Nickname spellings

[ounceofpeace.livejournal.com]

The other day I was talking to my boyfriend, Michael, who goes by Mike. I call him Mikey, as does most of his family members. "Mikey" is an intuitive spelling of this nickname to me-- it never even occurred to me to spell it another way. His family spells it this way too. But as I recently found out, when he writes Mikey himself, he spells it "Mikie."

When I see Mikie I think "Mickey." To me it is just ridiculous to complicate Mike by sticking an i in there. I would use the "ie" ending as opposed to "y" if I went by Jessie since it follows the natural progression of the name. Do you agree?

This conversation, and the fact that many people on this community tend to feel strongly about name spellings made me think: are there nickname spelling rules that you think should always be followed?

Comments

[alas-earwax.livejournal.com]

I know a girl who goes by Lizy and it's pronounced Lizzie. It's confusing and I don't really understand why she does it. Mikie would confuse me, too.

[velkoria.livejournal.com]

I agree with you bit eh... nicknames are just that... nothing official so I don't really mind how they are spelled, just don't expect me to be able to pronounce it though =P

[solitudete.livejournal.com]

Mikie looks super childish, or maybe the way a girl would spell it.

[hwar.livejournal.com]

This exactly!

[laminy.livejournal.com]

They're just nicknames. I don't think I could bring myself to care less.

[http://users.livejournal.com/___heyvanity/]

I think there's more room to change spelling on nicknames, but I'm Jennifer and I spell Jenn with 2 n's. A lot of people screw it up. I don't know, I just like it with 2 n's.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Mikie seems a little silly, but honestly I'm not really a nickname person.

My mother's name is Ann, but my dad calls her "Anni." All of her siblings spell it "Annie" but my parents spell it "Anni"... I don't really get it especially since it's longer than her actual name. Just like people going by "Jack" when their name is John. My friend Jennifer spells her name "Jen" but her mom spells it "Jenn"... I could go on and on, but basically since it's not a real name, it doesn't matter how you spell it. You don't have to put it on any official documents so it's irrelevant.

[frost.livejournal.com]

I think Mickey, too.

Since they aren't official, it doesn't really matter...but I'll probably secretly roll my eyes at you, haha. Also, if it's really off, don't expect me to spell it that way. :P

[inebriatedcharm.livejournal.com]

I agree with the comment saying that it looks like the way a girl would spell it. I know a Mykaella who spells her nickname Mikki.

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, a couple of years ago, I was having a similar debate within myself. I had a friend named Mikey, and I spelled it that way, but someone else (maybe it was him) spelled it "Mikie". I have to agree with you that my knee-jerk is to pronounce that "Mickey".

I see what you're saying about the natural flow of the name, but at the same time, I do know people named Jessy, so I've gotten used to it. Also, when I think about adding the "E" sound to the name Steve, I always spell it Stevie, never Stevey.

And of course there are names like Marti/Marty where one spelling tends to denote feminine and the other masculine.

As for spelling rules. . .I guess I'm pretty much a traditionalist. I want to say, all systems go as long as it makes sense, but I suppose any kind of creative spelling is considered to make sense to the one using it. I'd also want to say "y" tends to be more feminine, but there's always Marty and Mikey.

I can't really come up with any real set rules, unless one can be made to avoid something to explain why "Annie" looks fine while "Anny" looks odd. (And "Ani" only seems okay on Anakin).

One last thought

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

As I read through other comments, I'm actually leaning more towards, one particular rule:

Either the person with the nickname, or the person who started the nickname should determine the spelling. Just to have a sort of consistency, and I feel like one of these would have a kind of veto power or something on spelling.