Debate with Hubby over Name Spelling....

I would have no clue what sort of name or what the pronunciation of Aleece was. I would use Elise - the rest of them look like completely made up names to me.

My 2 yr old niece is Elyse, and so far no one has mispronounced her name. Hers is pronounced Ee-leece. I think that Alyse would be best if you were going for the Ah-leece sound.

I've known 2 Elise's and would not confuse it with Alice at all! I love the name Elise by the way! And... that's the only way that I've ever seen it spelled.

I read Fleece. Each and every time I've ever seen the name . But that's just me. (And so you know I'm usually wrong. I'm usually corrected to pronouce the E at the end. Either with an ah sound or an ee sound))

Here's the thing with names... no matter WHAT the name (nearly, there are only 5 or 6 that don't get massacred from time to time), or how it's spelled, people will get it pronounced and/or spelled awkwardly. ESPECIALLY now that so many people are foniks-ing names or trying to make them unique.

One of my best friends growing up was Alyss. (Ah-liss, not AL-liss/Alice/Ah-leece) She got Alyssa all the time. People have a tendency to add a's to female names (because it's a gender modifier in English and Latin). She NOW gets Alice and Elise all the time (since people are getting wacky with spellings). A girl I worked with was Elise. She got Elissa all the time, and she got the ever present Ee or AH?

Unless you choose Mary, Jennifer, or (trying to come up with a third, and struggling; Susan gets Suzanne, Megan gets Meegan, Eleanor gets Eleanora, Margaret gets Margrate, Kitty! Ha! Kitty is a third, no. I take that back. Kitty gets Katie. Darn. I'm sure there's a third one out there)... your child's name is going to get messed up and it will be the same 2-3 ways it gets messed up. Even THOSE 'classic' names, and others, have alternate spellings (Mary, Mari, Mairie, Mayree, Marie - Sara, Sarah - Jennifer, Jenifer, Jennyfyr, Jennfire, - Kitty, Kittee, Kitti,- Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Elisabet... etc.)

Go with the name you love, secure in knowing, a whole series of someones are going to mess it up. Repeatedly. Period.

((I'd be one of them btw. If it's Alyse, I'd end up goofing Alyss 9x out of 10 reading it, just because of my friend's name... my brain would gloss over it. If not, I'd ask if it were Alyse or Alys-eh. But I'd do the SAME with Aleece. rhyming with Fleece or Al-lissa or Al-ee-sa seeing it spelled.))

Honestly, if I saw Alyse, I would not know automatically how to pronounce it - but Elise I would (and it would be Uh-leese, rather than Eee-leese, like your husband seems to believe. ).

"Alyse" could be "Alice", "Ally-say", "Ah-LEE-say", Ah-LYSE", etc. So if you like the sound of the name, I would vote for Elise. Anyone who sees that should know how to correctly pronounce it. A good friend of mine is Elisa, another variation. I would not do Aleece, for the same reasons someone else mentioned - it just looks like you misspelled it.

My only advice is to not get testy with people who don't pronounce a name right. The trend today is to use some unique spelling of a simple name. This is fine when everyone who meets this person has the same unique brain. For those of us who don't, we do our best so please be gentle with your correction. Sometimes I think mothers play boggle for 9 months to come up with the impossible to pronounce or spell name they invent for their baby. Also I feel sorry for boys nowdays because so many girls have boy names. There really is nothing wrong with a gender specific name like Alyece, Alice or Elsie. Just the thoughts of an often confused grandma.

I had a friend in elementary school named Elise. No one called her Elsie.... not that i knew of anyway.

I've never seen aleece, Alyse, or alyce and do not like made up spellings of names. I think alyse would be way more likely to be called Alice than if you spelled it the typical way with an e. I would spell Alice or alys, and Elise or elyse. Not any other way, IMO! I grew up with a name you had to spell and pronounce and still hate it :)

I have a friend named elyse and no one calls her Elsie, some people say E-lyse, some say uh-lyse, I think it depends on what part of the country you're from. My name is T., east coasters and west coasters call me ti-Ar-a, midwesterners (where my dad is from) say Ti-air-a ( which is right). And I'd die it was actually spelled that way, to be phonetically correct!

