What would you do if people kept mispelling your name?

[Momof2kids]

I've been married to my dh for 14 years. Still almost everyone continues to spell my name wrong on Christmas cards, placecards at weddings, thank you cards, family newsletters, etc. My name is a pretty basic name but there are 2 completely acceptable ways to spell it, although one way seems to be more popular. So it's not some real unique spelling type of thing.

 

My mil knows how to spell my name and always spells it correctly. Should I ask her to spread the word through the family? Should I start signing my name on cards and things write my name so-and-so (name) with so-and-so. (bringing attention to the one letter they always mess up.)

 

My dh says brush it off it's no big deal, but I HATE the other spelling and it's not my name!

 

And what's wrong with people anyway??!!! When I get cards and mail and invitations I ALWAYS look at the correct spelling of people's name and make sure I put it in my address book right.

[Julpost]

I wouldn't worry about it, just keep sending them correspondence w/ the correct spelling of your name on it...maybe one day they'll slow down enough to notice it. I think it's one of those things it's not worth getting upset about. It happens to me all the time too.

[Jami]

I rarely mention it, my immediate family and in-laws spell it correctly. But I'm pretty used to seeing it misspelled by everyone else. I tease my parents that it wouldn't have killed them to add an "e" on the end to make it more likely to be spelled correctly. But it really doesn't bother me very much. :)

 

Jami (no-e)

[kaylk in tx]

i have an aunt who has known me since i was born (44 years ago) and STILL spells it Kaye instead of Kay.

[purplecow7]

I would reprint my return address label with my name spelled bigger and maybe sign my name a bit bigger in the cards and then move on. My girls will probable hate me when I get older as I named one Caitlin and there are a thousand ways to spell that one and Meghan and yes there are thousand ways to spell this one too. But then again now a days even John or is it Jon spelled many ways.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

My name is always misspelled. The "y" throws them off! I don't worry about it too much, I just correct it when I can. As far as correspondence, I agree just keep sending your correspondence with your name spelled correctly, and maybe they'll get the hint.

 

Something like this:

 

Mark and DAYLE :D

[Tammy]

at least you are getting cards/invitations, LOL! It doesn't bother me when people misspell my name.....as long as they call me 'something' LOL.

 

Tammy

[Remudamom]

I would figure they're b@ttheads and ignore it. How many years does it take for inlaws to figure out your name?

[classicteacher]

I would encourage you to just always make a point of having your name spelled correctly in all of your correspondence. Perhaps you could gently point out to those who are still struggling to learn with a gentle reminder of the correct spelling.

 

I completely understand your situation because I have a Mom who thought I would be more unique with a special spelling of my name.

 

You know what...I am! Enjoy your little differences!

[Tracey in TX]

I feel your annoyance. My first name is "Tracey", but it's often spelled incorrectly. I grew up irritated when it was spelled wrong or shortened. Then I married an Italian with a whopper of a last name. I gave up and as long as we get the gist of the name, it's tolerable.

 

I don't let spelling DCs first names incorrectly, though. That really does grate my nerves, and the girls have multiple ways to spell their nicknames. Boys names are common, but both spelled incorrectly by average Joe.

[lvbnhome]

our last name is lacy...

it is not spelled lacEy..but everyone wants to spell it that way..soo..

when I tell someone what are name is,, i say something funny..like

"our name is lacy.. you know... like your underwear":)

 

Remember Anne of Green Gables? Anne with an E!!

[kribby]

my name as been misspelled for years, they will never it right, I give up, I just return a card with the right spelling and go from there.

[mcconnellboys]

People always misspell my name. I don't care. I just keep spelling it correctly and sooner or later, they generally catch on all by themselves.

[Staci in MO]

I say I answer to Staci, Stacy, Stacey, Stacie, or even, sometimes, Stasi.

 

I'm like you, because my name has a somewhat tricky spelling, I'm more sensitive to spelling other people's names correctly. I don't think people who haven't experienced it give it much thought.

 

I would take your husband's advice and try to ignore it. They mean no harm.

[JenneinCA]

I gave up. Everyone spells my name wrong. I worry about it on official documents and try not to worry about everything else.

[shalom22]

Before I was married, no one could spell my first or last name because it is of German decent. When I go married, my dh's last name was so simple, I thought 'Wow, I will never have to spell my last name again'. Wrong! It's too simple, I still have to spell it out. My last name is Day, but you would be suprised at how much it gets spelled Dey. Go figure!:001_huh:

 

I pretty much gave up on my first name, just call me Sam.

[Jackie in AR]

Just be happy that they know what your name is.

 

My identical twin boys aren't so lucky. :glare:

[iquilt]

I wouldn't worry about it - at this point the misspelling is what's engrained in their minds. My married name is a challenge for some, even my mom asked me to write it down before the wedding so that she could write to her own daughter and spell it correctly :) Maybe I'm just used to it wrong, but I don't think anyone gets my name completely correct except my MIL :)

[Lorna in the boonies]

I don't mind a bit when people misspell my name (I just chalk it up to an ignorance of literature!), but it kills me that my MIL has never bothered to learn how to spell the names of her own grandchildren.

