Does English have written words for each letter in the alphabet? [duplicate]

The English alphabet has a common pronunciation. For example, the letter b is pronounced like the word bee, the letter c like the word see, and the letter i like the word aye.

Is there a formal spelling for the letter names?


Formal yes, universal no. Here's one:

We have included each letter with its name and plural below the list of examples. The United States uses zee, while other countries use zed.

 A   a                      aes
 B   bee                    bees
 C   cee                    cees
 D   dee                    dees
 E   e                      ees
 F   ef (verbal eff)        efs (effs)
 G   gee                    gees
 H   aitch                  aitches
 I   i                      ies
 J   jay                    jays
 K   kay                    kays
 L   el or ell              els or ells
 M   em                     ems
 N   en                     ens
 O   o                      oes
 P   pee                    pees
 Q   cue                    cues
 R   ar                     ars
 S   ess (es as prefix)     esses
 T   tee                    tees
 U   u                      ues
 V   vee                    vees
 W   double-u               double-ues
 X   ex                     exes
 Y   wy or wye              wyes
 Z   zee or zed             zees or zeds

Letter names Each letter of the English alphabet can be spelled as itself (e.g., a DJ or T-shirt) or it can be spelled out using its name (e.g., a deejay or tee-shirt). Vowels still stand for themselves, and while very rare, the plural of vowels are made by adding -es. In the capitalized form the plurals are made by either -s or -‘s (e.g., L’s or As).

Spelling letters usually occurs in compound names or derivatives. These spellings are different than the phonetic alphabet used to distinguish similar sounding letters while speaking.

grammarist.com


In comments, John Lawler first wrote:

No, not really. English spelling is so awful at recording pronunciation that there are too many ways to represent the pronounced letter names, and no ways that are unambiguous. So you see ee, ie, e, i, for instance for E, o, oh, ow, ou for O, etc. Use phonemic symbols if you need accurate rendition of English sounds.

And then added:

I always want to pronounce W as /'wəbəlyu/. It's particularly awful in abbreviations like the one for Western Washington University here in Bellingham. Western Washington University contains 10 syllables, but Double-U Double-U U contains 7; not much saving there; I tend to pronounce it as /'wuwu/.