There's always going to be an idiot out there who will butcher even the simplest names. Use the traditional spelling of Elise, which makes the most sense, IMO. If someone thinks that it's pronounced "Alice", then they obviously have no understanding of letter pronunciations or sounds. If you spell it with an A, I'd think people would make the "Alice" connection moreso than if you used the traditional spelling. You also get into the different "A" pronunciations - the short "A", "Ay", "Ah", "Aa", etc. I would stick with the "E", personally. Less room for error, IMO. The name will get butchered no matter what, but, the simpler the better. My DD & I have foreign names, so I consider myself an expert when it comes to these things. My daughter's name starts with an "A", so trust me on this.

I'd say Alice if I saw Alyse.
I'd say A-lease if I saw Aleece.

I wouldn't stress over it. You like the name, simply decide how you want to spell it. My vote is for Elise. I used to babysit a girl named (and spelled Elise). She was never called Elsie. In fact, I don't recall her name being mispronounced all that often. Either way it doesn't matter. She'll learn how to politely correct people. Our daughter is named Chloe. Pretty common these days. It gets mispronounced all the time. My extended family called her CHa-low-eee for a long time, even after being corrected. My sister's name is Siobhan (pronounced Sha-von). Her name gets beyond butchered. I have a niece named Sabine (pronounce Sa-bean), unless you are familiar with the name, it gets mispronounced often. My neighbors are an Indian family. Her children's names are constantly mispronounced. It doesn't change how much she loves what she named her children. These names and mistakes didn't taint the names for the parents at all. Go with what you and your hubby love. Don't over analyze every name scenario, you'll make yourself crazy. ;)

To me Alyse is pronounced Ah-Leece. So not the traditional Alice.
I do know a woman who spells her name Alyse, but pronounces it as Alice - and everyone gets it wrong.

I say stick with the traditional spelling of Alyse - IMHO Aleece looks awkward and misspelled.

I like it spelled Alyse... potato potAto... everyones name gets mispronounced sometimes till the person talking is corrected. Spell it the way you both agree on, not on how you think others will pronounce it :)

And when I look at Aleece all I can think of is fleece...

My choice: Elise...
LBC

I can't imagine anyone pronouncing Alyse "Alice" and I would spell it Alyse or Elyse--not Aleece. Aleece looks to phonetic. Names aren't phonetic.

I'd keep Alyse or Elyse. Or Elise. Not Aleece.

It's a beautiful name. Whatever happened to a correct spelling? People will assume you can't spell.

Frankly, unless it is a very common name, it may get mispronounced by teachers and such.... (I've been a substitute teacher for many years, and have mispronounced many names, and then apologized for it....)

Look at my name.... I've dealt with that all my life! To top it off, my maiden name is also very unusual, and was never pronounced correctly.... (Weide ... german.... you pronounce the I as a long I, and also pronounce the E at the end... Wi- dee.... two syllables... ALWAYS mispronounced!)

If you give your child a common name, they may wish it were more unusual.....

Give her the name you both like... don't worry about it! I would go with either Alyse or Elise...... don't try to confuse the issue with a more different spelling. It is a very pretty name!

PS.... when I see Aleece, I think "Alec".... my mind just drops the second E as redundant and unnecessary.... (I also just finished watching "The Black Stallion" with a 6th grade language arts class, and the boy's name was Alec.)

To me Aleece looks like a typo. Like you hit the e key one too many times
When I read Alyse I did not read it as Alice.
I read it how it's supposed to be pronounced.
I like the Elise or the Alyse spelling , but then my son is Jayson, not Jason .Because I didn't want him to have a common name, spelled like everyone else. But now of course that he's 7 I can't find anything with his name on it lol. No cups , key chains etc. The alternate spelling thing came back to bite me in the butt.

Typically, we see Elyse - not Alyse - which would, in my opinion, cause the difference.

