Someone persistently getting your name wrong

A friend of my flatmates calls me "Rowan" CONSTANTLY. It really annoys me but I never say anything cos I don't want to embarass her, though I think I may have mentioned it once or twice. I think I'm even friends with her on Facebook, and she's Irish not English so it's not as though she doesn't know the name "Ronan".

It is so annoying. If she's in my flat chatting to flatmates I just wait for "Hi Rowan how are you", "See you later Rowan", etc. Maybe I should just tell my flatmates to tell her. It's like a joke at this point.

Any similar or even less inane name mistake tales?

My mom was bad at this sometimes, she'd always start saying the wrong name and have to stop herself. It got the the point where she casually referred to my brother and I as Erinathan and Natha-eric respectively whenever she addressed us.

Guy at old job once had my name 100% wrong and I never corrected him. I think he called me Alex? I forget.

That's terrible, Rowan, you really just need to set her straight.

my wife is named Gizella and everybody - EVERYBODY - gets her name wrong. Best variation was college landlord who called her Grizolda.

well that's not entirely true, Hungarians get her name right

Yeah I had a job before where people kept calling me "Richard". It felt good in a way, it was a shit job. Maybe people should be allowed to be a diff name at work to help them compartmentalise its horrors and keep them far away from life.

my aunt spells my name wrong consistently and I don't know how to tell her that she's got it wrong. Every so often I correct my name in her email address book (right next to the email address which contains my name, spelt correctly), but i'm not sure the silent method is working.

THERE IS NO "T" IN MY LAST NAME!

Not yet.

(Evolution proceeds by the accumulation of small adaptations generated by random mutations, subjected to the sieve of selection by the environment)

Bob Seven will be OTM.

Everyone spells my last name reed and i am often called matt

When you've got a foreign name, you kinda get over it after a while or you'd be spending most of your days in apoplectic rages at call centre staff phoning you up and asking "Is Donnymac P-p-piston there?"

My last manager used to call me James all the time, my name is actually Jamie and I prefer Jim, and I told her that. Got sick of correcting her though.

And yes, having a foreign name is something that teaches you some patience. The amount of times people have called me Mr. Menendez or Menendosa or whatever is just ridiculous.

When you've got a foreign name, you kinda get over it after a while or you'd be spending most of your days in apoplectic rages at call centre staff phoning you up and asking "Is Donnymac P-p-piston there?"

On the phone at work "Hi Ron", "Hi Ronald", "Hi Rowan" incessantly to the point that I end up neurotically over pronouncing my name. Can only imagine what a MORE FOREIGN name must be like...

The Ronan at work seems to get called Rowan, Roman, or Ronaine on a stunning frequently level as well.

i don't know if it's my accent or what, but since i've been in the US i've had so many problems communicating my name:
'it's justine'
'oh justain?'

or when i spell it out, even though it has an e on the end, ppl repeat it back to me as 'justin'. i mean, it's not a super common name but neither is it weird.

It's strange, I thought Ronan Keating had ended all this but obv not.

I turned up at the BBC before for an interview and the receptionist thought my name was "Orlando Fitzgerald"

My last name looks like a misspelling, so I'm quite used to everyone getting it wrong.

After 6 months, my supervisor still calls me Michelle.

A majority of the people I knew in China/India/Thailand called me Jack, but Z's are kind of hard to pronounce for some people so I tried to embrace it.

i get called tracy a lot. i don't like it.

I turned up at the BBC before for an interview and the receptionist thought my name was "Orlando Fitzgerald"

Not Guy Kewney?

I turned up at the BBC before for an interview and the receptionist thought my name was "Orlando Fitzgerald"

ornaldo fitzgerald

On New Years' morning I accidentally called my mother-in-law's boyfriend by the name of her old boyfriend. It's okay tho, cos the new guy's a cock.

doctors, dentists, seemingly everyone who reads my name before hearing it: lewis

That really surprises me, I'd've thunk the correct pronunciation was the one most people wd go with. I only call ya Lewis cos I've got a thing for Edward Gibbon.

