 18.

“My parents only realised when I started getting stuff addressed to ‘Emily Jones’ instead of ‘Emileigh Jones’. My parents started saying I should call and yell at the people who spelled my name wrong and I told them it wasn’t wrong, I had changed it.

“I never told them I was doing it because I knew they wouldn’t like it. And I was right. They went on and on about how the spelling they gave me was the better choice and wasn’t as bad as I always made out. I told them I kept the name, it’s just spelled the correct way and the way people will actually remember it.

“They complained some more and I told them to get over it because they don’t have to live with people questioning their capability of spelling their own name and such an easy name at that.”

The teenager now wants to know if she was in the wrong. Leave your opinion in the comments below. 

  • Good on her. Parents make kids lives difficult sometimes with the names they give them.

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  • Well she has to live with it for the rest of her life so I’m glad she changed it to the way she wants.

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  • I’m sure her parents had the best intentions.

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  • I know quite a few people who’ve done this, including quite later life.

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  • Good on her for taking a stance and doing something she wanted. The parents said they named her the way they did to give her options. She chose to re spell her name. They can’t be angry at that.

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  • I wouldn’t like my name to be spelt some weird way either so I don’t blame her for wanting to change it. I can see this happening a lot in the future with all the crazy spelt names parents are giving their kids nowadays

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  • I would have changed my name too and I must admit I have never seem Emily spelt Emileigh. I don’t know why people have to keep changing the spelling of names. My husbands name is Brian and he is always asked if it is with an I or a Y now. This never was an issue years ago.

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  • You are an adult now and if you didn’t like how your name was spelt you have the right to change it. I’m a female and I was named Terry. I would go to the Lion’s Christmas party and I always received boys gifts because of the spelling. As soon as possible the spelling was changed to Terrie. It still sounds the same but at least people now know I’m not a male before they see me. You’re the one who has to live with it, not them.

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  • I think this is something we’re going to see happening more and more as people try to be ‘different’. I don’t see any issue with what she did.

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  • spot on! I’d have done the same thing. So-called ‘unique’ spellings just look naff (sorry, it’s only my opinion, but it makes it look like you cant spell or dont know any better!)
    My daughter’s mate is called siennarh which is just wrong!
    But it’s a first world problem I guess. It would certainly annoy the crap out of me.

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  • I feel sorry for the people whos parents spell the kids name differently just to be unique. These parents should respect that she changed it. The names is hers and she has to manage the miss spelling and respell it to everyone everytime she says her name. Good on her for standing her ground

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  • I went through life spelling my Christian, middle and surname ..then when I finally married I went woohoo only to have that name spelled incorrectly many times.

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  • The spelling was idiotic. But changing your name is rude to your parents. Good luck.

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  • I can see reasonsing behind why she may have done it. I know someone who changed their name for a good reason.

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  • At 18, she is an adult and able to do what she wants. In all honesty, if the spelling of her name has caused such angst throughout her life, I think it’s okay for her to change it. It’s not like she’s changing her first name totally, just to a way that makes her life easier.

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  • Honestly, it’s her name she has a right to change it and it’s not like she changed the name anyway just the spelling.

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  • That’s fair enough, she still has the same name just spelled the way almost everybody else would. I spelled my second daughters name different than the regular spelling but it was just adding another ‘m’. Her name is Simmone. When I was in hospital after having her I kept writing the name and it looked like a weird way of spelling Simon so I opted for the double ‘m’. I don’t think it bothers her because she always has to tell people when giving her name how to spell her last name so now she just says most times Simmone with 2 m’s and Clark with no ‘e’.

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  • Ugh I don’t blame them. The exaggerated ‘eigh’ on names is pretty full on. An utter Tragedeigh to burden kids with.

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  • It’s just the spelling she changed, not the name, so the parents shouldn’t complain. It’s her decision, her name. End of story. She is not an A****le

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  • I’d probably change it too. That would annoy me as well.

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