Respellings Names

A familiar name written a new way. Respellings are where invented meanings cluster most thickly elsewhere on the internet, because a new spelling reads as a new name that must have come from somewhere.

Rankings for

46 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Brayden Brayden is a modern American invention with a real Irish surname behind it, and it peaked in 2010 — one of the latest peaks on this site.
Boy Irish #229 in US
Khloe Khloe means green shoot, and the K is doing no work etymologically — it respells Chloe, whose Greek khloe names the first growth of a crop rather than a color or a plant.
Girl American #272 in US
Bryan Bryan is a boy's name of Irish origin whose meaning is unsettled — noble and high are both proposed.
Boy Irish #336 in US
Erick Erick means ever-ruler, and the K-spelling is the Scandinavian one — Erik the Red named Greenland deliberately to attract settlers, which may be the earliest recorded use of a misleading brand name.
Boy Scandinavian #366 in US
Jordyn Jordyn respells Jordan, and the river came first — the name means flowing down, describing the Jordan's fall from the Galilee hills to the lowest exposed land on earth.
Girl American #371 in US
Aubree Aubree respells a name that began as elf-ruler — the Germanic Alberich names the dwarf king who guards the Nibelung hoard, and the same figure becomes Oberon in medieval French romance.
Girl American #489 in US
Collin Collin doubles the L of Colin, and the name underneath has two unrelated sources — a French pet form of Nicolas, and the Scottish Gaelic Cailean, which share nothing but a spelling.
Boy American #493 in US
Johnathan Johnathan is a misspelling that became a name — it inserts an h into Jonathan by confusion with John, and the two are different Hebrew names that only look related.
Boy English #509 in US
Makayla Makayla is one of a large family of respellings of Michaela, and the name underneath is a question — Michael means who is like God, expecting the answer nobody.
Girl American #567 in US
Keira Keira rose twice, two years apart, and both markets moved together — American births went 433 in 2003 to 1,244 in 2004, then on to 3,022 by 2006, with England and Wales tracing the same two steps in the same years.
Girl Irish #621 in US
Phillip Phillip is a boy's name meaning lover of horses, the doubled-l spelling of Philip.
Boy Greek #651 in US
Shawn Shawn is a boy's name, the phonetic American respelling of the Irish Seán, which is itself the Irish form of John.
Boy Irish #681 in US
Jazmin Jazmin respells a Persian word that traveled the length of Eurasia — yasmin passed through Arabic into Europe with the plant itself, which is why the word is near-identical in a dozen unrelated languages.
Girl American #710 in US
Kathryn Kathryn is a girl's name, the y-spelling of Katherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning.
Girl Greek #729 in US
Mikayla Mikayla respells Michaela, and the Hebrew behind both is a question — who is like God — whose expected answer is nobody.
Girl American #746 in US
Kaitlyn Kaitlyn is a girl's name that respells the Irish Caitlín — which came into Irish from French, and into French from Greek.
Girl Irish #801 in US
Jazmine Jazmine is the fourth spelling of one Persian word on this site, alongside Jasmine, Jasmin and Jazmin — yasmin traveled with the plant itself, which is why it is near-identical across a dozen languages.
Girl American #994 in US
Katelyn Katelyn is one of five respellings that divided the same sound in the 1990s, and Ireland ranks it 292nd — far above the United States at 1078th, the reverse of how its sister spelling Kaitlyn behaves.
Girl Irish #1,078 in US
Allyson Allyson descends from Alice by way of a French diminutive, and it is not Alice plus son — the ending is the Old French -on, the same one behind Marion, and nothing in it refers to a child.
Girl English #1,140 in US
Kristopher Kristopher means Christ-bearer, and the legend built the meaning backward — a giant who carried a child across a river turned out to be carrying Christ, which is the story explaining the name.
Boy English #1,188 in US
Jonathon Jonathon respells Jonathan, and the original names a gift — Yahweh has given, borne in scripture by the friend whose bond with David the text describes in terms it uses nowhere else.
Boy English #1,487 in US
Jeffery Jeffery is a boy's name whose first element is genuinely disputed, though the second means peace.
Boy Germanic #1,562 in US
Terrance Terrance respells Terrence, and the name descends from a Roman playwright born enslaved in North Africa — Terence was freed by his owner and his Latin became a school text for centuries.
Boy American #1,565 in US