I'm always being called gormless.

http://www.radiotimes.com/shows/inspector-morse/gallery/gallery-one/002/photo_lrg.jpg

It's an Oxbridge thing

xp

Worst Morse ep ever.

No wait. That one about raves.

i have commiserated with other jesses about the tendency of lots of people (including, in my case, some of my in-laws) to put an "i" in there -- jessie. which is a perfectly fine spelling, for our sisters in jesse/jessie-hood. and it's not the feminization that bothers me (at least not now in my secure masculine adulthood), just people spelling it wrong.

10 years ago, some lady at work called me Joel for about a week.

I still sign emails as Joel.

xp

I am truley sorry for your lots

hard out here for a ...

When I was in infant school many years ago an elderly couple came for a look round the class for some reason I can't remember. On seeing the name James written on the top of my exercise book, this old dear turned to her husband and said "Oh look at the cute way they spell Jamie".

For awhile, every time I'd introduce myself, people would go, "Case?" like that's even a name. Was I dropping the 't'?

I love having a difficult last name, though. I can always tell who the telemarketers are when they call by the way they mangle my surname.

Worst Morse ep ever.
No wait. That one about raves.

Come off it. Have you watched it recently? Totally hilar early '90s nostaligia fest. We ridiculed it at the time for getting the rave scene all wrong, man. But, I dunno, it wierdly captures something about the time. Or maybe it's just bollocks. Good both ways.

Call centre ppl be getting my surname all mangled as well btw.

ppl always trying to spell my last name sergeant

also ppl always think that i say my name is george

Every Xmas season I get major pissed when some of my relations assume that I have taken my husband's last name and put "Mrs. X" on the envelope. I am nobody's Mrs!

ppl always trying to spell my last name sergeant

― jordan s (J0rdan S.), Saturday, January 3, 2009 2:36 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

presuming your last name is york

surgent

http://www.arkivperu.com/hechizada_actores.jpg

ppl who make a big deal out of this are lower than shit... enjoy going thru life correcting ppl u turdlings

ppl who make a big deal out of this are lower than shit... enjoy going thru life correcting ppl u turdlings

Truth M-80.

someone didn't read the thread

lol well... oaky i didnt but that dont make me wrong~

yeah i almost never correct anyone. it even has hidden benefits. like, the subscription to national review that my wife's uncle renews for us every year has my name misspelled -- which means that all the associated right-wing mailing lists also misspell it, making it easier to spot their stuff in the mailbox.

My last name is Olken and it is pronounced exactly as it is spelled, but people consistently have a hard time getting it right and say crazy things like "Oak-lin" or "Olsen" instead. More often then not, people spell it Olkin for some reason.

My name isn't particularly unusual, but for some reason no-one ever seems to get it right. I barely even notice now, EXCEPT when I spoonfeed someone and they get it wrong immediately. This happens embarrassingly often, and is ever-so-slightly annoying:

"Can I take your second name please?"
"Yes, it's Klata"
"... sorry?"
"Klata. K-L-A-T-A"
"Ah, Klawta"

This morning my boss did this to someone else - we were waiting to get into work early because we don't have keys to open up the building, and when one of the security staff came in I said "good morning" because I couldn't remember his name. (If I don't learn someone's name immediately, I'm too embarrassed to ask later, which leads to months of ignorance...unfortunately this means I don't know the names of almost anyone in the building I don't work with directly.) My boss, on the other hand, yelled "Morning, Ken! How's it going?" As we were walking through the building, he suddenly said, "Oh no! His name's CARL! I've been calling him KEN!" And poor Carl never said anything....

Although if your boss got an attack of conscience re. misnomer he's not the fucktards we're discussing.

I have a friend who is good about looking people in the eye and taking their hand and saying "I'm sorry, we've met before but I don't recall your name."

