Aydin

We can say with 100% certainty that American parents are using Aydin as yet another altered spelling of the ultra ϋber super duper popular Aiden. Why? Because the name only first appeared on the U.S. male naming charts for the first time in 2004 as Aiden was climbing to his heights of glory. It’s not like we had a sudden influx of Turkish immigration starting in 2004. In fact, it’s our guess that most parents who opt for the Aydin spelling don’t even know that it means “enlightened” in Turkish. Little do they know they’re getting a little more bang for their buck. The only downside is that Aiden and his “kreatively” spelled brothers are so ubiquitous now, they’ve come dangerously close to being clichéd. Aaden, Aden, Aedan, Aidan, Aiden, Aidyn, Aydan, Ayden and Aydin. If you think you’re being klever and kute with new spelling variations, think again. There’s now far too many forms of this trendy name to be awarded the honor of originality. Respellings are now so kommonplace they’re a dime a dozen. Furthermore, Aydin in Turkish is pronounced “eye-deen”. Yet it’s just sooo American to play around with spellings of names despite the fact that a.) the names are generally pronounced the same way; and b.) children with made-up spellings go through life correcting and reaffirming their names (which can be a nuisance). For many parents, though, they just want to differentiate their children from the masses. And they see clever, phonetically altered spellings of names as one way to accomplish this. Others find this practice a little too kitschy. It all comes down to preference. At least Aydin is a bonafide spelling, even if in Turkey.