creative names.

[quitmyscene.livejournal.com]

When does creative get too creative?

I've seen comments about adding a "y" or an "ee" or whatever being called the creative spelling. I was born in 1990 and know a bunch of people with the same names, but different spellings. Some of the more popular examples (that I personally know/have heard):
-Megan / Meagan / Meghan / Meaghan
-Alison / Allison / Alyson / Allyson
-Caitlin / Kaitlin / Katelyn
-Catherine / Katherine / Kathryn
-Sean / Shawn / Shaun
There are a fair amount of others I can think of, but I won't bother listing them all.

I guess I'm just wondering about creativeness. With the names above, I feel like there was (at least at some point) one "correct" spelling, variations made and maybe considered creative, and eventually became accepted as alternative spellings. So.. I think I'm just asking about creativeness in general. What are you okay with, what do you not like at all? I think "Aiden" is already an accepted variation to its original of "Aidan" but "Ayden" or anything else seems wrong. I'm okay with the "y" in Brian/Bryan, but I'm wondering if it's because I'm used it as being a "normal" alternative. How much creativeness can you handle?

Comments

[snoglobel.livejournal.com]

I am less "hardcore" than some, to me a name is fine as long as it is recognized as the name, in other words if I can read it and pronounce it.

So all of these are alright: Kaylee, Kayley, Kaeley, Kailey, Kayleigh, Kaleigh, Kaley, Caylee, Cayley, Caeley, Cailey, Cayleigh, etc...

But some of the other ones posted here that are unrecognizable are just too much.

[depeche810.livejournal.com]

I'm fine with things like Caitlin and Katelyn, but if someone uses Ceightlyn, or Keightlynne then that's when I can't stand it.

It also really bothers me when I see Emily spelled as Emalee or Emileigh but that's just cause I love Emily the way it is.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

To be fair, Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn have all been in use for hundreds of years. Also, I believe Katherine is closest to the original out of all three.

I think... some names have variant spellings because of changes in language or pronunciation or so on through history, and then other names have alternate spellings just because someone thought it would look cooler.

For example, I think the variants of Sean can't really be considered creative spellings, because they come from different pronunciations, and people trying to bring the name from Irish to English. Another good example of this that I can think of would be Isabel/Isabelle/Isobel. Those are all variants of the same name, whereas, say, 'Izzabelle' would be a creative spelling.

Creative spellings tend to bug me. Something like 'Katelyn' instead of 'Caitlin' isn't bad, but I really can't stand things like 'Emileigh' or 'Madysyn'.

[isoldereverie.livejournal.com]

I think Sandtree has hit it spot on. Different spellings from different cultures are fine with me. However, to take a perfectly beautiful name like Caitlin and mutilate it to Kaytelynne or Emily butchered to Emmaleigh seems pompous. I'm okay with the ones you listed, but I do think that some of those spellings are one letter away from crossing the line. Like Meahghan would be wrong.

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

In the case of the specific examples you gave:
Megan - correct diminuative of Margaret, the rest are variants
Alison - correct diminuative of Alice, the rest are variants
Caitlin - correct Anglicization of Caitlín, rest are variants and I would argue that Katelyn is a different name entirely-- combo of Kate and Lynn
Catherine - French form of Katherine and common English variant
Katherine - original form
Sean - Anglicization that's the closest to the original Seán, but the other two are also common Anglicizations