Do you have a name that is mispronounced constantly?

[LaraMN]

I've heard "Laura" so many times, I almost don't even notice anymore.
Alot of people pronounce my name "Lare-uh," but that's not right, either. It's supposed to be "Lahhh-ra." When I was about thirteen, my GRANDMA asked me how to pronounce my name.:crazy: My last name is pretty hard to screw up, but my maiden name got butchered on a regular basis. I used to detest roll call when we had a substitute in school.

[billyskank]

1. Anyway, how *do* you pronounce your last name?

Is it "em-en" or is it "mun" ?

:P

[LaraMN]

3. I always think of it as "Min"

:P :P

[billyskank]

4. "Laramin"

Okay, that's good. Now I know what to say in my head when I see you. :D

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

2. Yes.

[PRETZEL]

5. my las name is constantly butchered

both in spelling and in pronunciation. But then again, there are alot of variations of it's spelling. (btw, it's swoger)

[ironflange]

77. How can anyone mispronounce "Swoger?"

:shrug:

[BarenakedLady]

6. Yes

both my first and last name. My last name is similar to an ex-president that I'd rather not be associated with. It's spelled differently but people always pronounce it like the ex-pres. Drives me crazy. My first name is usually misspelled more than mispronounced.

[Oeditpus Rex]

57. Is it Irish perchance?

The same as this stupendously incredible woman's? :loveya:

[BarenakedLady]

75. I'm an idiot first of all

because it IS pronounced like the ex-prez though is spelled differently. Don't ask me what the hell I was talking about earlier. I wasn't even drinking. LOL. So people will mispronounce it and I'll correct them and they'll say "Oh like President X" and I'll say "yeah, but totally different." Just to mess with them.

I have no idea who that beauty is.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

7. YES!

My name is Domenic. Dom-en-ick. Not Domenique. How the fuck hard is that?!?

And let's not even consider my last name...

[LaraMN]

10. I don't know how people can screw up a name like that.

That's not even the masculine form!
:rofl:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. Well, to be fair, there are some males named Dominique

Such as Dominique Wilkins, former NBA star. But, that said, I certainly I have never encountered a white male named Dominique, and being that my name is not spelled that way at all, I'm still not sure why it's a problem...

[Courtesy Flush]

8. Blame your parents... or the British

When you give a child a non-standard name, you're sentencing them to a lifetime of mispronunciateions. It's certainly not the fault of the people guessing how to say it.

Also blame the Brits for developing a language with no set pronunciation rules. I'm taking Italian lessons now, and I see that they have done it right. Each letter or combination of letters is pronounced the same way EVERY time it's used, so you always know how to pronounce a word. "A" makes one sound only. It's the same wherever it appears. Take a word like "baseball". Two A's, and they're both pronounced differently. The Italians did it right.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

13. Italians have done a lot of things right.

And I am in no way biased by being a second-generation Italian-American. :D

[blondeatlast]

42. But there is no harm in politley correcting the pronunciation.

I insist that my son, who has a very unusual name (that goes to my husband's Asian Indian history) politely correct people, even adults, when his name is mispronounced.

There is no "unusual in giving my son a name that relates to his heritage.

[Lowell]

9. First name is easy

but people have butchered my last name as long as I can remember. I don't know why French names are so difficult for some people.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

11. I thought I didn't until I met my wife's inlaws

My name is Ryan, but my mother-in-law calls me "Rahn"

[BulletTrain1964]

14. My name is mispronounced every day

But I live in a foreign country where mispronunciation of foreign names is the order of the day. It's actually kind of cute, in a way.

[Esra Star]

60. Welcome to DU , Bullet n/t

[eyesroll]

15. My last name gets mangled all the time.

My first name -- Stacie -- gets misspelled but never mispronounced.

[MrCoffee]

16. people put an R in my last name where no R belongs.

it's a constant source of amazement that people can't read.

[ghostsofgiants]

31. A lot of people do that with Chicago around here.

For some reason they say Chicargo. Has baffled me since I was a wee one.

[MrCoffee]

35. i think it's because, with the R, my name becomes famous

without the R, it's not so much.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

17. I was born in another country where my name is fairly common

but not at all common here. In kindergarten I told my teacher to call me Kathy because everyone screwed up my name, and although I don't remember why I chose Kathy, I suppose it was because some other nice girl in the class had that name. When my parents went to the parent teacher conference, the teacher kept talking about Kathy and mom said she didn't know who on earth she was referring to. :)

I no longer go by Kathy, but I do use an "Americanized" version of my own name.

