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I find Persephanie really unattractive and struggle to see how it's easier to pronounce.

I agree with pretty much everything that's been posted already - just use Persephone. It's not a huge deal to correct someone when they get it wrong (trust me, between going by my difficult first name and middle name I know). If they keep mispronouncing it, well, that's their problem.

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I'm not a fan of altered/dumbed down/kre8ive spellings, and Persephone has been a favorite of mine for more than 10 years, so I feel a bit strongly about it :)

Persephone. It looks better and it has more history. I don't think Persephone is too difficult-- most people have heard of Persephone and Demeter, so it isn't something very obscure.
Also, Persephanie makes me think of Stephanie, which almost gives it an 80's-trendy feel.

No way, it looks really wrong that way. Also it looks like you tried to cross Persephone with Stephanie. And I doubt most people would pronounce it wrong.

Persephone definitely looks the best. I think that if people can pronounce Phoebe, Penelope, Zoe, Chloe, etc., then they shouldn't have too much trouble saying Persephone. If I saw Persephanie in real life, I would think the parents were very uneducated. Maybe it's just my education system, but I remember learning all about Greek mythology when I was about 10 years old. To me, Persephone is one of those names you "just know" how to pronounce.

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Anyway, Persephone is a simply gorgeous name. It has such a beautiful sound.

If I saw "Persephanie", I'd probably assume that her parents had just heard the name somewhere and liked it, but guessed at the spelling. And might be totally surprised if they were told that it was from Greek Mythology.

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I used to lie about my name when I went to Panera and I told the girl my name was Persephone. She put Perstephanie on my receipt. Hahaha.

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But yeah I'd really just stick with Persephone. Persephanie is unattractive imo.

If people are numbskulled enough to say Persephone as purse a phone, they'll say Persephanie as purse a fanny anyway. Anyway, if I were stuck with either name, I'd prefer to correct someone's incorrect pronunciation than to "correct" someone's correct spelling. I'm used to seeing Persephone, so I can't believe Persephanie looks better. Even though I think the -anie by itself is prettier than the -one by itself, the whole -anie name just looks dumbed down to me.

This message was edited 10/6/2011, 7:09 PM

Changing the spelling to make it easier to pronounce at the price of my retinas. I prefer Persephone as a result as the other spelling hurts my eyes.

I'd stick with the original-it looks a lot better. So what if you had to correct people-they'd learn soon enough. Even though I'm embarassed to admit it, once upon a time I thought Persephone was pronounced "purse-a-phone". :P

Stick with Persephone. There are enough people who are familiar with this name that pronunciation shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'd rather deal with having to correct misspellings and mispronunciations than change the spelling to Persephanie, which cheapens the name.

There's no need to use a phonetic spelling of Persephone. Anyone who doesn't get it the first time can easily get it when explained. It's not that different than Penelope or Hermione.

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Personally I strongly dislike phonetic spellings in general. They always seem as if the parents either are illiterate or think that I am. I know you are not. But your dd won't have the benefit of this post / thread to explain how her parents came up with such an unorthodox spelling. Let people learn something. It won't hurt them.

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There are a few phonetic variants that don't bother me, especially for Irish / Gaelic names. But even then I only like those phonetic variants with a strong history behind them. Afterall, they came into existence before the internet and the age of information. It makes sense to me that an English person in the 17th century might turn Maire into Maura or Moira, or Diarmuid into Dermot, etc. But I have much less patience with modern, random, individualized takes on spellings. I'm persnickety that way.

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I realize you are trying to make things easier for your child and the rest of us, and I give you credit for that. I just don't think Persephone is so "out there" that people can't catch on. :-)

Stick with Persephone, it looks silly spelled the other way (no offense), its a pretty name choice though!