Why is it spelled Lecktor?

It's spelled "Lecter" in the books so I'm unsure why they selected that particular spelling for this movie, probably because it is dumbed down just like every other aspect of Manhunter.

The name Lecter seems more Latin in origin, whereas Lecktor seems more Germanic. I'm not sure why they changed it, though.

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When someone adapts a novel for screenplay, in the movie script they often change aspects of the original -- for better or for worse. When this excellent movie was made, "Silence of the Lambs" movie (which featured the same character) had not yet been made. So, there was no prior canon.

Note they even changed the name of the book from "Red Dragon" to film title "Manhunter". Perhaps the screenwriter felt "Lecktor" looked more sinister than "Lecter". Also, there's pronunciation. English is sometimes weird -- look at how the cities named "Gloucester" are pronounced; the entire middle syllable is left out. The name "Lecter" could arguably be pronounced as "Lester" -- depending on a hard "c" or soft "c", or even with a silent "c" (like "indict") -- which would be then pronounced like "Letter" or even "Leeter". There's no ambiguity when spelled as Lecktor. :)

I thought the reason was because someone had the name and tried to sue. Thats just what I heard from an interview with Brian Cox.

"I have always valued my lifelessness."

They didn't have the rights to the name. De Laurentiis was able to buy the rights by the time SotL came along.

Also, Dolarhyde is spelled Dollarhyde, as we can see when they show his driver's license. It's pretty weird that they changed the spelling in all these instances.

Hey, I'm a child of divorce, gimme a break!