Friend of mine is named Wendy.
Her experience makes me wonder about every Wendy in the Western Hemisphere who was in middle school and startin’ to grow boobs at that particular time in the late seventies when the Wendy’s hamburger chain launched that ad campaign with that stupid song, "Wendy’s hot and juicy, hot and juicy, hot and juicy…
I’ve outgrown much of MY venom. Wendy’s is still as fresh as it was in 1978.
No. Are those even real names?
Let’s pretend that it’s “Fouck” or “Fuchs” whatever. That’s not my name by the way.
Anyway, this Col came up to me in the O’club bar (this would have been in the early 80’s) and took one of his fingers and poked me in the name tag!
“Fouck” he said, “I bet you get a lot of comments about that name.”
I looked up at him and said, “Not as much as about your name Col. Cox.”
Even in the dim bar I could see that man blush to the roots of his hair. He turned away and practically fled from the bar.
Ever after when I happened to be in his office area for my work, he would go in his office and shut the door. Yeah, I thought it was an over reaction, but I guess he’d never talked to a woman before who would talk back.
Pretend my name is Vyck (adjust surname for decade, and the spelling is important). I’m white. People who would see my name would chime in with “Nyuck, nyuck. Are you related to Michael?” (Vick, who does not look like me). :rolleyes: I’m surprised my eyes didn’t roll out of my head from doing it so much.
SO has frequent conversations that are the equivalent of this: “Hi, my name is Bella” (no her name is not that generic). “Hi, nice to meet you Isabella.” No it isn’t like they are mishearing; they add a syllable when reading it too. Her uncommon but very phonetic last name gets mangled all the time. Meanwhile my last name is something that wrecks computer systems so I find it more fruitful to give my phone number or SSN or something to access an account if I need to call in.
I’ve never had the issmoddues with someone making a joke of my name, but for Kirk: the next time some groundbreaking comedic talent riffs on it, smile faintly, and say “yeah, that was cute the first time I heard it, 40 years ago”, then go on with your day.
My beef with my name is twofold:
My first name is a French version of a name whose English and Spanish variants are more common here. I’d say 90% of people hear my name once, then proceed to call me either the English or Spanish version instead. In fairness, the emphasis is on the second syllable, which does not flow with my last name, while the English or French version does. Imagine buhBUH BUHbuh, versus BUHbuh BUHbuh or buhBUHbuh BUHbuh.
My middle name was my grandmother’s maiden name. My parents chose to call me by an oddly-spelled and never-seen-elsewhere diminutive of that, and tried to make teachers etc. call me by that. At a Catholic school, this didn’t fly too well - I mean, imagine the last name was, say, Milosevic and your parents called you Vitchi. As there is no Saint Vitchi, and there is a Saint buhBUH (and of course I was registered as buhBUH), I became buhBUH forevermore.
Except in the family, where I’m called “Vitchi”. Except nobody in the extended family can spell that. Even my godparents.
The takeaway lessons here for childnaming:
Wrecks computer systems? Your lastname is “(Drop Table)”???
Sorry; it was just a bit of *Seinfeld *humor. And Col Cox sounds like a prick - pun intended.
I can understand peoples’ irritation with that kind of behavior. Ridiculing(or in your case sexualizing) another’s name is just bad behavior. But the other harmless stuff has never bothered me. Internally I might be sick of getting yet another gift of Shari’s Berries or explaining that I was not named after Shari Lewis but I always take it as someone trying to connect, even if it’s not in a particularly original way. Also, I always liked it when people sang “Shari Baby” to me, complete with falsetto. I kind of miss that 
You’ve had more than one person ask if you were named after Shari Lewis? Surely not recently?
That’s how I would pronounce Shari. Sherry is one name, and Shari is another. Obviously I would try to pronounce it the way you do, but to me they are different names.
Still not sure I’m gettin’ the word across to some folks.
