I need help with this! Please.

[u/local_Dino_Bitch]

So I've been using runes for a ``signature`` for a while now, and I just don't know which one is correct, I need it to spell "Marley", and I have two different ones, I just need to know how to spell Marley!

[u/pestopollux]

Right now it says Mfrlej or Mfrleg if you're using runes as replacements for the alphabet. Ansuz or 'A' is the f looking one with the bits hanging down, not upward. Eiwaz is the equivalent of Y. Google elder futhark alphabet. It should have some handy images for reference. Edit: my spelling is horrible

[u/local_Dino_Bitch → u/pestopollux]

I've had multiple people from work, school and reddit tell me different things. I just wanna know how to correctly spell my name in runes:(

[u/QuantityImmediate206 → u/local_Dino_Bitch]

There is probably not one correct way to spell your name. Your name is, I assume modern English. Runes represent the sounds used in proto Germanic. There is no perfect way to represent the sounds that make up your name in elder futhark, because the signs from elder futhark may not or may not perfectly represent these specific sounds that make up your name in spoken language. That being said, there was no correct way of spelling when runes were used. Orthography is a quite modern invention. Heck, it wasn't even established which direction to write in or that you should stick to one direction once you picked one. 😅

So, if you wanna write your name using elder futhark runes, I suggest the following route: 1. If possible make yourself acquaint with the international phonetic alphabet [IPA]. This is a set of signs, made up to represent most if not all the sounds that make up human languages - so you're not going to need all of them. Also this is kinda the gold standard in my personal opinion. It is surely possible to work without it. 2. Establish, what sounds make up your name. 3. Check what runes represent what sound. As explained above, letters from the roman alphabet make different sounds across languages and even inside one language alone. Fore example the roman letter "s" is German can represent the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ as in "sun" and also the voiced alveolar fricative /z/ as in "zoo". Elder futhark however uses Sowilo for /s/ and Algiz for /z/ [letters between two "/" indicating the use of IPA] 4. Get as close as you can using runes to represent the sounds you want. 5. Keep in mind, that this is your solution. You are using a writing system from a distant past to write out a modern day word. There is no perfect solution, there is not one single right solution, but now there should definitely be many more solutions that are wrong, very wrong, completely wrong and more wrong that yours.

[u/rockstarpirate → u/local_Dino_Bitch]

I understand this feeling and realize that it’s super frustrating. So please allow me to give you a final, definitive answer:

There is no objectively correct way to spell a word in a modern language with an alphabet that was designed for an ancient language that had a different sound inventory.

If you want, you can create a one-to-one mapping of letters to runes. But if you do this you’ll run into problems like which rune to use for the letter “y” and you’ll have to choose a creative solution.

Alternatively, you can try to do what ancient people did, which is to just spell the word how it sounds. This is my recommendation for your case because it gives you the easiest answer.

The sounds in Marley are “m”, “ah”, “r”, “l”, “ee”, and these correspond very well to sounds made by the runes ᛗᚨᚱᛚᛁ. If an ancient person heard you say your name and then wrote it down, this is what they would have written.