No, you may NOT mispronounce my name

[BookstoreEscapee]

Cookies for BookstoreEscapee, who got the English pronounciation. My English name is Kerry, but the Gaelic version that is my actual name is Ciarrai, pronounced Kear-ee (like fear.) No one would be able to pronounce it, so my nametag says Kerry.
Which people still manage to mangle.

No, wait, I rock! Woohoo!

What kind of cookies are they? Chocolate chip? Oreos? Lemme get some milk!

PS I like your "real" name.

[NightAngel]

I've been called on paper Charon, Sharron, Sharrone, Charron, Charene (???) and the latest one when I ordered my work shoes, Cherron!

Believe it or not I have met people with every single one of those spellings for their names. Comes with processing thousands of applications over the last few years. In the midwest Sharon is pronounced more like "Share-on".

My last name is pronounced "Pain".
Why it's so hard for people to properly pronounce is beyond me.

[ArenaBoy]

I have a friend whose name is Jesslyn, simple name to pronounce as you combine Jess as in Jessica and Lynn. Very easy to pronounce but somehow everyone seems to butcher it. She's been called Joslyn (Knew someone by that name), Jessilyn, and Jessiliyn. Because of the numerous butcherings she just prefers to be called J as her friends often butcher her name. She just about fainted when I was pronouncing it right and called her by her full name. I also knew a guy from Germany named Arseni, name was easy to pronounce but so many idiots butcher it.

[draftermatt]

How often do you get called a terrible rapper? Just out of curiosity.

Honestly, I never have. I had never even thought about that until you mentioned it.

[MadMike]

My name is so damn common. How do you screw up Jennifer? Apparently you can.

My third grade teacher could not figure out how to spell "Michael", which is one of the most common male names. He kept reversing the A and the E. After awhile, he finally gave up and started calling me "Mike." I decided I liked it, so I kept it. I've been "Mike" for roughly 30 years now.

My last name, while not common, could not be simpler. But I still get people trying to add extra letters and sounds to it that simply aren't there. In fact, I recently found out this one girl I went to school with, who has known me for about 20 years now, had been saying it wrong all that time. Never even noticed it until she wrote me a check for some computer work I did. Somehow, she realized it shortly after that and apologized for spelling it wrong. I told her it was OK, they still let me cash it.

[BookstoreEscapee]

My third grade teacher could not figure out how to spell "Michael", which is one of the most common male names. He kept reversing the A and the E.

My own brother used to spell my name wrong. He insisted it was "ie" when it is "ei". He got it right after a while

[Shironu-Akaineko]

Believe it or not I have met people with every single one of those spellings for their names. Comes with processing thousands of applications over the last few years. In the midwest Sharon is pronounced more like "Share-on".

My last name is pronounced "Pain".
Why it's so hard for people to properly pronounce is beyond me.

I believe it, I know there are thousands of variations. Mom's on a grandchildren trip and made me look at a baby book.

Problem with that last one (Cherron) I ended up with size 7 shoes for men.

[Delphae]

Most people can say my name, Sarah, though I did get Sheri the other day. However no one can spell it. I get Sara, Sahra, Sarha. Whith the h is the more commen spelling people.

[Bacter]

believe it or not, I've had people screw up "Benjamin"

[Department stores *sigh*]

i have a sorta amusing story about that.

one day a customer is paying with a credit card and i notice her name is the same as my name with one letter change. I weont say the full name but this is the similar part.

hers: Blak************
mine: Black**********

i laughed and said that people pronounced my name like hers all the time, with a hard A.

amusing thing is everyone pronounced her name like mine. The color black.

something i found kinda quirky I guess people just cant figure out names.

[angelkirie]

My name is NOT that hard, it doesn't sound like it looks no, but people who deal with everyday have NO excuse!!!

When I was in elementary school I was getting braces and my mom dropped me off late for class. We walked into the office and she says "I'm here to drop off my daughter (right pronunciation)" and the lady in the office goes, "Oh you mean "(wrong pronunciation?)"

.... ...




And then in 7th grade I had a teacher who couldn't figure it out and by this time I was so used to the wrong pronunciation that I automatically corrected everyone ALL THE TIME. It starts with KAS and while it's really pronounced with a 'Kay-s' sound, he insisted on using the short a... Finally he just shortened it to Kass altogether as a nickname, but also I think to irk me. That's ok though, I have friends that call me that to this day and I kind of like it!