[AspenRose]

67. Me too!

So when I run into people from the country I was born in, they are baffled by my 'Americanized' pronounciation of the name. :D

Misspelled AND mispronounced, all the time. Even more so since I've been married....my maiden name was easier.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

18. All the freaking time.

Granted, it's not a common name in this country, but still fairly easy to pronounce as far as Indian names go.

[trackfan]

19. I don't have a set pronunciation for my last name.

I actually pronounce it several different ways, depending on my audience.

[XNASA]

20. Yes. Not because either name is unusual, but because....

My first and last names are so similar, that people have a hard time believing it. So they mispronounce it a lot.

[skypilot]

21. Not exactly mispronounced but...

...people are always adding an extra syllable. My name is Scott and so many people can't resist calling me Scotty. I plan to change my name one day. I've always liked the name David. Though I've noticed that people tend to DROP a syllable from that name, turning it into Dave.

[MissMillie]

22. Not when it's read

but when I say my name, people always mis-hear me.

[kmla]

23. Nope. But they sure as hell misspell it.

It is a relatively common name, but a non-common spelling.

[auntAgonist]

24. 50/50 .. some get it right , some get it wrong

it's kesha. Long 'e'

aA
oh and it's 'ant' not 'ont' :rofl: agonist is easy :)

[radfringe]

25. misprounounced and mispelled constantly

once the phone company sent me a bill addressed to: Hipp2u4r

[ironflange]

26. First name, Jack, is no problem

Last name is always either mis-pronounced or misspelled. I'm used to it, though, and it's only five letters so it's no big to spell it out. It also makes my day when someone pronounces it properly. My street name is another story, it's long and needs to be spelled out every time.

[u4ic]

48. Street name?

Do the johns really care what your name is? :shrug:

[ironflange]

72. Yeah, I tell them, it adds a personal touch

I go by "Bigredhotstudlyboi," all one word. It's a real pain having to spell it out, those guys always seem to be in a big hurry.

[FedUpWithIt All]

27. Name is shannon

But something like 10% don't seem to get it. I get called sharon a lot. :eyes:

Not exactly mispronounced but...

[Hugin]

28. C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-L-Y...

:eyes:

[scarlet_owl]

29. Yes. People are always calling me "Amber".

IT'S EMBER DAMMIT!

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

30. How would you pronounce "Maryam?"

People just cannot figure it out. MAH-RYAM? MAYOR-YAM? Some people just persist in calling me "Maryann." Sometimes I wish I'd never left "Lisa."

[miss_american_pie]

32. My married name is proof

that telemarketers do not even have to possess first grade phonics skills. It's five letters. One syllable.

[RetroLounge]

68. Pie? That's but 3 letters...

:hi:

RL

[ironflange]

80. Telemarketers are easy to spot

Like I said, my last name is easy to screw up, and I'm Jack only to people who know me; I'm listed as John in the book. So calls frequently go like:

"Hello?"

"Hi! Is John <wrong-pronunciation> there?"

"This is he."

"Hi John!!1! How are you today??!?!"

"Sorry, I'm not interested." <click>

[ganeshji]

33. All the time

I give people a few chances to get it right before I start referring to them as Leroy or JimBob instead of their name. My name isn't all that hard and it has become fairly common so I don't cut a lot of slack anymore.

[ceile]

34. Yep.

Pronounced wrong, spelled wrong....even my own grandmother couldn't pronounce my name right.

[Ms_Dem_Meanor]

56. you too...

in my case it is my brother. that's because when we moved in the country, he was barely talking.

[jmowreader]

36. Oh hell yes...

And it always makes me wonder...

My username is my first initial and my last name. As you can plainly see, the last name is Mowreader.

People look at this thing just dumbfounded. How could you POSSIBLY pronounce Mowreader?

Well...

if you pronounce the first three letters like the act you do to the lawn to make the grass shorter...

and you immediately pronounce the last six letters like "a person who reads"...

you will have correctly pronounced my name.

Which explains why I keep hearing "mawrider" and "hey you."

