To change our surname because no one can pronounce it?

[PotterAndHisWand]

I mean no one, unless they're Irish, but we live in South East England.....

mARYZ I do find the Irish pronunciation of "r" very strange. "or". It took me ages to figure out wtf my housemate was saying when she spelled words out to me that included "or"

Further to what zukiecat said, anywhere south of Pitlochry struggles with my name. :(

That's aimed at the people who can't get their heads round there being other languages in the world, not the op etc who are sick of people not making the effort.

People never belive my surname, have to spell it for everyone. And the nicknames... Don't even get me started, please don't change your name tho its who you are and be proud of it!

People can make the effort and still get it wrong with plenty of names. People are making the effort when they ask how to spell or pronunciate properly. That won't stopp it being annoying enough for some people to consider changing their names.

The thing is neither of us are Irish, DH's Grandad was Irish but we've never been their and don't have much to do with DH's dad's side of teh family, DH was brought up by his Mother who has a different surname again!

I suppose the bottom line is that we don't feel any strong connections with the name and I am just so tired of having to correct people every single time.

McKyone, now there's a thought, but I still don't think anyone would know how to pronounce it!

The thing that really makes me see red is where families years ago decided to shorten their surnames to make them more "acceptable" in Britain.

The prime example of this is the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow. N-o-o-o-o!!! Please change it back to Berkowicz and have some pride in your roots.

Sometimes this was done by the immigration authoriities in the US - I have known of people whose family names ended up as Ell, Zee and Don for this reason.

there not their..

But Mandy, being an immigrant 50 or 100 years ago meant that you were so keen to fit in. Dh's family, escaping the Pogroms were so happy to shed their eastern European names and feel safe again. Not hounded because they were Jewish. Plus they might have harassed in Britain had they kept their names.

My mother was and she was German living here in the 60's. She took my father's names because she was so tired of the instant anti-German sentiment aimed at her.

So pride in your roots isn't necessarily what motivates people.

Yeah, I 'see red' too when I think of Jews escaping Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia, or simply coming to 20thC England with it's common or garden anti-Semitism, foolishly anglicising their names. If only Mandy2003 had been around to educate them on being proud of their roots.

My grandparents/great-GPs all emigrated to the US from various European countries and had their names anglicized not by choice really.

Although legend has it my great-grandfather was a Russian gangster and only too happy to change his name

Is Roper. So even simple names regularly get bodged up. I always say it and spell it straight away

and is your father in law Mr G.Roper ;)

I like having an unusual surname, doesn't bother me that no one knows how to pronounce it.

My Grandpa changed the families Italian name during WW2.

In this country our surname, which is very common on the USA, is almost entirely confined to East Anglia.

I never have to spell it if I speak to someone in Norwich, or Kings Lynn, or Bedford, or Cambridge. I always have to spell it if I am talking to someone anywhere else in the country.

Should we change it to make life easier for everyone else? I don't think so.

I work in an international environment and part of my job is to get people's names right. It's not you OP, it's everyone else, although possibly Les didn't do you any favours...

D

I knew how to pronounce your surname.

I know how you feel, I have a very NE surname that usually gets mispronounced by people who have never heard it before. I would never think of changing it though.

My very very boring British maiden name completely baffled the Germans. My German married name baffles the Brits. I tend to use my maiden name when in the UK and reserving a table, ordering take-out etc. It just saves hassle.

I have a first name and surname that can both be spelled several different ways (one Welsh, one Scottish). My surname is occasionally mis-pronounced but that doesn't bother me too much - I do get riled, though, when I've emailed someone so they can see exactly how to spell my name, and they STILL get it wrong.

I know the feeling, my married name seems to be un-pronouncable to most. Even DH family don't pronounce it as it should be, but that is an accent thing.
The name comes from NW NI originally and I have never heard of, seen or met anyone with it (except them of course). Granted the name has loads of easier pronounced variations.

Agree with maryz - jem-e-sun whisky.

I live in wales and have a welsh surname. We have to spell it constantly and it is rarely never pronounced correctly. I have learnt to order all takeaway as Mrs Smith

YABU.

Why should everyone pronounce it with an Irish accent?

I was at schools with a McKeown. I was well aware her parents pronounced it your way - but I said McKewan as did all our friends and most people actually. We were in England.

I say film. Lots of Irish people say filum. Should I correct them?

CailinDana it would depend on if the OP was actually living in England and not the Republic. It's up to her, I abandoned my Welsh first name because it was just too painful and now use my easier middle name. I Wales I suppose it would have been easier and I would maybe have kept it.

Mandy2003 I know a Jewish family whose original surname was Lipshit. They changed it to Lipton. Do you think they would have fared better keeping it as it was?