We have two friends who have named their daughter's Elyse...both are pronounced 'Ah-leece' not E-leese.

If I were to read a 'ee' - i would NOT cut it short to sound like a short "e". So if were to read the name Aleece, I would say A-leece and think the parents are trying to give their kid a unique looking name....

We spelled our daughter's name differently - Elayne - and there has never been confusion about pronouncing her name.

If you can't agree on the spelling go for another name that isn't causing so many problems for you...put names in a jar that you like and that he likes - shake it up and pick from there - first and middle - I've had several friends do that!

And tell your husband no, she won't get used to it - she will get annoyed and end up resenting her name most likely. If she doesn't get annoyed she may end up rolling her eyes when someone pronounces her name wrong and she'll get to the point where she's tired of correcting people and just let it go...who knows what she will do!! I can't foretell the future for you!!

CONGRATULATIONS on your new addition!!

I would pronounce Aleece as Aleece, good grief, any normal, half literate person would. People in a hurry and that don't really have a respect for name spelling would be the only offenders, and you can't fix those types anyway.
Alyse is pretty, but it would be questionable. If I saw someone with a name tag and that spelling I would ask for the pronunciation. I do that often before letting them know their name or spelling is unique.
Alise would be the other spelling of Aleece. That's how a family friend has hers spelled. You could also spell it A. Lease to remove all doubt :)

I would say "Ah-leece" when reading Alyse and I would wonder why someone would spell out Aleece. That just looks silly!
Listen, my name is L.. It's not hard. I STILL get people that say my name wrong or spell it wrong. It's just gonna happen. So may people these days are spelling their kid's names so funky that Alyse would look just fine. She may have to correct people but she would even if her name was Sarah (Sara, Searah)!
L.

I would not say Alice if I saw Aleece, but I would think that it was a really weird way to spell a name.

How about Elyse? I have seen this name many, many times and have never heard it pronounced Elsie or Alice or anything other than uh-LEECE, which I believe is what you want.

I think Alyse is a better spelling.

People are going to mispronounce that name, no matter how you spell it. So spell it the prettiest way (Alyse), not the phonetic way (Aleece).

I like the Alyse spelling. It's pretty. I would never have thought to pronounce it Alice. Alice is Alice, so common that I would think that it would be rare for Alyse to be thought of as Alice.

My name is unusual. More so when I was in school. I was well into adulthood before I saw a similar name. My last name is unusual too. I've never, even as a child, been upset about telling people how to pronounce it. And I've been pleased to have an unusual name. Sort of sets me apart from the masses. lol

Cindy is a nice name. :p

Seriously the only normal way I have seen it spelled is Elise. Every name is going to be misspelled or mispronounced so why put so much worry into something you cannot control?

It looks like you are reading blogs and such to get all this info. Understand that those that go on there bitching that no one spells the name right or pronounces it right are people so sensitive that they feel like posting on a board how irritated they are with people's inability to understand that Doronotio should be pronounced the same as Dorothy because you drop the whatever letters, well duh! *headdesk*

So in the end if you are a sensitive type that believes that everyone should intuitively know exactly what you are going for, should never misspell than keep with this quest. If you are a normal person, which I am sure you are then stop worrying about nothing and spell it like you want.

I mean my youngest is Genevieve but we shorten it to Genna. Would you believe that everyone who doesn't know she is a Genevieve spells it Jenna? Doesn't bother anyone in the least, ya know? Oh since reading your what happened, I think by the time Genna was five she would politely say it is short for Genevieve so we spell it with a G. No fuss no muss, she loves her name. :)

I have a very common "no brainer name" and it still is gotten wrong many many times. I am use to seeing it as Elise...but I think alyse is a beautiful way to spell it.

It makes no difference. My first name is C....wonderful, clear, right ~ WRONG! I can't tell you how many people say, "It was nice to meet you Clara".

Elsa gets called Elisa. Carolyn gets called Caroline or vice-versa. Sierra gets called Sienna or Sahara - really?

You just have to correct people and they will learn to get it right.

