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Sooner or later, I get a nickname. I went by Sam when I was a kid, I call my son Ian (he is Sebastian Jr., because, in case you hadn't figured it out yet, I am exactly that kind of a@%##@@). Currently I'm rocking Sea-Bass (or CBass if I want to be a gangsta).
Or Bas? If you're a Skid Row fan.
Talk to Jason Bullman... Bhulman... Bulman... Bulmhan.... about this.We should just retcon his name to Bullman. Or Bullmann to keep it German. :P
Not quite. As you can see here,Bulmahn is the original german spelling. I don´t think it has anything to do with the german "mann".
Stefan
And while we are at it, my last name (see profile) is a not uncommon female first name, at least in germany. I cannot count how often this got screwed up anymore, to say nothing about having to cope with all kind of stupid jokes.
And I just don´t want to think about how english-speaking folks would pronounce it.
Stefan
And while we are at it, my last name (see profile) is a not uncommon female first name, at least in germany. I cannot count how often this got screwed up anymore, to say nothing about having to cope with all kind of stupid jokes.
And I just don´t want to think about how english-speaking folks would pronounce it. Stefan
I'm going to say Be-At-Ah, though to my American eyes it looks every bit of Beet (monosyballic). Hey, with a last name that means Sincerity, have you considered a job in sales? ;)
I've had my first name, Sean, misspelled far more than mispronounced.
People either get it right, or go with the "AU" or "AW" variant, which is especially annoying if they're writing in ink.
Although I have had a lot of kids in school try to mock me by calling me "seen", and in more than one instance it's been mistaken for John.
But I figure I get the last laugh, because I was named after the first (and best) movie James Bond, Sean Connery.
I'm going to say Be-At-Ah, though to my American eyes it looks every bit of Beet (monosyballic). Hey, with a last name that means Sincerity, have you considered a job in sales? ;)
Hey, not far off! Be-at-eh would be it (well, the closest I can get without using that international phonetic alphabet). AFAIK, Beate means "blessed" or "happy" - not that bad, eh? Its Latin, btw.
Stefan
I have the joy of being called Malcolm Alexander Fell, but being known as Alex. Of course, for official, especially financial, purposes I have to be Malcolm (banking, job applications and so on) so I have the weirdness of using a funny name for virtually any transaction. And when I'm at job interviews I'm often called Malcolm which, as I don't really answer to that name, can cause problems. So then you have to explain that no, my first name isn't really the one I use.... <Sigh> It just adds a layer of complication.
Why on earth my dad didn't do what he was told and sign my birth certificate Alexander Malcolm, but maybe he didn't forsee the issues. And it is kind of exclusive having your second name as your "real" name, which is sort of cool, so I would never change it (and hey! it's my name). But it is more annoying than anything else.
And then there is the Alex Fell issue. Saying it quickly over the phone (or slowly sometimes) and you end up as Alex Sell. So it's " Alex Fell, that's 'F' for Freddie, 'E', double 'L'". But they still get it wrong sometimes. Alex Frell was a good one.
People mangle my name more often than they should, seeing as my last name's "Walters". "Wa...waters? Walter?" People just don't want to pronounce all the letters. Not to mention all the people mistaking me for a girl and calling me "Alexandra". That happens most often on the phone. What's weird is that I've learned to respond to it.
I have the joy of being called Malcolm Alexander Fell, but being known as Alex. Of course, for official, especially financial, purposes I have to be Malcolm (banking, job applications and so on) so I have the weirdness of using a funny name for virtually any transaction. And when I'm at job interviews I'm often called Malcolm which, as I don't really answer to that name, can cause problems. So then you have to explain that no, my first name isn't really the one I use.... <Sigh> It just adds a layer of complication.
Why on earth my dad didn't do what he was told and sign my birth certificate Alexander Malcolm, but maybe he didn't forsee the issues. And it is kind of exclusive having your second name as your "real" name, which is sort of cool, so I would never change it (and hey! it's my name). But it is more annoying than anything else.
And then there is the Alex Fell issue. Saying it quickly over the phone (or slowly sometimes) and you end up as Alex Sell. So it's " Alex Fell, that's 'F' for Freddie, 'E', double 'L'". But they still get it wrong sometimes. Alex Frell was a good one.
Why not write your name as M. Alex Frell? That's pretty common for lawyers.
My name is Zack. I spell it with a 'k' at the end instead of an 'h' because I like it better that way. I'm not the only one who spells it this way, either, but 90% of the world seems to think that the shortened form of 'Zachary' must be either 'Zach' or the infinitely atrocious 'Zac'.
Having such a simple and basic name has it's problems, however. While most people who meet me have little difficulty remembering my name, people who only hear my name spoken (usually on the phone, which happens a lot in my line of work) will run the gamut of names that rhyme with it. "Jack" and "Mack" are the most common, but people can be pretty damn creative in what they hear. "Mark," "Hank," "Chad," and "Zeke" have all been used in the past.
*sigh*
Yep. It's DeWitt. Not Dewitt, De Witt, deWitt, De Witte, DeWit or anything like that. Those are entirely different clans with more convicts than the DeWitt's. And there's an E in there. Not a U or O.
At least my new nameplate at work has the capital W. My old work, I had to white out little lines above the "w" to make it a "W".
And it was worse when Todd Devitt worked there...
Edit: Never work on a phone job. It only gets worse. "Yep, I'm Josh."
DeWitt is my first name - Imagine the joys trying to convince people "No, really, DeWitt is my first name, not last name"
I only get my name spelled right about 40% of the time on official devices (ID cards, etc) - most common problem is silly software that insists that there can be no capital letters in the middle of a name thus I get lots of "Dewitt" ID cards and the odd "De Witt". Haven't gotten too many other variations.
