Same idea, different actress/name.
Ah, yes. I used to work with a Ms. Woodcock. The jokes practically write themselves.
This is why when people tell me their names, in my work, I ask them how they spell it if I have the slightest doubt. There are two spellings of my first name and there’s a variant of my last name out there and I hate when people get those wrong. So if people wonder why I’m asking, I tell them I can think of about three ways to spell (say) Catherine without trying very hard and I want to get it right. It’s usually appreciated.
I just go ahead and spell my last name. It’s short but it’s got a silent letter so there’s no guarantee that anyone will spell it right.
I’m always amazed that the people at the pharmacy understand my last name without me having to spell it. Especially when I’m yelling it over the drive-through microphone. No matter who it is, they always come back with the right prescription. My hearing is so bad, I could think of a million things my last name could sound like.
My pharmacy rocks.
I don’t mind having to spell my name for other people. My first name is the less common spelling.
What I do mind–when people ignore the correct spelling in favor of using an incorrect one.
Look–my e-mail address contains my first name, spelled correctly, and a common English word. If you are sending me an e-mail, why the heck wouldn’t you use the same spelling of my name that appears in my e-mail address?
Vaguely related–I just finished a temp job where I had access to an online database under what I like to think of as a secret identity. Neither my first or last name were spelled correctly. Had it been a long term job, I’d have fussed. But for a few weeks, I could live with misspelled names.
Me too, though mine is five letters instead of four. People, it’s a common noun you learned in elementary science class, how else would you spell it?? But whatever, at least it’s quick to spell.
There are apparently three ways to spell my first name, but 98% of people get it right because my spelling is the one the vast majority use. As for the rest a quick “that’s ‘on’ not ‘en’” clears it up.
EvilTOJ, maybe they think your parents are dumb, or jerky enough to give you the girl’s spelling. I work with an Erin* who has a factory issued penis but I’ve never been able to bring myself to ask what his parents’ explanation for that is.
*pronounced “Aaron”…in north eastern accents there’s a slight and sometimes precipitable difference in pronunciation between the two. Back in college I knew an Aaron who dated an Erin, and when some people talked about them you knew which person they mean, but others not so much.
I’ve been spelling my last name since I was old enough to pronounce it, What bothers me isn’t having to spell it, it’s pronouncing it, spelling it and still having the other person screw it up.
My last name is short but very uncommon. Over the years I have found that the easiest way to go is to spell it out using the radio operators’ phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Baker, Charlie…etc). It eliminates any spelling questions.
Now the only problem they have is how to pronounce it…
My first and last name have letters that are always easily misunderstood when spelled verbally and are doubles too. Once you get the right letter, then you have to convince them to put it down twice.
My last name is fairly uncommon and I automatically spell it (with a “v” as in victor thrown in for added clarity). Spelling it is so automatic that it really doesn’t bother me. What DOES bother me is the fact that so many people say “you’re last name is so-and-so? Are you related to random-person-of-course-I’m-not-related-to?” My last name is uncommon but not rare/unique, it just sounds kinda funky and apparently sticks in people’s minds. I can barely let people get through the attempt before I interrupt with “no, not related.” (all my relatives are in TX and I now live in CA, the chance of some passing acquaintance knowing an actual relative is pretty damn small).
My last name begins with C pronounced as S. If I just say my name, people almost always assume it’s spelled with an S. If don’t say it but spell it out, they still assume it’s spelled with an S, probably because the name of the letter C is pronounced as though it begins with S. A tad frustrating.
My last name is rare and has a silent letter in an unexpected place. I always spell it out, but that’s automatic and it doesn’t annoy me.
What does annoy me is when I spell it out and they still get it wrong.
Kent?
when I married, I realised I had also gained 40% of the alphabet… so I automatically spell for folks. It bothers me not one whit. 
My first name is Michael, which is extremely common, though also not uncommon to misspell (I see “Micheal” fairly often). However, I usually go by “Mike”, which is even easier.
However, my last name is not only very uncommon, but not English, so I always have to spell it for people. In addition, it’s very rare that someone pronounces it correctly if they see it before they hear me pronounce it, so I’m always having to correct the pronunciation. I’m used to doing that, and I know that it’s nearly always mispronounced, so I’m not bothered by it in the least.
My last name is four letters long, is an extremely common English word, and I routinely have to spell it for people who are native English speakers. Yes, it’s massively irritating.
Weird thing for me is that my last name can be spelled two ways. There is:
1/ the simple way, which is how (based on the phone book) about 80% of people with this name spell it and how my name is spelled; and
2/ the hard way, involving an extra superfluous letter, which is how about 20% of people with this name spell it.
If I don’t spell out my name, I would say that at least three quarters of people will assume it is spelled the second way. The only very weak explanation I can come up with is that it is because about 30 or 40 years ago there was a very very slightly famous person who spelled their name the second way, but I have never really understood the phenomenon. One good thing is that there was recently a celebrity (who was famous for about five minutes) who spells their name the first way. I may be kidding myself but I think this has made a difference.
It’s a minor annoyance now with my married name, which is Italian and rare in the United States, and as I understand it, not all that common in Italy either. The spelling is difficult to guess at if you hear it pronounced, and apparently, the pronunciation is difficult to guess at if you only see it written. So I’m always either spelling it or correcting someone who mangles it out loud.
My maiden name was short, and in the top five most common surnames here in the US, so I never had any problems with it. My first name is also fairly common, and while it has a few variant spellings, mine is the one that people guess first. It is rare that I have to spell it for anyone.
This is exactly what I was going to say. It’s more irritating to spell it and still have the person get it wrong.
It also irritates me when coworkers send me an email and manage to misspell my name in the body. And then there was last year when I spent several months crossing out the ‘e’ every time someone reprinted the sheet at the end of the aisle that shows who sits in my row. It took a while to figure out who I needed to have correct it, and I’m still not sure why they kept reprinting it with the same misspelling every time I corrected it. Seems easy enough to verify in the company directory.
My last name is often mispronounced, even after I’ve told the person what it is. I can understand someone putting the accent on the wrong syllable, but often they put in letters that simply aren’t there, for absolutely no reason. My first name is somewhat common, but strangely gets misspelled quite often.
My name is common enough, but it has an extra letter people don’t expect, and that trips them up unless I spell it.