My daughter's middle name is Elyse and we LOVE it!

I've seen both Alyse and Elise, would never mistake them for anything else. Aleece just looks odd to me.

I vote for Elise because I absolutely LOVE the Beethoven song Für Elise! Here's one version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mVW8tgGY_w

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Enjoy! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

You could always name her N.. ;) No one has ever mispronounced my name and the only problem I've ever run into has been a random misspelling where someone thought to throw an h in there somewhere (Nichole) as well as every so often a friend will call me "Nikky" for short.

I read it as Ah-leece when you spelled out Alyse as well as Aleece. I think you'd be fine either way.

if people mispronouncing things makes you nut up, pick a no-debate name like jane or mary. if you love the name alyse, use it and resign yourself to the fact that you might have to gently correct people now and then.
it's really no big deal.
there's nothing you can do to forestall it happening sometimes.
khairete
S.

I would not...and I would think "alice" when seeing Alyse ( I like that spelling better...not that my opinion really matters!! lol)
I will tell you that so many people have trouble pronouncing the most common names that worrying about people having issues with a name is going to be a whole lot of headaches for you!!
My oldest daughter is named Dionna (Dee On Aaa) and her name was pronounced so many different ways when she was growing up that it got to be a joke!! She had folks call her Dee Dee for years...it was just easier...now she is back to Dionna...
Just pick a name that you and your husband both love and that seems to fit your little girl!!!

Personally I prefer the spelling of Elise and really don't care for Aleece. When I read Alyse I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be Alice or Ah-leece. I do agree with your husband that she'll get used to it when people get it wrong. My name is K.. Seems pretty forthright to me but people don't pay attention to others names. I get Christian, Christine, Crystal, Katherine and all kinds of names. My sister is Regina and gets Re-gyna (as in rhymes with vagina) a lot. Pick the one you guys like and just prepare yourselves. People are idiots and you can't help that. BTW - I think Alyse is a beautiful name. It was one that we considered. Don't change it!!!!

My daughters middle name is Elise. And most Elise's that I know pronounce it the way want. My daughter also has an Elisia in her class. They pronounce it uh lees ee ah. I think more people would confuse alyse.

All that being said people can confuse any name...so don't get to hung up on that.

Elise, Alyse and ALice are all different names. Many people have called me Leah a name I absolutely hate. I just say L. (Laya). I always warn people not to reverse the a and e on important things like my passport.
In Europe my name is well known. Depending on the country people spell it Lea, Leja, Leia, so don't make it too easy for people. Spell it a traditional way and your daughter will live easier with it. Aleece will cause her to spell it every since time.

Elise is the traditional way to spell the name, so I would think you'd have the fewest problems with pronunciation with that spelling.

The "Elise/Elsie" thing would never occur to me. That's just people being in too much of a hurry to look at a name closely, and that can happen with ANY name.

if someone gets the name incorrect just correct them that's what i do. people mispronounce my name all the time, no shade just a common mistake with any name spell it how you like it, because it's your baby. and when she gets older she will tell them to "my name is not Alice it's Alyse"

I think Alyse is a very cute spelling,,,,,,any time you give your child a "different" name people will not say it correctly.
We have Israel and Emmanuel which are pretty much a no brainers, well our little lady is Selah(Say-la) and we have to correct it all the time .....we do not mind though since we love he name:)

This name... is known to be a very confusing name... and all throughout her life... she or you as the parents, will need to tell people how to pronounce it.

Some people even pronounce that name as "ah-lys-ah."
Or as "Ah-lys." treating it as a silent "e" ending.

Both my kids, have unusual names. It is not phonetic. And my maiden and married names, are unusual as well. And not phonetic at all.
But it really is fine.

I like, Elise.

I may be a little late here but Elise, is Elise, Alice is Alice, I had a little girl I had 2 girls with the name Elise at the same time in my daycare both spelled Elise, and it never got mistaken for any other name. My daughtetr's middle is Ranae, normally spelled Renee, for me Renee sells
ReKnee. J.