I seem to recall some novel, Henry Green maybe, where some servant- footman or butler- is called by the name of his predecessor, or his predecessor's predecessor, because that is the only name the lady of the house can remember.

Actually, I know of a well-respected mathematician who is so computer illiterate (his hardworking post-docs do all the programming, guy is brilliant though) that the email he gives out is the email of his former assistant from many years ago. Maybe one day Ed will work with this guy.

no, my boss is not at all a fucktard, thank goodness. (his boss, on the other hand...i'm glad that person only works weekdays and half my shifts are weekends.) it just struck me as funny.

looking people in the eye and saying you don't remember their name is a good direct way, but i think that's only okay the second or third time you see them. if you let it go on to, say, ten times (which i do), it's just way too awkward...then all you can do is ask others behind their backs. and then forget their names again.

There's apparently techniques to help this if you're a serial name-forgetter (I'm a bit like that too!). Something about, when you meet/are introduced to someone, you greet them and repeat their name back to them immediately "hi, blah, nice to meetyou". And then try and address them by name a few times in the initial conversation if its possible. Apparently that helps cement it in the mind.

It feels stilted and odd but it does work, I've found.

as far as my last name, welcome to my whole life. (the spelling of that name is an alternate to a far more popular spelling)

Actually, yeh, I get that *as well*. Again: don't really give a fuck any more. What's the point?

Ohhhh the emails responding to ones FROM ME, as Matt said, in which the person opens with "Dear Lauren". I get them at work pretty much constantly ALTHOUGH not as much as I did when there was a Lauren in my department.

I could sign Suzy etc. and I get Dear Susie x1000000 in similar replies. READING COMPREHENSION FTW.

one time I mistook a friend for another friend...was extremely embarassing. they were both only acquaintances and do look alike but god I wanted a hole to swallow me up.

Oh bah, I called one acquaintance by the name of another, the other day, but in fairness they're both moddish brunettes w/ similar hairstyles and are both thin-ish and lipsticked. So as far as meeting people when you're drinking and in a dark bar is concerned, I refuse to feel TOO bad.

yeah this was in a bar. I think they knew each other too. It was a long time ago though, I've not seen either in years and here I am today chatting about it on the internet while drinking tea.

My partner's mother regularly calls me 'Liz' - my partner's ex-wife's name. Yep that feels tops.

My mum calls me my brother's name a lot these days if there's more than one of the children in the house, or if she's like busy or whatever and absent mindedly asking me something.

I try not to say anything cos I figure it's just cos she's getting older and I don't want to make her have to think about this.

Yeah I don't say anything to the m-in-law, just pretend it hasn't happened unless someone else picks her up on it. Even though I know it's petty and I should just get over it, it really pisses me off. I'm not convinced it isn't deliberate.

Based on some anecdotal evidence I'm starting to think the calling family-members-by-other-family-members-name-when-focusing-on-something-else thing is genetic. But some of the other stuff I think people's brains are going "all these crazy spellings and pronunciations - I can't handle it! I was never good at school!"

it's funny, a friend of mine perpetually called this girl lauren we know 'laurel', and it infuriated her to no end, to the point that she began to actively despise him despite him being nice otherwise. then at a party of a mutual friend he accidentally put his elbow into a birthday cake she had made for the friend and she chased him down the street in fury.

you know this one guy would always add an "s" to the end of my name. i couldn't tell if he was joking! so one day i had to fabricate this whole story to tell him, in which i had to say my bf and i's names a bunch of times. to like make sure.

― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Monday, July 13, 2009 9:54 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Chasing foolish dudes down the street in a fury is a cool thing that should happen more often! Was she waving a wooden spoon?

People call me Lauren a lot, I just don't answer. Actually, people get my name wrong SO often that I'm rly surprised anyone would get it the other way around.

