Unreasonably irritated that only about 8 people call me by my correct name?

[Imnotcalledthat]

It’s unusual, granted but I didn’t choose it. Still, it isn’t hard to say.

A handful of friends and my sister are the only ones who say it correctly. Everyone else says a similarly spelled but very differently pronounced name.

Imagine if your name was Joan and everyone said Joanne ... it’s that sort of idea.

It doesn’t matter how many times you correct them.

Should I just give in and accept I’m a Joanne to most people?

Identifiable my arse. If it's similar to another popular name it's not identifiable. Just say what it is.

This is clearly a baby name argument with your DP so stick it in baby names 🤷🏽‍♀️

They must be hugely annoying OP.
My son has an old English first name which isn't heard much and is also a quite rare surname. Unfortunately his surname is a very common first name and surname - think like Beck James (not his name). He has never ever had his name called out in the GPs, chemists, dentists, etc correctly, everyone says it backwards eg. James Beck. I feel very sorry that he didn't give him a more obvious Christian name, given his surname, but it just never occurred to us.

@KungFuPandaWorksOut20

I love that meme!

My nephew is Ioan (capital I) and is Welsh its pronounced Yoann. He frequently gets called loan like bank loan as it looks the same when typed. I love his name and it winds me up when people say the L. It must drive his mum mad!

I worked with a girl called Nickola, (Nick then Ola to rhyme with Cola. German heritage) and everyone insisted on calling her Nicola, even after she corrected them.

OP, as someone who has always had my name spelt incorrectly and very often also mispronounced, I feel your pain.

When asked for my name/email address for forms and the like, I now always spell my name without saying it first. This is in the hope that people won't (automatically) spell it incorrectly, which they usually do even when I spell it as they have already made an assumption about how it's spelt when they hear it. Because they spell it incorrectly (by not listening and by assuming spelling) I sometimes don't receive emails.

What really irritates me is the number of people whom I have never spoken to who spell my name incorrectly in emails and who don't at least have the excuse of having heard me pronounce it and therefore assuming my name is spelt a certain (incorrect) way. My name is right there in front of them in the email address and in my signature - how can they not see it and therefore write it correctly?

I wonder if it's sometimes caused by auto-correct???

I generally correct people and try to make light of it or make a joke as some people do get offended when they are corrected - or think you're uptight - even when it's someone else's name they are getting wrong.

Also, I have a friend who son's name is Xavier. A mutual friend always pronounces his name X-avier. No matter how many times she's corrected and no matter how many times we say "Xavier" to her she will not pronounce it correctly. It drives Xavier, his mum and me potty.

I’m Rhiannon. I get a lot of Leanne, Leanna, Rian, Rihanna and my next door neighbour insists on calling me René.

What I do is ignore it when it doesn’t matter (someone I’m only going to speak to once) and correct it with colleagues and other ongoing relationships. I usually offer to spell it for people.

I would imagine that Siobhan has a shorter last syllable than "vaughn" - more like Sh'von? Other than that, no idea.

I find it pretty arrogant of people to continue to say someone's name wrong, after they've been told several times and often by more than one person, how to say it correctly.

I used to attend a college called the Raworth college. It's pronounced Ray-worth. It was named after the owner and founder, who pronounced it Ray-worth. The number of students though, who - despite being taught by the owner and founder - would STILL call it "Raw-worth" was astonishing! (and rude, IMO)

I have quite a traditional name, and it's spelled the traditional way. I constantly get it spelled with letters missed off, or extra letters added. Close friends can call me the shortened form, but I hate it if people do it if I've introduced myself with my unabbreviated name! Or spell the short form with an extra letter which makes it a man's name! It's my name, I know the spelling!!

A colleague and I, however, are puzzling over our contact at a company we're currently working with. When she calls she says 'Hi Bats, it's 'Daneel' (she pronounces it Dan-kneel). However, if you call her that she corrects you - her name is Danielle. It's like she pronounces her name one way, but everyone else must pronounce it another way! Which we do. But everytime she calls I wonder why she does it?? Her prerogative though ...

We had a neighbour called Olga but my DH always called her Greta! Ffs. Drove us all mad. Trouble was he would confuse me and I ended up doubting myself at times. She nearly got Greta a couple of times on Christmas cards.