I think Elise is more likely to be pronounced the way you want it to be. I like that too. Either way, you may have to correct people and that's just how it is with names that aren't the common ones and even then I hear them said wrong at times. Name her what you want and then just tell people over and over.....My name is the same. It's always 'Susan' even when I pronounce it for them they look at me and say "Susan". I have nothing against the name Susan but it's not my name. :-)

Okay, my youngest daughter's name is Alice, but it's pronounced Alice.

I know a few Ah-Leece babies. Aleece wouldn't confuse ME...but it looks ugly. It's fleece with one letter missing. Don't spell it that way.

Hispace people will pronounce it "Ah-leece" even if you spell in Alice. :) My child gets called "Ah-leece" at church.

Aleyse? Allese? Alese?

Good luck! :)

I read Alyse as Ah-leece. To me it seems like a no brainer. They "Y" sound is the long vowel. I think most people will get it right.

I like the E version better. I have seen Alice spelled as Alyce, but have never confused Alyse with Alice.

You could also go way out there with Ellyse. The double L might help curb confusion.

My daughter is Elysa (pronounced E-lyssa, like most Alyssa's) She gets the Elise thing all the time, but its not that big of a deal and she is starting to correct them at 3yrs old. She is not the typical Alyssa so its nice that she is unique. I like your name choice and I wish you luck :)

Love the name!!!! My daugther and I share the middle name and we spell it Elyce.

I prefer the phonetic spelling. Ah-leece and the following, Alese, Alece, Aliece. I would keep it simple and go with the popular spelling, or something like the above Alese.

Alyse and Alice are the same name. That's just onomastically accurate so you can't "decide" to change the pronunciation.

If you want Ah-leese or Uh-leese then you need to go with Alise. Aleece just appears as if you don't understand phonetics, so it looks really uneducated. It's also not nearly as pretty or nice-looking as Alise.

Personally, I like to stick with the traditional spellings. Thus, I would go with Alyse.

Yes, it can get really annoying and aggravating sometimes when people say or spell it incorrectly. However, it happens with many names. My name is Christine, but I usually go by Chris. Seems pretty simple right??? I have been called Christy, Christin, and Christina, and I get people wanting to spell it Khris, Kris, Cris.

I would read Aleece as Elise. I love that name and think if you like the spelling with the "E" the best, go with it. People may get it wrong at first, but once you correct them, they'll get it. My son was going to be Jillian Elise if he was a girl. :) You'll love having a girl!

I would just use the name Elise. If you need to play around with a name to come up with a spelling that looks like how it's pronounced and then have it look funny (Aleece), why not just use the traditional spelling. Alyse was certainly a variation of the classic Elise. Most of the time, a name is spoken and not written, so a fancy or creative spelling isn't necessarily a good idea

I would not say Alice if I saw Aleece. I'm not sure though how I would pronounce it. Years ago my aunt named my cousin Leesa when most were spelling it Lisa. It was a very popular girl's name back then and Lisa was so common. People didn't "play" with the spelling too much. However, my cousin liked it that way and she liked having her name spelled differently.

Aleece rhymes with fleece so by looking at the name spelled this way, I just might be able to come up with the correct pronunciation if I just saw the name on paper. How about Aleese or Aleesa? Just more possibilities.

There are 5 girls with the spelling Elise at my kids' school. (I just looked it up in our directory.) I know 3 of the girls pronounce it so it sounds like...
Ah-leece. Another mom does not pronounce it that way. The way you say Elise to that girl is like this.... A- Liza.

Then there's a second grade girl whose name is Elise (Ah-Leece). However.... the spelling she goes by is Ellyse and many call her Elly for short even her parents do. I like that spelling!

No. I like the spelling Alyse or Elise. We have an Elise in our family for a middle name and it is pronounced Ah-leece.

Good luck! I remember having these discussions esp. when we had to come up with names for our twin girls. Oh man, we went round and round!!

Elise is very much pronounced "E Leese". It is different then the name you are trying for.