Having kids make fun of your name when you are a kid is… well, inevitable. A great many kids pass through a stage in adolescence where they don’t have the attention span to sit through a Disney, but when it comes to torturing their peers, their patiences is inexhaustible. It sucks, but short of monitoring all their social interactions, it’s gonna happen. Doesn’t make it RIGHT, or GOOD, but, well…
An adult who makes a joke out of my name immediately upon meeting me… well, he has announced that he is a person of questionable character, and I will certainly keep an eye on him in the future. Still, there is the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he is simply unaware that I’ve heard this joke many, many times since 1968 or so.
An adult who makes a big stupid BRAYING joke out of my name … well, this is a jackass, and will be handled accordingly.
An adult who makes a big stupid BRAYING joke, and WILL NOT LET IT DROP, insisting that I participate in his funny little ritual and ASSIST in making fun of my name… Yeah, well, this is a SERIOUS asshole, one who seems to have little capacity for thinking it through, or seeing any viewpoint other than his own.
Which brings us to – An adult who makes a big stupid BRAYING joke, and WILL NOT LET IT DROP, and insists that I participate in his ritual, and BECOMES OFFENDED WHEN I DECLINE TO DO SO, regardless of how politely I attempt to disengage. This is the kind of human being who’s barely worth the trouble of scraping off your shoes.
As of yet, I’ve never actually met someone who, upon hearing my name, punched me in the chops or kicked me in the nuts. Not yet. But the day is yet young.
And now that I think about it, should I ever show up for a Dopefest, please refrain from punching me in the chops or kicking me in the nuts.
Just because it hasn’t happened yet would not make it funny…
Well it’s always older people. And I’m no spring chicken myself 
[QUOTE=gigi]
That’s how I would pronounce Shari. Sherry is one name, and Shari is another. Obviously I would try to pronounce it the way you do, but to me they are different names.
[/QUOTE]
Interesting. Obviously it’s impossible for me to be objective but I’ve never heard of “SHARRY” as a name except when people mispronounce mine.
I have heard the pronunciation before. Then again, I teach public school. I once had a miserable nervous child explain to me that his name was spelled “Morreion terHorski,” but PRONOUNCED “Morris Hausen.”
Some parents are insane. Others are simply cruel. And sometimes sanity comes rushing in unexpectedly.
Couple I knew used to joke that their first son would be named “Onion.” When she finally got pregnant and gave birth a couple years later, I reminded them of the joke. The two of them looked at me like I’d suggested naming him “Turdbreath.” Suddenly the joke wasn’t funny…
Oh hell yes. My name is an extremely common, two-syllable one that has cognates in all European languages. In its full glory, it suggests, to me at least, intellectualism, sensitivity and thoughtfulness.
Unfortunately, it has a short version, too. That name suggests a guy whose peak life experience was scoring a touchdown in the high school championship, then getting a handy from a cheerleader under the bleachers.
Guess which version most people use?
It got so annoying that several years ago, I started going by my one-syllable, impossible-to-shorten surname at work.
Hmmm… we may be talking cross-purposes a little bit too. Do Harry and hairy sound the same to you? I maybe wouldn’t go full “starry” for Shari but it is a different sound from Sherry. But hard to explain in print!
I see you’re on the east coast so I know exactly what you’re talking about. Harry and hairy do sound the same to me, but I can hear the difference between “merry” and marry. I pronounce my name probably somewhere in between. My parents were from the Midwest and I grew up on the west coast so there’s not that *much *of a difference to our ears.
That would be awesome for my second born. No, think D’Angelo or Saint-John or Da5id 
Sometimes the computer lets you input it. Sometimes a second module of their system doesn’t allow it but isn’t going to tell you why.
Aha! For me, Sherry:Shari::Kerry:Carrie (and merry:marry). (My dear Ohioan friend says the last two exactly alike – very confusing!) At least I can (belatedly) agree that Shari<>Starry. Charlene I would say with first vowel of star.
I get the opposite:
“Hi, I’m Gwendolen.”
“Hi, Gwen, nice to meet you.”
That’s at least a short variation, not a completely different name (Bella may have not been the best example, maybe more like a Mary becoming a Marianne). Annoying on it’s own though.
Oh, yeah, that’s crazy.