Can I just not pronounce my own name?

Post by **Blaze** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 5:53 am

I don't generally end up with a problem. Pretty hard to mispronounce Eric. You know.

Our last name gets people, which really surpises me. Honestly, is a German background name really that hard? Fischer. Yes, it's got a C in there. That does NOT mean it is pronounced "Fisker" or something similar. I thought that was common knowledge.

And my dad, when he gets called "Stefen" or "Stefan". STEPHEN. Steve-en. Very common. Not hard.

kaiju01 · Post by **kaiju01** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:46 am

Jesse doesn't get mixed up. I heard Jeffrey once or twice. The problem lies in the spelling. People like to sneak that 'i' in my name.

Blaze, I also share your Germanic surname pronunciation problem. Theiss. You try. I've heard it all: "these", "theese", "theeis", "thesis", "the iss" (I like that one), "thice." Correct phonetics... tice like rice. And my personal favorite:
I had to write down how to say our name phonetically for some honor society induction. So I write down "tice like rice." I walk across a stage to proudly hear "Jesse Teek." Or Tique. Or teak. However you care to think of it.

billf · Post by **billf** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 7:03 am

My first name isn't mangled usually, every once in a while someone will think I said "Phil", but that doesn't happen too often. What really gets me is when people mess up my last name. More than once I've seen "Box" what the fuck kind of last name is "Box"? I've gotten to the point where especially over the phone I say "Fox, like the animal..."

XenoWolf · Post by **XenoWolf** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:11 pm

Rawr.

I usually end up spelling out my last name: Erdman.

When I say it, it just sounds like one long german slurr.

BadMonkey · Post by **BadMonkey** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:37 pm

Plenty of these people get their own names wrong too, if thats any consolation.
I remember having a customer called Juanita, who introduced herself as "Jew-haan-eeta", I've dealt with several "Derrick"s, but my favourite was :
Myself: "Is that Cindi with an I, or a Y?"
Cindiwithaneye : *deep, patronising sigh* "Obviously with an I, because I'm a girl...

"

I smile on the inside.

Rorschach · Post by **Rorschach** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:39 pm

My friend Steve is a primary teacher in an *ahem* less than desirable part of Glasgow. Last year he had a kid referred to as 'Gooey' by his mother, even though the kid was registered 'Guy'
It appears she'd seen the name in a Mills & Boon book, without ever hearing it, and thought it would be a nice name for a boy
Stupid people should be sterilised

Ender_Wiggin · Post by **Ender_Wiggin** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 1:03 pm

Joel isn't mispronounced or mispelled (although I've had someone call me Noel...)

My last name, however, Doetsch, pronounced 'Daytch' is butchered.

Doosh
Doitch
Doe-etch

and the list goes on and on.

Imperator Severn · Post by **Imperator Severn** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 1:18 pm

Interestingly enough, no one ever mispronounces "Severn" when I say it for them. SEV-ern. Not hard. But reading it gives them fits. Stephens, Seaburn, suh-VERN (my personal least favorite), Sevren, sovereign (wtf?), Sirvin... so forth

When you don't know how to pronounce something, try the most obvious pronunciation. I'd be more understanding if, like some branches of my family, I spelt it "Seaverance."

GoalieIDS · Post by **GoalieIDS** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 2:24 pm

[quote="Blaze";p="402296"]I don't generally end up with a problem. Pretty hard to mispronounce Eric. You know.

Our last name gets people, which really surpises me. Honestly, is a German background name really that hard? Fischer. Yes, it's got a C in there. That does NOT mean it is pronounced "Fisker" or something similar. I thought that was common knowledge.

And my dad, when he gets called "Stefen" or "Stefan". STEPHEN. Steve-en. Very common. Not hard.[/quote]

AMEN dammit. There are lots of people named Stephen. If it was Stefen, or Stefan, it would be spelled that way, or spelled Stephan. Freaking retards.

Bugs me a bit that my girlfriend's parents call me Stefan, but that's the Ukranian pronunciation of my name... and they do it because they consider me part of the family now, so I let it slide.

I get wEEber all the time for the pronunciation of my german last name. It's the proper german spelling of the name dammit. I'm not a bastardized version with two Bs, yet everyone assumes that's how it's spelled. Go look at your freaking grill, you don't pronounce that wEEber do you?

I guess I'm glad it isn't what it used to be, VanWeber (vaan-VAY-ber, if I remember my german correctly), because I'd probably flip out the first time I got called VAN-wEE-ber [insert annoying stereotypical New York-woman-type accent or somesuch].

Deacon · Post by **Deacon** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 2:38 pm

[quote="Blaze";p="402296"]I don't generally end up with a problem. Pretty hard to mispronounce Eric. You know.[/quote]
As a fellow Eric, I can say that the only time someone mixes up my name is for "Derrick" or some such. Very rarely anything else. HOWEVER, every other two-syllable name in the world sounds like "Eric" when yelled across a parking lot or whatever.

Teranfirbt · Post by **Teranfirbt** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 3:55 pm

I hate you erics! You are the bane of my name's existence!

sneaky ninja · Post by **sneaky ninja** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:18 pm

When I introduce myself, I usually end up having to repeat my name, because most people think Blair is always a boy name, so they think I'm saying Claire. I can't be annoyed at that type of misunderstanding, because let's face it, Blair IS a boy name.

What's really annoying though, is that there are fifty bajillion words that rhyme with Blair, so I'll often respond to someone when they're saying something like "oh, there."

Deacon · Post by **Deacon** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:51 pm

I've never known or heard of a boy named Blair, though I have known or heard of a handful of female Blairs. I think that both Blair and, to a greater extent, Claire are beautiful, succinct names for girls

JonnWood · Post by **JonnWood** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:55 pm

The trend here in the Bahamas is to add Nique to the father's name. I know a nice young lady named Rodnique. Fine. Logical. However, if I ever find the two people who couldn't thing of Andrea for their daughter "Andrewnique"...

Spongiform · Post by **Spongiform** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 7:32 pm

I don't have many problems with my first name. (Chris.) I get called Christopher sometimes, which doesn't bother me (I would really get mad when people did that when I was about 5). A few times I've been called Christian, and politely corrected them that the Chris comes from Christopher, not Christian. I wasn't even named after Christ. I have a simple answer to the very small group of people that have ever called me Chrissy: I just completely ignore it as if they're talking to someone else. If they ask I tell them I don't answer to Chrissy, no matter who it is that says it.

Now my last name is another story. It's not even a real name. It's half of a Polish surname (Bartlomieczyk) that was shortened in the 40's when the mail people in my grandpa's [uhhh.... group] couldn't pronounce it and just threw the letters away rather than try.

I've been called Bartolo, Bartlio, Bartio, Barto, Bartlow, Battario, Baratta, Bartlolio, and more. Damn it, learn to read, people!

Posted Tue Sep 28, 2004 7:38 pm:

Oh god the horrible names from Arkansas...

I'll get some more for you later, but this is my favorite:

LaSanya. (Or LaSonia, or something.)

It looks normal in written form... apparently her parents never said it out loud until it was too late, or they were just stupid...

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