I think regardless of the name you pick, someone is going to mispronounce or misspell it at one point or another. Here are just some examples from my personal experiences:

My son's name is Michael and was called Mikey when he was younger. His own grandmother bought him something personalized as "Mickey" when he was young (and she wasn't the only one...others would see it written as MIKEY and still pronounce as MICKEY. His last name is GOLT and we get everything (Colt, Gold, Gott, Goff, Golf, and Gulf).

My daughter's name is Cheyenne and even close family members spell it wrong (even though we used the most traditional, and in our opinion normal, spelling).

My first name is L.. I get that some may spell is with an E on the end but people often think it is short for Linda or Lynda. Others spell it as Line (that really happens). My last name is Madden and people pronounce it MAIDEN all the time....really????!

Pick your name, try to go with a normal spelling for the normal people out there and then be prepared to correct the rest.

how about Elyce or Elise?

so funny, we went through this same thing and decided against Elise for this reason!

Growing up one of my closest friends was Allyse (Uh- leese) and I don't remember her ever having a problem with misprounouncing it. We were friends all through middle and high school and had many classes together. No one ever messed it up as far as I know.

Personally I think Aleece looks strange. :) I like Alyse, Allyse, or Elise. But with Elise I would probably think EE- lease. The name Elisa is relatively common around here and it's Ee- lease-uh.

Try not to overthink it and get discouraged. Pick a name you guys love and stick with it. :)

ELYSE ! Thats how you spell it , lol But if you think Aleece is Alice you can't read well, :p . I gave my daughter a name tht no one can get right and its annoying however i can definitely understand bc her name is Jaleah. (JUH LEE UH) But people heard Julia which i totally get and want to say a bunch of crazy things when they see it :/ . I think Elyse is simple and straight to the point. The other spellings CN get kind of tricky ,. I know you already did your "SO WHAT HAPPENED" but i wanted to respond :p

Elise/Elyse is how I would expect the name to be spelled.

it doesnt matter what you name her at least once in her life someone will say her name wrong. my name is susan, i still get it being pronounced, "suzanne" all the time.....there have also been several time people called me "sarah"...either way you spell it someone will say it wrong. and it is not like it is going to cause her harm.

No, I'd say Aleece but Alyse is much nicer.

I think the most common way of spelling it to get the pronunciation of Uh-lease would be: Elise. I also think you could do Elyse with the same effect. Jessica's suggestion of Alise would also work. My daughter's name is Annalise, and it's pronounced: A nah lease, just like I want it to be. When I met my husband told me he loved the name Elise. I told him I loved the name Annalise and he said, oh, even better. We had no trouble choosing a girl's name. We had all kinds of arguments over boys names though.

I'd go with Elise, definitely. People will butcher any name. My best friend growing up was (still is) named Rachel, and I swear, every third person would call her Rebecca. Because, I don't know, they saw the letter R and then spaced out or something. So no matter what, someone is going to get her name wrong. But Elise is SUPPOSED to be pronounced A-lease, and I think a much higher percentage of people will get her name right if you go with the traditional spelling. With Alyse, for me, it'd be a three-way tie between Elise, Alice, and A-Lice. Aleece would look misspelled to me, though I'd probably pronounce it right. But, I don't know, I just think Elise is prettier and more classic by far.

I like the name "elise" best, and to me it looks like the right pronunciation. What about Ellise? 2 "L"s...

That said, i don't think any name is foolproof. My eldest's name is rhiannon... and she is called Briana, Rihanna, Briannon, Rhiann..... oh well. Our second is named Zoie- - and I cant tell you how many times she is called Zory, or Zow? I thought that namy would be easy-peasy! My name, M., gets mispronounced MEEgan, Morgan, and people can resist "nicknaming" me "meg" or "megs" or even "Maggie" or "Meg-pie"

ugh... pick a name you love, and a spelling that makes sense, but looks nice as well... and then don't frett... if you name her "Elise"- you are not saddling her with a difficult name.

PS: I would pronounce "Alyse" : AL-ISE rather than Ah-leese. Allise would be how I (personally) would imagine that name to be spelled.

Good Luck
-M.