Requests from the Night Desk:

[LibraryLady]

I have the reverse problem with names. Mine is only three letters but, even if I spell it, it's amazing how often people get it wrong in spectacular ways.

Say my name is Lee. I receive return calls for Leeming, Leeson or even Lenahan. The creativity of the human brain never ceases to surprise me.

[InsanityInc]

People screwed up my married name all the time. It got to the point when anyone called who couldn't pronounce it, I'd just automatically tell them they had the wrong number. Somehow, I stopped getting telemarketing calls.

[Finance Gopher]

It's gotten to the point my my last name that I don't even bother just spelling it out. You see, there are a couple of letters in my last name that sound similar and everyone apparently thinks I'm Jewish/German (i.e. my last name does NOT end in man). I go for the full monty.

"Yes, my last name is *Last Name*, that's Lima, Alpha, Sierra, Tango, Nile, Alpha, Mike, Echo."

So far, it's been the only thing that works.

[AdminAssistant]

Everyone assumes my name is German/Polish/Hungarian/Slavic - you name it. It's English (Cheshire, to be exact). But my ancestors were British nobles living in the colonies during the Revolution, and sided with the Americans. They changed up the name so as to keep from being keel-hauled, beheaded, or other such unpleasantries.

That said, it's not spelled how it sounds. It sounds like a bodily function..it's NOT spelled like that.

[Andara Bledin]

My old boss had a very Germanic last name, and people would mess it up all the time.

There was a 'v' in it, and a 'b' and his email address (which is also mine, since I handled his and I never saw a point in having a separate one), has an 'm' and an 'n' in it. The rest of the letters were easy enough to guess and sounded distinct enough on their own when spelling things out that I only did the 'v as in victor,' 'b as in boy,' 'm as in mary,' and 'n as in nancy' when going through it. A lot easier than doing that for the whole name.

^-.-^

[Bramblerose]

If you have an unusually spelled last name, like Schartzenburgmon, please don't get offended when I ask you to spell it. For those you you with the last name of Smith, please don't bother to spell it. I can get that one on my own. I may not be the best speller in the world, but even I can manage that one.

Igive you props for confidence, but eek.

My first name is quite common, but no one here spells it right (and it's soooo amusing when I specify any they WRITE THE WRONG THING DOWN). It seems my mom chose the wrong common variant.

My last name is also fairly common, and is phonetic if you listen to me talk. Regrettably, it's one letter off a major car part brand, so it's difficult to get the right vowel.

Please let me spell them for you.