Despite claims of grade inflation, there’s one area in which students might receive a failing score: spelling. No, not the kinds of words Spell Check catches, but words students use in their everyday lives as Stanford students.

I informally polled 70 students on these five commonly misspelled names and only two were successful in every word they tried. On average, students’ performance was a mere 33.9 percent — imagine receiving that score on a final exam!

But who can blame them? It seems that students are confused for good reason, as misspellings circulate widely around campus to send mixed messages. After looking at these misspellings so much, even I was having doubts.

A problem set from the HumBio core last quarter — a class that enrolled nearly 300 students — was entitled “Once Upon a Time in Cubberly.” (Yes, ‘Cubberly’ without the extra “e.”)

In a search of the deleted items in my email inbox (very scientific, I know), I found 45 instances of “Tressider” dating back to September 2006, and 107 emails that spelled the building’s name correctly — a mere 2.4:1 ratio.

And The Daily isn’t immune either. Searching The Daily’s online archives — which date back to 1998 — for the incorrectly spelled “Tressider” yields 31 articles. Similarly, 35 articles contain “Cubberly,” 33 contain “Hennessey,” and 12 contain “Arillaga.” This is a considerable number, as at least four students read each article after it is submitted, and The Daily’s style guide — though admittedly outdated — contains each of the items in this feature except Hennessy.

So here’s the final word on these spellings. After looking at this page, you have no excuses.

Tresidder: Two D’s, One S

At the center of campus, Tresidder Memorial Union contains “almost every amenity imaginable in order to meet the needs of campus inhabitants and members of the surrounding community,” according to its Web site. The building serves as a central hub and meeting area for many students, yet why is it so hard to spell?

Only 23 of the 65 students who attempted to spell “Tresidder” did so correctly, a 35.4 percent success rate. The most popular wrong response was “Tressider,” which garnered 47.7 percent of responses. Multiple students also spelled the building “Tressidor (4.6 percent) and “Tresider” (3.1 percent).

One out of 10 students in Tresidder while taking the test was successful in spelling the name of the building where they were sitting, which is named after Donald B. Tresidder ‘19, the president of the University from 1943 to 1948.

The Daily’s style guide offers this mnemonic: “Remember when spelling Tresidder there is one ‘s’ for Stanford and two ‘d’s’ for Donald.”

Arrillaga: Two R’s, Two L’s

The Arrillaga name seems to be all over buildings on campus. The Arrillaga Center for Sports and Recreation and the Arrillaga Family Sports Center are both named for University donor John Arrillaga, and the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center is named for his wife.

Yet just over one-third of students (33.8 percent, or 23 of 68) could spell his last name correctly. “Arillaga” was the most popular wrong response, garnering almost half (42.6 percent) of the responses. Others included “Ariaga,” “Arrigala,” “Arilliaga” and even “Arrelligella.”

Cubberley: With the E Before the Y

I know how Cubberley Auditorium, located in the education building, must feel. My name, too, is commonly misspelled when the “e” between the “l” and the “y” is forgotten.

Cubberley was named for the School of Education’s first dean, Ellwood Patterson Cubberley. His name was the one with the lowest success rate among the students I polled. Only 20 of the 63 students (31.7 percent) who attempted to spell “Cubberley” did so correctly, with the vast majority (65.1 percent) spelling it without the extra “e.” Ten of 14 students seated in Cubberley while filling out their survey spelled it incorrectly. Many students, when told the correct spelling of the auditorium, were in disbelief that there was an “e” before the “y.”

Hennessy: Without the E Before the Y

Dr. John L. Hennessy has been on Stanford’s faculty since 1977 and has served as president since 2000, but it seems students still can’t manage to spell his last name right.

One-third of students (21 of 63) spelled his name right, a clear minority. Twenty (31.7 percent) wrote “Hennessey,” including a final “e,” with the rest providing versions varying the numbers of n’s, s’s, and e’s.

One student started writing his last name, getting down the first few letters, but then crossed it out and simply wrote “John H.”

Mirrielees: Just Memorize It

Mirrielees, an upperclass residence where 435 students live in apartment-style housing, was named after Stanford student and faculty member Edith Mirrielees, who graduated in 1907.

This word drew the most varied responses. While a similar proportion of students got the building’s spelling correct (35.4 percent, or 17 of 48), almost no misspellings were repeated.

Of 31 students who spelled “Mirrielees” wrong, there were 23 distinct responses, ranging from “Meralies” to “Mierllies,” “Mireles” to “Mirrorlees.”

One student realized my survey was a spelling test and tried writing out “Mirrielees” three different ways on the back of her test. (She still spelled it wrong.)

About the Data

My data collection for this feature was in no way the simple random sample mandated by the AP Statistics class I took in high school, and should not be taken as such. The sample was admittedly skewed toward undergraduates (61 respondents reported undergraduate status, while only seven were graduate students), students in my classes and students I arbitrarily ran into around campus. The small sample also should not be taken as representative of the student population at large. I handed out surveys with questions such as “Who is the president of Stanford?” to get students to write in his last name. Some students, particularly graduate students, did not know the answers to my questions and therefore did not get a chance to attempt to spell the words.