Spelling

Let me start by stating that I understand that, after 24 years, I have a good grasp on how to spell my own name. Accordingly, I never have and never will fully understand subjectively why Evan is hard to spell correctly because I will never experience the mental processes that result in a misspelling. Nonetheless, I will attempt to analyze this problem despite my obvious bias.

First, Evan has one spelling. E-V-A-N. It is not a name with different homophonic spellings (e.g. Sean and Shawn). I never correct people by saying, "No, I spell it the other way." This removes one reason why common misspellings might occur.

Evan is pronounced e-vin. That is, a short e sound (as in egg) followed by vin as in Vin Diesel. Being the Midwesterner that I am, I double the pronounce consonants and say ev-vin. Obviously, Evan rhymes with Kevin. I believe it would be more accurate to pronounce it as e-vun. However, I wouldn't expect others to pronounce it this way as I don't even observe this pronunciation. Thus, due to the pronunciation, a lot of people try to spell my name Evin.

Evin is by far the most common misspelling I have encountered. However, I wouldn't put it past anyone to try Even, Evon, Evun, and sometimes Evyn. Allow me to digress for a moment to tell a brief anecdote. Even is clearly even as in even and odd numbers. There is this situation where my name is always written down incorrectly. Recently, someone exclaimed that it was finally right. I looked down and saw Even Perry. I said, "No, that's wrong. It's with an 'A'." The other person said, "A-V-E-N?"

Now it's time for my biased disbelief. Evan is only four letters. How can it possibly be difficult to spell. It might be uncommon compared to some of the top 10 names (e.g. James, John, Joseph, Thomas, Williams, Michael, etc), but it is encountered far more often than something like Fritz. According to the US Census Bureau, Evan is more common than Miles. How many times do you think Miles is misspelled? As I mentioned at the onset, I doubt I'll ever understand this phenomenon.

Incidentally, I detest people mishearing my name as Kevin. I introduce myself to someone new. They say, "Kevin?" I exasperatedly respond, "No! Evan!" I attribute this to people only listening to half of what is said. It just happens that only the second half of my name is heard and because of the rhyming, they pretend they heard a hard 'K' sound. Idiots.

All the people of the world, my name is Evan and it is spelt E-V-A-N. Consider yourself on notice. No further mistakes will be tolerated.