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Can the letter "y" be used to represent the "ee" sound in the middle of a name, like it is at the end of baby, lady or Lacy.

What I mean is, is it okay to spell Khaleesi as Khalysi etc.

tchrist
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    Many Americans have a creative approach to spelling where first names are concerned. I'd say go for it, but people will still ask how to pronounce and spell the name – Mari-Lou A Oct 01 '18 at 10:30
  • Americans like to stick Y in the names of their baby girls. Instead of Lidia they may write Lydia. Instead of Carol they may write Caryl. But the pronunciation stays the same as the original. – GEdgar Oct 01 '18 at 10:43
  • Just about anything is okay with given names. 2. It may not be fair, though, to confound people about how to pronounce the name. @GEdgar Non-natives speakers may not pronounce "Lidia" and "Lydia" alike even if they are meant to be.
    • – Kris Oct 01 '18 at 11:19
  • If the question is broadened to include any word in the English language, that would be very interesting (and more appropriate here on ELU). – Kris Oct 01 '18 at 11:20
  • /ˈsɪmɪtri/; /əˈbɪs/; /əˈsɛtɪliːn/; /kəˈlɪpsəʊ/; /krɪpt/; ... – Kris Oct 01 '18 at 11:33
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    'Lydia' is the standard spelling, but the 'y' is pronounced like 'i' in 'pin' rather than 'ee'. (I would pronounce 'baby' and 'lady' like that too.) – Kate Bunting Oct 01 '18 at 16:08
  • Kate Bunting I appreciate your reply however in the International Phonetic Alphabet the word 'pin' is transcribed as 'pɪn' whilst the word 'baby' is transcribed as 'ˈbeɪbi'. The IPA 'ɪ' is pronounced as the 'i' (pin, hit etc.) whilst the IPA 'i' is pronounced as 'ee' (baby, green etc.). My question is are there any rules against representing the IPA 'i' with a 'y' in the middle of a name? –  Oct 02 '18 at 14:32
  • @DickBrown The y in baby is most commonly nowadays written /ɨ/ (or as /ɪ/ with a crossbar, which I can’t write on my phone) precisely because its quality varies between speakers: some pronounce it /ɪ/ like in pin, others pronounce it /i/. Note that the latter is not the same sound as in green; that’s long /iː/. The baby sound is short. For those that pronounce it /i/, it is a unique phone which doesn’t exist anywhere else in the language except word-finally. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Oct 06 '18 at 06:28
  • @JanusBahsJacquet: In my experience, /ɨ/ is typically used to represent a vowel that can be /ɪ/ or /ə/ (as in the second syllable of competent, or the last syllable of civil) rather than a vowel that can be /iː/ or /ɪ/. And I don't think it's common to analyze /i/ (the "happy" vowel) as a unique phone. See my post on ELL SE: https://ell.stackexchange.com/a/100787/18197 – herisson Oct 06 '18 at 07:32
  • @sumelic You’re absolutely right, of course. I shouldn’t be posting at 7:30 in the morning; I’m clearly not awake at that time. It is fairly common, though, to write [i] for the baby sound and [iː] for the green sound, which does make them different phones. Like the /ɪ ə/ variation, this is an /ɪ i/ variation which I don’t think exists anywhere else. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Oct 06 '18 at 07:44
  • Spelling Khaleesi as Khalysi seems pretty innocuous compared to spelling Fanshaw as Featherstonehaugh, Beecham as Beauchamp, or Cane as Kean. – Peter Shor Oct 25 '18 at 15:50