History Main / HollywoodSpelling

* Used as a plot point in ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'', where the heroines are named Katherine and Catherine (and Qatherine in the UpdatedReRelease). To preserve the mystery of which one they're talking about, the voice acting will say the name -atherine out loud, but the subtitles will substitute 'she' or 'her'.

** Greatly complicated by the fact that Light's name is GratuitousEnglish instead of a standard Japanese name.[[note]]These kinds are usually referred to as "Kira-kira" names, so called because of the obtuse ways the characters are connected to the pronounciation: a name with the spelling of "人" (man), for example, might be pronounced "Adam" due to the Biblical figure being the first man.[[/note]]

In television and movies, due in part to TheLawOfConservationOfDetail, no matter how many ways to spell a name there are, the person in question will ''always'' spell it correctly, first try, even if only told the name over a telephone or even a bad radio transmission. This includes slang words, given names, surnames, chemical names, astronomical names... there is never a need for a spell-[[JustForPun chequer]] in Hollywood.

* Used as a plot point in Creator/AgathaChristie's ''The Secret Adversary'', featuring Literature/TommyAndTuppence. A note allegedly written by Tuppence is shown clearly to be a forgery when her name is misspelled "Twopence". Not only that, but Tommy is able to identify the novel's culprit based on the misspelling, because one of the two main suspects had seen Tuppence's name written down while the other hadn't.
** Note to non-Brits or to younger British readers: "twopence" is pronounced in the same way as "tuppence", especially when it refers to UsefulNotes/OldBritishMoney. "Tuppence" is an informal spelling imitating the pronunciation. Someone hearing the name of the heroine but not knowing how it was spelled might very well think it is spelled "Twopence".

This trope is less of an issue in languages that have spelling systems that provide less ambiguity than English, but may still manifest itself to some degree. Especially in Japanese, [[AlternateCharacterReading which has an entire trope dedicated to alternate spellings.]]

* Used as a plot point in the video game ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll''. In the first case of the game, a key piece of evidence is a message scrawled on the ground, apparently by a murder victim. The message is the word "Maggie", and the prosecution claims he was identifying his killer as his girlfriend. Phoenix realizes the message was not written by the victim, as the accused spells her name ''Maggey'', and if anyone knew how she spelled her name it would be her boyfriend.

* ''Literature/AdrianMole'': In ''Cappuccino Years'', one of the staff at the restaurant asks Adrian what to name the cat. Out loud, Adrian suggests "Humphrey"; and the member of staff buys an engraved cat collar, spelled "Humfri".

* Averted in ''Film/MysteryDate'' where a man trying to name [[spoiler:Craig [=McHugh=]]] as his killer instead scrawls [[spoiler:[=McQ=]]].

* In the Creator/{{Syfy}} [[Film/SyfyOriginalMovie original movie]] ''Scream of the Banshee'', two characters watch a video clip of a man who mutters something that sounds like "bean see." One of them jokes that it might be Spanish for "beans, yes" but the other promptly types it into a search engine and - in about two seconds - informs him that it's Gaelic for "banshee." The problem with this is that the "see" part of that Gaelic term is spelled "sidhe", and "bean sidhe" is in any case pronounced "banshee". There's no way she could have Googled it that quickly (if at all) if she didn't already know that.

Many given names and surnames can also be legitimately spelled in various ways (Claire, Clare, Clair...) and are seldom disambiguated. The situation gets especially JustForFun/{{egregious}} when the name is an example of PsmithPsyndrome or MyNaymeIs...

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Averted in ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', where Fuchsia spells and says [[BadassBookworm Criminy's]] name "Crimnee".
[[/folder]]

This trope is less of an issue in most languages other than English due to them having spelling systems that provide far less ambiguity, but may still manifest itself to some degree. Especially in Japanese, [[AlternateCharacterReading which has an entire trope dedicated to alternate spellings.]]

* George Stobbart of ''VideoGame/BrokenSword'' is fond of introducing himself as "[[BondJamesBond Stobbart - George Stobbart]]. That's two b's, and two t's". This tends to just confuse people, as while there ''are'' two t's, they're non-consecutive.

No, not Creator/{{Aaron|Spelling}}. Or Tori.

** Note to non-Brits or to younger British readers: "twopence" is pronounced in the same way as "tuppence", especially when it refers to "old" (pre-[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimalisation decimalisation]]) money. "Tuppence" is an informal spelling imitating the pronunciation. Someone hearing the name of the heroine but not knowing how it was spelled might very well think it is spelled "Twopence".

* Averted, [[RealityEnsues of course]], in an episode of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', when Chip and Wayne sing a song for an audience member named "Derek" (or some spelling thereof). As they're doing the song in the style of Music/TheVillagePeople, they decide to make it a SpellingSong, ''a la'' "YMCA". It is only after they get to "D-E-R" that they have a brief "OhCrap" moment when they abruptly realize that they don't know which way to spell his name. They settle for "Derrick".

