We all know certain names that people struggle with spelling because the name sounds unfamiliar to us or there are numerous spellings for that name. For example, there's Katelyn, Kaityln, Caitlyn, Caitlin and so on.
For me, I was always relieved that my name was Rita. Two syllables and common but not too common. Rita is also spelled one way so I always thought it was pretty straightforward and easy to spell, right? Wrong.
I've learned that my name is quite difficult to spell.
First, there was "Rida".
"Okay," I thought to myself, "Rida" isn't that bad because the "t" in America sometimes is pronounced like a "d" (like in duty) but then the trend of misspelling "Rita" continued…
"Ah," I sighed. This time they got the "t" right but there is an "e" instead of an "i"…well, I guess if you sound out "Rita" it sounds like "Reeta"
And I guess that's what happened next:
And so the spelling "Reeta" was born. I tried accepting it because if you sound out "Rita" is does sound like "Reeta" but things just went even more downhill.
"Reeda" was born. I certainly got the best of both misspellings with this gem.
Following "Reeda" was "Ria". Perhaps they were unsure whether or not to put a "t" or a "d" so they put neither. The world may never know.
Finally, there was one more….
Maria, well at least that rhymes with Rita and um "Ria," right?
The moral of the story for me was never assume. Don't assume that your name is easy to spell because while Rita seems like it would be easy to spell for me, it isn't easy to spell for everyone. I thought that Rita was a pretty common or known name but come to think of it, I don't know another Rita. My name does not always get spelled wrong but when it does; I certainly do get a good laugh out of it.