[politicat]

37. Yep, and it's not even odd.

It's a two syllable, English language virtue (along the lines of Faith, Hope, Honor, Mercy, etc.) and I know for certain that it was one of my 4th grade spelling words in the mid 80s, so it's not something that people are entirely unfamiliar with.

But it is always butchered, and people will call me by a similar, but utterly unrelated (and in my mind, nonsense word) name on a far too frequent basis.

My husband's last name is just as bad, even though it's only 4 letters, and it should be obvious to anyone who can sound out a word. (Thus, one reason I kept my maiden name... I'd rather have one that people can pronounce, and I can always just introduce myself as Miss <Lastname>.)

[NewJeffCT]

38. My last name is butchered a lot, both of my wife's names are

usually pronounced incorrectly as well (she has kept her maiden name, as is traditional among Chinese)

I'm actually more surprised if a stranger pronounces my name correctly.

And, I'd be shocked if anybody that is not Chinese ever got both of my wife's names correct.

[SeattleGirl]

39. My maiden name was ALWAYS mangled.

And it's really not that difficult to pronounce.

[azmouse]

40. My last name.

It's only 4 measly letters and I get all kinds of pronunciations.

[blondeatlast]

41. Yes, and if it is someone I will encounter in the future, I politely correct them.

I insist that my son, with a very unusual name for North America, do the same--with the emphasis on "politely."

[Not_Giving_Up]

43. Every time!

My first name is not normal at all, and no one ever gets it right. It's eleven letters long, and when I was in school, the computers chopped it off at nine, making it even worse. The first day of school was spent with every teacher getting near the end of the alphabet (my maiden name started with a W), and stammering. I'd just raise my hand and give them the correct pronunciation.

[Ariana Celeste]

44. Yes. My name is Lena

Lee-na

I don't know how people mess it up, but I get Lay-na all the time- and not because of an accent, I can tell the difference. I've also gotten Lee-ann a lot.

[KamaAina]

45. Yes. And misspelled.

At one point, two Chicago utilities were sending me bills with it misspelled in two different ways. And it's only seven letters! :dunce:

As to the pronunciation, Mom unilaterally changed it from the common Baltimore pronunciation when we left, sort of like when Pitt running back Tony DOR-sett became Cowboys running back Tony Dor-SETT.

[judaspriestess]

46. YES my name is

Alma and I pronunce AL-ma most people say Elma? oooohhhh that just gets me worked up.
and when they spell it Elma that drives me batty. I tell them AL-ma not El-ma

I cannot pronounce it ALL-ma either, everyone thinks I am saying almond... *sigh*

[u4ic]

47. Yes, for both

I've heard people pronounce my first name about 5 or 6 different ways...

My last name has a y in the first syllable that should be pronounced "ih" not "eye", but most people pronounce it with the latter.

[ironflange]

74. Heh, them crazy Uke names

Mine also has a problem 'y', only for me it's "ee" instead of "eye." There's the golfer, Ted Tryba, pronounced Treeba, and we share the last three letters and pronunciation of them.

[u4ic]

94. Mine isn't even an 'odd' one

My last name is only 5 letters, too. The "y's" seem to stump people if they're not at the end of the name.

I've heard people get creative with my first. There's 9 letters, so much potential for 'interesting' interpretations.

I've never heard the name of Tryba, but already knew it would be an "ee" before you mentioned it. It doesn't seem that difficult to me...:shrug:



And if ours can't even be pronounced correctly - when he was Governor General, I wonder how many called Ray Hnatyshyn's office wondering how the hell to pronounce it? :rofl:

[Skittles]

49. yeah but it doesn't really bother me

I just correct them and move on

[KitchenWitch]

50. My last name is butchered all the time

My maiden name was very easy to pronounce.

[Mrs. Venation]

51. Bertha Does

Heck, even I don't know the correct pronunciation of Katzenengel!

:bounce: :crazy: :shrug:

[graywarrior]

52. They put da at the end of mine. Grrrrrrr.

Forget pronouncing my last name. Everyone is screwed when it comes to that.

