Spelling The Easy Names

[earl colby pottinger]

Family

Big get-to-gethers are not fun for me. As names get called out but all the noise makes it hard to hear if it was.

One of my Aunts, Bunny, Dotty, Polly, Sally.

Cousin Early (Don't ask, his real name is Earl, the same as mine.)

Myself Colby (Try saying it in a loud crowd and see what it sounds like.).

[TerranRich]

I might have all of you beat. My last name is Brum. Nine times out of ten it'll be spelled "Brun". So everytime I give out my last name, I say "Brum, B-R-U-M", enunciating the M well enough to understand. Never had a problem.

I do have a problem with mispronunciation of it, though. I live in a predominantly Portuguese area, so it's pronounced "Broom" instead of "Brum", with a short U.

[Jester]

Because I've seen people butcher my name. (Ami is a legitimate version of my name. Ami is the French version, Amy is the English version).

Here are the versions of my first name that I have seen:

1. Aimiee
2. Aimi
3. Aimey
4. Amey
5. Amee
6. Aimiey

Let's not forget "Amie."

Amie, what you wanna do
I think I could stay with you
For a while, maybe longer if I do....

Sorry, couldn't resist. (Love that song!)


Regarding names, my first name is a somewhat common first name for guys, but one with multiple correct spellings. So people are often spelling it wrong, but while that drives me nuts, I can understand it.

What I CANNOT understand is how people so badly screw up my last name. It is a common word, one that everyone has seen or heard and is familiar with (and I mean everyone), and yet people are constantly changing the spelling and the pronunciation as if it was a word that no one had ever seen. (RW's last name is also easy, but the screwups she gets with it are more understandable....sorry RW, but you know it's true.)

How badly? Let's say for the sake of argument that my last name was actually my cousins' last name of Brown. (It isn't, but this example fits well.)

How tough is it to spell Brown? Easy, right? Well, people would add in letters, making it Browne, Broughn, Brouwn, etc.

Worse, they would mispronounce it, making Brown into Brone or Broon or Crown or some such.

The amusing part is that my first and last names together take only 8 little letters. And yet people are constantly screwing it up. It's times like that that I am tempted to give them my grandmother's maiden name of Tolkowsky. Let the morons chew on that one for a while!

[laundryhater]

I do eventually ask

In response to "why don't you just ask?"

If at first they don't spell it for me, I assume it's the common spelling. Then when I don't find a listing for the common spelling I try other spellings I know of.

Also I've been in telecommunications long enough to know that if I type in just the first 3 letters of the last name I can usually scroll down thru just those similar names and find what I'm looking for in a matter of seconds (much faster than having you spell out the entire name) which saves time for you and me. So its a very rare day that I don't find the name on my own.

But on those rare occasions that I can't find it on my own then I politely ask the caller to spell it for me. And 9 times out of 10 I spelled it correctly but they have called the wrong hospital because I still can't find the name.

But even more annoying are the people who keep just repeating the name even after I've asked them to spell it:

Caller: Rob... (sounds like either Robertson or Robinson I couldn't tell which)

Me: How are you spelling that last name?

Caller: Rob... (again says the name instead of spelling it).

Me: Please mam, how is the last name spelled?

Caller: Rob...!!!

Me: (hangs up in angst)

OR if the name has a B or D or V and I can't tell which they're saying:

Me: Now is that B as in Boy, D as in Dog or V as in Victory or Z as in Zebra?

Caller: (Repeats name)

Me: Is that last name spelled with a B as in boy, D as in dog, v as in victory or a z as in zebra?

Caller (Repeats)

Me: (gives it another try)

Caller: (Repeats same name louder)!!!

Me: (hangs up in angst)

[Andara Bledin]

The amusing part is that my first and last names together take only 8 little letters.

So, what, your name is Jon Baker or somesuch?

^-.-^

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

My last name is very commonly mispronounced. This can be advantageous when determining whether the person on the phone is somebody I know or a telemarketer.

"Is Mr. (horrible massacre of my last name) there?"
"No, but I'll leave a message." *click!

It also used to be quite funny when I'd have substitute teachers in school, and they'd be taking attendance, and they'd get to my name and freeze up.

"La....Lu....Luh.....Lo....."
Class: snickersnickergiggle
Me: "Here!"

Now as for spelling easy names, this was something that got drilled into my head when I was a reporter for the college newspaper: Always ask your interview subject to spell their name. Never assume their name is spelled "John Smith". If their name is "Jon Smythe", they'll get pretty ticked that you misspelled their name, and it makes you look bad as a writer.