 

My kids' names in my signature are pseudonyms, but I'll give approximate examples of what she does with them:

 

Betty -- Betie

Bud -- Bdu (I'm not kidding)

Kitten -- Cidin

 

It's that bad. I just want to scream, "They're your grandkids, woman! Take 2 minutes and memorize their names!!!"

 

But I don't. When I write her back (or when we send her a gift), I just smile and write all our names the right way . . . knowing it won't do a bit of good.

[battlemaiden]

I'd call my mom up and say "thanks a heck of a lot"~!

 

Seriously, name misspellings aren't the other person's fault.

 

And I know from what I speak. I'm a Joanne...Jo Anne...Joann...Jo Ann! ;)

[teamturner]

Maybe you could offer to update the family mailing list with everyone's current names, address, phone number, email. etc. and send it out to everyone in the family? Then when everyone sits down to do their Christmas cards, or whatever, next time they'll see it clearly spelled on the sheet. Then after that if they still get it wrong you could just throw your hands up and say, "oh, well!":D

[fivetails]

My name gets spelled wrong, said wrong, remembered wrong, etc etc and I've long since given up. I'm named after a city in a different country..weird parents. :tongue_smilie:

[Crissy]

People misspell my name on a regular basis. It doesn't bother me one bit.

 

Eleven years into my marriage and my inlaws still send invitations and cards with my name spelled incorrectly. I like to focus on the fact that they're still sending me invitations and cards. :001_smile:

[stephanie]

It happens to me all the time-always in my last name. I've decided that I won't let the little foxes spoil the vine!

[EKS]

I don't have any advice but we have the same issue here. My son has even gotten trophies with his name spelled the other way. In our case it is the last name so everyone in the family has the same problem.

[Vicki]

I've never worried about it. My name can be spelled atleast 3 different ways and everyone always spells it wrong. I'm just happy to be remembered.

God bless,

Vicki

[Parabola]

I have a sister in law who cannot spell my name right. The variations she comes up with are almost amazing unto themselves, as they often have exactly NO relation to the phonics involved in my name.

 

So I sat down and gave that woman a spelling lesson once. I showed her how to spell my name correctly. Cuz it bugs me, if you've known me for 10 years, are a member of my extended family no less, then you darn well better spell my name right. I go to lengths to spell other people's names correctly, c'mon.

[Plaid Dad]

My dw deals with this a lot. She's Anne-with-an-e, but people either spell it "Ann" or read it as "Annie" - which no one but her best friend gets to call her. She's pretty much given up on correcting people, but it does irk her.

 

My pet peeve is people who assume that my nickname is Andy. I am not now and have never been an Andy. Nothing wrong with it as a nickname, but it's just not me.

[Colleen]

Your husband's right ~ brush it off because it really is no big deal.

[Michelle T]

You don't have a last name that is constantly mispronounced as a popular Mexican food. Well, at least it provides laughs for others waiting for their tables to be called in restaurants! I've suggested to DH that we should just change the spelling to make it more obvious, but he won't do it.

Michelle T, who has been called Michelle Taco for 18 years now, even though that's not the correct spelling or pronunciation of her name.

[Mamasteff]

I'm named after a city in a different country..weird parents. :tongue_smilie:

 

So's one of my kids (so that makes me weird!!), but we chose her name to be easy to spell and pronounce since our last name is so tough.

 

Our other one we THOUGHT would also be easy but already at age 2, it is getting misspelled at church, etc. Whoops.

 

My sister still can't spell my FIRST name, and she has known me since I was born. Or bron, which is how she spells that one...

[Remudamom]

Just be happy that they know what your name is.

 

My identical twin boys aren't so lucky. :glare:

 

We've got identicals too. When they were little we used to hold them up to a mirror and say "Who is that?" and they'd answer with their brother's name.

They can't even tell themselves apart.

[Paz]

Not my married name but my given name. Granted she named me Patricia and called my Patty for short but I changed it to Patti with an i quite a while back. She has my name with an ie in her phone and aparently has thought it was spelled that way for quite some time. LOL! It just doesn't really matter to me but I know that many people prefer others to spell their name correctly. I don't know how to go about that without offending people?

[Brindee]

My name is Deena. People can't spell that name. They can't pronaounce that name. My theory is that they look at the first and last letter, then fill in the rest with whatever comes to their mind at the moment. I get all sorts of names and spellings.

 

I like my name. It's never really bothered me when people misspell or mispronounce my name. I just answer. The worst one though, that truly proves my theory, is someone who kept calling me Darla. OK, but you really should look at it more carefully!

[sassenach]

My MIL misspells at least one of my kid's names every year on cards and gifts. It's never the same kid or the same misspelling. It used to bother me, but I've learned to just be amused by it. To her credit, english is her second language, but still, you'd think she's have it written down somewhere. I totally didn't answer your question. I can't say how I'd feel if I were you. I tend to let things go like that, but that's just me. Sorry!

