WWYD... Misspelling child's name on birth certificate

farmerpinky

My friend chose the name Christian for her little boy. When it came time to fill out the birth certificate, she couldn't find the paper she had it down on (She is terrible at spelling). Instead of asking she just guessed. She spelled it Christion. I know that is a spelling that is used, just not often. She told me she screwed up, but she doesn't want to admit it to family.

If it were you, would you work to officially correct it to what you want or would you suck it up? 

ameliaahh

how do you misspell your own kids name

farmerpinky

ameliaahh:

how do you misspell your own kids name

Shes just like that. She is a very special spirit. Marches to a beat no one else can hear. 

Laurakat81

Yes I'd change it. It looks ridiculous with an O. But I agree, how do you misspell your child's name?! Bad speller or not, that makes no sense. You'd think she would have taken the time to memorize it if she knew she was that bad of a speller. I'm not buying it.

Fremdschamen

Oh man.  If it were me and my child's name was misspelled I would have it officially corrected.  However, I do have a friend whose name is Lindsey on her birth certificate, and she only ever goes by Lindsay unless absolutely required to use her legal name.  She told me she hates that spelling, and her parents admitted it was a mistake.

ETA:   I am a stickler for spelling, though.  Not everyone is as crazy as me.

kayjay10

Definitely fix it.  This kid will have to always correct the spelling of his name for the rest of his life.  It doesn't take that much time, effort or money to correct it.

WashingtonQueen

Does his SSC have Christian or Christion on it?

plunderb

She can change it without her family ever knowing. Just spell it Christian on anything informal and file a legal name change as soon as possible.

Laurakat81

WashingtonQueen:

Does his SSC have Christian or Christion on it?

Makes me think of my husbands SSC, his name is Brian but they put Brain on his card.

strawberrytree

Definitely fix it. Christion looks ridiculous.
Add me to the list of people who don't understand how you can misspell your kid's name. Even if you're a bad speller, wouldn't you take the time to learn and memorise it?

downtown80

When I delivered DD, I filled out the paper work for a brith certificate and SSN during my hospital stay.  There was a woman there whose job it is to process the paperwork.  Somehow she mistyped my daughters middle name (Cathreine instead on Catherine) when submitting to the appropriate agencies.  When I recived my DDs Social Security Card in the mail, I immediately noticed the incorrect spelling.  The name was also spelled incorrectly on the birth certificate.

In Maryland, they allow a grace period (I believe it was something like 14 days) to allow for any corrections, which I immediately followed through on to have my daughters name spelled the right way.

Regardless of which beat you friend marches to, I think that her not knowing how to spell her child's name BEFORE is just odd!

farmerpinky

Laurakat81:

WashingtonQueen:

Does his SSC have Christian or Christion on it?

Makes me think of my husbands SSC, his name is Brian but they put Brain on his card.

Brain= Too funny! 

 Every scrap of paperwork has the wrong spelling. His medical records, ssc, birth certificate. Everything.

She didn't realize it was wrong until I mocked her for it (what are bffs for). After I told her it was misspelled, she panicked. Her only idea to keep from changing it is to say she meant to do that so no one would think she named him after Christian Slater.

Um...nobody would think that. 

I don't know what she's going to do. I have strongly advised her to change it now before it's too late. Anyone who knows her would believe she meant  to spell it oddly. I just feel bad for lo. 

danuli8

People make mistakes. Just tell her to fix it. Christion is a horrible thing to do to a kid.

JLGY

Definitely change it.

ObLaDi

strawberrytree:

Definitely fix it. Christion looks ridiculous. Add me to the list of people who don't understand how you can misspell your kid's name. Even if you're a bad speller, wouldn't you take the time to learn and memorise it?

This, totally. What a weird situation. 

SBBBE

I would hands down change it hussars sake. She can tell her family she changed her mind.

provwife

FIX!

Elsa1984

I would change it.

