# Name misspellings by phone service providers **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 24, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475 "2012-01-24T04:25:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/1 "2012-01-24T04:25:36Z")
I’ve noticed that name misspellings are very common on my Caller ID. I always thought it was customers being careless with their service applications. I recently switched to Verizon Fios. On my first bill, my first name was spelled incorrectly. I soon realized that my name was being spelled wrong on other people’s caller ids. Since my incoming calls are from people with various providers, I conclude that they all screw up spellings. Am I right? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/2 "2012-01-24T20:44:35Z")
As someone who does data entry for a living, we’re not perfect. I have to decipher a \*lot \*of chicken-scratch, and by the end of the day this can easily give me a literal headache. Toward the end of a shift, my ability (and will) to read between the lines goes down significantly. That recent thread about limited stores of willpower really got me thinking about how it applies to my job. The more times I have to choose between an _e_ or an \*a \*(or _2_ and _z_, _5_ and _s_, etc), the less I start to care as the day goes on. I pick whatever I read it as on first glance and move on. At the beginning of a shift I am more productive and accurate, but by the end I feel so mentally-exhausted that perfect accuracy matters less. But even if it was a clearly-handwritten or typed form, humans make typos. It shouldn’t be too hard to call them and get them to update it. Don’t take it personally! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/3 "2012-01-24T20:59:23Z")
Thanks **rachelellogram**. Trust me, I don’t take it personally and understand how data entry jobs can cause mental exhaustion leading to errors. I just noticed that name spelling errors just seem to be very common by phone companies, perhaps more than I see anywhere else. I threw in the example of myself as confirmation. I just wanted to know if anyone else has noticed this. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/4 "2012-01-24T21:16:30Z")
My caller ID name has an E where an A should be. And they left out the silent D. I actually called the phone company to correct it but I’m not sure if it got corrected or not. My dad joked about it the other day so I think it’s not correct on caller ID but I’m pretty sure I am finally in the phone book correctly. Everyone else’s names seem fine, tho. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/5 "2012-01-24T21:20:01Z")
I used to know someone whose name came up on caller ID as NYNEX WIRELESS PH or something like that. She was aware of it but never cared enough to have it changed. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/6 "2012-01-24T21:20:45Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > It shouldn’t be too hard to call them and get them to update it. Don’t take it personally! 🙂 Clearly you don’t work for Barclaycard, who cannot seem to adjust Firstname middlenam Surname to Firstname Middlename Surname after six phone calls. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/7 "2012-01-24T21:47:23Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Clearly you don’t work for Barclaycard, who cannot seem to adjust Firstname **middlenam** Surname to Firstname Middlename Surname after six phone calls. Well, there’s your problem. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/8 "2012-01-24T22:44:43Z")
Well, I don’t work for a phone company at all. Just trying to show the perspective from the other side of the table. I’ve never had an issue with the phone company messing up my name, but I’ve been with the same cell phone company the whole time (Tmobile). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/9 "2012-01-24T23:10:46Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Well, there’s your problem. 😃 That’s exactly the problem: they can’t seem to correct “tyron” to “Tyrone”. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/10 "2012-01-25T18:46:54Z")
Mine’s screwed up, due to the original illegible scrawling of the Comcast VOIP installer on the carbon paper invoice copy. To fix Comcast’s system, they refuse to do it over a support call and insist they need a personal visit with original birth certificate, SSN, driver’s license, to validate my “true identity”. Screw them, not worth the hassle, so I just live with the misspelling. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/11 "2012-01-25T19:46:39Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Mine’s screwed up, due to the original illegible scrawling of the Comcast VOIP installer on the carbon paper invoice copy. To fix Comcast’s system, they refuse to do it over a support call and insist they need a personal visit with original birth certificate, SSN, driver’s license, to validate my “true identity”. > > Screw them, not worth the hassle, so I just live with the misspelling. I would use that as a reason to change providers. Not that they would care. Bell Canada has been trying to get me back for three years, but have never make the least attempt to discover why I left (and why I won’t come back). ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-misspellings-by-phone-service-providers/610475/12 "2012-01-26T03:36:00Z")
I don’t know. I might actually prefer a wrong misspelling. I don’t really care. I did care once when a GPS spelled a street I needed to go to “Freindship” lane. But not enough to care about everything in my life that is spelled wrong. My name is spelled wrong on tax forms. I’ve been married, twice, and never bothered to change either time, in 2 years. I give not a shit about this. And I have not needed to, even when the first time they got it wrong.