[Parrothead]

My grandmother mis-spelled my first name for over 35 years. I never really let it bother me though. In the grand scheme of things it is one of the small things I never wanted to worry over.

[summer]

I think if it bothers you that much, make sure you sign every single thing you send out to include your first name. You may mention, if possible to do in a casual way, that the spelling was wrong. For example, if you RSVP for a wedding, just write on it that for their records, your name is spelled XYZ.

[summer]

And the idea of mentioning it to MIL if you feel comfy so she can let people know is a good idea too.

[rockermom]

My name is Jennifer and my brother is constantly putting 2 f's in it.

 

It amuses me.

[Spy Car]

If someone spelled "Bill" wrong, I'd be more worried about them...than my hurt feelings:001_smile:

 

But my wife gets it all the time. It's Carole with an E. When she gets correspondence from friends and her name is spelled "Carol" I do believe it provokes thoughts of "does this person even know me?" And I'll admit it bothers me too. I think it is disrespectful not to spell someone's name properly.

 

This of course has provoked some panicked detective work when our own "certitude" fails to meet the ideal. But better to cover the lapse than to carelessly hurt someone's feelings.

 

Vill (<---my idea of humor)

[*anj*]

I have several friends named Michele/Michelle.

I have a very difficult time sorting them out.

Most of them spell it with only one 'l' but one spells it with two (I think.)

 

People usually spell my first name correctly, although sometimes they fell the need to add an 'i' before the final 'a'.

And our last name is nearly always misspelled. It's an anglicized Italian name and people just don't know what to do with it.

 

Anyway, I just want to encourage you to be patient with these people. They may know multiple people with your name and frankly, they just have a lot on their minds. Yes, they should check first, but people just don't always do that. You can choose to be offended or choose to blow it off.

[Kris]

My Mom named me Kristine -- but I don't know why. She said she hated that name and I was never called that. I was "Kristi" when I was little. I can't even count how many different ways there are to spell that -- Kristy, Kristie, Christie, Cristy -- you get the idea. When I hit six feet tall, I didn't feel like a "Kristi" so shortened it to Kris and they're still mangling it -- Chris, Cris, Criss, Khris -- it's amazing.

 

But it doesn't really bother me -- we both know who they're talking about. :-)

[girligirlmom]

My brother-in-law's legal middle name is Brain. It's not supposed to be BRAIN and we wonder sometimes about his, but HIS PARENTS misspelled it on his birth certificate and NEVER corrected it! :lol:

 

His last name (and mine) is a doozy and is always mispronounced or spelled. I figured I had to learn it when I met my dh so I broke it down into 3 words and say it a certain way so people can remember. ___ like a ___, _____ like the ______, ______ like your _____, no double letters. Once people hear that they say, "Oh that's easy, I'll remember that" and they do, eventually. :D

 

My father (who only lived 1 1/2 years after I met my dh) always added a letter to the end of his first name since that new name was a common name for him. Drove me crazy but at least I knew he liked my dh, even if he got his name wrong.:D

 

I have the same issue with a few friends. Is it Michele or Michelle. I know more Michelles (SIL, friends and former babysitter) than Micheles (one friend) and it's the one (maybe two now, I'm not sure) whose name I always misspell. :confused:

 

I have trouble pronouncing names - in my small group we have Carol and Caryl (pronounced like ca as in carrot then rill rhyming with hill) and I have to think before addressing each one. I met them at the same time when we started the small group last year so that made it harder. I know them, I care about them, I know their prayer requests but I get confused by the similarities. :confused::confused:

 

My homeschool neighbor is Caroline but my other homeschooling friend is Carolyn. I also met them about the same time. Again I know them, I care about them but I get confused by the similarities and I have seen 3 of the four of them together and had to introduce them! :confused::confused:

 

My sister still addresses mail to me at the wrong # but the right street name and we have lived here for over 10 years! It's one digit off, but we even had the same street number where we lived prior to moving to this home so we've had it for over 15 years. I've told her several times via email and in person but she just puts the wrong number every time.

 

I had one friend who told me last year I had been spelling her last name wrong since we graduated and she got married the next year or so about since 1989. I was so embarrassed so I changed it right away while we were on the phone. I realized I had to change it in about 3 or 4 places to make sure it was correct.

 

I have another friend who made it a joke to since her last name was always misspelled. She just said, "I have 2 i's just like all people do."

[laylamcb]

...when given the opportunity to write it out, in the pathetic hope that folks will see it spelled out this way and be able to pronounce it "LAY-la" rather than "LIE-la" or "LEE-la" or some other variation. Unfortunately, the very next time that they see me sans nametag, I'm LEEla again. ACK! Why is this such a hard name for Americans? Come on--give it up for Eric Clapton, folks! ;)

 

I hear what you're saying--and because of my own experience, I too am very careful to spell and pronounce even unusual names correctly--but I guess how it's pronounced just matters more to me than how it's spelled. :001_smile:

 

Layla McB (nee Leila)