South Australian parents changing the spelling of popular names for their newborns Westminster School students show some of the varied spellings of their names. Picture: CALUM ROBERTSON Source: The Advertiser IS IT Ruby, Rubie or Ruby-Tuesday? Data from the Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages shows South Australian parents were not afraid to break with tradition by changing the spelling of popular names for their newborns. It recorded 11 variations of Ruby, including the hyphenated options Ruby-Tuesday and Ruby-Feather, among children born last year. Parents also spelt Lachlan six different ways, including Lochlan and Locklan. Versions of Lily included Lillee and Lilli, Summer was also spelt Summa and Summah and Isaac became Izzac and Izak. Social researcher David Chalke said many parents altered names to make their child stand out. "We want to make our children individual and unique and this is one way of doing so," he said. There's also an element of the Hollywood fantasy - we're echoing what celebrities do - as well as the fact that these days we tend to spell words any old way. Family psychologist Justin Coulson said people had become more accepting of unusual names and unusual spellings. "I know that 10 or 20 years ago it wasn't that accepted, that people would question why you went for a particular spelling, but that doesn't seem to happen as much any more," he said. I don't know of any research on the topic, but I do know when you look at some of the more strange names out there, if you decide on one of those, in some circumstances it could cause problems in the schoolyard. And in terms of the spelling, I would just say to parents to remember that, again in some cases, the child might have the hassle of having to explain their name almost every day of their lives. Adelaide mother Kylie Sims decided to spell her 11-year-old daughter's name Ashlee because it was unique and easy to sound out and spell. "Sometimes names can get quite long and I wanted something short and sweet but still unique," she said. Ms Sims opted for more traditional spellings of her other two children's names, Emma and Lachlan.