[Redstone]

53. Several of them. And I don't care, as long as they spell them right.

Redstone

[Ms_Dem_Meanor]

54. My first and last names!!!

Anissa Tunnell!!! It is pronounced the way it is spelled: Ahh niss ahh! People keep turning the "i" into "ee". The last name is: Tun nell. Not tunnel!! I hate it when people say "Tunnel"!! :argh: :mad: :grr:

I have to correct people everyday. Some get the first name right on the first try but they screw the last name up al the time. Depending on how I am feeling that day, I'll tell them to pronounce it the way that it is spelled. It isn't that hard if you remember how to use your syllables.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

55. Does "Seen" count?

:banghead:

[DainBramaged]

58. My last name. Now matter now many times I spell it, it gets mangled

[Oeditpus Rex]

59. Yup

You wouldn't believe how many people say and write "Oedipus." :grr:

[JackBeck]

61. My last name is 10 letters with three syllables.

It's not that hard to pronounce, but when you look at it, I think it hurts people's brains.

[xmas74]

62. My first name is never pronounced properly.

I've been informed that it was spelled incorrectly, that it was really another name entirely, etc.

If someone calls my house and butchers my first name I know I can usually hang up-it's either a telemarketer or a bill collector.

[SacredCow]

63. Sheesh... All the freakin' time....

All 3 of my names can be spelled more than one way. 2 of them are iffy on the pronunciation. My last name is the Welsh spelling of a more common Scottish name. Only (and I mean ONLY) people from the UK pronounce it properly upon first reading.

[femmocrat]

64. Yes! My last name is not only mispronounced, everyone

misspells it too. Especially at work, where people should know better by now. Grr!

[Skittles]

65. see now that IS a pet peeve of mine

you should not be misspelling / mispronouncing the names of people you KNOW - that is just plain rude!!!

[jmm]

66. My mom has the opposite problem. Her name is Laura but

she's often called Lara and Lori. My name is Jessica and people mess it up too. The worst is when I'm dealing with people on the phone at work and they call me a man's name like Justin or Joseph. I never thought my voice was all that masculine :shrug:.

I'd like to think my last name is easy to pronounce but people massacre it too. Americans tend to do worse than foreigners. People from other countries try to pronounce it like it's French but Americans throw other letters like "F" in it. Whenever somebody calls me and doesn't say it right I politely tell them she doesn't live here and hang up.

My father gets it worse than anybody else I know. His first name is Dan and his entire name is only seven letters but people still mangle it. When he was in the hospital a few years ago I got into an argument with a receptionist because she didn't want to believe his name was as simple as I was telling her. Apparently I'm only his daughter and unlike a complete stranger I didn't know how to spell or pronounce his name.

I think this is just one of those problems that everybody has.

[RetroLounge]

69. You know, not constantly, but once is once too many.

First name is Paul. Never have I heard it pronounced wrong. Ever.

But my last name is a fucking MONTH. There are only 12 of them people...

Not only have telemarketers and bill collector type people pronounced it wrong, they have asked HOW TO SPELL IT.

I've said, "my last name is XXX like the month."

"How do you spell that?"

"Uhm, like the month. Got a calendar handy?" Duh...

:rofl: The world is populated with dumbasses...

RL

[VelmaD]

70. surprisingly yes

Most people just don't pronounce Barbara with 3 syllables. *sigh*

[WritingIsMyReligion]

71. Yes indeedy.

An Italian first name and a Scottish last name? I'm fucked. :P

[ironflange]

73. Mrs. Ironflange has a problem

Her name is Carolyn, so she has it mistaken as Caroline a lot. She hates it when that happens, doesn't like that name, so when she gives her name, it's "Carolyn. C-A-R-O-L-Y-N!"

[Xipe Totec]

76. No. Everybody knows how to pronounce Xicotencatl

I mean, it's obvious :eyes:



















Kidding

:yoiks:

That's not my real name, but it might as well be. So I always offer an easy to pronounce nickname and the problem is solved.

:hide:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

78. My last name is a common first name...

So they get switched a lot.

[benny05]

79. No but I have a very common last name

And is forgotten frequently..

[Shine]

81. Yes.

I'll leave it at that. In my 42+ yrs of existence I have NEVER met anybody with the same name as me. It's unusual and unique, like me. :D

I hated it when I was a kid, but now I love it. I had to grow into my name.

:hi:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

88. Damn, now I gotta know!

:D

[Generic Brad]

82. My last name

No one can correctly pronounce Hiskermieuxbrrrtsplat.