* Used as a plot point in the video game ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll''. In the first case of the game, a key piece of evidence is a message scrawled on the ground, apparently by a murder victim. The message is the word "Maggie", and the prosecution claims he was identifying his killer as his girlfriend. Phoenix realizes the message was not written by the victim, as the accused spells her name ''Maggey'', and if anyone knew how she spelled her name it would be her boyfriend.
** Used the exact same way in the first case of ''VideoGame/LaytonBrothersMysteryRoom''; here with the victim's lover is named "Felps" and the killer plants a clue framing "Phelps".

* In ''Literature/MemoirsOfAGeisha'', the main character notices someone spells her name wrong, but doesn't correct him.

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Averted a few times in ''Manga/DeathNote'' because it's relevant to the plot and because Japanese contains a very high number of homophones. When Misa learns the kanji of Light's name, she spends much time wondering how it is pronounced.
** Greatly complicated by the fact that Light's name is GratuitousEnglish instead of a standard Japanese name.[[note]]These kinds are usually referred to as "Kira-kira" names, so called because of the obtuse ways the characters are connected to the pronounciation: a name with the spelling of "人" (man), for example, might be pronounced "Adam" due to the Biblical figure being the first man.[[/note]]
** A rule of the Death Note is that, if you misspell a victim's name four times, they become immune to that Note. Light does most of his work by looking up his victim's names on the Internet; when he's testing the Note near the beginning on an asshole biker, he writes six different spellings of the guy's name just to make sure (his first one's correct, funny enough).

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Averted in the second issue of ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool'': Cable phones Irene, a friend of his on the Daily Bugle, and asks her to look up three would-be anarchists with complicated names.
-->''Spell those.''\\
''You're on your own.''

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Averted in [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11971675/1/Broken-Glass this]] ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' fanfiction, where Dr. Cain tells X about a new Reploid named Colonel. X thinks his name is Kernel at first, and his dialogue uses that spelling.

[[folder:Film — Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'', when Zak starts to carve Crysta's name in a tree trunk, he somehow knows to spell it "Crysta" rather than "Crista", "Krista" or any other variation, despite never having seen it written.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* Inverted in ''Film/BillAndTed'', when UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln clarifies to a cop how his surname is spelled. Whilst in full '[[YourCostumeNeedsWork Abraham Lincoln costume]]'.
* ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'' averts this with a telephone call to a hotel asking if they have a "John Michael Kane" staying there, and then specifying "[[NameOfCain Kane with a 'K']]".
* There's a scene at the end of the film ''Film/TheCowboys'', where a man is being commissioned to make a gravestone. Despite never asking, he somehow knows how the name on the stone should be spelled (it's a fairly common name, spelled in an unusual way).
* ''Film/KissKissBangBang'' averts this when Perry briefs Harry on their assignment giving the name of his client as "Allison Ames, A-M-E-S".
* Averted in ''Film/MysteryDate'' where a man trying to name [[spoiler:Craig [=McHugh=]]] as his killer instead scrawls [[spoiler:[=McQ=]]].
* In the Creator/{{Syfy}} [[Film/SyfyOriginalMovie original movie]] ''Scream of the Banshee'', two characters watch a video clip of a man who mutters something that sounds like "bean see." One of them jokes that it might be Spanish for "beans, yes" but the other promptly types it into a search engine and - in about two seconds - informs him that it's Gaelic for "banshee." The problem with this is that the "see" part of that Gaelic term is spelled "sidhe", and "bean sidhe" is in any case pronounced "banshee". There's no way she could have Googled it that quickly (if at all) if she didn't already know that.

[[folder:Literature]]
* The English translation of the novel [[Literature/TheRing Rasen]] lampshades this as a plot point: Ando unconsciously writes down the kanji for "Asakawa", and Mai realises that she's never learned to spell the name.
* Used as a plot point in Creator/AgathaChristie's ''The Secret Adversary'', featuring Literature/TommyAndTuppence. A note allegedly written by Tuppence is shown clearly to be a forgery when her name is misspelled "Twopence". Not only that, but Tommy is able to identify the novel's culprit based on the misspelling, because one of the two main suspects had seen Tuppence's name written down while the other hadn't.
** Note to non-Brits or to younger British readers: "twopence" is pronounced in the same way as "tuppence", especially when it refers to "old" (pre-[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimalisation decimalisation]]) money. "Tuppence" is an informal spelling imitating the pronunciation. Someone hearing the name of the heroine but not knowing how it was spelled might very well think it is spelled "Twopence".
* Averted in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheGreenMile'', where John Coffey, whenever having to tell his name, always clarifies that it's not spelled "like the drink".
* Averted in Creator/LMMontgomery's ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' series. Anne often introduces herself as "Anne Shirley. Anne--spelled with an E", to ward off those who would misspell it.
* In ''Literature/MemoirsOfAGeisha'', the main character notices someone spells her name wrong, but doesn't correct him.
* Generally averted by Literature/{{Spenser}}, who when he gives his name notes that it is spelled with an "s." People who recognize that this is "like the poet" are viewed favorably.
* In ''Literature/BigendBooks'', a minor character averts this when giving his name to the police with the air of a man who is tired of questions.
-->My name's Daniel Pease. P-e-a-s-e. As in "pudding hot".

