Here are the 21 spellings in order of usage this year: Hanukkah, Chanukah, Hannukah, Hanukah, Chanukkah, Hanuka, Chanuka, Channukah, Hanukka, Chanukka, Hannuka, Hannukkah, Channuka, Channukkah, Hannukka, Xanuka, Channukka, Janukah, Janukkah, Janukkah and Chanuqa.

Previous years: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.

• Hanukkah : 11,300,000 hits.
• Chanukah : 2,930,000 hits.
• Hannukah : 867,000 hits.
• Hanukah : 556,000 hits.
• Hanuka : 357,000 hits.
• Chanukkah : 231,000 hits.
• Chanuka : 293,000 hits.
• Channukah : 131,000 hits.
• Chanukka : 108,000 hits.
• Hannukkah : 54,700 hits.
• Januka : 33,700 hits.
• Hanukka : 31,400 hits.
• Channuka : 14,700 hits.
• Hannuka : 12,500 hits.
• Hannukka : 7,870 hits.
• Channukkah : 6,050 hits.
• Xanuka : 2,520 hits.
• Channukka : 2,040 hits.
• Janukah : 394 hits.
• Janukkah : 215 hits.
• Chanuqa : 120 hits.

This is the 2008 update compiling Google search results for 22 variations on the spelling of Hanukkah. This year, by request, I added three variations based on Spanish spellings starting with the letter J.

Previous years: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007. 2004 numbers thanks to Jeremy Blachman

Current Google Trends snapshot of the top 5 spellings:

How Do You Spell Channukkahh by the Leevees

Hanukkah : 8,470,000 hits.
Chanukah : 3,390,000 hits.
Hanukah : 862,000 hits.
Hannukah : 677,000 hits.
Chanuka : 335,000 hits.
Chanukkah : 274,000 hits.
Hanuka : 192,000 hits.
Channukah : 128,000 hits.
Chanukka : 116,000 hits.*
Hanukka : 86,300 hits.
Hannuka : 51,400 hits.
Hannukkah : 37,300 hits.
Channuka : 33,600 hits.
Xanuka : 992 hits.
Hannukka : 686 hits.
Channukkah : 508 hits.
Channukka : 489 hits.*
Chanuqa : 25 hits.

With the exception of a few wildcards, there are 16 different spellings, based on four phonetic variations:

• The word starts with “H” or “Ch”
• Second consonant is “nn” or “n”
• Third consonant is “kk” or “k”
• The word ends with “ah” or “a”

I think I must have grown up with “Chanukah”, because it look most right to me. At Lila’s pre-school Hanukkah party, there were three different spellings within 10 feet of one another. In the interest of ending the ridiculousness of the dozens of spellings, I’m going forward with “Hanukkah” which is the preferred spelling used by the Library of Congress. At least it’s always the same in Hebrew: חֲנֻכָּה

This would be a fun thing to make dynamic, even chart over time. If only I had time… Jeremy Blachman did the same Hanukkah spelling thing in 2004, interesting to see how much bigger the Google indexes have grown in 12 months.

See results for other years: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006.

* These seem to be popular spellings in German.