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The probably isn’t a single given explanation for this, but I’m curious. How did the spellings Caleigh / Kaleigh of Kaylee / Kayleigh come about? Specifically, the Ca-/Ka- beginning as opposed to Kay-/Cay-, Cae-/Kae-, Kai-/Cai-, etc. I ask because I find it a bit of an odd jump to have Ka-/Ca- make the “kay” sound. It makes sense visually in Kaley / Caley, since in english the -le of “ale” indicates that the “a” is pronounced like “ay”, but this instinct doesn’t really carry over the same for the -leigh particle. And yet, for some reason these spellings Kaleigh/Caleigh just “look right” to my native English brain. It baffles me, though, because I can’t think of spellings similar to these that have the same mix of features, namely the “al-“ without being “aley” or some other pattern that mimics other widely known English words or names. What is it about the English language or English-language names that makes these spellings work so well? What made them popular spellings, especially when compared to Kaley / Kalie / Kalee / any other counterpart that starts with Kal-/Cal- ? Anyone have any insights?

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Edit: I’ve realized that possibly Raleigh may have influenced the spelling, but my question about why this works for Kaleigh/Caleigh still stands since Raleigh has the “al” part pronounced differently than in Kaleigh/Caleigh. Does anyone know if Raleigh has had any influence on the Kaleigh/Caleigh spellings?

This message was edited 1/13/2025, 1:55 PM