I don’t think there is any way to stop people calling me a completely different name to mine

[inmyhome]

And I really wish it did not bother me, but it does.

My name is very uncommon, but it is virtually identical in spelling to another slightly more common one. However, the pronunciation is different.

I am selling my house. It has been let out for over a decade with the same estate agents. They still call me the wrong name.

It doesn’t seem to matter how many times you correct people and there really does come a point where there aren’t enough hours in the day.

Weirdly, it’s only in the area I grew up in this is an issue. Has anyone else had this?

All. The . Time. It’s really annoying. I say my name, they parrot it back incorrectly, which amazes me. It’s double barrelled, but really easy to pronounce because it contains known English names. Weird.

Is it your Christian name or your surname?

I’ve lived in the U.K. since I was very young but don’t have an English name.
I’m so used to not being called by my actual name that it’s a shock when people do say it correctly.

cant comment unless you tell me what it is

i know friends who introduce themselves with hello my name us ….rhymes with …
sounds like …….
or one who always said a nursery rhyme when she introduced herself as her name appears in it

or hand out cards with the correct pronunciation on it

can’t complain if you don't help people
if everyone gets it wrong its a you problem

First name; probably wouldn’t bother me as much if it was my surname but when it’s your first name it sort of feels like they’re telling you you are someone else! I wish it didn’t irritate the hell out of me but it really does!

it’s a you problem well, I do say it’s more or less limited to a specific geographical area

But trust me I have tried everything and people just can’t seem to get it. I don’t know why, it isn’t hard to say. I think sometimes people default to what’s familiar - I knew a Nia who was always being called Mia because I suppose more people know Mia.

My first name's unusual, and surname has alternative pronunciations. People have been trying to tell me I'm wrong about my first name all my life 😂

According to them, it's either another name that might be similar, or I'm spelling it wrong or pronouncing it wrong! Very strange that so many people actually think someone doesn't know their own name, but what the hell. It's unimportant except when filling official forms - don't sweat the small stuff.

Logically I know it’s completely unimportant but it still irritates me completely disproportionately!

I hear you! It was the same for me at primary AND secondary school. I even shorted my name to avoid this situation, but every day when the register was taken, it was the mis-pronounced first name all over again! The waiting room at the doctor’s surgery, dentist, and basically anywhere mildly official and it happens again. It’s very annoying, but as so many people do it, it’s clearly my name that’s the problem, and even when I correct people, they do it again next time anyway!

Same here. I'd love to know the reason for it happening.

Say my name was Sara Cooke, but no h and the e is silent. I go to a meeting or similar and say hello, I'm Sara Cooke here to see X. I spell both names so they get it right on my name badge - sometimes they check ID.

Reception person rings X and says 'I've got Sara Cookie here to see you and hands me a name badge with Sarah Cook written on it.

Or when I have a medical appointment, they can't find me on the system, because newsflash, they're not typing in the name I just spelled out to them.

Now that shops are asking for email addresses to send receipts, I've started insisting on typing it in myself because the chance of them getting it right, even when I spell it out to them multiple times is precisely zero, which has caused issues in the past because the receipt never came through so it's harder or impossible to return things.

if everyone gets it wrong its a you problem

How I wish that we still had the laugh emoji!

Did you read this part of the op?

’It doesn’t seem to matter how many times you correct people and there really does come a point where there aren’t enough hours in the day’.

My real last name is very short and the same as a well known place in England, that everyone knows how to pronounce and spell. It's not that common as a surname however, so I rarely meet people with the same name.

However I did once and they did what I always do, my name is Sara York, that's Sara with no H and Yorke with an E. And I just said Sara Yorke with silent E and we laughed because we both knew how it normally goes. So it's a surprise when people get it right without multiple corrections.

Not even my husband calls me by my actual name, rather than the local version of it. I have to call my sister back home or my friend in the US if I want to hear my actual name.

DS knows what my name is, but he’s heard me called by the other version for his entire life, so I won’t fall over with shock if a future DIL or DGC use the “wrong” version.