It wasn't that big of a deal, it's the same name and all, but the sales guy at the old place who used to write me emails saying "Hey, Trey, when you get a chance..." when my email address was t✧✧@a✧✧✧.c✧✧, well, it just gave me another reason to hate him.

No one EVER spells my first name correctly. Which I'm fine with, since it's a bit of a strange spelling. It's the people who constantly call me Eric, even in the face of omnipresent printed or auditory evidence to the contrary, that puzzle me.

There has been a recent rise of people spelling my first name "Jeniffer" and that irks me to no end, but I don't say anything about it, unless it's something important like my driver's license.

― atty at LOL (Jenny), Saturday, January 3, 2009 10:01 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

My husband pointed out to me last night that the gas company has been spelling my name "Jeniffer" on our gas bill for the past, oh, five years.

I've never experienced this.

I get called Erin instead of Erica a lot. Some lady at work did this to me for about 6 months but I didn't really care so I never corrected her.

Also, one of my last names is two syllables starting with a B and ending in T and it isn't very common. I once gave my name to someone over the phone so they could send me a letter at work. A couple weeks later I got mail addressed to . . .

AQUA BACKRAT

I kept it taped next to my desk for the next two years.

my friend's brother always forgets my name and i've been introduced to him many times. the thing is that my name is the same as his.

even if i didnt share ur name i think i'd remember that someone's name was jed_

ppl have more problems spelling my last name but probably due to my mumble i often have introductory sessions that go something like

"joe."
"jeff?"
"joe."
"josh?"
"JOE"
etc

yeah mumbling fucks me up to

"george?"
"jordan."
excuse me, i'm sorry."
"jordan."
"oh."

^^ yeah sure I feel real bad for y'all

it's okay, though -- people tend to seem reassured and at-ease when I inform them that I can't pronounce my own name properly either

our names aren't all over grocery shelves, so i'm not sure what you're complaining about

http://www.fabawards.tv/includes/files/2009-5033-A07-Jordans-Muesli-Range.gif

I like when you fill it out on a form and they still misspell in response, like they are correcting you

that's a good point, bryon

I've never experienced this.

― Sundar, Monday, July 13, 2009 6:28 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol

people tend to call me Linda when i tell them my name over the phone; i have decided to run with this lately.

you know this one guy would always add an "s" to the end of my name. i couldn't tell if he was joking! so one day i had to fabricate this whole story to tell him, in which i had to say my bf and i's names a bunch of times. to like make sure.

― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Monday, July 13, 2009 9:54 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Own it, dude:
http://riseandfallgame.com/media/systemreq/sysreq-ramses.jpg

not a pronunciation thing, but motherfuckers been misspelling my last name since birth (literally, was wrong on my birth certificate until i was 16)

AQUA BACKRAT

OK, knowing yr surname I am finding this spectacular, how could someone note that down and not go "you know, that doesnt even look like a real NAME" ??

Wait, is R4mz1 surms actual real name? I never knew that, thats awesome.

AQUA BACKRAT

OK, knowing yr surname I am finding this spectacular, how could someone note that down and not go "you know, that doesnt even look like a real NAME" ??

― lolsbury hill (Trayce), Monday, July 13, 2009 8:38 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

I KNOW!! I sort of love that someone out there lives in a universe where they thought that Aqua Backrat was a perfectly acceptable name for me to have.

Oh and this also resulted in my coworker calling me Backrat for a good couple months at the time.

Santos L Halper

MY NAME IS NOT SCOTT

GODDAMMIT

IF MY FIRST NAME WAS SCOTT I WOULD BE S_Z

sorry, just had to get that out. my work email goes lastname.firstname@,
and roughly 1/3 of the emails I get begin,

"Hello Scott,"

even after i've gently corrected the other person and said the lame, working jerk "ah ha, yes, that's not the first time it's happened today, it happens all of the time, don't worry about it!" thing, when in my head i'm like "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

http://favorit.az/uploads/posts/2009-12/1260622672_naxchivan.jpg