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What do we call a person who is very much concerned with correct spelling of a word but especially with name.

That person is ......?

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    meticulous, pedantic, a school teacher.
    – Mitch
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 18:48
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    A person can't be a sentiment. I'd edit this question to fix the gross grammar errors, except I can't make heads or tails of it. (For one thing, I think "sentiment" might be a false friend with a word in your native language, or something: you're using it so incorrectly that it's apparent you have no idea what it means.)
    – Marthaª
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 19:36
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    The person who is annoyed by this is either 'a normal person' or, if annoyed by the rare misspelling, the items in my first comment.
    – Mitch
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 19:58
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    @XavierVidalHernández diEcho may have meant "bothered" or "annoyed" rather than "disturbed", but I did not want to alter the question's stated intent too much in my edit. Keep in mind that if something "disturbs" you, it may "inconvenience" you, not make you mentally unstable. diEcho, did Mitch's suggestions answer your question? I don't think we need to look at this as a psychological disorder. Look up the definitions of "disturb", "bother" and "annoy" and see if these apply to the person's experience.
    – Zairja
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 20:16
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    @XavierVidalHernández: I think it would be perverse to interpret OP's "disturbed" as having clinical implications. I won't go so far as to say I'm disturbed by your presumption, but I'll certainly say it's uncalled-for.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 21:32

2 Answers 2

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There are more general terms, such as pedant - one who pays undue attention to ... formal rules, but I'm pretty sure there isn't a specific word for the type of person OP describes.

The problem is it's unlikely anyone would have that particular personality quirk in isolation. Anyone who's a "stickler for orthographic correctness" in OP's sense is likely care as much about, say, punctuation as they are about spelling. And they'd probably be more fussy than average about correct verb tenses, and wouldn't like people writing in green ink, ball-point pen, etc.,

Noting that some people have used the relatively transparent coinage malorthography, OP might wish to consider my neologism

malorthographobe - one who intensely dislikes incorrect orthography (specifically, misspellings).

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    Shouldn't it be malorthographophobe?
    – user16269
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 20:39
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    @David Wallace: Technically speaking, you're right. But since it's my neologism, I shall propose my own version. By re-using the "ph" from "graph" and "phobe" I'm saving the world's dwindling ink reserves (if it takes off and gets printed in lots of dead-tree publications! :)
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 20:59
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    Would any of those 4 downvoters care to justify themselves? ELU has a long history of proposing extended phrases and neologisms if no existing single word meets some request.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 21:02
  • @Xavier Vidal Hernández: Okay, thanks (you posted while I was making the previous comment). I disagree that justication here, obviously. You will also note that I did provide evidence that some people have used the term malorthography, and I respectfully suggest I do not need to cite sources for the -phobe suffix. David Wallace's demurral being duly noted and discounted, I maintain that my answer is valid in this context.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 21:03
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    Yeah, jeez, read the FAQ! You're never going to get to 50k reputation with answers like this! Also, I'm really excited! (mocking aside, +1 for pedant)
    – Cameron
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 21:08
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Orthography is the part of language study concerned with letters and spelling.

Maybe an orthographist? :)

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2016/07/05/orthography

Edit: Here is a link to a definition of it: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/orthographist

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  • Hello, Ben. Welcome to English Language and Usage. The answer to the question is in the first comment above and you need to provide a definitive answer with reference and actual usage examples. The word orthographist doesn't seem to exist. Please visit our help center and read the guidelines. We don't encourage posting an answer without any reference.
    – user140086
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 17:04
  • +1 This answer was automatically flagged as low-quality because of its length and content, but it's a good start. A good answer is comprehensive and contains evidence showing why it is correct. For an introduction to the site, take the Tour. For help writing a good answer, see How to Answer. I agree an orthographist might be a specialist in writing words using “proper” or accepted spelling. If you are going to coin a word, be careful to explain that the person using it might need to give a definition in order to be understood. Please edit your answer.
    – MetaEd
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 17:35
  • Sheesh, tough crowd. I'll be more careful the next time I try to help.
    – Flat Cat
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 19:19
  • @MετάEd This answer was flagged by myself. Have you ever seen the word "orthographist" used in the OP's context?
    – user140086
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 19:23
  • @Rathony As I said, I think Ben is on the right track. A coined term is sometimes a good answer. This one seems better than malorthographobe. See the recent question at Meta: meta.english.stackexchange.com/q/8077/14073
    – MetaEd
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 19:26

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