What is the word for how something is written?
I create the program for a local roller derby team, and when I went to ask one of the players how her name is written, I ended up just asking how it was spelled, but what I was really asking was:
Is it one word or two?
Are there any capital letters?
Are there any special characters?
And other questions to that effect.
Knowing one or two words that encompass all of these elements so that I could more efficiently ask people about their names would be really useful and appreciated!
Best Answer
People whose names can be written in different ways will know what you mean, however, you ask the question. There are lots of versions of my name, Ann-Marie, and I know when someone says "How do you spell that?", she or he is asking about capitalization as well as spelling.
Another approach could be to specifically ask what you're not sure about - "Is that Nikolas with a 'k' or 'ch'?". Nine times out of ten, the other person will spell out their full name in response.