# Spell my name, spell my name **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 18, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148 "2015-01-18T11:29:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/41 "2015-01-19T03:51:45Z")
I seem to have an intermittent speech impediment. As you could probably surmise from my user name, my first name is Stuart. No, it’s not spelled with an E or W. No, I said “Stuart”, not “George”. How the fuck I can say my name and some people hear “George” has got me buggered. My last name is pretty simple but not common so people aren’t familiar with it and I always have to spell it. [QUOTE=Senegoid] I had a co-worker once whose last name was Stoeckeniusillspellthatforyou. And then he spelled it for you. He always answered the phone with just his first name (which was only three letters), but if he had occasion to tell anyone his last name (like, if he was leaving a message with someone) it was always Stoeckeniusillspellthatforyou. And then he spelled it for you. [/QUOTE] Are you serious? Is that a case of some nimrod clerk at an immigration office writing down exactly what someone said when asked for their last name and it became stuck? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/42 "2015-01-19T21:43:17Z")
My last name is six letters long, five of those very common , and only has one syllable. Almost every time I spell it out for someone, I get to the third letter and they stop me and ask me to repeat myself. Honestly? You’re three consecutive letters into a single syllable and your mental buffer is full? ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/43 "2015-01-19T22:43:56Z")
For a while, my surname was Bennett. After having a Polish surname my entire life up until then, I was thrilled to have an “easy” name. No such luck. How the hell Bennett could get messed up, I have no idea. I mean, I didn’t even care about the 2 T’s at the end. Just saying it perplexed people. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/44 "2015-01-20T00:46:33Z")
I told a young person at a deli my first name to put on the order. She made me repeat it three times, looking confused each time as I repeated my very simple 4-letter name. When I picked up the order (they had to call it three times before I thought “hmmm. . .wonder if that’s supposed to be me”) and looked at the slip, it had some weird Klingon looking word on it that wasn’t even a name. It would be as if you told someone “Joe” and it came back “Korlana”. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/45 "2015-01-20T01:01:51Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > [Then there’s Stephen with a “ph”…](http://www.dumpaday.com/random-pictures/funny-pictures/tuna-phteven-is-the-funniest-dog-on-the-internet-20-pics/) (about 7 pics down) That’s my name, back in the days when faxes were common I once told someone my name exactly as above only to get a fax later addressed to Stevenph. ---
**Author:** ![Napkin\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8dc957/32.png) [@Napkin\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napkin_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/46 "2015-01-20T01:12:08Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > My first name is easy enough. My last name, even at only four letters, can be spelled 3 different ways. > > One is a fruit. > One is an action. > and one is two things together. > > All pronounced the same. > > I’m a riddle I am. > > I always have to spell it out. I’m glad it’s only four letters long. Pine? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/47 "2015-01-20T02:26:39Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I told a young person at a deli my first name to put on the order. She made me repeat it three times, looking confused each time as I repeated my very simple 4-letter name. When I picked up the order (they had to call it three times before I thought “hmmm. . .wonder if that’s supposed to be me”) and looked at the slip, it had some weird Klingon looking word on it that wasn’t even a name. It would be as if you told someone “Joe” and it came back “Korlana”. I have a Starbuck’s alias - one syllable, one long vowel, ending in one forceful consonant - I can hear it across a crowded airport, no matter how desperately they try to mangle it. A lot like my own name … ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/48 "2015-01-20T02:30:52Z")
That reminds me of when I used to call in my pizza order and the place was run by Spanish speakers. My name IRL is Kay, which means What in Spanish. You can imagine the conversation. What’s your name? Kay What’s your name? Kay What ees your NAME? It took me several times of doing this before I realized my name at the pizza joint could be Maria! ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/49 "2015-01-20T03:54:47Z")
People always want to add an s to the end of my surname. Why? My Dad’s given name was W. H. The army refused to accept that and forced him to come up with names that went with those initials. ---
**Author:** ![DoggyDunnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DoggyDunnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoggyDunnit)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/50 "2015-01-20T04:17:12Z")
My legal name, “Marcus”, is pretty hard to fuck up the spelling of, short of thinking it’s spelled “Markus”. The name I go by, “Sergey”, sometimes get spelled “Sergei”. Neither my legal, nor my adopted, middle and last names have the problem. I do feel bad for a girl I met once, though. Her name was pronounced “Caitlin”, but was spelled… “Khaytelynne”. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/51 "2015-01-20T15:46:25Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > People always want to add an s to the end of my surname. Why? Me too! That’s why I do the badger thing - no one seems to want to pluralise a badger. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/52 "2015-01-21T00:54:02Z")
We don’t need no stinking badgers! ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/53 "2015-01-21T21:18:21Z")
My first name has four letters, as does my last. You’d think such short names would result in few spelling issues, yet that is by no means the case. My first name isn’t exotic, but does have three common spellings. Mine is the least common. Thankfully, a few years ago, an actress who spells her name the same as mine became well known due to a show about a certain flowery lane. Since then, I just refer people to her name. My last name is an ethnic spelling of a common English word. Pronounced just the same as the English word. The immediate assumption is that I spell it the same as the English word. For my last name, I usually refer people to a word commonly used in the names of certain ethnic restaurants. Almost every town has one, so this has been fairly easy. I have the dubious distinction of being listed 16 times in the index of my high school yearbook, all misspellings of my name. Not once was I listed correctly anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148/54 "2015-01-21T21:35:56Z")
My surname suffers from being an uncommon surname very similar to two relatively common surnames - a single letter-swap away from one, and a single letter-change from the other. It has been my experience that even if I spell it out people still usually get it wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spell-my-name-spell-my-name/710148.md?page=2)