An 18-year-old girl is eager to change her name due to its unconventional spelling.
Choosing a name for a newborn baby is a high-pressure decision; it needs to be agreed upon by both parents, suit a cute little baby, and also grow with them into adulthood.
In recent years, some parents’ quest for “uniqueness” has led to the creation of overly complicated spellings of already existing names, despite the pronunciation remaining the same, thus negating the “unique” aspect they desire. This seems to be the case for one teenager named Jennifer, but spelled ‘Giniphyr’.
She shared her story on Reddit under a post titled “My name is like the queen of all tragedeighs”. The deliberately misspelled ‘tragedy’ is a humorous and popular online reference to the approach some parents take when adding extra letters or syllables to their child’s name in an attempt to make it unique.
The teen explained: “I’ve always hated my birth name so much, so I grew up with the nickname, Gigi. Nowadays, I go by a ‘nickname of my nickname’ and everyone just calls me G.
“I just turned 18 last month, so I plan on getting my name legally changed soon. Preferably something that also starts with the letter G.”
In the comments section, people shared their thoughts and suggestions for what name she should choose. One person simply commented: “My condolences”.
Another remarked: “The first thing that came to my mind was also Georgia. Oh, Georgiana, if you like Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice!”
A third chimed in: “God, 18 years of being a tragedeigh. Baby-naming started going the hell off the deep end in the early 2000s when I was in my early 20s. It was noticeably bad, but we didn’t have big communities to talk about it online yet.”
Another person responded: “It was earlyish 2000s when the Justin or Jason, and Isabel or Olivia were popular. The ‘creative’ spellings of some of those names made me wince but Auliviya took the cake in about 2012.”
When discussing her relationship with her parents, G shared: “I used to complain all the time to them about my name and how I wanted a new name, but they just kept telling me that it’s ‘special’ and ‘unique’. Currently, my mom doesn’t want me to get my name legally changed because it’s sentimental to her, but I think I’m gonna change it anyways.”
To change your name in the UK, one must obtain a deed poll, which is a legal document that proves a change of name. You can alter any part of your name, add or remove names and hyphens, or modify the spelling.
If you’re aged 16 or over, you can create an ‘unenrolled’ deed poll yourself. Alternatively, you can apply for an ‘enrolled’ deed poll, putting your new name on public record.