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Living with a unique name that is mispronounced.

181 replies

AliPG · 11/06/2025 10:25

I've spent my whole life recorrecting people who mispronounce my name. Its 3 letters long but the 1st letter is often said wrong. The spelling makes it appear a certain way which i get why it would be pronounced wrong. At school it wasn't too bad apart from one teacher who got my name wrong every art lesson. This really annoyed me after a while and even annoyed the rest of the class. Called the register every week but stumbled every time. No other teacher did that. Same teacher pronounced my polish friends surname wrong everytime. I would rather however have a forename that can be pronounced easier.

I dread starting a new employer or hearing my name read out in public settings. When people actually get my name right without asking I'm almost surprised.

At my last job my name was pronounced correctly at interview and throughout my role, bar a couple of people I had to correct. I have now started a new job a month ago and from the get go my name has been pronounced wrong. I corrected interviewer who is my line manager 3 times at interview . She gets it right now thankfully. What I don't get is why on meetings when people hear my name they then still say it wrong. Are they not listening? I'm guessing they read it as it says which I totally get but it is still annoying. Should i just pipe up and say to everyone my name is pronounced like this?

For those who experience this please let me know how you feel and how you deal with this particularly at work. Sometimes it doesn't bother me other times it just grates me when I have told people what it is. I just had to message someone privately who introduced me at a large meeting but said my name wrong. Thing was he has sat on team meetings over the last month and heard my name being said a few times now. He did apologise and ask how to pronounce it which is fair enough. But he had no need to introduce me as all new starters had already been introduced in the 1st month which just annoyed me more and neither is he a manager. My manager said we have already introduced new starters.

Some people don't correct people but I don't see why I should be called the wrong name my whole life. When people ask me how to pronounce it it makes me feel valued and they acknowledge they could get it wrong. When people just keep ignoring it annoys me. It's 3 letters . When people ask if they can call me something totally different I find it ignorant and offensive. I know someone called Joanna and often people call her Joanne. It annoys her and her name is much more known.

I don't know if changing the spelling of my name will help or not for eg work. I'm halfway through life now.

Sorry just having a rant. Will probably feel better tomorrow but for some reason I feel upset today as it is embarrassing for both me and the person saying it wrong. Cant even concentrate on the meeting. It's tiring!!

OP posts:
Els1e · 11/06/2025 10:37

I don't usually bother to correct them with my full name unless important. However I use a considerably shortened name on a daily basis, which is 3 letters long and most can pronounce. Imagine a female version of Tim.

Davros · 11/06/2025 10:32

My first name is often mispronounced, sometimes I correct it and sometimes I don’t but I also sometimes say it the way other people expect 🤷‍♀️ I have to spell both my names almost always. Doesn’t bother me

Serencwtch · 11/06/2025 10:31

Mines Welsh & I add a phonetic spelling to my email signature. Several colleagues with names difficult for English speakers do this too.

Note to anyone thinking about giving a cool & unique name to their PFB - don't do it!

AliPG · 11/06/2025 10:31

Sounds like a good idea!
It's weird how lately this is bothering me more now than in my whole life 😪.

OP posts:
Jujujudo · 11/06/2025 10:30

My older son has a unique 3 letter name which can be pronounced in many ways. He accepts that and now he just goes with however it’s being said. If it really bothers you, can you change the spelling slightly so it’s easier to pronounce. Like the name “Eli” could be e-lee, ee-lai, etc, so I’d change it to Ilai so at least the first letter sound will always be close enough rather than with an “e”

Shoxfordian · 11/06/2025 10:27

Maybe you could add the phonetic spelling to your email signature to help at work

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