I admire your pedantry and I'm delighted to finally be part of a craze . I think I've spent the last 50 years spelling it that way (and presumably shouting eke everytime I've seen a mouse!) but you are indeed correct and I've written "eke" out 100 times on the blackboard to remind me.
It's something I've seen a lot recently (mainly in reference to pensioners deprived of heating allowance). I've never misspelled it because I learned the word at 11 when it was mentioned in Jennings and Darbishare, when the latter explained the the word 'nickname' came from 'ekename' (ie additional name). Never let it be said that children's books can't be educational