Hard to pronounce surname - do you have one?!

[Jamesonwhite]

I'm getting married later this year and will be taking DPs name. It is extremely hard to pronounce and spell. I'm undecided whether or not I will keep my maiden name as my name at work to make life easier (or will it just be more complicated having 2 names?!)

Anyone have a hard to pronounce surname? How have you found it?

My surname was hard for English people to pronounce & it has various possible spellings in its original country. Nobody ever got it right, no matter how many times I said and spelt it.

Then I changed my name to something simple & virtually unmistakable. What a relief! The other day I had to give my original name, & the "What? Haha! [mispronounce]" started up again, & I remembered how much I hated all that stuff.

Please stick to whatever's easiest.

On paper it looks really difficult... When its said people are like ohhh yeah!

My married surname drives me mad. I am pretty sure that a child in year 1 would have no difficulty in using their phonic knowledge to sound it out but it flummoxes most adults.

I always have to spell it at least three times before someone gets in right.

Not difficult to pronounce but difficult to spell correctly, apparently 🙄

I did have, then I got married and changed it to an easy one. I'd probably keep my surname,at least for work, in your shoes. I did keep a few things in my maiden name and it hasn't caused any problems.

I had an uncommon maiden surname with the non standard spelling - so for example it was Ervin not Irvine or Irving.

Then I married someone and his surname is also uncommon - Pierce - and I get Pearce, Pearse, Peers, Piers....

Have spent my entire life spelling my surname out and rolling eyes at the misspellings which I get ALL THE TIME. Add to the fact my first name is well known in Scotland but unknown elsewhere and it just keeps getting worse...

I had a hard to pronounce/ spell / uncommon maiden name and frankly I was glad to get rid of it when I got married.
When I started work phone calls were hard work... I would have to spell my company name (3 apparently difficult words), my first name and my surname and then it still often ended up being wrong.
When I started my own practice I was very conscious of this fact and these days I generally only have to spell my first name. It does make me rather less unique though but I can live with that.

My name causes people to panic when they see it written down. You can see the fear in their eyes.

However, it never occurred to me to change my name when I got married. It's the name I've had all my life, I saw no reason to change it.

I have a not hard to pronounce British name as does DH. Both of us have multiple possible spellings of our first names as does DS.
We tried to give DD a single-spelling first name but for some reason it flummoxes people - there really is no other spelling but they try and make one up.

My surname is uncommon, but not hard to pronounce or spell really. Sounds harder to spell than it really is, and people always pronounce the 'i' sound wrong, so instead of 'eye' sound they pronounce it with the 'ih' (hope that makes sense didn't know how else to write it lol) and randomly swap a 'c' for an 's', changing the end sound. I just spell it out automatically and have a habit of correcting the pronunciation.

I'm taking DPs name when we get married. Again not common but won't be any need to spell it out so often.

I took DH's Irish surname, it's unusual & Iike it. Even in Ireland people have trouble with the pronunciation & spelling, but that doesn't bother me. It's way better than the awful name I had before marriage. My DC have said a few times they are very glad we didn't give them both surnames.

I went from the frying pan to the fire with my surnames. Neither are easy to spell.

I had an usual maiden name and now have an unusual married name. I have spent my whole life pronouncing and spelling my surname. The only advantage of having an unusual name is when tracing family history. My family tree (on both sides) is peppered with unusual surnames.

Ditched my pain in the arse maiden name when I got married and a large reason was it was so hard to spell and pronounce and remember - had minimal attachment to the name anyway as it belonged to my estranged stepfather, so I went for the convenience option.

Although now the surname's invariably the same as at least one of my kids' teachers which causes confusion too!

Both maiden and married names. I kept both, surname amounts to 19 letters.

My maiden name was easy to spell and pronounce. People still spelled it wrong.
Took my husbands name on marriage, it's easy to pronounce but French so doesn't look how it sounds. People rarely get it right, I automatically spell it as soon as I say it, people still spell it wrong.
Poor DD1 has a first name that can be spelled many different ways so we saddled her with a first name and surname she will forever have to spell. I didn't realise till she was 2!
I never wanted to keep my maiden name though, as I wanted us to have the same surname.

Yup - I use my maiden which is a bugger to spell anyway but the married one is long and odd. I really should have double barrelled it!

Thanks for sharing your experiences! It is not a name that British people could guess how to say.

Those suggesting that I dont take the name at all - it is important to me that we all have the same name as a family. DP has a child already so obviously I will be taking the name that my future step child already has.

I double barrelled mine when I got married.

My maiden name is short and welsh- think Rhys.

DH has an Irish surname ie Ó Súilleabháin and I decided to use the Irish naming convention and tag Uí Shúilleabháin onto the end of my maiden name.

Despite being in Ireland, it’s a total bollocks for people to pronounce and spell. I use my maiden name most of the time, or revert to the English if I know I’m going to have to keep spelling it out or explaining how to say it.

You could always choose a new, family name.

I have one of those surnames which you always have to spell out. For some reason even when i spell it out people sometimes write it incorrectly. It's really frustrating because if I call a company and they get it wrong first contact, they set up the account and I have to jump through bloody hoops to 'change' my name!

I've had three surnames, I now have a very easy to spell name and yet I still have to spell it all of the time. Just get into the habit of spelling it as soon as you've given your name

We have an Irish surname, and it’s nothing out of the ordinary yet people frequently misspell it or mispronounce it.

I find that if I spell it out for people, after they’ve misspelled it, they still
get it wrong as they race ahead and add letters where they shouldn't be.

My maiden name was Danish and hard to pronounce and my married name is French with an accent and so now no one gets it right. It's just become second nature to say it then spell it straight after. I don't even notice anymore

Ours is hard to pronounce and also funny to some people. I bitterly regret taking it.

People laugh at me.

I took h’s family name and I wish I hadn’t - not only is so difficult for people but has also illustrated how racist the job market can be. Oh and I also had to bring my passport to be seen in maternity which the smiths of this world don’t have to despite the fact that could have just come back from many years abroad!