Haitian Female Names with Standardized Spelling

This is the same data as the other table of Haitian female names, but I’ve standardized the spelling to get a more accurate idea of the real popularity of each name. Haitian spelling is flexible, especially where vowels and the letter R are concerned. For example, Guerline can also be spelled Guilene, Guirlene, Guilaine, Guirlaine, Guerlaine, Guerlyne, Guylene, Guilene, Gurlaine, Gurlene, Gyrlaine, or Gulene… and that’s not counting the misspellings.

This flexibility comes from the meeting of French orthography with Haitian Kreyol pronunciation. French spelling starts off flexible, with multiple ways to spell the same sounds and a plethora of silent letters. Then it meets Kreyol pronunciation, and certain distinctions are lost, adding to the number of homophonic spellings Kreyol speakers can use. Fashion comes into play with the liberal use of Y to replace just about any other vowel–this is happening throughout the Francophone world, and purists are having kittens over it. Haitians have the added choice of using the original French spelling or respelling the name to make it match the Haitian pronunciation, which is when R’s start disappearing from words or popping up in new places.

Note that this applies only to “French” spelling. Haitian Kreyol now has a standard orthography that’s fairly phonetic, so people who use Kreyol spellings have less latitude in respelling their names. However, the orthography has been around for only a few decades, and what came before was heavily French-influenced, so most of the people on this list were born before they had the option of spelling their name the Kreyol way.

More than that, there’s a deep divide between French/urban/cultured/educated/elite and Kreyol/rural/coarse/ignorant/peasant. Until recently, anyone who had a pretense to any kind of social status tried to be as French as possible, even if they were one of the many Haitians who didn’t speak French. I’ve seen signs of a Kreyol pride movement, but I have no idea how many inroads it’s made. At the moment, it’s safe to say that French spellings, even faux-French spellings, are more prestigious than Kreyol spellings.

Take these standardized spellings with a grain of salt. Not only am I not done cleaning the data, but I’m still wrapping my head around French spelling, Kreyol pronunciation, and how they collide. For example, I make the assumption that -ene and -ine are the same sound, though this is highly questionable; right now I’m relieved just to be able to group similar names together. The original spellings are in the other table if you want to check them for yourself.

Last updated 6/30/2016. Number of women: 21,935.