'Cause You Don't

I have a name. My name is one of those names that it would be nice if people could spell correctly once in a while, but I understand why people don't. My charming moniker is a less common spelling than its much more popular counterpart. It's not so weird that people haven't heard of it, it's not one of these Maddisyn's or Krysteen's that they do nowadays. It is a real name, somewhat old-fashioned and mostly Southern, but a real name nonetheless.

I'll compare my name to the name "Casey". There are many variations on Casey, including Kacie, Kacey, or Casie. Some might be inclined to play around with Kaicie, Caisey, or even Kaecie. They might get cute and experiment with a Kaci, Kaysie or a Caycee, you just never know. The point is that the first letter, last letters, and/or second vowels leave a lot of options open. These shorter names might be nicknames for Cassandra, Kassandra, or Cacille. Who knows?

So, imagine that my name is one of THOSE names. Those difficult, ambiguous, lots of ways to spell it kind of names. Imagine that my name might be pronounced differently depending upon what part of the country I was in, like Caroline or Penny. I understand all of this about my name and always, always, always spell my name when giving it to anyone writing it down. What vexes me then? When I spell it for people letter by enunciated letter and they STILL spell it wrong. Or people I've known my whole life....my step-grandmother for instance who spelled it wrong for 25 years.

It's extraordinarily irritating for someone who is a spelling nazi like myself to have a name that no one can spell. Combine that with a middle name ending in a silent "e" and the ten letter German monstronsity that was my maiden name, and you've got a kid with a problem.

So, take a lesson people. Listen when people spell to you, and write down what they say, not the way you envision the name in your mind because you've known exactly 32 people with that name, and Duh! You know how to spell that!

'Cause you don't.