# Is my name that damn hard to spell???
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [June 1, 2001, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254 "2001-06-01T20:22:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/1 "2001-06-01T20:22:48Z")
First of all my name is Aaron. Not an uncommon name. Spelled exactly the way it is always spelled (as a guy’s name anyway). It cannot be that hard to spell. However, every fucking time I am in a situation where someone asks me my name so that they can write it down or enter it into a computer (tech support, stores, etc…) it goes like this:
Them: First name?
Me: Aaron
Them: is that A-R-R-O-N
Me: No it’s A-A-R-O-N
COME THE FUCK ON! I have never seen the name Aaron spelled that way. Arron?!?!? What the hell is that? I can understand somebody not knowing once in a while, but this happens almost every fucking time.
Has anyone here ever in thier lives seen a person with that name that spelled it Arron? Because I’ve known many Aarons and they have all spelled it A-a-r-o-n, every single one. Is it really that goddamn hard to spell it?
Like I said, if this happened once in a while, no big deal. But every friggin time? If I had a hard name to spell it would be a different story, but come on. How the hell hard is Aaron to spell?
---
### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/2 "2001-06-01T20:27:41Z")
Maybe you should simply change your name to, say, Åæ®øñ™. That’d fix those bastards.
---
### Author:  [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/3 "2001-06-01T21:33:59Z")
It’s the silent “a” that gets 'em. BTW, which one is silent?
---
### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/4 "2001-06-01T21:43:20Z")
Aaron? Wasn’t that the name of Moses’ less-successful brother?
---
### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/5 "2001-06-01T22:11:11Z")
**Ukulele Ike** : Only by the vagaries of history - Sounds like he built a swell Golden Calf 😉 . Not his fault G\*\* wasn’t to keen on it 😛 .
- Tamerlane
---
### Author:  [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/6 "2001-06-01T22:17:11Z")
Yeah, my cousin’s name is Kaari. Kahh-ree. She’ll spell it out and get documented as “Kari” anyway.
This isn’t a spelling story, but you’ve reminded me of the time I went to the DMV with my brother-in-law. His last name is Mange. Pronounced with a short “a”, like man, not with a long “a”, like the skin disease in dogs. He gets the “maynj” pronunciation all the time, but God bless the DMV. They actually announced it as “Mangee.” With a hard “g”. We were both amazed.
---
### Author:  [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/7 "2001-06-01T22:23:21Z")
I know that supposedly, Aaron Held up Moses’ staff when his arm got tired during the whole parting of the sea episode during the exodus. Something like that, anyway.
And, you can never be sure which ‘A’ is silent, because it rotates. Sometimes you pronounce the first one and sometimes the second. Occasionally you pronounce both A’s, but that’s a whole other story.
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/8 "2001-06-01T22:38:36Z")
Reminds me of the time in first grade that the teacher tried to tell me how to spell my family name. Said name begins with McG; not Macg, nor thank heavens Mag. And it’s not an Irish name, it’s a Scottish (not Scotch) name.
Well, the teacher told me “That’s not how you spell an Irish surname.” I told her “No kidding, it’s not Irish. Plus it’s may name, not yours. Do I correct the spelling of your name, bitch?”
I’m not exactly sure why I got to see the principal - mouthing off or cursing. But Dad got called and he told the principal that my assertion of the teacher being a bitch was dead on. 😃
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/9 "2001-06-01T22:40:47Z")
Please edit, if you will, “may name” to “my name” above. Thank you.
---
### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/10 "2001-06-01T22:41:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Airbeck \*
> \*\*COME THE FUCK ON! I have never seen the name Aaron spelled that way. Arron?!?!? What the hell is that? I can understand somebody not knowing once in a while, but this happens almost every fucking time.
>
> Has anyone here ever in thier lives seen a person with that name that spelled it Arron? Because I’ve known many Aarons and they have all spelled it A-a-r-o-n, every single one. Is it really that goddamn hard to spell it?\*\*
I know how you feel. My daughter’s name is Sara **h**. With an “H”. At the end, please.
If I say (or she says), “Sarah, with an h” we have gotten (more than once, mind you)… **Shara**.
Some people are truly amazed you can spell that name with an “H” at the end.
“Isn’t it just S-A-R-A ?”
