AIBU in being frustrated that everybody gets my name wrong?

[rosesandveg]

I am getting increasingly frustrated at people getting my name wrong. I have an old fashioned English first name that can be tricky to spell (and I understand that), and I am married. My name now is firstname myname hisname (no hyphen). I would not be that bothered if people just put in incorrect hyphens, but they get it very wrong a lot of the time. It is most frustrating when it is put down incorrectly in concert programmes and conference presentations (I'm a performer working in a specialist field). Recently I've had firstname(incorrectly spelt) hisname-myname(incorrectly spelt), firstname hisname-myname, and firstname myname. It's really beginning to get me down. These are usually one off events so it's not something I can correct going forward, however sometimes it is colleagues who have worked with me since before I got married, that really gets me. I have my correct name on my emails, website, Facebook profile. I'm not sure what else I can do. AIBU to feel so down about it? I married six years ago so it's not a new thing.

Iain Duncan Smith gets his own name wrong.

He is the son of Mr and Mrs Smith.

He does not have a double-barreled surname.

My friend's daughter has a name that is similar to one with a different letter in the middle and similar ending, they start the same but are very different, and are two completely different names, hers is the most familiar but there was a girl of the other name in another year. Despite writing it down on forms etc it invariably comes back incorrect, or is read wrongly if read out. She had a maths teacher who NEVER got her name right so by the 3rd term she refused to answer to 'wrong name', unfortunately the teacher thought she was being insolent, so she got detentions, but it got resolved when she raised the matter with her (excellent) form tutor.

I’ve got an Irish surname so feel you, but it is actually written how it is pronounced. I spell it out slowly to people and they still try to add random as fuck letters to it. (In England)

@itscallednickingbentcoppers basically people use the male version of my first name and then can't get my surname right either!

Say my name is Samantha England - simple right?
No. They say Samuel English and then wonder why I don't respond

My surname is mispronounced more often than it is correct. It's not actually difficult, it's one syllable, but people persist in rearranging the letters in saying it, and some even try to say it phonetically and mangle it into 3 syllables.

Despite regular offenders being reminded they still do it so on occasion I will wait for my name to be called. Of course, I'm then the difficult one!

YANBU, it’s annoying. I have a very short simple first name which rhymes with a couple of very old fashioned / somewhat male names. So quite often I’ll get called one of those. Don’t bother correcting them half the time now.

My name is Bronwyn. I've had god knows how many incorrect spellings over the years.

But I know two Bronwens...

Whatever the spelling It's one of my favourite names.

My first name is fairly straightforward but there are numerous spellings (although I've never met one with any of the other spellings) so, combined with a slightly unusual spelling of my maiden name, it was a rare thing to get them both spelled right.

I think you're being unreasonable to expect people to get your surnames right, it's unusual to have two different ones without a hyphen! Why not just choose one? If I saw a double barrelled surname with no hyphen I'd think it was a misprint or a middle name.

Mine's a bugger of a name - parts are any/all of anglicised foreign and misspelt from what would be the norm if there was one. I decided early on to not worry about it.

I spent the mid80s-mid90s on a one-letter-off misspelt passport, it's that bad (and only ever got pulled up for it once! By German airport staff, on the return leg - I got it sorted after that). Wouldn't be possible these days.

There is a woman in my neighbourhood called Jonet. I always remember her when threads like this come up, and think she must get this daily. (And fwiw my toddler has a three-letter name and that gets mispronounced too.)

To me if its not hyphenated then the surname.is just his name. I think your surname is a middle name and not use it.

People tend to assume that if you have two surnames they’re hyphenated. If they’re not hyphenated people assume the first surname is actually a middle name and your surname is just the last one. This is exactly why I ditched my double barrelled surname and why I didn’t give one to my DC.

To those saying I should hyphen, it's actually very common not to hyphen in my field. Additionally, my maiden name is 'officially' a middle name (but nobody who knows me professionally knows this - just did it so I could get paid in my work name easily), so I can't double barrel. Really the name I work under is my 'performance' name, which I think is why I'm finding it so frustrating - I think performers' names should be correct on official programmes etc. Especially as recently I have been presenting or performing solo. This just came up today because I'm doing a concert tomorrow and I just know it's going be wrong again.

My friend's daughter has a name that is similar to one with a different letter in the middle and similar ending

My god, I wish peoe would just say what the decking names are. I find these threads so hard to follow when people describe everything about the name, but refuse to say the name.

"My name is a traditional name, take out the second letter, replace it with a hyphen, put the beginning of the name at the end of the name, my first is in liz, but not in lizzy, take out the apostrophe and add an exclamation mark. AIBU that it annoys me when people mispronounce it?"

*people and fecking

I've got a name that can be spelled with an 's' or a 'z'. The number of times people get it wrong is mad, particularly when I end an email "Best wishes, NAME-SPELLED-RIGHT", and they reply "Dear NAME-SPELLED-WRONG".

Infuriating!

I get it, you're name is important. I am called by a shortened version of my first name by everyone, have been forever. No one calls me by my full name, always introduced by my shortened version but it seems that when people find out my full first name they start using that. I don't answer to it, sounds weird to be called it, irritates the hell out of me

I’ve always had the same problem with my full name I shortened it to Annie to make life easier as no one can spell the full length and it drives me mad. It’s one of those things people will have to get used to and learn eventually.

I have a really common name that you can add a letter to, to make it fancier. I have a really good friend who always uses the fancier version when she texts me - I've known her 6 years and haven't wanted to correct her (only noticed it the last year or so). I keep signing off with the correct spelling, but she hasn't noticed. I just think it's quite funny. Our surname is similar to a very famous one, so we often get that instead.

@PositiveVibez yes!! This!! It's so fucking annoying!!

OP, in the nicest possible way you need to toughen up and take this head on - when you are booked, make it very clear in email that 'as I am often incorrectly named, please note that my name should appear as Olwyn Smith Jones in all public facing documents' and if incorrectly named then follow up and make them aware. If you work through an agency, have words about ensuring this too.

I have a fairly straightforward first name, but which is spelt differently in many non english speaking countries. I have a colleague who in spite of my name being clear in email always uses the alternate when typing (I'm relaxed about verbally being called the other name, which is just an alternate vowel end). Drives me nuts! But if it was customer facing I would have zero tolerance

I've given up with my name. I just tell people 'yeah that works'