My last name is ethnic (Italian) and I do it the way my dad did growing up. BTW, my 1st name is spelled the most common way. My sister has a common name prounced commonly, but spelled VERY uniquely.
Hey! I use a Starbucks alias too. I tried using “Amanda” since it’s a super generic and common name for girls born in the mid 80’s but I got a few strange looks so I switched it to “Maria” because I look Italian.
I’m intentionally difficult and spell my name Kaitie instead of Katie or Katy. It doesn’t bother me too much, people will often ask “Is that with an “ie” or a “y”?” and I say “Well, actually…”. Not really a big deal.
Eh, I live with it. No biggie. It is not anyone’s fault my mom decided to get all creative. In the 60s, no less, before it became common.
Brynda (that’s B-r-y (pause) n-d-a)
I suffer from a slight case of mushmouth and people tend to miss-hear the second half of my last name. Also for some reason people seem to insist on using what I always thought of the less common variation of my first name, when they don’t mistake it for another similar name. As a result of both of these I’ve gotten used to having to spell my name, and it only bothers me when I hve to do it repeatedly.
I often joke that it took me 6 months to learn to spell my married name so of course it doesn’t bother me to spell it for others. What really annoys me about it is the fact that with most places using firstname.lastname network ID’s it takes me a million years to log in every morning.
I swear I would pay good money for an A@B.ca email address.
My name isn’t all that hard to spell. And if I’m in Canada or the UK, I never have to spell it: I just say “like the cigarettes.”
I voted other, because both my names are short, common, and have equally common variant spellings, and I’m so used to telling people which variants I have it doesn’t bother me, and I’ll say before they ask.
I have to spell my first name frequently. People always spell it like it’s a girl’s name even when I’m standing right in front of them and I’m obviously not a girl. My name’s also close to a singer so I’ve gotten junk mail for a Mrs. [celebrity name] :dubious:
+1
Drives me nuts. I’ve never seen Russell spelled ‘Russel’ or ‘Russle’ anywhere. Yet when people write my name they manage to do it.
My last name people are unlikely to spell or even pronounce it right. When giving my name I automatically spell it complete with Alpha Charlie Bravo as needed for letters that are commonly missed in the pronunciation
My first name has two common spellings, one always female and one that can be either male or female, plus whatever ‘yuneek’ spellings have come up in that wave of baby naming, so if it matters, I spell it out. My last name is spelled exactly the way it sounds (and sounds like it is spelled), but there are not a lot of people with my last name, so I’m used to spelling it out, too. No biggie.
It’s not having to spell my name out that annoys me, it’s the high number of people who don’t actually listen to said spelling, especially the ones who insist that I’ve got my own name wrong.
I give out my first name 20-30 times a day as part of my job. I rarely have to spell it, but there are only two variations of that spelling.
A couple of times a day, people get it wrong. If the call is short, I don’t bother correcting them. Especially if they’re assholes. Go ahead, complain about Fred, or Bob. No idea who he is.
The only time it really bothers me is the very infrequent case where I correct them and then they either still can’t get it right, or they continue to repeat the name they were calling me before I corrected them. I make exceptions for stupid (although I still don’t like it), but I get offended when they say Bob, I say (name) and they keep saying Bob. At that point, they’re choosing to be jerks, and my level of helpfulness drops considerably.
What’s your first name? :eek:
To the answer the OP. I have a common last name. So, I get frustrated when I have to spell my relatively rare first name. I also hate on the occansions I meet another person with my first name, they act like :eek: and take it way too seriously. I’ve only meet three other woman with my first name. One of them was the one I was named after.
Exactly what I was thinking reading the OP. I really don’t mind having to spell out my name; it’s longish and apparently the “other” way of spelling it is more common, but for the love of Pete please just write down what I’ve probably spelled for you three times already.
My last name is only three letters long, and yet it gives people no end of trouble. Over the years, I’ve come to accept that people aren’t going to get it, so now I just give them my name and immediately spell it out. It’s almost as if my name has gone from one syllable to eleven. But it doesn’t bother me; it’s just second nature at this point.
Other: I was going to say my last name is long and/or difficult, but it’s only 8 letters and I don’t think it’s difficult at all. It has a perfectly normal sequence of consonants and vowels, I think. But it’s an uncommon Sicilian name and for some reason I could never fathom, Americans always stumble over it. Of course, I’ve had to spell it out every single time my whole life long. I’m resigned to it. Most Americans can hardly handle spelling English, let alone Italian. Feeling resentful about it would be of no use whatsoever.
My first name (not Johanna—I mean my real first name) is a classic one and familiar enough, but it is only one letter different from a much more frequently used name. So of course, people always assume my name is the other one. They switch names on me even when they have the correct spelling before them in black and white. It gets weirder. Women with the more familiar name keep telling me their names get switched with my name! You just can’t win.
So that’s why I always spell out both. <shrug> Whatcha gonna do?
My name is short, easy and spelled like it sounds. I have to spell it all the time. In fact, when giving my last name, I automatically spell it. Then, when they spell it back and stop (everyone stops at the same place) I continue to spell it for them.
It’s because my name contains the word “cock”. There are many last names that contain it. I cannot be the only one.
I don’t think it’s annoying. But, one day, I may snap and scream “COCK! Just say it and it won’t be a big deal.”
I spell the word cock a lot.
I always have to spell and pronounce my last name for people. Except the Germans, and for some reason, my Caller ID. It was worse back in the late 60s, when everybody insisted on adding an "R’ and an “L” to it.
My first and last names are fairly common but I still have to correct people often enough. For some reason they always want to spell Barry as Berry. I attribute this to a general lack of ability for people to spell anything correctly these days.