No, you may NOT mispronounce my name

[XCashier]

I hate my first name. It happens to be the same name as a character on a very popular seventies sitcom, and the show had a catch phrase using this name. (Cookies for whoever guesses what it might be.) I hear that damn catch phrase EVERY single time I meet someone new. And they always give me this look, like "Aren't I clever?" like it was the first time I've heard it.

I had that problem with my maiden name. My maiden name is the same as a military rank, so I always had some idiot give me a salute and yell out my name, then laugh like they're oh so funny and oh so original. Fine, drop and give me fifty, asshat!

Or the people who think they are so clever and go "Mary bary boo ferry banana fnana fo ...." yeah....lame.

Gah! That tacky old novelty song, "The Name Game". Next time, tell those idiots your name is Chuck and watch their reaction.
"Chuck chuck bo buck
Banana nana no nuck
Fee Fi Fo F-- ! Hey!"

[zzapp the witch]

Jennifer.

My name is so damn common. How do you screw up Jennifer? Apparently you can. I gave up a long time ago, now I just ignore them until they get it right.

[Bacter]

I just thought of... does anybody remember tiny toons? I still remember cracking up watching it (in days past) with an ex and her little bro. Part of the credits:

"Plucky duck: the only character conspicuously absent from the name game"

Bless you, cartoonists.

[Sailornight6]

more trouble growing up with my last name.
well the kids did it on purpose...my life was an utter nighmare when urika's castle came on (no thats not my last name but it is very close to it.
even today in collage i still have correct teacher. even got in an argument with one proffessor who told me the way i was pronocing it and my whole family pronouces it was wrong.
lord the semester is only half way done

[AFpheonix]

I hate my first name. It happens to be the same name as a character on a very popular seventies sitcom, and the show had a catch phrase using this name.

Whatchoo talkin' about Willis?

Oh wait, probably should be a girl's name....

My name is easy to pronounce, but it can be spelled a bajillion different ways. So, if I'm eating out, and they're taking my name for a reservation or whatever, and they offer up whatever spelling makes sense to them, I just reply "sure"
The only time that didn't work was when I was reserving a spot at the Melting Pot for Valentine's day, and the guy just HAD to get it right. Look bud, I don't care one way or another. It's all good.

On the other hand, I get a lot of customers at work who just look at me after I say their name and go, "Oh my god, you said it correctly! Did you hear me say it before?"
No...but hooked on phonics worked for me!

[KuzcoLlama]

I "collect" the the different ways my first name has been misspelled. To be fair, the problem isn't in the name itself, it's how they hear it.for those who hear it for the first time, the first letter is a hard consonent, and the rest of the name...isn't. So they never hear it correctly. So far my name has been spelled an intriguing 10 different ways, none of them correct. I could care less though. I just say it the same way again when I pick up my food or my coffee and they hand over the correct item. Clearly my system works.

[Tanasi]

even today in collage i still have correct teacher. even got in an argument with one proffessor who told me the way i was pronocing it and my whole family pronouces it was wrong.

When I was being held prisioneer in damnyankeeland my third grade teacher told me that my family was mispronouncing our last name. So not knowing any better I pronounced it her way until my Mom heard me. Talk about the fecal matter hitting the oscilating air-foil, Mom marched me into said teachers classroom the next day and proceeded to tell Miss damnyankee-smartie-britchees what was what, and when Miss dysb told Mom she was too ignorant to understand, Miss dysb learned the actual meaning of a Tennessee butt-kicking. I was transfered to another class later that morning.

[NightAngel]

Johan?

You can call him Joe (American bastardization, yes...) Hey there Gigalo Joe, whadda ya know? (movie reference)

Or drop the Jo and call him Han and make Star Wars jokes.
His name was Solo, he was a pilot, he had a blaster at his side and a smile 12 parsecs wide... (song reference)

OR you can drop the "han" and in correct pronunciation call him a Jo-Jo (Yo-Yo, great toy.)

[KuzcoLlama]

OR you can drop the "han" and in correct pronunciation call him a Jo-Jo (Yo-Yo, great toy.)