[MadMike]

When I was in elementary school I was getting braces and my mom dropped me off late for class. We walked into the office and she says "I'm here to drop off my daughter (right pronunciation)" and the lady in the office goes, "Oh you mean "(wrong pronunciation?)"

My son did something like that once, but in his defense, he was only 3 at the time.

He used to have trouble saying "vanilla." It would always come out sounding something like "bayilla."

One day I took him out for ice cream, and I asked him, "Do you want vanilla or chocolate."

He gave me the strangest look and said, "You can't say 'bayilla' very good, can you?"

[Imogene]

First off, your son is awesome, Mike.
Second, when I got into middle school, I shortened my real name down to the last three letters for my nickname. Interestingly, one of my teachers that year had been my third grade teacher as well, and she told me directly, "I don't think I'll ever be able to think of you as '***', only '********'."
A few semesters into my time at the technical college I attended, I swapped from *** to Juwl, just to throw classmates off. I got all sorts of misspellings on that, even though it had been my gaming tag most of the time we played Call of Duty. I got:
Jule
Jewl
Jewel
Juwel
Juul (my own joke, for the script I wrote for our game)
And so on.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I get Sara, Sahra, Sarha. Whith the h is the more commen spelling people.

My friend is Sara and people add the "h" all the time. And another friend's sister is Sarah, and people drop her "h"...

[Jester]

Growing up my initials were JKL. No biggie, right? Well, to those kids who just *had* to find something to tease someone about they chose my initials. Since they're in alphabetical order I was called "Alphabet Girl". OH NO! THE HORROR! Give me a break...

My mother, before she was married, had the initials IJK. Never got much grief for that, though.

The first and middle names of my older sister, The Wicked Witch of the West who I have mentioned her several times, give her the initials "B.J." No one who wants to live unmaimed calls my older sister "B.J."

I have a friend whose name is Jesslyn, simple name to pronounce as you combine Jess as in Jessica and Lynn. Very easy to pronounce but somehow everyone seems to butcher it. She's been called Joslyn (Knew someone by that name), Jessilyn, and Jessiliyn. Because of the numerous butcherings she just prefers to be called J as her friends often butcher her name.

I have a friend named JennAnn. It is not shortened from anything like Jennifer Ann....her name is simply JennAnn. Naturally many coworkers/customers screw it up and call her Jenna. I call her J.A. (which she likes) or JennAnn (cause I get it...which she likes). But when you have something simple like two common names joined together into one rather unique name it is amazing how many peope will screw it up.

Hehe..one of my old managers nicknamed me Betty. My names starts with "Al" (which I hate); everybody sing: "You can call me Betty, And Betty when you call me you can call me Al"

believe it or not, I've had people screw up "Benjamin"

My name is Alan. And oh do I have trouble with it.

First of all, I DESPISE that f***ing Paul Simon song. No, folks, you are not creative when you sing that to me. Yes, I go by Al or Alan, but no, I don't like or ever even want to hear that song again. Ever.

Secondly, my name is Alan. It is not spelled Allen or Allan, or any of the other less common ways, but the simplest, easiest way to spell it. A-L-A-N. How tough is that? Apparently, very tough. I do have fun with it, though. Any time I meet another person with my name I ask, "Do you spell it correctly?" Amusingly, 90% of the time if they spell it the same way I do, they simply say yes. And 90% of the time if they spell it another way they ask, "Why...how do you spell it?" Apparently, those of us with my spelling KNOW that it is the right way.

One other thing I like to point out is that just about every famous person with my name spells it my way. Alan Freed, Alan Thicke, Alan Jackson, etc. Yet more proof that my way is indeed the correct way.

Thirdly, yes, I can belive that people have screwed up Benjamin. After all, while I understand why so many people mispell "Alan", I have actually had not one but TWO people ask me how to spell "Al"!

Finally, my name is proof people don't listen. Because, despite having a clear speaking voice and good articulation, after introducing myself as "Alan" I have been called Aaron, Adam, Alex, and even Eric. And honestly, I get those, I understand those, even Eric is vaguely similar in sound to Alan. What I DON'T get or understand is why so many people think my name is "Andy". Other than the first initial, exactly how is Andy in any way similar to Alan?!?

Screw it. I'm gonna get my name legally changed to "Jester."

Of course, if I did that, I would get to watch amusedly as people call me "Gesture," "Jessica," and "Joshua."