Anyone else been made fun of because of their name/surname?

[Iamsocold888]

It’s a long, European surname. Once a man actually laughed down the phone at it when I had to give my name and address.

Working at a school, a lady asked me, “Really?! So do the kids call you miss _?!”
Well yeah, that is my name so..

Or in other jobs/school I’ve had people read out lists of full names but only read my first name.

Always remember a girl behind me in the lunch queue at school sniggering when my surname came up on the card machine.

Even in some jobs people have said, “Yeah, I’m just gonna call you by your first name.”

It used to get me down when I was younger but I realise it’s their problem. I have no issue with people asking how to pronounce it or commenting on how it’s different.

Anyone else had this? Just find people so rude sometimes.

I have a very normal, traditional name which is pretty universally approved of on MN baby name threads. But it also features in a lot of songs.

When I introduce myself, people will often start singing one of the songs. One in particular is literally about having just met someone called [myname].

I used to get irritated and annoyed by it, but I don't any more. They're not trying to be rude or annoying, it's just a (fairly unoriginal) reflex.

With hard to pronounce names, I imagine people just say your first name to avoid causing offence by mispronouncing your surname. It's unlikely to be malicious.

Yep, South African surname that kids and teachers used to recoil at 😂 it’s also such a beautiful name in the language so it’s a shame others can’t appreciate it!

Also, kids will tease about literally anything. That's what kids do.

First name Kathryn, EVERYONE auto called me kathy as a kid despite me hating the name, even before them intentionally pronouncing it "kaffy" like "cafe" so i'd get asked constantly for "sausage and chips please!"

Even my damn family called me kathy, my dads side always spelled it Cathy too. I've gone by "katie" for over 20 years, it's what i sign in cards, and i still got "kathy/cathy", it's not the reason why i went NC with everyone but my sister and dad, but buy i do not miss it!

I have a really simple two syllable surname but people really struggle with it!

I think it's different when the name is obviously a non-UK one. If adults are commenting on or mocking your name in that circumstance, it's probably racism or xenophobia, and pretty unpleasant.

@hotmeatymilk

I’ve got a long European surname too and absolute recognise this. A very palpable “WTF?” moment when someone’s reading names from a list and they get to the surname part of mine.

Like you I’ve been told they’re not going to bother with my surname, or can’t I just change it (to fit on a bank card – made a complaint about that one), I should get married so I can have a different one, is there something else they can call me, “come on, no one can pronounce that” – often right after I’ve pronounced it?! On and on and on.

I’d still rather my luxurious multi-syllable name than be a run-of-the-mill Sarah-Jane Bland or whatever.

Oi, Bland is a surname. I have Blands in my family tree!

The best approach is to consider it a great automatic dickhead filter. A great way to identify those whose minds are so inane that they just say shit like this.

@CSJobseeker

I think it's different when the name is obviously a non-UK one. If adults are commenting on or mocking your name in that circumstance, it's probably racism or xenophobia, and pretty unpleasant.

I grew up with a very unusual, unpronouncable, and obviously foreign name. I got called all sorts of variations by children, adults, bosses, friends, and professionals. Not once did I ever receive any of it as 'racism'! In fact, as a kid I was thankful that was the only thing I got teased for. It was much worse for those who were teased for being short, tall, spotty etc. etc.

My married name is far more common than my maiden name, but still gets mis-pronounced!

Yes. I have the same surname as a character in a book/film. When the film was popular loads of people laughed at my name. I even had two giggling delivery drivers at my door once because of my name. Thankfully it's stopped now the film is years old.

Yes I've got a Mediterranean name which has some funny / smutty connotations.. only ever had loved or liked ones have done it, doesn't bother me. Tbh it makes me laugh too.

I have a Welsh name in England and have had a few 'oh that's too difficult, I'm going to call you Rachel/Sophie/Claire instead'. A few people have gone as far to say it's awful or I should change it to something 'nice and English'.