Fredrick Fredrick is an American respelling that ranks higher in England and Wales than in the United States — 934th against 1730th, which reverses the usual direction for a respelling.
Boy English #1,730 in US
Meghan Meghan means pearl, through Megan and Margaret, and the h is an American addition — Welsh spells it Megan, and the extra letter appeared in twentieth-century American use with no basis in the original.
Girl Welsh #1,910 in US
Shaun Shaun spells the Irish Seán phonetically for English readers, and it is the same name as John — the Irish took it from Norman French Jehan rather than directly from Latin, which is why it sounds nothing like John.
Boy Irish #1,943 in US
Alissa Alissa means noble, and the flower it resembles was named for rabies — alyssum joins the Greek negative to lyssa, madness, because the plant was believed to cure the bite of a mad dog.
Girl English #1,946 in US
Krystal Krystal means ice, and the Greeks believed rock crystal was water frozen so hard it could never melt — which is why the same word names both the mineral and the frost.
Girl American #2,123 in US
Jacquelyn Jacquelyn means supplanter, and the chain is long — it is an American respelling of Jacqueline, the French feminine of Jacques, which is James, which is Jacob.
Girl American #2,277 in US
Caitlyn Caitlyn is the third spelling of one name on this site, alongside Caitlin and Kaitlin — all descend from Catherine by way of Old French and Irish, and all three are large enough to hold separate pages.
Girl Irish #2,504 in US
Jaclyn Jaclyn compresses Jacqueline, and the name underneath means heel-grabber — Jacob was born gripping his twin's heel, and every Jack, Jacques and Jacqueline descends from that description.
Girl American #2,790 in US
Rickey Rickey means strong ruler, and its peak is the largest in this group — 3,818 American births in 1958, against 45 in the most recent year we have.
Boy English #2,829 in US
Nichole Nichole means victory of the people, and the compound is political — the Greek joins a word for victory to one meaning the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph rather than a personal one.
Girl English #3,367 in US
Ashlee Ashlee is the third spelling of one name on this site, alongside Ashleigh and Ashlyn — all descend from the Old English for an ash-tree clearing, and the ash was the tree spears were made from.
Girl American #3,860 in US
Kaitlin Kaitlin reached English through Irish, not from it — Catherine went into Old French as Cateline, into Irish as Caitlín, and back out again respelled.
Girl Irish #4,171 in US
Earnest Earnest respells Ernest, and the Germanic behind it is not mild — eornost meant vigor in battle, seriousness of the deadly kind, long before it settled into the sense of being sincere.
Boy English #4,177 in US
Debra Debra is a girl's name, the phonetic respelling of Deborah, from the Hebrew for bee.
Girl Hebrew #4,475 in US
Lynda Lynda means lime tree, from Spanish and Germanic roots that disagree — the pretty reading comes from the Spanish linda, and the tree from a Germanic element, and neither is settled.
Girl American #4,568 in US
Michele Michele is a girl's name, the single-l spelling of Michelle, from a Hebrew question meaning who is like God.
Girl French #4,760 in US
Marsha Marsha is a phonetic respelling of Marcia, and the name underneath is dedicated to Mars — the same god who gives his name to March, when the Roman year and the campaigning season both began.
Girl English #7,529 in US
Janis Janis fell further than any name in this sweep — 3,217 American births in 1947 down to 10 in the most recent year we hold, which is a fall of more than 99 percent.
Girl American #10,064 in US
Traci Traci is the most narrowly recorded name in this sweep — every one of its 52,406 births is American, it charts in no market in the current year, and its entire history runs from 1945 to a 1970 peak and down.
Girl English 52,435 births
Shelia Shelia is Cecilia with two letters swapped and four languages in between — Cecilia became the Irish Síle, Síle was written Sheila in English, and Sheila was misspelled into Shelia often enough to become its own name.
Girl Irish 47,946 births
Meagan Meagan means pearl at four removes — Welsh Megan shortens Marged, which is Margaret, which is the Greek margarites, which is probably a loan from further east than Greece.
Girl Welsh 45,226 births
Yoann Yoann is a French respelling of one of the most widely borne names in history — John, whose forms include Ian, Sean, Juan, Ivan, Giovanni, Jens and Hans, all from one Hebrew sentence.
Boy French 43,069 births
Claragh Claragh is a girl's name, an Irish-styled respelling of Clara, from a Latin word meaning bright or clear.
Girl Latin 103 births

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