Living with a unique name that is mispronounced.

Because he was doing it to lots of people. And it’s incredibly rude. Also, because really he needed to address it before the Director was so pissed off that he did, which would certainly have been far worse than my having a quiet word with him.
We work in a department that succeeds or fails on our relationships with colleagues and others. Unfortunately, calling someone by the wrong name, especially having been introduced to them with their chosen name, is one of those things that can straight away damage someone’s perception of you and the department and ultimately the thing we are all trying to achieve.
Why on earth (someone might think) should I, Gareth, do what you are asking of me and want to engage with you in this, when you haven’t even the courtesy to get my name right? When I just introduced myself as Gareth and you replied by calling me ‘Gazza’?
Sometimes managing teams and colleagues has to go beyond their work quality and output.

I’m the same. 4 letters. I say it clearly and spell it. It’s not overly unusual but sufficiently so that I get every variation. Went to a race awareness course at work and was told that people mispronouncing your name or asking you to change it is a micro aggression. Went to a trans awareness course and told misgendering is a hate crime. Yet I have had my name mispronounced, been asked if they can call me another name as mine it “too difficult” and been regularly misgendered when they assume it is a male name and no one gives a shit. At 46 now I have learned to roll my eyes and move on.

Well it's not unique as unique means one of a kind. So unless your name is Qqq or Yyy, then it's unusual rather than unique.

If it's something like Ivy but pronounced Evie or Fia pronounced F-eye-ah then I don't think you can blame people for getting it wrong.

This.

My name is perfectly phonetic.

As they say on Catchphrase “say what you see”.

But I think because people assume it is “foreign” (ironically it is not) they just massacre it. It’s the extra letters that get me!

I don't mind correcting people.once, after that it gets very tiresome.

When I was younger and starting out I was too shy to correct people and ended up just answering to the wrong name, even now I feel.awkward correcting it. I find it even harder when people get it wrong in email, it's literally right there in the address and my signature!

My surname gets mispronounced all the time I usually correct them. Very annoying

Why shouldn’t she? Especially when she is clarifying who he is speaking about.

It’s coming from a stupid place. There is no reason a non-stupid person would ignore (repeatedly) what was said. I can get it maybe once especially when it is an established name with a different pronounciation in the speakers language. But not in this example.

It bothers me. I find a lot of people just don't want to bother with even attempting to pronounce mine because it's foreign "different". It's actually quite easy to pronounce and is mostly phonetic but people can be very rude.

Why is it your place to 'have a word with him and not Robert's?

Years ago I was waitressing and the women I was reporting to, on hearing my name said

“oh I can’t say that- I am going to just call you “Lisa” <not the actual name she gave>, like the last girl - keeps things easy”

So I decided to give her a new name
too. She complained to the agency about me as apparently me doing that was “rude”.

There are loads of Welsh speakers for whom this would not work. English speakers don't know phonetic symbols and lots of Welsh sounds can't be represented in English. Personally, I use a nickname, but I've still had people asking me to change my name or insisting on reading my name 'their way' rather than using the nickname/diminutive I've chosen.

I had to have a word with someone who’s quite new in my department recently. He’s dreadful for shortening people’s names. Even started referring to one of our directors as Bob, took me a while to work out who he meant. No one has ever called Robert, ‘Bob’. Even put it in emails. I asked if Robert had asked him to call him Bob and my colleague said no, he just thought he was being friendly!

My name is common but with an uncommon spelling that is mispronounced constantly. When I correct people, they ask me if I am sure that's my name 👀

Quite a few people 'see' rather than 'hear' unfamiliar words so it's not necessarily coming from a bad (or stupid) place

I have a friend with a SE Asian name that looks like a common English word but sounds different and it took me a while before I no longer had to stop and think about it

Op - there are so many names at work people often need to refer to what is in front of them. If it is an English name people will automatically try to apply English phonics rules when saying it

The trouble with the Portia/ Porsche example, is that it’s possibly one of the most mispronounced car makes out there! Like Nike trainers.

I am very happy I have a cool unique name (which is also incrediby old, traditional and a staunchly judeo-christian name!)

My issue isn't mispronunciation but people often decide to change my name - think Lisa instead of Eliza. It's a whole different name and not mine! I find it really irritating.

I have a very common and easy to pronounce two syllable surname.

Approximately 50% of people add ‘Mac’ to my surname. An extra three letters, an extra syllable, a whole different starting letter.

They do this in response to communication with my name correctly spelt within it.

They do this when writing down my name immediately after I’ve just told them it.

They do this while reading out my name from a list in front of them.

The reason is as someone has said above - people really, really don’t listen properly (or read properly) - they guess, estimate, predict from context - and must of the time, they have no idea they are doing it.

This. It’s not about not hearing subtle differences. It’s not being arsed.

Hey OP- don’t know if you have even seen this.

But on the topic:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=JTPC73SdRkA&pp=0gcJCdgAo7VqN5tD

It's not always about that though. Imagine my name is Hyperbole. People see it written down and, understandably, call me Hyper-bowl. I correct them and tell them it's actually Hai puh buh lee. That's not a subtle difference in pronunciation.

I absolutely expect to be called hyper bowl when I first meet someone. When it's a colleague you have worked with for a couple of years and who has been corrected by you and your boss and has sat in multiple meetings where people pronounce your name correctly, I really think there no excuse to continue to call me Hyper bowl. That's the kind of thing that has me mentally writing off that person has worthy of my time and respect.

I think a pronounciation in the email footer is a great idea.

But also never underestimate how thick people can be.

I knew a girl called Ava pronounced 'Are-va'. It just couldn't stay in my head. There was genuinely no malice involved, I just really struggled to remember it and would sometimes accidentally call her 'Aye-va'. Her mother corrected me every time, as she should! Eventually I got there. I think some people like me are just a bit slow to learn something new, I apologise on behalf of all of us! Sorry