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ArchivesRe: Creative spellings (attn. Cleveland?)
in reply to a message by Mar
This is really difficult to know because one cannot tell from looking at a spelling whether or not the parents deliberately were using an unusual spelling, or whether they simply heard a name that they liked without having seen it written down and came up with a spelling they thought was appropriate to the sound they heard, and it turned out to be different from the traditional one.
However, I am sure that deliberate respelling is a phenomenon that is way more than 30 years old. The spelling Kathryn for Catherine/Katherine is a deliberate respelling that goes back to the 1890s.
There are 177 women named "Debra" in the index to the 1850 U.S. Census.
However, I am sure that deliberate respelling is a phenomenon that is way more than 30 years old. The spelling Kathryn for Catherine/Katherine is a deliberate respelling that goes back to the 1890s.
There are 177 women named "Debra" in the index to the 1850 U.S. Census.
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Thanks!
I thought it was a more recent trend, but it turns out I've never really thought about Katryn as a creative spelling for example, because I've seen many times before.
Has there been a very strong increase in 'misspellings' in the last decade? Or might it just be that my perception of this is a little off, since it's only the last few years that we've all been discussing names on the internet?
I thought it was a more recent trend, but it turns out I've never really thought about Katryn as a creative spelling for example, because I've seen many times before.
Has there been a very strong increase in 'misspellings' in the last decade? Or might it just be that my perception of this is a little off, since it's only the last few years that we've all been discussing names on the internet?
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There has been an increase in just about EVERY way to create a "different" name. There are more surname transfers, more place name transfers, more turning modern words into names, more names invented out of whole cloth, AND more deliberate respellings than there used to be.
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