[Maestro]

83. No, but my wife does.

Chemagne

[Starbucks Anarchist]

87. "Shuh mane," right?

[Maestro]

101. You got it.

The first /e/ has a schwa(sp?) sound to it.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

102. What is her ethnicity?

I saw her in your anniversary picture -- you're a lucky man. :D

[Okiojira]

84. My first name...

..."Dylan" has been constantly mispronounced and misspelled throughout my entire life.

There are reasonable misspellings like "Dillon" or "Dillan"; those I don't take much issue with. The one that is recurring and baffling to me is when they misspell my name "Dillian"; wtf is with the "ian" ending?! It's pronounced "DILL-an", not "Dilly-UN", people!!! :mad:

On the mispronunciation side, I usually hear "DIE-lan". If prompted for spelling, I'll say, "You know, like Bob Dylan..."

[pitohui]

85. er i almost hesitate to ask

but i don't understand the difference in pronunciation between "laura" and "lahhh-ra" they sound exactly the same to me

if you are expecting people to hold your name for exactly the right number of beats, i think that's fairly unreasonable, hell, being from the south then i actually put three syllables in "laura" if you actually listen, but so what?

yeah, my name is mispronounced constantly because it is similar to a very common name and some people think i might be related to one of the more prominent people who have that name, i really could care less to be honest

i guess i am not a believer in the dale carnegie school of my name is the sweetest song in the universe, if anything, when someone keeps using my name too much, i assume they are scamming me or selling me and i'm right about 99.9 percent of the time

[Broken_Hero]

86. dupe, wrong spot..nt

[Nicole]

89. All the time

My last name has 9 letters in it. I guess that's just too many so people just drop some of them.

[REP]

90. No One Can Spell Or Pronounce My First or Last Name

Neither are uncommon or oddly spelled, either. No one can spell or pronounce my Loved One's last name, and it is a weird one, and that's why his first name is John.

[gr8dane_daddy]

91. Nobody ever mispronounces my name, but they sure do snicker...

I mean whats so funny about Haywood Jablowme?

[Pushed To The Left]

92. My last name is CONSTANTLY mispronounced!

The mispronounced version sounds much like a toy that was popular when I was a kid, which of course made things very interesting when my mispronounced name was announced in front of other kids.

[Guava Jelly]

93. James..People keep pronouncing it as DumbAss

geeze where do they get that from?

[u4ic]

95. Certainly not me...

[Guava Jelly]

96. yeah right

It's Mr dumbass to you :7

[u4ic]

97. I thought you looked more like

a Senor Dumbass. :shrug:

[Guava Jelly]

99. you and your terms of endearment

I have been Knighted as Sir Dumbass :7

[u4ic]

100. .

:rofl:

[clyrc]

98. Not mine, but both my daughters

My oldest is Anaisa, pronounced ahna eesa. (I didn't make it up, I heard the name and fell in love with it) She gets called Anasia or Anaysa quite often. My youngest is Katerina. Her Irish teachers are always calling her Katrina, which she hates. Neither of my daughters have ever corrected anyone, that I know of. I usually call them Ana and Katie, but their school teachers insist on being a little more formal and mispronouncing the names.

[fudge stripe cookays]

103. My real name is Italian.

My mom heard it over there, and was afraid everyone would mispronounce it. So she changed the spelling, and not only do they mispronounce it, they misspell it as well.

My nickname is ALSO mangled. It was easy enough when I was a Smith, because it was only ONE name they were screwing up. But now they mess with reprehensor's last name too.

Did no one in this country study phonetics growing up?

[Ediacara]

104. My last name is German and has two Hs in a row

It translates to "Beech wood" (as in beechwood aged Budweiser, BLECH) and is always a constant source of amusement when people to try to say it.

[underpants]

105. My last name is ________ plus I just go ahead and spell it

and no one gets it right.

It is very basic and simple two syllables but it is sort of close to several other names.

I warned my wife about it and we laugh about it.

And then we moved onto a street that has to be spelled out too.

[Hugin]

108. What's so hard about... 'Pants'?

Really, some people!

[Rosie1223]

106. My husband has an unusual first name

and a last name that is a common man's first name. We get lots of mail with the names in reverse order.

[Book Lover]

107. My surname is a nationality, and yet it is *still* mispronounced regularly

At this point in my life, it just makes me smile. Then I correct them.