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thanks!
I've been waiting for this post =)Would it be convenient for you to also list what spellings were combined for each name?- mirfak
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I'm not sure I have time to do that for the entire list I posted. Remember that I can only add in things that were among the top 1000 on the SSA list. But for the top ten girls' names on my list, here are the other spellings I added in: Sophia: SofiaIsabella: Isabela, IzabellaEmily: Emely, Emilee, Emilie, EmmaleeMadison: Maddison, Madisyn, MadysonEmma: noneAva: AvahOlivia: none for original figure; for exception Alivia & AlyviaAbigail: Abagail, Abbigail, AbigayleHailey: Hailee, Hailie, Haleigh, Haley, Haylee, Hayley, HaylieMadeline: Madalyn, Madalynn, Madeleine, Madelyn, Madelynn, Madilyn, Madilynn
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I did this exercise as well - I love to do it every year. I also combined Madeline with all the other variants, sparking some discussion on my board as to the pronunciation in the US of Madeline.Do you also put Caroline and Carolyn together?
Do you put Devon in with Devin? How about Miya - Mia or Maya? And what of Ciara - do you figure Americans are saying it like Kiera or Sierra? :)I did throw in Alivia and Alyvia with Olivia. I think the intention of those namers is clear!
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I do not combine Caroline and Carolyn, because I think most Americans do pronounce them differently. However, in my experience most Americans do use the "lynn" pronunciation for the last syllable of Madeline. I put Devon in with Devin because I think that's what the majority do, even though I know many African-Americans will pronounce Devon as "deh-VON". the -iya and -iyah names are hard at the moment. I personally put Miya with Mia, and Miah with Maya, and hope that evens things out. :)I keep Ciara separate from both Sierra and Kiera, because I think that's one where it's impossible to estimate how many should go where. I also keep Kyra separate from Kiera, because in my experience most Kyras have pronounced their names with the "eye" sound in the first syllable, in spite of the opposite example of Kyra Sedgwick. As I said already, I don't throw in Alivia and Alivya with Olivia, but a provide a note about that at the top of my list explaining what the result would be if you combined those.
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