Fun with Last Names.

I actually know a “Lehman”. And she’s hott!! . . . just FYI :wink:

Everyone butcherd my last name before I got married. I got Qubert, Kebert, Kabat, Kepert, etc etc

Now with my married name, Dano, it is pernounced “day-no” not “dan-no” but I/we get the standard “Book’em Dano” jokes (Hawaii 5-0 reference for ya)

Sometimes, when we have to give our name for a table, I give the name “Search” :smiley:

My last name is pronounced “Fair”.

Nevertheless, I have had it pronounced “Thayer”, “Fur”, “Fuhr”, “Feyer”, and “Ther” more often then I would care for it to happen.

The joys one has with a highly ethnic last name!

My maiden name is Hubbell–like the telescope, only not spelled the same. Aside from the people who (despite knowing me for years) consistently spelled it wrong and strangers who pronounced it HYOO-bull, there was the never-ending stream of “Hubbell, bubble, double-trouble” to lighten my day. Everyone who ever said that thought that they were as original as hell and oh, so very clever! (“Ha! Ha! I’ve never heard that one before!”) It only got worse when Hubba Bubba bubble gum was introduced.

My married name is Cartwright. It’s not that hard to pronounce: Cart-rite.

However, on the first day of class, at least one professor is guaranteed to get it wrong. They want to pronounce the “w”, for some silly reason.

And can we please stop with the Bonanza jokes? I don’t live on the Ponderosa, and I sure as hell don’t plan on dying in childbirth like the Cartwright women on the show. It’s not funny, OK? No one has actually been crass enough to suggest that, but I’m sure it’s coming.

Robin

It’s not “Doors”? :confused:

I love when the telemarketers call and they say “hello Mrs. uh … Kackzor? Kazcor? ummm… how do you say your name?”

Actually I hate when they call but their inability to pronounce my name does amuse me.

Spelling our name is an adventure for most people too. When people ask me my last name I just spell it for them now - I don’t even let them try spelling it themselves.

My maiden name was supposedly easy - two very simple english words. Norcross. I got Norcroft, Narcross, Norcris…

My last name is HOWSE and it pronounced just like “HOUSE”. However, when I give the spelling of my name “H” “O” “W” “S” “E” more than half the time, people end up spelling my name “HOUUSE”

There a many English words with a “DOUBLE” “U” in the word. (VACUUM is a notable exception) so why do people want to put two “U’s” in my name?

[geeky nitpick]
Only Adam’s mother died from (not in) childbirth. Hoss’s mother was killed by an Indian and Little Joe’s mother was thrown from a horse.
[/nitpick]

Anyway, my last name is Hamm. I’ve always had to correct people who insist on spelling it with only one “m” (not to mention the obvious jokes about smoked pigs’ butts).

I get Cartwright, which isn’t very close, but has the same number of letters and same first four letters. I guess people are too lazy to read beyond those first four.

I once called a tech support line and had to get a replacement part shipped to me. When I spelled my name for the guy, he said, “Wow. I guess if I ever meet someone with that name, I’ll know it’s you or your brother or something.” When I got the package, I discovered he had totally misunderstood me, as the name on it was mangled into something unpronouncable. He had turned the “C” into an “E”, a “t” into an “h” ( :confused: ), and inserted an “a” and an “e” where none belonged.

My last name begins with the letters Ca, but pronounced as a K. I really should learn to stop saying the name then spelling it, because by the time I begin spelling it, the person has already written down a K and I have to make them cross it out!

Also, my first name (Erika) has a k and not a c, so if I ever say BOTH names, and add “with a K” a little too late, the last name gets changed back to a K and my first name ends up with a C…urrrrgh. FIRST NAME WITH A K, LAST NAME WITH A C!!!

My SO’s last name is much more easily spelt, but gets a lot of “Really?? THAT’S your last name??” comments and looks. HIS first name, however, is essentially unpronouncable in English, so we’ve had to “translate” it. So he just tends to tell people to stick an extra letter in there, to spell it correctly, but to keep saying it the english way.

I said it once (years ago, perhaps) in another similar thread.

Forget my name, that’s too complicated, and I don’t mind people butchering it (well, depends on the level of butchering).

My first last name… I would expect people to get it right, especially native Spanish-speakers. Unfortunately, these are the ones (especially those from the Caribbean) that get it wrong. My last name is Frontera… they listen and say Frontera, but they write it Fronteras. Why? People tend to drop the final s, and always figure out I’ve done the same with my last name.

Uhm… no. If you’re asking my proper name, to put it in an official document, I bet many people would try to spell it and pronounce it as correctly as possible.

The worst part was in elementary school, when the teachers got my last name wrong. Women, it’s right there in the registration papers! The ones the school gave you!!!

One funny thing that I’ve been subject since in the states… the mix-up of my two last names. I know it’s spam when it’s addressed to Grenze secondlastname, using Grenze as my first name, and “secondlastname” as my “real” last name.

The closest I ever get to someone molesting my names is leaving out the “L” in my last name, or using the first half of my last name as my first name. A couple of teachers in high-school kept calling me “Carl”. Of course, I’d just remind them that that’s my father’s name, and I’m his son. (My last name is very traditional in that sense.)

But I love names, words, etymology and onomastics, so I find this thread very interesting. Just to add to the discussion, a recent casting rumour for the live-action Fantastic Four film has Ioan Gruffudd (King Arthur) up for the role of Dr. Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. Unless his IMDb profile is wrong, I find the pronunciation of his name quite interesting. Anybody care to take a shot at it without looking at his profile?

And then there’s the star of The Gods Must Be Crazy - N!xau (who played Xixo). I’ve contemplated adding a “!” or two somewhere in my name, just for the halibut.

Any!hoo…