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Original poster

Been calling our neighbour the wrong name for 2 years!!!

58 replies

GaaaaarlicBread · 25/04/2020 20:33

No biggie , got worse things going on in the world I know but I am so embarrassed.

My husband and I moved into our house two years ago, the neighbours are lovely but we don’t talk loads , they have two children and we just say hello as and when. Anyway when we moved in we sent them a card at Christmas and just addressed it to number 20, from Garlic Bread and DH.
We never got one back but didn’t expect one and assumed they didn’t really do cards .
We then got a knock at our door last year asking if they were ok to paint their fence on the driveway a different colour to ours as they were aware it may drip to our side, we said no problem we will just paint ours the same colour as it needed doing anyway and they were lovely about it, told us their names , apologised for not introducing themselves sooner.
Since then they’ve been friendly with us over the fence , so we often say good morning Jen & Stewart. The kids are nice too.

Anyway we got a card from them thanking us for our NHS service as they know both my DH and I work for the nhs and said if we need anything let them know. Well bloody hell , he’s not called Stewart. He’s only bloody called Steven. Not even slightly similar . I don’t think I can show my face again. Thank god for isolation.
I am so embarrassed and he hasn’t corrected me EVER ! he’s always responded when I’ve said hi Stewart.
Please tell me you’ve done something similar 😂

OP posts:
Lemondropsandgumdrops · 25/04/2020 20:42

Stewart and Steven are definitely similar! They share 3 out of 6 letters and start exactly the same. I don’t think that’s so bad at all, if he was bothered he’d have let you know :)

Original poster
GaaaaarlicBread · 25/04/2020 20:48

@lemon thank you I feel slightly better now! DH says it’s no biggie but I just cringe now !

OP posts:
dottydally · 25/04/2020 20:52

If it's any help I am on the other side. My neighbours have been calling me the wrong name for well over a year. I tried to correct it but my 'new name' has stuck. It starts with the same letter as mine but is completely different (and my name cant be shortened so it's nothing like that).

Anyway, my point is I really don't stress about it. They're lovely people and we get on well so I just smile and get on with it. I know she'd be mortified if she found out but honestly don't worry!!

Thingsdogetbetter · 25/04/2020 20:55

Meet Nigel through mutual friends about 15 years ago
Would see him regularly in the pub. Got to know him well enough that we were great pub-friends nd would meet without mutual friends. Took him FOUR years to laughingly tell me his name was actually Nick! Nick came to my wedding 3 years and I introduced him to my parents as.......... Nigel!

Original poster
GaaaaarlicBread · 25/04/2020 21:07

😂😂 thinking about it I went by the name Sophie in my old job with a new member of staff as she asked a patient my name because she forgot and the patient had dementia so got it totally wrong ! she saw me tagged on someone’s Facebook a few weeks later and realised I’m not a Sophie and she was mortified ! Must be more common than I thought.

OP posts:
BobGalaxy · 25/04/2020 21:18

Perhaps they put the card through to gently remind you of his real name Grinthat's what I would do in that situation!

DorisKarloff · 25/04/2020 21:20

We had nice new neighbours - Jean and Ken - went to their Ruby Wedding Party - I had cross stitched a card with Jean and Ken on.
I saw the celebration cake - Jean and Ron.......Jean was Scottish and said “Do you ken?” Instead of do you know......my husband got hold of the wrong end of the stick and told me he was Ken.

Blibbyblobby · 25/04/2020 21:25

My neighbours have called me the wrong name for 13 years :)

It's not massively different, think Anna / Anne. But it's not a different way of shortening my name, it's a totally different name that sounds similar. It's also a really common thing for people whose first language isn't English to call me by that name.

cressyeggy · 25/04/2020 21:26

@DorisKarloff that's too good!

Ariela · 25/04/2020 21:28

Yup at my old house I called Mary, my neighbour adjoining, Wendy. She found i amusing and only told me after I moved. To my mind she didn't look old enough to be a Mary

NoraEphronsneck · 25/04/2020 21:29

My late grandparents were Jean and Ken.

LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow · 25/04/2020 21:30

dh got rechristend Phil in a christmas card from the neighbours once....dd and I STILL tease dh about it

Phil would be a much better husband...he would not tutter about my terrible housekeeping and would take me out to dinner much much more
Phil would be a much better father and would have bought dd a pony apparently and let her stay out much later.

I

looselegs · 25/04/2020 21:32

My brother in law is called Kelvin.
His next door neighbour called him Dave for 2 years.
Only fools and horses comes to mind....

HotCrossBungle · 25/04/2020 21:39

Haha no personal experience of this but live a 'getting the name wrong for years' thread. My mum was consistently called by the wrong name by a school mum acquaintance despite being told the correct name on numerous occasions (if her name was Jane she'd be called Jenny) and signing Christmas cards with her real name etc. In the end wrong name caller said 'I know but it's stuck in my head now and it's just easier' 🤔😂

YouAreTheEggManIAmTheWalrus · 25/04/2020 21:41

Proper belly laughed at these, thank you!!

Imboredinthehouse · 25/04/2020 21:43

This is the exact reason I don’t address my neighbour by name.
We were chatting this morning. I know her husbands name but for the life of me I couldn’t recall hers after they introduced themselves.

NotTerfNorCis · 25/04/2020 21:44

I thought my neighbour's name was Ben for many years. We talked regularly on the street. Turns out Ben is his dog.

Lavenderpurple · 25/04/2020 21:45

My dh is a stuart and has on a few occasions been called Steven.

itbemay1 · 25/04/2020 21:48

I've been calling my neighbour of 15 years roger and his name is Richard! I can't help it now and I always get it wrong despite my DH reminding me. Even DH now calls the poor man roger when we're in our home not to his face Blush

BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup · 25/04/2020 21:48

It's common.

I had to call my neighbour xxx's mum for years.

Now you have made me realise I've forgotten another neighbour's name....

RemotelessControl · 25/04/2020 21:52

Neighbours called

My husband Keith in a card after I had a miscarriage. It really made me laugh. His name is Iain.

They were mortified but tbh I said the same as pp. Keith sounded like a great bloke.

yelyah22 · 25/04/2020 21:55

Our neighbours on both side have husbands with the same name but when I realised this I assumed I'd got it wrong or got mixed up - it's an old-ish name and they're both early 30s so it didn't seem likely in my idiot brain that there'd be two so close together haha!

Since we moved in I've been cleverly/awkwardly been avoiding using their names AT ALL in case I'd got it wrong.

Christmas card addressed "Merry Christmas both of you!" (one side said they were doing charity donations instead of sending them back, the other side just put 'love from number 13!' back, so unhelpful!), asking "if that's...one of your cars?" outside the house when I think it's one of the husbands', awkwardly asking "and how are you both?" when one wife asked how my partner was by name...

Anyway we recently started a street group chat for corona related stuff and they're all in there, and it turns out they do have the same name and I've been making myself look weird for ages for no reason!

DamnYankee · 25/04/2020 22:05

@GaaaaarlicBread

I've done this.

Write them back and say the only thing you need right now is forgiveness for calling him by the wrong name for two years! Grin

My grandfather, now, called all of my mother's boyfriends "Dave." If they corrected him, he simply refused to refer to them by any name at all. She never dated a Dave. Halo

yerawizadari · 25/04/2020 22:07

A friend of mine has been calling DH Roger for years. My work colleague refers to him as Dave.

His name is neither Roger nor Dave Grin

DartmoorChef · 25/04/2020 22:12

We have a lovely neighbour who for 2 years we thought was called Neil. It turns out his name is nothing like that. So for the last three years hes been know as NotNeil in this house