How Should I Spell My Baby's Name?

Please consider naming her Elaine and using Lainey as her nickname.

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As someone who has spend her ENTIRE life correcting other people in the spelling of my name, one of my number one rules was to not put our children through this!

My husband agreed, so we passed on some names we really liked, but thought it would be unfair to give the child the burden for life of telling people how to spell or pronounce their first name.

I would look on the social security website for names and on some of the "popular" baby names lists and see what the prevailing spelling is.

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Why not name her Elaine and call her Lainey? When she is older she can then also call herself LAiney or Ellie or Elaine and know that she is named for her gradnma.
I am not big on naming a child a nickname for a name To me Lainey is a nicname for Melanie and Elaine.
Regardless I would spell it Lainey.

We went with very traditional names for our children. I have one that was not very popular and I was teased relentlessly in school.
Also I wanted my girls to find things, barrettes, necklaces, etc with their names on them.

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I vote for Elaine with Laynie as the nickname.

Laynie is my favorite spelling as suggested below!

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Lainie....to tie in with Tiffanie. It's just a nice thing to do, & seems to mean a lot to your SD. :)

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Lainey I would pronounse Lane ee. Lanie I would pronounce Lan ee. Lainie I would prounounce either Lane or Lane ee.

Anyway the way your step daughter wants to spell it drops the long a sound which I am assuming you are going for. If you want the ee sound at the end I would go with the first spelling only because it is more obvious.

I didn't add this before but since people brought up the nickname thing I will add. My youngest's given name is Genevieve, after her great grandma and a beautiful name in itself. I thought it would be a handful for a little thing to say so at birth she was nicknamed Genna. Her school records list her as Genevieve (Genna), her school papers some home Genna XXXXX, she has no trouble using her nickname as her name.

The thing is she knows her name is Genevieve, after her great grandma and she is very proud of that. I don't think she would have that pride or origin if we had just named her Genna.

Oh and if anyone wonders we do get people spelling her name Jenna and she has no problem politely correcting them it is with a G because it is a nickname for Genevieve. :)

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I like it with the y.
Lainey

1 mom found this helpful

Can you write the names our for her, including Elaine? Then, explain why you're doing it that way. As far as you thinking she wants it to end like here, it still sounds the same. I've never heard of Lainey (either spellings), but I think it's going to be a matter of choice. For easiness, I like Lanie. I think
Lainey and Lainie have too many vowels, but thats just my thought.
Lots of responses, hope it helps you decide...good luck.

Updated

After reading some respones and I thought earlier, I say Laney and there is no question. If you do Layney or start it Lay.....I think kids will be mean.
Also, I agree with the others it does sound for a young child, what about when she's older. Sorry didn't mean to confuse you, but you want to do
the right thing. Again, good luck!!!

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The 'y' and 'ie' are the same sound so I would think either spelling of the name Lainey or Lainie would have the same 'ee' ending sound. I, however, like the idea of naming her Elaine and nickname of Lainey or Lainie, only using the 'ie' to give joy to your step daughter. Her name, Tiffanie is also spelled Tiffany, isn't it? So same ending sound. Just decide if you want the names to 'match' but in sound they will. I liked the Elaine Marie idea from someone and also like Lainey, or Lainie Elizabeth but think Elaine Elizabeth doesn't flow like Elaine Marie would. Now to decide with hubby!!!

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Lainey

I agree that Lanie sounds like "LAN (rhymes with 'can') - EE" or "Lahh-nee".

And Lainie just looks very weird. I wouldn't know how to say this name if I saw it.

Why not name her Lane/Laine (one syllable) and call her Lainey .... let her decide when she's older how she wants to spell it.

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Laynie is the first thing I thought of as well. There is no confusion on how to pronounce it and it ends in ie like your daughter wants. But ultimately you are the ones that need to be happy with and like your choice, so go with what ever spelling you like best. Of your 3 choices, in order I like Lainey, Lainie then Lanie. Good luck and congratulations!!!!

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I had a classmate whose name is Alaina but goes by Lainie. So to me that is the only spelling that looks right.

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There are no rights and wrongs. We have a Kaitlyn. Her nickname is Katie.
As you know there are Catelyns, Katelyns, Kaitlins, Caitlins, Cadis, Kateys, Cateys, Caities, etc etc.
I vote Laynie.
My son's name (Tyler) was chosen by my 5 yo daughter and we liked it so we okayed it. It will always make your SD feel special that you let her get the ie in the name.
Laynie is a great idea. (It also eliminates the pronunciation confusion - the whole Lane ee or Lan ee thing - it's very obviously Lane ee when spelled Laynie.

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I was also going to suggest the "y" version - however your SD is not understanding the use of the vowel in the name. Lane as in "Lover's Lane" is fine, but when you add the "ie" it then becomes Lanie (lan-EE) you need a vowel to accompany the "a" to create the proper spelling/pronunciation.

Laynie or Lainey and a suggestion - Marie would be a pretty middle name they would roll together nicely Laynie Marie Smith

Some other spellings might be Laynie, Layney, or Layny. If you are into numerology, you could calculate the values of the different spellings and see how that changes her name number.

If its after Elaine it should be laine probably. But personally I'd name her laine, layne, or lane. Lainey's variations just sound more like a kid name, Lane gives her a more grown up option later. My daughter's middle name is lane. I think my favorite spelling of the name or nickname is Lainey. Congrats, and I love your sons name!

Lainey or Lainie, not Lanie. I agree, Lanie would be pronounced by most people Lan-ee. Stick to your guns!

It's a beautiful name, but get use to being misspelled at all times:( from bday invites to people asking over and over how do you spell it. In my opinion if the name is not spelled in it's traditional way, I assume parents can't spell. What's the middle name? She might end up using it.

You pick what you and your husband like the best.The good news is, you both agree on the name....

I vote for Lainey, very pretty!

I would go with the spelling your SD likes. It seems to mean a lot to her and it would probably make her feel special to be able to say she has input into the name.
I also like the idea of naming her Elaine with the nick name Lainey (or however you choose to spell the name).

i like it with the i either lainey or lainie ..your right it definatley looks like lan-ee with out it ...i think i like the ey better .. go with your gut ..good luck

I believe the standard spelling of the name is Laine (pronounced Lai-nee). The others don't look like real names to me. Sorry. If it is supposed to rhyme with Elaine, then the standard spelling is Lane.

I like to stick to the traditional spellings, so I would choose Lainey.

I like LivB's suggestion of Laynie

When i was trying to pick a spelling for my first i wrote each type over and over to see which one flowed better. I figured i was going to write the name a million times so it better feel right. I like lainey because the "y" flow well at the end. Lol i kno it may sound weird but hey it worked for me.

What about "Laney"? Or is that what your SD suggested and you didn't like?

I love that my name is spelled different from all the other Melanie's in the world.
Melonie! Yes I have to correct people all the time, yes it's a pain in the toosh! But really I love it.

My hubs name has a different spelling too...and so do our children. We kept the theme going. My daughter loves her spelling...she tells me I met another Sydnee and she spells it like Sydney Australia...I am different.

I say Lainey!

I think if you chose the way that Liv B spelled it (Laynie), you'd have no problems w/ people pronouncing it correctly. I also like Lainey.

To me Lanie is pronounced lay-nee
Lainey could be pronounced Lie nee
I like Liv B.'s idea best, no question on how to pronounce it

The correct answer is "however you and hubby want to!".

My opinion is Laney...even though that is not one of the options you listed, it is how the Laney I went to school with was spelled. If you are going to go for different or to tribute your mom, go with your initial spelling (but it does look weird to me...as does the other options listed).