Alternate spelling gone wrong

Mags748

My MIL told me this story this weekend after we got a present from her cousin and his wife. Her cousin's mom started liking the name Gail after reading a novel with a character with that name. She had a boy, so she decided to name him Gayle to make it more masculine in her opinion. The hospital spelled it wrong, so his legal name became Gayel. He has hated his name his entire life because not only is it a mostly female name, but it is also a youneek spelling due to the hospital's mistake. He said if he had thought of it when he was younger, he would have gone by his middle name.

stahlop

Isnt the masculine way to spell that, Gale?  I know there is a male actor who spells it that way.  Adding a Y just makes it more feminine to me.

Mags748

stahlop:

Isnt the masculine way to spell that, Gale?  I know there is a male actor who spells it that way.  Adding a Y just makes it more feminine to me.

Yeah, that is why I said "in her opinion"

Mags748

mj.reilly:

This is the point in life where, if he is over 18, he should just legally CHANGE HIS NAME! Or at least the spelling. His mother should have gone and changed it after birth (and gone over the paperwork)!

Well he is around 60 now, so I think he figures it is too late. But you are right, that he could have changed it a long time ago and that his mother should have done something when she noticed it was spelled wrong. I went over both of my children's paperwork multiple times as and also double checked the birth certificates and social security cards when they came. Its hard to believe he has hated his name for so long, but never done anything about it.

Laurakat81

Poor Gayel! That stinks!

cwie828

Oh goodness. Poor kid. I actually like the name Gale for a boy (probably because I LOVE The Hunger Games) but the Y is just unfortunate.

I have a similar story. One of my best friends is dating a guy named Joby. I had never heard that name before so I very innocently asked where it came from. He got all flustered and told me in the hospital they misspelled Josiah as Jobiah. So his LEGAL name is Jobiah. Therefore, he goes by Joby. Sad!

Emiliana7

My brother's name was also misspelled by the hospital and my mom stuck with it and so has my brother. Although, only on legal docs has he ever spelled it the way it appears on his BC.

I don't quite understand it. If the hospital was to get it wrong, I would say something and get it changed. Was it so hard back then? Are we just more outspoken nowadays? Did people just think "oh, well, guess that's my name now"

Thankful1121

I understand how a hospital could misspell a name but the PARENT has to sign the birth certificate, so it still lands on the parents making the mistake. If I made a mistake about not looking closely to my child's birth certificate while in the hospital then I would sure as hell change it when I got the SS card and realized the mistake. Pure laziness if you ask my opinion. 

I also agree with Emiliana. 

EmilyP103

Poor Gayel, haha!

I think adding a 'y' to a name normally makes it more feminine!

nd01

As a random aside, I was in my, then-boyfriend's, now-husband's childhood bedroom while we were in college and snooping through things (not hiding it, just poking around) and I found his sister's birth certificate which listed her as a male.  I asked him if there was something I needed to know but he just laughed and asked his mom who said there was a typo and they got it fixed but still had that.  I have no idea why it was in his room either but his parents tend to stash stuff in odd places to get it out of the way.  Anyway, found this a very amusing mistake.