My fiance's cousins asked him this awhile back... "Since Aunt Staci (that's what they call me) is Jewish, does that mean you guys' cats are Jewish?"
Lol the first thing I pictured when reading that was a cat wearing a Tallit and a (here goes my butchered spelling!) yamaka.
It's a transliteration. As long as you can sound it out to make the right word, the spelling isn't that important.