“Well, some people spell it that way, but I prefer the traditional spelling.”
“You mean the H isn’t some new thing?”
Damn idiots.
---
### Author:  [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/11 "2001-06-01T22:53:28Z")
My name is Jessica.
Perhaps one of the more phonetic names the world’s got.
Jessica…jessica…jessica.
HOW’S THAT SPELLED? And don’t think the double s is throwing them. It’s the i and the c every time.
And here’s what I hate…when people ask me how to spell my full name, and then try to finish it for me, jumping in as if they’d figured it out.
NO NO NO! Shut your valve and listen to the spelling. Questions after.
jarbaby
---
### Author:  [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/12 "2001-06-01T23:04:52Z")
My first name has been spelled:
Rachael
Racheal
Rachele
Rachelle
R **o** chelle :rolleyes:
I _try_ to be helpful:
Them: “How do you spell your name?”
Me: “E-L.”
Them: “A-E-L?”
_sigh_
I tried to spell it phonetically for a while:
Me: “R as in romeo …”
Them: “Your first name is romeo? I thought you said it was Rachel…”
Me: _shakes head and sighs again_
---
### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/13 "2001-06-01T23:09:22Z")
We’ve run out of “Bort” license plates. I repeat, we’ve run out of “Bort” license plates.
---
### Author:  [@hardygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardygrrl)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/14 "2001-06-01T23:10:15Z")
I know this all too well.
My name is Tanya. Pronounced tahn-ya.
Not tan-ya.
Is it my fault that my mother was such a hippie when she was carrying me (put it this way-I went to Woodstock. In utero-my mother was six months pregnant.) that spelling wasn’t her strong point?
I’m just immensely happy she didn’t name me Love,Freedom,Gemini…
\
My mother-gotta love her-was fixated on the notion that all her children’s names start with the same letter.With that in mind she named her three daughters Tina,Tanya and Tara.
Which makes family get-togethers a hoot…it usually takes people two tries to say the name they want. So we made nametags with pronounciation.🙂
I will,so help me god,not do this to my children.
\
Back to the OP…every single time I say my name I have to spell it and the fact that it’s T-a-n-y-a not T-o-n-y-a seem to blow some people’s minds.
That said-I’ve never mispelled Aaron or Jessica. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/15 "2001-06-01T23:12:52Z")
One of my favourite jokes:
Q: How do you spell your name?
Me: Correctly.
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/16 "2001-06-01T23:15:02Z")
Hardy,
My ex-wife’s father was adamant about naming his children after characters in an old Korean poem (he and his children are Korean). Funny thing, though, is that the five children in the poem were two boys and one girl. Ex-father-in-law had one boy and four girls. One of the girls got tagged with a boy’s name.
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/17 "2001-06-01T23:16:59Z")
Er, the children in the poem were two boys and **three** girls.
---
### Author:  [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/18 "2001-06-01T23:17:38Z")
What gets me the most is that it isn’t even an alternate spelling, that I could understand, but Arron? Why, if someone said that there name was Aaron would you assume that that is the way to spell it? Arron? That’s not even a damn name?
---
### Author:  [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/19 "2001-06-01T23:53:07Z")
Because my name _is_ damn hard to spell.
It’s actually a very simple name–it’s Cristi. But notice the funky-assed spelling.
Not my idea, mind you. It was my mom’s. When pressed as to why she chose that particular spelling, the only answer I’ve been able to get is “it was the thing to do at the time.”
Now, there are many, many different way to spell my name. Christi, Christie, Christy, Kristie, Kristy…you get my point. The spelling I have been saddled with, however, is one of the least-used spellings. What makes it even more strange, though is that it’s a nickname, derived from my _middle_ name, which is Christine. With an H. A big ol’ honkin’ H, right there after the C, right where it’s supposed to be.
I got back at the world by naming my son John. With an H. And I’m using the damn thing.
---
### Author:  [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2001, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254/20 "2001-06-01T23:58:16Z")
It’s amazing how many people can’t spell the most common male name in the U.S. It’s a-before-e, just like in the alphabet. Sheesh.
And, while on the boards, it’s not Monfort or Montford.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-name-that-damn-hard-to-spell/67254.md?page=2)