How many different ways did William Shakespeare spell his surname?
Correct answer: 6
Nemosyn23
Spelling in the C16th was more phonetic and less standardised. 'Correct' spelling as we know it was not yet invented. Nor was the dictionary!
tommydublin1
how did he sign his name?Let me count the ways.!!
Nucular9
tommydublin1, would a rose by six names smell six times as sweet?
Reiali
And nowhere does he spell it the way we do...?
DarkMatter19870228
He knew how to spell. It was just the first recorded typo -🤣
Hiqq
Nemosyn23, absolutely so. As being a genealogist I have read many church books, tax lengths and military lists and most names have variations in spelling.
Player #21198453
Elizabeth Throckmorton, Sir Walter Raleigh's wife, said that using the same spelling all the time showed a lack of imagination.
Player #25874027
That’s nothing !
My wife spells my name nine different ways on our children’s birth certificates
TangiKeyser
Amazing!!! Got it right, but guessed at it
Player #12900692
Maybe also the person who was writing th
e will or Williams name maybe they didn’t spell it right. That’s why today we have so many versions of one surname
Trish
Maybe he had multiple personalities?
Player #97184361
Nemosyn23, How do we know that it’s not six different people? ! ! !
Player #109945361
Edward de Verre is the true author of the amazing plays and sonnets attributed to the man from Stratford on Avon. Do the research. The evidence is irrefutable.
Calabtangan' Boyoyong
tommydublin1, 6 variations also, I guess
Bijou
Player #7106191, that is the story of the English language. It keeps updating itself.
Marcy
I love some of d romantic lines Shakespear describe his loved one( like Celia)
Mervis
Player #25874027, 🤣
GraceSpace
wileycoyote, Over time, many say, his wife wrote All 'his' works???
sillybee
Player #21198453, love that bit of trivia, "lack of imagination"
SOS
Nemosyn23, Nemosyn23, And they often abbreviated the spelling of their name too, to wit: Wm; Wllm; Willm; etc & soforth...
wileycoyote
So does this mean that all his works were edited before getting published.
Stephanie.S.
How did anyone work out what he'd written?
Nate Sanders
Nemosyn23, That's a very good point!
Player #36319117
I’m sure this is used by those who think Cristopher Marlowe is the true author of the plays attributed to Shakespeare.
LeftRight
no.commwmt
Player #2180315
Or he didn’t write them and the true authors didn’t know how to spell his name
Player Eldehem
M1guel Sanchez, or indeed 'know' 😉
Player en_846
This shows how differently we think today. There can only be one right way of doing things.
Player #25874027
DarkMatter19870228,
Autocorrect
* Seshati *
Player Freewoman, I agree I’m not sold on Shakespeare being himself the writer of the works ... the film Anonymous approached this topic for conversation, the other was that there was a group of writers that all wrote together, Christopher Marlowe being one of the members.
Janet
tommydublin1, that was Elizabeth barrett's growing who counted the ways
Angie
No wonder he wrote "What's in a name...." 😁😁😁
Player envy 49
DarkMatter19870228, probably autocorrect
Gem cart
I wonder if the new standard of correct spelling will leave ours behind
pink panther
it should be 83 different according to records over several centuries
UniqueSquid25533
Nemosyn23, That's rather reassuring, although had this quiz existed then, we'd still have the spelling and grammar squad doling out their unsolicited corrections!
FunGriffin1035
TangiKeyser, me too