For what it's worth it does happen. I was in labor over 24 hours and ended with a csection. They filled out the birth certificate in recovery. Due to me feeling the csection, they highly drugged me and I was still out of it when they asked me to spell it. I spelled it "Grettea Vieviian". Luckily my SO came back into the room and noticed. The correct spelling was....and is....."Greta Vivian"

~Kat~

DH's parents had to change his birth certificate. He was supposed to be named after his grandpa who spelled his own name wrong! They, of course, spelled it the way that Grandpa did, but a few days later his grandma saw the name written out and told them the correct spelling.

 Anyhow, even if it was a little bit of a hassle I would change it ASAP and spell it correctly in the mean time. 

PnkBride

Mistakes do happen. I know someone who filled out the paperwork at the hospital and put their own birthdate down wrong. Call the county/parish or the hospital and ask for a form to change the birth certificate. It is not hard to do at all.
She needs to correct his name.

graciesmurf

Yeah... if she's that bad of a speller she should have picked a shorter name.

Max, Ron, Ben, Matt- all great names.

IMO she needs to get that changed ASAP.  But her son will know when he turns 16 (if not sooner) and wants to drive.

MelissaRae1525

LOL at "special spirit". I have a friend who spelled her own name wrong (in high school) and it's Kristen. She spelled it Christen on a paper. I can see her spelling her kid's name wrong.

sunnydaisy

If the birth was very recent, she should be able to change it pretty easily.  I think most states have a grace period for corrections to birth certs.

karen_loy

Yes I'd change it.

526SadieSadie

Yes, I would change it but then again, I wouldn't name my child something I didn't know how to spell.

 

farmerpinky

Grace0609:

Is this serious?

Really?

Well I certainly would not leave my child with a misspelled name his whole life just b/c I didn't take the time to proof read the form for the birth certificate.  I would get it changed and I would tell people that it was the government who got the name wrong on the form, I would never admit I couldn't spell my own kids name!

I love it! Blame it on broken bureaucracy! That is absolutely brilliant! She can save face and lo has a correctly spelled name. I'll call her again. This HAS to be fixed.

MommaG123

I would definitely fix it.

psychgirl33

I would absolutely fix it.  I know it depends on states, but in my state we have up to a year to fix the birth certificate.  There was a mistake on my daughter's birth certificate (and it wasn't a mistake I made) and it was super simple to have it fixed.

sweetpea2003

I would have it fixed.

We had some trouble with birth certificates.  On DD's they had my maiden name wrong and on DS's they have the time of birth wrong (way wrong - by about 5 hours). 

I had DD's fixed but left DS's alone.  But for a their legal name, I would absolutely fix it.

For her information, in many states it is free to change a birth certificate for the first year after birth.  After that it can get a little bit expensive to go through the process.

Laurakat81

Kimbus22:

I would change it.

I also admit that when spelling "Pterodactyl" on DS's birth certificate, I did it very, very slowly.  One letter at a time to make sure I was spelling it correctly.

Ok I have to know! What's the story behind Pterodactyl?!

Littledeer84

Elsa1984:

I would change it. For what it's worth it does happen. I was in labor over 24 hours and ended with a csection. They filled out the birth certificate in recovery. Due to me feeling the csection, they highly drugged me and I was still out of it when they asked me to spell it. I spelled it "Grettea Vieviian". Luckily my SO came back into the room and noticed. The correct spelling was....and is....."Greta Vivian"

LOL. I could totally see myself having done something like this, and I didnt even have the c-section. I did have 24 hours of labor, and I was mentally exhausted when it was over. Good thing DH took care of the birth certificate stuff. OP, I would change it if she meant to spell it correctly and made a mistake.

jupiterthecat

Change it! Any hassle now will be dwarfed by the lifetime of hassle he would have by having such a weird spelling. Plus, to me, Christion would be pronounced a little differently-- more like "Chris-shon. Everyone makes stupid mistakes sometimes. She doesn't have to tell her family.

lily_721

DH put SS1 as the SS1 the Fourth when he was really the Third.  LOL.  It was fixed immediately.

Sidenote:  I am not a fan of first, second, third, fourth, etc.

farmerpinky

She has made her final decision. She hates paperwork and "doesn't want to deal with it" I then offered to help. She then said the name has grown on her and she likes the spelling because it's "unique and special." Ugh...

When he is older and hates it, I will tell him about this so he won't feel bad about changing it.