We reach.
It sucks having a last name that is a first name. People get mine backwards all the time. The only school teacher who got it right the first time was my high school math teacher, Judson Stuart.
I never did ask my father and brother if they had the same problem.
A really bad name might drive you to crime.
Cite: Oral Suer.
If my last name was Cockburn I would just drop the “ck” and spell it Coburn.
My friend who’s middle name was Regina used to pronounce it the French way.
“Ray-zjeen-a” with the accent aigu over the “e” She wasn’t French.
My friend worked at a library with a woman named Anita Beerwagon. She was married, and took that last name.
One of the oddest names I have ever known was a man named Groundwater. He didn’t seem the least bit disconcerted by it.
I am election a few years ago in the next riding over, the two main candidates were named Hogg and Cauchon. (Cochon, pronounced exactly the same, is the French word for hog.) Cauchon won.
I have a friend named Pratt. He never seemed the slightest embarrassed by it. He grew up in Australia and spent his adult life in the US.
Anita Beer is one thing, but Anita Beerwagon just seems so excessive.
Another one here. Occasionally at work I get emails addressing me by my last name.
There are 3,300 people here. I am the only one with my last name, but 5 others have my last name as their first name. So that’s probably part of the reason.
My friend lives on Hurl Way in a newish subdivision. She said a bunch of people on her street are way bent out of shape about it and want the city to change it.
When I first heard the name Licklider, I thought it was a joke. (Hey I was a kid.)
Only because Americans don’t know how to pronounce it.
Years ago there was a politician of some prominence named D. French Slaughter. I desperately wanted him to run for president and pick Al Gore as his VP.
Regardless of their politics, I would SO put a bumper sticker on my car that read “Vote for Slaughter and Gore.”
I worked with a Hyman Rubnitz once - and I’m sure he spent much of junior high with people turning the “i” to a “u”.
When my wife went in to the hospital for a c-section, the anesthesiologist came in and introduced himself.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Payne…but don’t worry, my first name is Les.”
I met a very nice couple last week - their surname is Grocock.
I’m not sure what I’d do with a name like that - change it or embrace it to the point of giving my kids names like William or Ivana.
I’ve known a Fink and an Earp. In high school, there was a teacher named Jack Offenbach; it didn’t seem to bother him, but the kids sure had fun with it.
For most people, the names Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, etc., would be unacceptable.
A high school classmate’s last name was Klunk (with initials of KKK, no less). I’m also acquainted with a family with the last name of Birth. Once upon a time my church’s choir featured a really good tenor with the last name of Hornbuckle.
I’ll be at the courthouse, thanks.
I knew a Dr. Cappuccino once. Not sure that would bother me, but it’s one of those names that always seems like a joke at first.
My last name isn’t anything like the ones that have been mentioned here, but it’s uncommon and sounds like a verb: it lends itself to one particular joke that many people just can’t seem to refrain from making, no matter how old they are. When I was younger I couldn’t wait to get married and change my name, but now at 40 (nearly 41) and still unmarried I’ve made peace with it. I’d still change my last name were I to marry, but these days it would be for traditional reasons and not because I hate it. Hearing that same joke – like I did as recently as Monday night – gets pretty annoying, though. And it actually makes me think a little less of the person who says it (because they’re immature enough to make fun of an unusual last name out loud, to the person whose name it is).
One big positive to having an unusual last name is that people often remember it, even if at first they aren’t quite sure how/why. It can be very helpful if you’re a musician trying to make a name for herself (which I am), and if I ever marry I’ll keep my maiden name for performances. Right now I’m dating a Miller, and sometimes I try to imagine what it’s like to have such a common, boring last name. 
My great-grandmother’s maiden name was Hoar. She married a Furey, which I always kind of liked. If people are going to comment on my last name anyway, I think I’d rather be Jenny Furey. 
I know a Glasscock, but didn’t find out his last name until coming across his Facebook profile: I honestly thought it was fake (one of those made-up Facebook names to protect someone’s privacy) until I saw his driver’s license one day!
An evil, evil set of parents at my kids’ school named their son Michael Hunt.
We had a Mike Hunt at my high school. I never met the guy though.
When I was in Jr. high, there was a guy there named Arthur Fischel.
True story. Everyone knew him as “Artie”.
I live in Troy, Ohio. The high school athletes are all known as Trojans. You can buy T-shirts and other items with Trojan insignia. In addition to the public high school, there’s also a Christian high school. I’m not sure if they call themselves Christian Trojans but it makes for some interesting mental pictures.
IIRC, there was a news article some years ago about a very high-profile execution of a mass murderer (Ted Bundy maybe?), which mentioned the official doctor there: Dr. Slaughter.
Re: Slaughter and Gore: Almost! Al Gore teamed up with David Blood to create Generation Investment Management, a carbon credit trading firm colloquially known as Blood and Gore
Cockburn is pronounced Coburn 
– Whoever wrote, several posts up, that Americans might not know this must be right on. I never would have guessed.
Is there some back-story about that? How did that spelling / pronunciation combination arise?