How to Spell Jonathan

What’s wrong with you people!?

Why is “Jonathan” so difficult to spell? It’s supposedly quite a common name, and not that difficult to spell. Yet, here are just some of the mis-spellings I’ve seen:

Johnathan
Jonothan
Jonathon
Johnathon

Note: Some people actually do have these names. But they aren’t Jonathans.

Correct spelling:

Printable howto is available in .pdf form at http://jonathancarter.org/files/jonathan.pdf
Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan

What does Jonathan mean!?

(I didn’t make any of this up, these are just facts according to the Internet)

From Wikipedia:

Jonathan is a common masculine given name meaning “Yahweh (God) has given”, “gift of God” in Hebrew.^[1]^[2] The first known Jonathan was a son of King Saul in the Hebrew Bible, a close friend of David.

From Urban Dictionary.com:

Very nice person, warm and welcoming.
Loyal, Generous, Handsome individual (s), who is/are without a doubt the very best person to love. Jonathan(s) is/are Intelligent, Subtle, Strong, Rock-like Men. They are the best Friends and very best Lovers, and above all, very modest.
Someone who will always say the right thing, He’ll sometimes be shy, but he’ll respect everything you do. he’s bound to be handsome, and will look good no matter what. Sometimes, he will take your breath away. He’s a dream, picture-perfect, a complete sweetheart. No one could do any better than a Jonathan.

Common uses:

OH yes, OH Jonathan, OH YES! (again and again and again and etc., etc., etc.)
I wish I was Jonathan.
“Dude how could that fat-ass get that chick”. He must be a Jonathan.

But you sometimes spell your name in only lowercase letters?!

I guess no one’s perfect.

From the inbox:

Jonatan Anderson:

Hi Jonathan,

You still get the spelling wrong. I just thought I would clear some things
up with the correct spelling of the name. IT   SHOULD   BE   WIHOUT AN H period,

The name should be as simple as possible, like Jonatan

Otherwise we seem to share not just the name, but also interest in free
software and technology in general.

By the way, here in Sweden it is happens quite often that they mistake me
for Joakim... Especially a bit elderly ladies. Customers from United
states and Canada often spells it Jonathon

Johnathon Tinsley:

Hello,
I note on your spelling page, on your blog you say “not safe for a
public page”… ;)
I get as frustrated as you sometimes with people mis-spelling my name.
Its Johnathon. Not Johnathan. Not Jonathan. Johnathon. Blame my odd parents.