Ah memories...

My cousins call me Jo-Jo. Because it's a bastardization of a childhood nickname. Ah well, as long as they don't call me "bitch."

[Sailornight6]

lol. i wish i could do that, but alas haveing my mommy or daddy come and yell at a collage professor might make my life more miserable here

[ArenaBoy]

I can't believe I forgot to mention this. I have a friend who goes by the name is Corina. She goes by many nicknames by her family, some entertaining. I've called her Corky, Corky Cork, Cork, and Cori. She prefers Cori but if she's in a good mood she often calls herself I roc, which is her name backwards. She once said that her name is "Corina an I roc". Amusingly, her last name is similiar to another last name in my area but it's spelled differently.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Sometimes I wish I just been named Betty and had done with.

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" That was over 2 years ago and a couple people still call me that, or Betz which is what another manager shortened it to (and which I actually like better). Everyone in my old store used to call me Bob (random nickname one of the guys gave me 9 years ago and it stuck). I've been known to answer the phone as Bob. No one ever noticed the voice/name gender discrepancy...

I just thought of... does anybody remember tiny toons? I still remember cracking up watching it (in days past) with an ex and her little bro. Part of the credits:

"Plucky duck: the only character conspicuously absent from the name game"

Bless you, cartoonists.

Oh, I miss the Tiny Toons! And Animaniacs - my roomie and I used to watch every day after class (then she'd watch Power Rangers and I had to leave the room)

My cousins call me Jo-Jo.

My cousin still calls me Alien I'm 31 and he's 29. What is it they say about reverting to childhood roles when you are visiting family?

Draftermatt - I had a teacher in HS named Gilligan. I gotta say, the Island never even crossed my mind...

AFpheonix - when I go out and have to give my name I either give my middle name (Marie, easy enough) or the name of one of the people that I'm with. One of these days I'm just going to start giving random names for the hell of it.

My name is actually a German word (not actually a name in German lol) but pronounced differently. I always know if someone speaks German cuz they see my name and automatically say it like the German word. My college roomie got way overexcited when she'd see it in her German textbook

[Reyneth]

Mispronouncing names - ah, the pains I know so well. My last name is Slovak. And my family (father, mother, sister and I) say it differently than the rest of the family (although closer to the original Slovak) because that is what my dad's superior officers in the Army called him - and you don't argue with them.

Our name is said close to the girl's name of "Michelle." Only about 1 in 100 say it right. We get versions that sound like mackerel and so on. When I was young young young, at a piano concert/competition I won several awards and they said my name differently *every* time. Once they said it "Michael" and I refused to go and get the award because "that's not my name!" LOL

We do have one set of regular customers at my work whose name is just one vowel off of mine - I surprised them when I said their name correctly.

Although family friends of ours probably had worse problems - we learned from them what to do when giving names for waiting lists at resturants and such. Use a fake one. As long as you use the same one so you remember it, what difference does it make?

[Pinkie]

Customer names....

After verifying a customer's address, I ask for thier name, to verify it's the correct account. The customers with long, difficult names seem to get some sick pleasure out of listening to me butcher thier names. I'll ask them to pronounce it so I can try to wrap my tongue around it, and instead of going slowly, so that I can try to get it right, they'll run through it like it's a speed bump that they are ignoring. The cool ones, usually have names ending in "ski" and they say, "Hell, just call me 'Joe'" or what ever the first name is to spare me the pain of wrapping my brain around thier tongue twister name....<sigh>

[CurlyLocks]

Gah! That tacky old novelty song, "The Name Game". Next time, tell those idiots your name is Chuck and watch their reaction.
"Chuck chuck bo buck
Banana nana no nuck
Fee Fi Fo F-- ! Hey!"

Hehehe, I can't stop giggling over that one. I always ask my older brother to do my name, Name Game style (yes, I'm 41 and he's 43 and it still makes me laugh). I'll be seeing him on Sunday and I think I'll ask him to do Chuck and hope hilarity will ensue.