Not a Hannah, although when I see that in written materials, I’ve gotten to where I go on about my business - that is the usual spelling, after all. Just my bad luck my father (who was in charge of filling out the birth certificate) is a bad speller. I don’t even bother correcting the prosthetic “H” unless it’s for a formal and official document sort of deal (my marriage certificate, driver’s license, financial materials, bar membership, etc.).
I get Ann and Anna all the freaking time - those I generally just don’t bother to correct unless I’m going to see the person calling me that fairly often. After all, not hearing the beginning H is fairly easy - particularly if you’re taking my name over the phone. It’s the people that insist on “Heather” or “Heidi” that irritate the hell out of me. Really? What the fuck? Congratulations on getting the first letter of my name correct, I suppose. I spent three years arguing with my undergrad college about it - they were *totally convinced *my first name was Heather.
We’re not even going to discuss the sheer number of people who managed to misspell my maiden name - which was a four-letter word with a commonplace non-name usage and no alternate spellings (like door or wall or pond) that’s in the top 25 most-common last names.
I go by Pete, Peter, Petey. I have no preference for any of those names, but it’s interesting to see that certain groups will naturally gravitate towards one name or another. “Peter” is probably the most common, and used by either people addressing me in a formal context, and by females. “Pete” is my default friendly name, and is most often used by males. “Petey” is my cutesy friendly name, and is most often used by females and a couple of very close male high school friends.
If I introduce myself as “Pete” (and it’d be interesting to see when I introduce myself as “Pete” and when as “Peter”), it often gets mistaken for “Keith.”
Not Cherly (the most common misspelling)
Not Shirl (the most common mispronunciation)
Not Shirley (from stupid people who can’t spell OR speak)
Not Huh? (although I would prefer that to any of the above)
My last name is of German extraction. No one can spell it. It doesn’t help that a feud from 200 years ago is preserved in two halves of the family: one spells it with an “e” on the end, one doesn’t. I’m from the side that doesn’t. My favorite misspelling comes from the Republican party materials that my dad gets. “Gunderdork.”
I am a Rebecca, I do go by Becki (yes, with an “i”). After I say my name I have been called Becca, Beth, Reba, Peggy, Bertha (WTF? who actually has this name that isn’t 80 y.o.), and Robby (on a voice mail once).
Seriously people! LISTEN!!
Sometimes I think peoples ares are turned off or just tuned out while they are thinking of what their next “line” is going to be
The above perfectly illustrates what drives me nuts in these types of threads. Can’t you just put in the actual name you’re talking about? By the time I try to complete the mental gymnastics required to figure out all of these caustic references, I’ve lost interest. Not to pick on you, but this was just the best example. Why not just state the actual name?
I honestly thought that was the way it was pronounced (“g” as in “gill” rather than “g” as in “jill”) until I heard someone pronounce Gillian Anderson’s name. I still believe it SHOULD be a hard G, but I understand that names don’t follow normal pronunciation rules.
My last name has one O and 2 P’s. But I am almost always called a similar name that has TWO O’s and ONE P. Even after I say to them “like grassHOPPER” or “Dennis Hopper”, I still get, “OK, Ms. Hooper.” :smack:
I don’t have many stories of my own misfortunes to share, but I suppose this is the place to say that I was reading Great Debates for at least a year before I realized that Brain Glutton wasn’t Brian.
The number of people who call me by surname, obviously thinking it’s my first name, drives me buggy. It happens even with people who have known me for years and should know better by now.
I queried my father and brother about this a few years ago to ask if it happens to them also, and both said yes.
First name: four letters, one syllable. People screw it up.
Middle name: same as a nearby city. People screw it up.
Last name: well, it could be a bit tricky, except that it is a very common spelling in the most common ethnic group in the area. People screw it up in two places.
Three very common names, with very common spellings, and a total of six syllables. People have sent me professional letters misspelling all three.
Are we living in alternate universes? My last name ends in l-e-y. Everyone tries to spell it with an l-y. It was wrong on my brother’s high school diploma, and my father was on the goddamn school board at the time. It happens so often, when I used it in a new email address, I truncated it and left off the end 'cause I’d never get any email otherwise.
To compound things, my first name has two common spellings, and several uncommon ones. My spelling is the most common one, but the least often guessed. Grr.
No, for the love of little green men, it is not. It’s horrible. It’s ugly. It sounds bad. It doesn’t sound like Samantha. I’ve had people misspell it after I spell it for them two or three times:
Usually I get “S-a-m-a-t-h-a?” Once it was even followed up with a muttered “That doesn’t look right…”
I also hate it when people who don’t know me call me Sam. I stopped correcting people when I was about twelve: apparently three syllables is too much for most people. I don’t LIKE Sam, but I live with it.
I am very sorry to report that at least one, backwoods, redneck, inbred family that happen to be quite prolific breeders, had an offspring they named Cheryl.
Pronounced CH-url
I am hoping the current Bigfoot mania sends them deeper in the forest and hopefully, out of the gene pool.
My first name ends in -y, and half the people out there will turn it into Firstname-ends-in-i.
Then there’s my lastname, which is about as unique as they come. Nobody in or out of hell ever spells it right on the first go. My *passport *came back with it misspelled.
Y’know, you’d think that would work, wouldn’t you? And yet, when I started my new job a year ago, I didn’t have computer access for over a month, no phone, and none of the system access that a new hire should have.
Why?
Because the moron recruiter who gave the company all my information misspelled my last name.
Even though I’d already corrected him about it. FOUR TIMES, in various emails.
Oh yes, and might I mention that the email address on my resume, and hence the one I was using for all correspondence with him, contains my last name - spelled correctly. All he had to do was cut-and-paste my name, which I had spelled out for him AT HIS REQUEST “so I can send it correctly to the company”.
THAT worked real well. :rolleyes:
