Heck, I have a perfectly common name with a perfectly common (and I think the most common) English spelling and I still get all sorts of crazy variations even after I’ve spelled it to them. I’ve tried saying “Spell it just like it’s spelled in 1 Samuel” but that doesn’t help all that often either.
Zuph? I always have trouble with that one.
My grandmother had a creatively spelled name. Her parents were barely literate, and thought it was a pretty name, so they did their best. Their best was terrible. Since she herself wasn’t a great reader or writer, and spent her career farming, it didn’t much matter to her, but it’s the sort of name people would look askance at. Think “Guadalupe” > “Waddaloopy.” (Okay, maybe not that bad, but it’s close.)
Oh, I pronounce both syllables in Gwendolen as “en” – Gwendolen and Gwendolyn are pronounced differently by me. Others just don’t think about it, and go with the vastly predominant spelling. I don’t blame them if I haven’t spelled it out, but if I bother to spell it, listen to what I am saying!
But years of this have dulled any real frustration. 