I got a little teasing for it at school but not much - I was picked on more for other reasons, my hair in particular.

I went to school with a Ruby in the early 90s and she got a lot more teasing as the name was quite unusual for kids born in the late 80s.

No-one got as much teasing as the lad at school called Merlin though.

It's just rude

German surname, Portuguese first names. Both quite normal in their homelands, but both clichés in the UK, and combined verges on the ridiculous. It's along the lines of Pedro von Klinkerhoffen.

And yet, when i was doing my masters our programme's cricket team played in a tournament which necessitated booking seven rooms in a Travelodge. I was the only non-Indian in the team, and the administrator booked all seven rooms in my name because it was the easiest one for her to say down the phone!

Me. I hated my surname as the kids at school made fun of me. It became so boring but they never got tired of it 🙄

The OP could have been written by me. My married name is an Eastern European name of 14 letters and the combination of letters just doesn’t “work” in English and so I get various versions of it.

My husband is American and his ancestors came here from Eastern Europe around 200 years ago. None of his family still speaks the original language do I doubt that we are pronouncing it correctly but even when we tell people how it’s pronounced we get “I’m just going to say ….” Or “I’ll just call you by your first name”. And people laugh when they ask us to spell it out or feel the need to make comments on the length and the unusual combination of letters.

My maiden name was the same as one of the people found guilty in an infamous crime against a child in the UK. At the time that it happened and it was on the news a lot people would say “oh that’s unfortunate” when I told them my name.

I remember a time in the mid 1969s when the racism was so bad my dad was considering changing our surname. I was totally distraught, because my name was part of who I was as a person. I remember sobbing my socks off and begging him not to do it.

For a while we used Mums maiden name, which has only 3 letters. And we’d still get people asking “how do you spell that?”

Both my Christian name and my Eastern European surname were objects of derision from when I was a young child until my twenties.

Lots of comments along the lines of " do you eat normal food like us or do you eat foreign muck?"

Or " do you you speak English at home or do you speak gobbledegook?" ( usually followed by turkey gobbling noises.)

My surname always needed spelling so when I married my husband I was thrilled that it was a simple , one syllable, English surname.
To this day ( I'm in my fifties) I still have to spell my English surname and, more often than not, it's pronounced incorrectly.

Think I'm jinxed.

Although I said I didn't mind teasing about my name, I wouldn't tease or refuse to pronounce, or even mispronounce a colleague's etc name. It's rude. Make the effort!

I work in a very multicultural workplace. All sorts of people (ethnicities) get other ethnicities name's wrong. Or don't bother trying.

My surname growing up was Raper.

So happy to get married and get rid of that!!

@Karwomannghia

I started a temp job after uni in the uni fees office and was asked my name by the other staff. It’s quite unusual and people normally say that’s nice where’s that from, but one revolting woman’s first comment to me, and I had terrible social anxiety at that time, was “well that’s a stupid name”. I just kind of laughed, but looking back now I’m probably her age, I cannot ever imagine speaking to someone like that and I’d like to see her try now! It’s their problem if they laugh at you, imagine being that basic.

Omg!! That reminds me of the one time I did feel offended. My new line manager said to me 'is that a name? It sounds like a disease!' 😱😱 luckily he was retiring so I didn't have to have any more dealings with him. Incidentally his name was Merv the Perv.

At work my colleagues fiancé had a name I thought was hilarious. I ended up marrying her brother: so guess who’s got the funny surname now ?

Yup. Maiden surname very uncommon, literally only know my family with the surname and very unusual. People thought I was taking the piss when I said it.

Married one is European and people panic about trying to pronounce it and also sounds like a statement so people say that taking the piss.

My surname sounded the same as a major brand of tinned food although spelt differently, you can image how much fun I had at school. When I got married I changed to one of the most popular surnames in this country.

All the effing time, having a Welsh language first name and surname. Been asked to change my name, am always called by the wrong name...