@Blancmangetout Nickola and Nicola are the same in my accent 😂

We had a neighbour called Olga but my DH always called her Greta

DH is always mixing up my friends names so we have some baffling conversations sometimes when he's adamant that Iris did XYZ and I’m sure it was Peta. We now have to stop the conversation and establish that ”Iris is married to Colin who goes clay pigeon shooting and Peta is married to Alan who is a deep sea diver” before he realises he's talking about the wrong person.

(all names and hobbies changed 😂)

It's like one of those games you played as a child - the man in the blue house does not have a dog. The cat lives in the house on the end. James has a pet called Fluffy. Etc.

I have a name that can be split into lots of nicknames. None of which I use. I actually go by a completely different nickname in family /friends life.
But I kind of let people get on with it now. I never use my home life nickname at work. Although I have friends, even a partner, that I met at work but I have weaned many of them into my home name.
Christmas cards are fun - A calls me this so I sign off with this. B calls me that so I sign off with that,
My parents used my full name when I'd done something naughty. My employer calls me by my full name.

I am a Joanne and got so sick of being called either Joanna or Joan that I've just stuck to Jo since I was about 23.

I feel your pain! My name is Joanna but I'm invariably called Joanne or Joan. It drives me mad, but it can sound petty to stop people and correct them. My old GP called me Yianna.

My name is Suzanne, I get called Susan or suzanna mostly - I can't understand why it's so difficult!
I had a job once where someone called me Susan for a year, even with being corrected all the time!
I get some crazy spellings too on emails - Suzzan is a fav - even tho my name is in my email!

I have a really really boring name. I’d quite like it if people changed it to something more interesting.

I'm Joanne too and hate being shortened to Jo but some people do. Sometimes get Joanna too :(

It happens with common names too. I have a three syllable common name and so many people slur it into two syllables that I use a shortened version even in work. I sometimes wish I had a shorter prettier name like Rose, which no one could mess up!

My daughter has a two syllable name that I thought would be fine, but some people heavily pronounce 'yur' on the end rather than 'a'. Mari-yurrrr rather than Maria.

I’m called Melissa and constantly get called Melanie which I can understand as my name is shortened to Mel so they just assume however a lady I used to work with (for 12 years) continually called me Melanie knowing it wasn’t my name because she was an awkward bitch and wanted the reaction. I would ignore her then correct her.. every single time.

She even had the cheek to say ‘oh whatever, it doesn’t matter’. Like I had to settle for a different name to suit her

My name is similar to Susan but I've been called Sarah and Sophie before. Not even remotely similar apart from starting with the same bloody letter! It's very annoying so I'm with you OP. I'd correct them every time.

She even had the cheek to say ‘oh whatever, it doesn’t matter’. Like I had to settle for a different name to suit her

I would have been very tempted to reply with PA comments along the lines of "Oh, bless you, you do struggle with language, don't you!" or "Goodness, your memory is terrible, isn't it!" every time, before correcting her promptly and pronouncing it in an exaggerated drawn-out way, like you're teaching a new word to a toddler. Ask her to repeat it back to you, to check that she's got it! And ideally, do it very loudly, with others present. People like her think their silly childish ways give them the upper hand by upsetting you, but if you just react with pity and turn it back to an assumption of her incompetence, she'll just end up looking really, really stupid and not the smart mean-girl that she hopes for.

Barring severe learning difficulties, it's not difficult to expect somebody to know a colleague's name after 12 years. Even if somebody does have learning or speech problems, they could always tap you on your shoulder or come to your desk and smile rather than just arbitrarily assigning you a different name. It's such an aggressive thing to do, and one that's common among racists trying to put others down - "Hi, I'm Parminder" ; "Oh, I'll never be able to remember or pronounce that, I'll just call you Pamela".

If it's considered offensive and actionable to deliberately call a transgender person by their old male/female name - rightly so, as anybody should be allowed to go by whatever name they want, as long as it's not offensive - then how could it not be a disciplinary offence to deliberately and repeatedly get a non-TG person's name wrong? I could understand accidents if you knew Bruce for 30 years and sometimes forget when you see Caitlyn, but when it's a name that has never been associated with you, their position is thoroughly untenable.

I don't mind my name shortened at all but only old friends and some family do that.
Often people ask if my name is short for C*. No it's a name, not short for anything.
a lot of the time I'm called another name that sounds similar but isn't spelt similarly at all.
I have to spell my name out a lot even though I don't think it's unusual. I know 3 other people called it.