[Andara Bledin]

Now as for spelling easy names, this was something that got drilled into my head when I was a reporter for the college newspaper: Always ask your interview subject to spell their name. Never assume their name is spelled "John Smith". If their name is "Jon Smythe", they'll get pretty ticked that you misspelled their name, and it makes you look bad as a writer.

We got that in the court reporting classes, too. Since a stenograph doesn't use a standard alphabet and uses phonetic approximations instead, you would have to have the spelling for all names, regardless of what they were. Of course, since this was a matter of court and public record, it was always important to have the names right.

^-.-^

[CaroPhoenix]

I found another version of "my" name!!!!

Aimee - I found it on a posting for selling games at the local Game Store near my house.

[Becks]

FWIW, I always do this for my last name, since it's pronounced "Peterson", but spelled "Pedersen".

Anyway, I say this: "My last name is Pedersen, but it has a funny spelling". I then spell it out. And the number of people surprised by the final e not being an o is astounding in itself, since I can hear them hitting the backspace key to fix it

Of Danish/Scandinavian descent?

[ShadedWings]

My mom did to me what her mother did to her... changed a vowel around. Both of us have common names, but she figured it would be cute to do it to me too. I already have a name that's commonly spelled SEVERAL different ways - Kelli - but it's really really hard to get someone to guess the correct spelling. I always get people asking me "with a y or with an ie?" ... neither. Ugh. :P

Ways I've seen my name spelled - Kelli, Kellie, Kelly, Kelley, Kelleye (which just makes me twich, kell-eye?), Kellye, Kelliegh and Kellee. About half of them I've only seen once, and the less common ones make my own seem wonderful.

I never bother correcting spelling unless it's important, like on a legal document or for an order for medication, etc. At my work, in the same system, my name is spelled four different ways. Officially, on my paycheck it's Kelli. On the system that records notes on accounts, my first name is spelled right but my last name is spelled the "right" way (I have a last name that has a capital letter in the middle when it's spelled correctly but mine is NOT capitalized, similar to McDonald... but if that were my last name it'd be Mcdonald), on the sheet that randomly prints our break schedules each week my name is Kellie and on the QA sheets my name is spelled Kelley. I've told my boss as long as my name is right on my paycheck and offical documents I don't really care anymore. :P

Also, I had a guy just today, was changing his mailing address... part of it, I swear he said "Brie". I said "like the cheese?" and he goes "... what??" I asked him to spell it, he said "Berea".

I get people mishearing my name all the time too. I get Holly tons, and got a Polly once.. I got one lady that kept hearing Ellie, and another that kept calling me Cindy... the kicker is the one that called me Joy. Try adding another syllable and I'll agree with you.

[Jester]

So, what, your name is Jon Baker or somesuch?

It's not Jon Baker, no, but it is a short name. We'll just leave it at that.

[Andara Bledin]

For some reason, people have heard my name as Mary. How you get Mary from Polly is beyond me.

... on the other hand, how you get Polly from Mary is easy to trace, as Polly is actually originally derived from Mary with Molly as the transition. I don't really understand the whole Molly>Polly bit, but whatever...

^-.-^

[edible_hat]

It's amazing how often David gets changed to Damon or Xavier. Also occasionally Damien and Daniel, and one time Paul. WTF?

[repsac]

I hope I can do this justice, but have you ever heard of a writer called James Thurber? I hope so. From what I remember of him he's a humorist and a blast to read. I also happen to have one of his books. He talks about names in it, particularly when it comes to going on a cruise.

I can't find the book now, but basically he talks about one cruise where his name James was transposed into Janet, while his wife's name became H. Muriel. Her name was Dianne if I remember correctly.

[simplyanother]

I always spell names...but it's mostly because my first name is a slightly less common spelling. So, I'm used to spelling my name (because of that odd spelling people try too hard to pronounce my name. lol)..so I spell my boys names too, out of habit.

They both have the common spelling of their given names, but someone always tries to put a K where the C's are... (FWIW, their names don't start with the same letter or anything, but both boys have a c in their name. lol)

MY surname is an easy one, and I've got the common spelling of that one, but people are always leaving off one letter. I never assume anymore, with spelling, because Joe might be Joe or Jo or Joh or whatever. lol

Regarding the spelling "Kelleye" , I knew a woman whose name was spelled that way, and named her daughter something like Kelseye... gah. lol

Hell, my grandmother, her surname is one syllable, it's a common word, a common surname....it's constantly misspelled, missprounced..etc. And it's not like they choose are rhyming name to screw it up ass, they pick a different vowel entirely.

Anyway, I spell everything. And I make sure to do the "D as in David" "P as in Pineapple"...because people don't hear.

My favorite misspelling of my surname... I told the woman my name, and I said "with an E". So she put the e at the end of my name. Gah.