Boys name help - and unusual/wrong spellings

Hi, we are very keen on using family names for our kids...... or at least names which mean something to us rather than a name we just like for its own sake. If number 2 is another boy we are really struggling. The one suggestion we keep coming back to is Fred, as this was my husbands nickname as a child. However unfortunately the nickname was spelt Phred after a racehorse his dad got a tip on called fearless phred (fell at the first fence!). Anyway we were thinking of using this as a second name, but probably using it as his everyday name (a lot of our family are known by their second name).

The problem is I usually HATE odd spellings of names, but spelling it Fred really misses the point about it having some meaning.

So are we going to have to think of something completely different?

Phred would be really cruel wouldn't it?

I am biased as someone with a name that is unusually spelt for the country I live in (Maryline is French for Marilyn. I have had people telling ME that my name was wrongly spelt!) so I wouldn't do it. Fred is a lovely name btw!

Yes, Phred would be cruel.  I don't think using Fred is missing the point at all.

Honestly? I really don't like the spelling Phred, it looks made up and they'll spend their lives correcting people! If you love the name, i'd spell it Fred - I don't think it matters that's it different to the way your H spelt it as it will still have meaning to you.

I think Fred is cool - but Phred is a little ... I wouldn't use it.  I don't think it loses meaning to spell it correctly.

Poor Phred, he would be forever having to spell out his name correctly and tell the horse story. And that does not sound a lucky horse!

I like Fred though

I like Fred and I think it's a lovely meaning behind it   I think Phred is awful though sorry!  I really love unusual names but hate wrong spellings.

Fred is fab - Phred is not!

I knew a Fred when I lived in the US.  He used to introduce himself as 'Fred, with an F not a PH' before a big guffawing laugh.

I think it'd be a bad idea.

(incidentally same Fred was detained in Chicago Airport for 48 hours after making a bomb joke about two weeks after 9/11 *sigh* - that's enough to put me off straight away!)

Fred is lovely, Phred if you must!(The american Pharell came to mind with the pH spelling,which can also be Farrell) but as long as you know the meaning ...however  you spell it...who cares what anyone else thinks? A name is a name...and these things change over time anyway...the whole english language is made up of 'bastardisations' of english/nordic/etc and other languages and dialects.

my name is Gemma (very boring) but I still get the question of ...with a J or a G? but it doesn't bother me! Hubby is Graham, but that can be spelt Graeme...One of my boys is Sidney...that can be spelt Sydney etc.

Choose whatever you feel suits your family and sod anyone else! lol.

I've got a Fred & at nearly 3 he tells people it's F for fred, when he is not Dieago. So he knows his name is F & everywhere we go we have to seek out F.

There is a known Phred in hollywood who is a buyer for major films, he also has the same surname as us, so when I saw his name listed on credits, it got us talking about ways you could mispell other names. Think Phred has a lionk to DNA &/or computer programmes too.

Like friends of ours have called their Daughter Imagine (imogen) . We also assumed it was to be different, but it was after the John Lennon song.

Vindaloo:

Fred is fab - Phred is not!

WSS

I have to constantly spell my name (yes, that's with a z not an s) which is annoying, but the name is recognized as having 2 alternative spellings. Phred is a little bit like Jaymez - why mess with a nice name in the first place?

Phonetically it's the same, so surely that's close enough?

Ok, you all just told me what I all ready knew (H still thinks Phred is ok but I wonder if that has something to do with his dyslexia and not thinking spelling is important at all as long as somebody gets the idea).

Maybe we will use Fred, but I'm not convinced.... think I'll be hoping for a girl as we have that name all sorted.

What about Freddie, and Fred for short? My newphew is called Freddie and i love it :)

x

We named our baby Kristoffer (the Swedish spelling) after my dad, but are calling him Kit. Both H and I have unusual names(H's is spelled differently) and have never suffered from having to spell them occasionally.