It’s be over 30 years. It doesn’t bother me anymore. I could insist, but … it’s a lot of work. God knows I needed all the energy I had spare to force people to say DS’s name right. Now that was a hill I was prepared to die on. I spent 9 months, ended up the size of a Ford Fiesta and spent 24 hours in abject agony to make & bring that child into the world. I was invested in correct pronunciation after all that effort.😅

Someone once told me I was pronouncing my name wrongly - its not a very unusual name, and the way I pronounce it is the only way I've ever heard anyone pronounce it😁. But so.e people seem to think they're the expert on everything 🙄!

I get this.

I’m named after a famous Shakespeare character, my name is one letter different from a very famous boat and is pronounced EXACTLY as it’s written.

People still say it wrong.

If I’m in a bad mood I just ignore people when they get it wrong. If people phone me and ask if they’re speaking to +wrong name+ I say “no” and hang up. If I correct people and they STILL insist on the batshittery pronunciation I walk away/hang up.

If they can’t be arsed then neither can I.

I have this problem too. I can tell someone my name, to their face, and they'll say it back wrong. I will then correct them. They will then, every time we meet, call me the wrong name.

Doctors, university, the vet's receptionist, my boss in two places, teachers when I was at school, etc.
I tried using the short version my family use, but people just told me "that's not a name" or "that's a man's name" and I gave up. I answer to anything starting with the right letter these days.

The blame lies fully with the person/people who named you.

As someone who has to call out silly made up names being endlessly corrected with “it’s blah blah”

Honestly couldn’t care less; you’ve made your child’s life unnecessarily hard. I’ll forget your child’s name and how it’s meant to be pronounced the minute you walk out the door. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

I LOVE the name Emilia but didn’t have it for DD1 due to amelia/Emily confusion.

I've had this all my life. My actual name is French and English people can't pronounce it correctly.

Literally the only person who says my name correctly properly is my mother. Even my husband/partner of 35 years abbreviates it.

Yes. I have a name that is pronounced one way but no one ever pronounces it properly. Like most people reading it here will pronounce it wrong but will think they are 100% pronouncing it correctly.

Think if everyone pronounced Joanne like Joyanne even though every person actually called Joanne pronounced it Joanne.

and to make it worse there’s two or three ways people mispronounce it and each clan of mispronouncers think they are saying it correctly. I’ve actually had one side tell the other side they’re “saying it wrong”.

i wonder whether I do this with any names. I am actually guilty with the Sarah Sara thing - it’s because I think visually so if someone is introduced via a name badge I’ll always forget and worry “are they a Sarah or a Sara if they’re spelled Sara”. If they’re introduced verbally as Sarah/Sara/Sara I’ll know which it is, if that makes sense

People get my surname wrong a lot. I know this is not as bad.

I divide the world into two halves. People on the periphery, people I don't need to maintain long term relationships with, I am not in the least bit bothered. Just like a misspelling on a disposable coffee cup, it doesn't matter.

With everyone else, people I do keep seeing, I do find it irritating. At work, spelling it out on an email sig helps. Say what it rhymes with for example.

Estate agents are on the borderline but I can lump them into the "people I don't care about" bucket. I'd probably be more likely to give my custom to someone who gets my name right though. Edited for typos.

Who said anything about 'silly made up names'

These are people who've been told my name is Sara with no H and writing down Sarah

Told it's Yorke with me pronouncing it like the city and them parroting back Yorkie

Or if I give my email address spelled as tracy.smyth and them typing tracey.smith into their system, so I don't get any emails.

Well my parents called me a simple, phonetic name which absolutely everyone can understand and pronounce.

In my country of birth. Not in the UK.

The Brits are shit with foreign names.

I would say firmly every time ‘my names NOT x, it’s y’ surely they will remember the next time?

Oh that must be annoying! So for example: Carla/Clara or Elsie/Elsie?

I would be very firm with the pronunciation as soon as I heard it wrong cant see another way round it. Grrr for you