12 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About William Shakespeare

12. His Name Has Always Been "Shakespeare"... He Signed His Surname With At Least Six Different Spellings

Britain's most-famous ever playwright is called "William Shakespeare" - right? Well, possibly... The thing is, there are at least 80 different ways that his surname was written down during his lifetime - and there survive at least six alternative signatures provided by Shakespeare himself. In fact, the great man himself never actually used "Shakespeare" when writing his name - at least no records of him doing so survive - and instead he signed with such variations as "Willm Shakspere", "William Shakspeare" and "Willm Shakp". Confusing, yes, but it appears that the man who is credited with creating many of the words and phrases of the English language we still use today didn't even know how to correctly spell him own name...