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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To find it irritating that no one seems to be able to spell my bloody name?

114 replies

LollopingLil · 22/10/2012 10:20

Sorry, I'm obviously in a generally pissy mood.

I've had emails from four different people already this morning misspelling my bloody name and it irks. Probably irrational, but my name is NOT common-variant-number-one (let's say Jane). It's common-variant-number-bloody-two (Jayne). I have an extra letter, but it's still a very, very common spelling! Miss it out and it's not me.

Misspell my surname and I couldn't give two hoots, it's forrin and hard to remember - I get that, it's fine. Misspell my first name and I feel 'not seen', but that it would be far too petty to raise with you. I feel especially narked if I've paid a lot of attention to spelling your name.

I am totally, irrationally U on this but by god, it rankles!

OP posts:

UndeadPixie · 22/10/2012 23:01

Yanbu, especially with email as you usually sign off with your name. I started bolding my name to my tutor who always spelt mine wrong (our only form of communication being messages online ) as it annoyed me so much. She got it eventually. It's a very common five letter name with the sodding letters. Three.

My surname is middle eastern and difficult but people manage to spell that 90% of the time saying it on the other hand...

UndeadPixie · 22/10/2012 23:02

Three letters that is.

Whitamakafullo · 22/10/2012 23:04

Everyone spells both my names wrong. Very irksome

Whitamakafullo · 22/10/2012 23:05

Oh, and my DD has a name which is 3 letters long, and people still struggle to spell it

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 22/10/2012 23:07

My name is AnnE. Im 37. My grandmother STILL spells it Ann! YANBU!

FourthTimeAround · 23/10/2012 00:12

"I have a friend called Francesca, who shortens it to Ces. We have a mutual friend who cannot get her head around this and also seems incapable of reading what is right in front of her. I will text her something like 'Ces will be at the party' and she will reply 'oh will be good to see Chess again'."

So? Your friend's fault for being pretentious! Ces is not a name anyway!

lisianthus · 23/10/2012 00:48

What the dickens is "pretentious" about a woman shortening her actual name to something which is a part of that name? That's how nicknames work! And the friend is being annoying by misspelling it.

I'm not keen on the name Cate- I prefer the more traditional Kate as a nickname for both Katherine and Catherine. But if I had a friend who went by "Cate", I would think it massively rude of me to send her emails to "Kate". Her name, she gets to dictate the spelling.

ZombiesAreClammyDodgers · 23/10/2012 00:53

Oh OP me too.
It's very irritating.

BegoniaBampot · 23/10/2012 01:03

Get a grip. I have an unusual surname. No-one can spell it, no-one can pronounce it. It's understandable.

SouthernShepherdess · 23/10/2012 01:08

Well I've been called the complete bloody wrong name before now..by at least 3 people! I'm Becky..sometimes I call myself Rebecca..don't really mind. But to my infuriation I've been called "Rachel" yes "Rachel"!!! FFS the only similarity is they both begin with R..it's not like they have spelt or pronounced my name wrong..they have called me the wrong name!! These are people that have clearly seen my name written down and me tell them what it is!!! VERY rude! Just don't understand how they can get it wrong..it's a totally different name!

zipzap · 23/10/2012 01:10

I have a surname that some people find difficult to spell despite it being only 5 letters long.

Last week I was on the phone to somebody who had to ask me 4 times how to spell it - each time I had to say no, it's xxxxx.

This would be annoying in itself but I was chasing up a company that had taken over my dad's family company and it has the family name as part of the company name. I still use my dad's name, it is the same as the family company name. The company she works for. And that we had been talking about moments before, by name.

How did she still manage to get it wrong and the spelling come as a complete surprise?!?

Boomerwang · 23/10/2012 01:15

Throughout my childhood I was referred to as the spanish version of my name, or the english version, instead of the french version it actually is. It used to bother me a lot.

One time I didn't bother to correct until several weeks later and then this other person acted like I'd changed my damn name instead of her getting it wrong for weeks. It's not like it was misspelled, either.

Clary · 23/10/2012 01:16

I often get emails where people give me a completely different name!

It's always the same name tho (Helen actually). My name is not Helen, it's not even much like Helen, and my actual name is written at the bottom of the email the person is replying to, but still this happens every couple of months or so (or did when I did a job needing me to email random people who didn't know me) ...

So I feel yr pain OP, no it is not unreasonable.

HanSolo · 23/10/2012 01:17

Begonia- me too!
People have asked how to spell my v common, 4- letter forename before now!

GhostofMammaTJ · 23/10/2012 05:43

There are three ways to spell my name, two of them common, one of them a bit show offy.

Mine is one of the common ways.

On facebook, on my status updates, where it is right there for them to see some people spell it the wrong way!! What is that about?

UndeadPixie · 23/10/2012 07:22

A family friend, who has known me since I was a child, spelt my name wrong on a message to my mum last night. wouldn't be so bad but it was on facebook, where I was tagged in the picture that the woman was commenting on...

Original poster

LollopingLil · 23/10/2012 08:00

Eh, Begonia? You've somewhat missed the point.

As I said in my OP, I also have a surname that is impossible to spell and pronounce - it doesn't bother me at all that no one ever can.

OP posts:

FishfingersAreOK · 23/10/2012 08:15

My DD is Beth (short for Elizabeth). We only ever, ever all her Beth. Why then do some people start to call her Bethany (urgh)? Where does the "any" come from?

PosieParker · 23/10/2012 08:21

I have a surname and first name, both with two parts, all four names are often spelled wrong EVEN when replying on an email where my name is at the top in the ADDRESS!!!

PoppyAmex · 23/10/2012 08:24

I have a foreign name with accents and my surname is double barrelled (also foreign) - I spent years spelling THREE names over the phone.

When I got married I didn't hesitate in taking my husband's common, garden variety surname (think Smith) and now, because my first name is so unusual when I reveal "Smith" is my surname people ask me to spell it!

WelshMaenad · 23/10/2012 08:25

Um, what's wrong with Bethany, please?

BikeRunSki · 23/10/2012 08:39

It's so rude to get someone's name wrong repeatedly! My first name is not that common for my age group, but certainly not uncommon and a v well used name now. However, a much more common name for 1970s babies starts with the same sound, and this is what people seem to assume I am called, especially as my first name+maiden name sound like it. It's a perfectly fine name,IT'S JUST NOT MINE!

Lottapianos · 23/10/2012 08:42

Thank you lisianthus! FourthTime, what a strange reaction- do you often tell people what they should and shouldn't call themselves?!

BikeRunSki · 23/10/2012 08:43

I used to work with a girl called Anne. One day I heard her spelling out her name over the phone. The next day I was taking round the post and there was a letter for her, addressed to Anne Withany (With an E)-Surname.

BikeRunSki · 23/10/2012 08:47

I've noticed that Rebecca and Rachel get mixed up a lot too. Maybe people just hear "Old Testament Name, begins with R".

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