My name is Max, and apparently every teacher on Earth is partially deaf, because the introduction always goes as such:
"Nathan Miller?"
"Here! And I go by Max."
"Matt?"
"Max."
"Matt?"
"Max."
"Matt?"
"Max!"
"Oh, Max. I see. Why are you called Max if your name is Nathan?"
"*sigh*"
This is what happens when my parents give me two "middle" names that come before my first name. Maxwell is my first name, but Nathan William comes before it. That's all there is to it. And the school computers can't understand that even though Nathan William comes first, Max is the first name.
Report cards always say Nathan WM Miller. *sigh*
Why not write your name as M. Alex Frell?Because his name is Fell? ;-)
Doh!
Um...the title of the thread is say my name, not write my name...yeah...that's the ticket.
Sorry Aubrey.
Actually, now that I think about it, who is Aubrey and why do you go by that name? I had assumed it was your real name because...well...it's not normally a male name and it struck me as odd that it would be a name one would adopt rather than a name that one was given.
I have never, ever in my 38 years of life had anyone pronounce my name correctly without hearing it at least once. I even had a teacher in high school use a different pronounciation every day of class. He was getting quite creative at the end of the year.
I gave up a long time ago expending any energy trying to correct people. Now its a source of great ammusement for me. Especially face-to-face. Watching people struggle and squirm trying to say my name while looking right at me is tremendously entertaining. Surprising, few people actually stop and ask how its pronounced. Usually they dive right in. If they ask, I'll gladly help them. If they don't, I keep smiling.
On the plus side, its very easy to ID telemarketers.
I have never, ever in my 38 years of life had anyone pronounce my name correctly without hearing it at least once. I even had a teacher in high school use a different pronounciation every day of class. He was getting quite creative at the end of the year.
I gave up a long time ago expending any energy trying to correct people. Now its a source of great ammusement for me. Especially face-to-face. Watching people struggle and squirm trying to say my name while looking right at me is tremendously entertaining. Surprising, few people actually stop and ask how its pronounced. Usually they dive right in. If they ask, I'll gladly help them. If they don't, I keep smiling.
On the plus side, its very easy to ID telemarketers.
Ok so what is it? Is it worse than mine? (Lejnieks)
I admit, in my thirty seven years of life, I have had some pronounce it correctly.
Occasionally I get Graig. I have honestly never heard of ANYONE named Graig, so how people can see this is beyond me.
And I'm sorry but I HATE the way some Americans pronounce Craig as Creg. It is KrAig... NOT Kreg. Sheesh. I Love Malcolm in the Middle but this always annoyed me.
When I worked at McDonalds (way back in the day) I got the nickname Flash and it kinda stuck. There was a point when I probably only had about half a dozen people who actually knew my real name, everyone just called me Flash. Whenever I went out with peple from Maccas I always got introduced as Flash, so if anyone ever called me that then yopu knew where they knew me from.
It was originally given to me to rip me off about being slow when I first started, but since I actually liked The Flash from when I was a kid it didn't bother me =)
Funny Story:
My wife/girlfriend then said "Oh, what about Flash".
"Oh, Flash. Yeah hang on I'll just get him for you".
I have the joy of being called Malcolm Alexander Fell, but being known as Alex. Of course, for official, especially financial, purposes I have to be Malcolm (banking, job applications and so on) so I have the weirdness of using a funny name for virtually any transaction. And when I'm at job interviews I'm often called Malcolm which, as I don't really answer to that name, can cause problems. So then you have to explain that no, my first name isn't really the one I use.... <Sigh> It just adds a layer of complication.
Why on earth my dad didn't do what he was told and sign my birth certificate Alexander Malcolm, but maybe he didn't forsee the issues. And it is kind of exclusive having your second name as your "real" name, which is sort of cool, so I would never change it (and hey! it's my name). But it is more annoying than anything else.
I have a friend who's name is Richard Warwick Boote. His Dad's name is Richard Gary Boote. They go by Warwick and Gary. Richard is a Family name that every male child in their family has, but they go by their middle names.
THis happened to me a million times last name Durkota (Dur-ko-ta!) Everyone says Dakota which come to me saying i am a Dur not a DA. My art teacher calling me Drakota, and another mistake was on a track sheet to see what race i am running and it is typed Durkoto. Sorry if i am being a jerk,but it gets annoying after a while.
vescelusOk so what is it? Is it worse than mine? (Lejnieks)
Wow, you are truly in the right thread, dude.
I'm gonna name a character after you.
It gets better - I'm not even sure I'm saying it right! The langauge of origin has proved rather elusive. The "sc" appears to be latin, but we've also seen something eerily close in Dutch (vescellius).
I have the joy of being called Malcolm Alexander Fell, but being known as Alex. Of course, for official, especially financial, purposes I have to be Malcolm (banking, job applications and so on) so I have the weirdness of using a funny name for virtually any transaction. And when I'm at job interviews I'm often called Malcolm which, as I don't really answer to that name, can cause problems. So then you have to explain that no, my first name isn't really the one I use.... <Sigh> It just adds a layer of complication.
I'm gonna name a character after you.
There were a few campers at my work with rather interesting names. Among them were Atticus Cullinan, Abbott Rachampbell, and Alistair Bones. I am SO naming my next few characters after them.
Anyway, my last name's Mallon. I've heard it pronounced Allen, Malone, O'Malley (the Irish root name), Melon, Mallette (not sure where that one came from), and Malon (pronounced as if it were French). nothing pisses me off more than a mispronounced name. And that's saying something.