* An episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'' involving a "Black Dawg Productions".

* A bizarre version on ''Series/GameOfThrones''; Daenerys is told her scouts have discovered a city called 'Qarth', and when she meets its envoys she mispronounces it 'Kwarth' (as if it were spelled Qu- instead of Q-) and gets corrected. This is [[FandomNod a common misspelling among fans]], but makes very little sense for a woman who's only ever heard the name spoken aloud and never seen it written down.
* Barbara has perhaps the most impressive example of this on ''Series/{{Gotham}}''. She's attacked by a terrifying assassin, only ever hears his name, never sees it written, and writes Jim Gordon a note saying she's leaving him. Partly because she's so traumatised by "Zsasz".
* In ''Series/{{Greek}}'', Lizzi points out that her name is spelled "With two Zeta Beta Z's!"... but neglects to mention the actual potential for misspelling, the final 'i' instead of the more common 'ie' or 'y'.
* Nobody in the recent series ''Series/TheInvisibleMan'' ever mistook Darien Fawkes for a Darian Fox. (Though to be fair, Fawkes and Fox are occasionally pronounced slightly differently, depending on the speaker's accent.)

* ''Series/TheLoneGunmen'' had a character going by the alias Yves Adele Harlow, an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of Lee Harvey Oswald. Her name was never spelled out until the Gunmen made the connection, despite there being at ''least'' four different ways to spell the names involved. For one thing, "Yves" is usually a men's name, and is pronounced exactly like the women's name "Eve".

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': Somehow, [=MacGyver=] apparently knows the correct letter case for and space in the password in "Ugly Duckling", though this may be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] thanks to the particulars of the system in question (Mac canonically knows his way around computers) and basic logic regarding English, respectively.

* In an early episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'', O'Neill is adamant about the correct spelling of Teal'c's name, including the apostrophe. This despite the fact that Teal'c himself comes from a culture that doesn't seem to use the Roman alphabet, and the episode takes place before he's learned practically anything about Earth culture. You wouldn't think his name would even ''have'' a standard spelling yet, let alone such a weird one.
** O'Neill constantly insists that everyone, including aliens, spell his name with "two L's", which is a ShoutOut to the fact that the character's name in the original film was spelled with one L, and also the fact that Richard Dean Anderson is nothing like Creator/KurtRussell.
** They also, in one episode, insist on the correct spelling of "Goa'uld", despite the fact that they ''almost'' never pronounce it like it's spelled, usually slurring it into "Goold" instead.

* Comes up frequently on ''Series/WithoutATrace'' (a show on which - at least in the early seasons - the writers often seemed to forget that the main characters don't actually get to ''see'' witnesses' flashbacks or receive copies of the script) but a particularly egregious example was in an episode where a witness tells detectives about an African activist and then, upon returning to headquarters, one of them tells someone who wasn't present when the man was first mentioned (so even if the witness spelled the name off camera it wouldn't matter) to search for him in the FBI records. The detective promptly types the name in and rattles off the details of the man's life. The camera then shows the screen the detective is reading. This is the point at which the viewer realizes that the man's name is "Adisa Teno" and not "Adis Ateno", which is how everyone has been pronouncing it to this point.
* On the same note, ''Series/TheXFiles'', constantly. The trope is further highlighted by the deliberately odd names possessed by apparently everyone in the X-Files universe. (The cast of new characters in the [[Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture first movie]], for instance: Alvin Kurtzweil; Ben Bronschweig; Jana Cassidy; Darius Michaud; Conrad Strughold.)

* Critical to the plot of ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' is that [[spoiler: the Origami Killer uses the name "John '''Sheppard'''." Several characters only hear this name but miraculously know how it is spelled]].
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' has a weird example - Master Xehanort's plan is to create a superweapon with a PunnyName: [[spoiler: the "X-blade", which uses the greek letter "Chi", making it sound exactly like "Keyblade".]] This confuses Ventus, and Xehanort actually interrupts his supervillain speech to clarify it, even conjuring a glowing letter as a visual aid. This explanation is only offered in Ventus's storyline, however - in Aqua and Terra's, it's almost like they can read the subtitles and pick up on the difference themselves.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'' episode "Codename: Electric Haircut" the heroes search for a student who does not seem to exist, despite people remembering her. When the computer expert they ask for help searches for her in the school's system, she only tries one way to spell the name (despite only hearing it) before saying this student isn't in the system. [[spoiler: Justified or maybe subverted (though, since it never comes up, maybe not on purpose) since the computer expert actually IS the missing student and of course can spell her own name.]]
[[/folder]]

This trope is less of an issue in most languages other than English due to them having spelling systems that provide far less ambiguity, but may still manifest itself to some degree.

** Note to non-Brits or to younger British readers: "twopence" is pronounced in the same way as "tuppence", especially when it refers to "old" (pre-[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimalisation decimalization]]) money. "Tuppence" is an informal spelling imitating the pronunciation. Someone hearing the name of the heroine but not knowing how it was spelled might very well think it is spelled "Twopence".