That's Not My Name

FROM: vlm
DATE: Monday January 20, 2003 -- 9:43:13 am

My name is Victoria.

I had a teacher who called me "Victor" for an entire semester because that's what his roll sheet said.

At work, even after I'd been assimilated, various employers have called me Virginia, Veronica, Vanessa, and very often Vicky, which is so NOT me.

And at the start of my freshman year in college, where everyone in my dorm seemed to be named either Dave or Jen, I introduced myself as Dave.

FROM: Robert [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday January 20, 2003 -- 10:23:31 am

I think getting a person's name wrong and not showing remorse when you're corrected is like kicking them in their generative organs. Don't do it.

FROM: Ryan [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday January 20, 2003 -- 10:38:55 am

What's worse is accidentally calling someone you've known for a while by the wrong name... I did that a couple weeks ago and felt like a total jackass.

FROM: Greg C
DATE: Monday January 20, 2003 -- 12:27:31 pm

I have a friend named Skip who goes to the same church as me. Now, personally, I don't think we look anything alike, but people CONSTANTLY mistake the two of us.

So to answer the question, people call me Skip. "Hey, don't you sing in the band?" "No, that's someone else."

FROM: jk
DATE: Monday January 20, 2003 -- 12:44:04 pm

My name is Joan, and when I say it on the phone, people think I am saying Jen because they don't believe that anyone under the age of 60 could be named Joan.

My last name has 10 letters in it, and if you genuinely look at it before you read it, you can sound it out. People like to add letters to it though! And extra consonants! Hello, there is no "m" in it, and certainly no "t". I wish that over the years we had saved some of the better misspellings.

It really bugs me when people call me Joanne. Hello, there is NO E IN MY NAME SO DON'T ADD ONE! There was a girl in middle school named Joanne who copied off me during a test, and I think I still harbor ill feelings toward her. It's Just Joan. And not ever ever Joanie.

FROM: jk
DATE: Monday January 20, 2003 -- 12:46:23 pm

PS--when I was little, my brothers called me Josie for some reason (duh, it was the 70s!) and I truly don't mind that name. I will in fact turn around in a crowd if I hear someone say Josie.

FROM: Rob [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday January 20, 2003 -- 1:27:12 pm

At work, the two tech-ish people on the campus I'm on seem to be interchangeable. So sometimes I'm Rob and sometimes I'm Travis. Do I look like a Travis to you?

Also, I've been inexplicably called Mike by someone at work, too. That makes a little sense if someone actually knew I had a brother named Mike, but otherwise... no.

FROM: Matt
DATE: Monday January 20, 2003 -- 3:15:21 pm

I've been called Michael or Mike several times in my life, but usually by senile older people.

FROM: MollyCule
DATE: Monday January 20, 2003 -- 8:13:36 pm

I've frequently called Holly, even by people I've known for a very long time. It makes sense when you consider that my roommate is actually named Holly (yes, Holly and Molly, we have a cat named Olly, which I take no responsibility for) but it still annoys me to no end. I've also been called Dolly, Polly, and Marie.

FROM: qwik
DATE: Monday January 20, 2003 -- 11:54:56 pm

Where I work, we have a teachers aid who forgets and calls me STEVE. I told her my name was Dave and she remembered for a while but then someone else decided to be funny and call me steve and then she though that was my name again. hehehe..

FROM: Marcus Mackey [E-Mail]
DATE: Tuesday January 21, 2003 -- 3:02:15 am

After someone in the office at Lincoln Jr. High School (nee Lincoln Middle School as it's known now) in Berwyn misread my mom's handwriting, for the better part of 2 years I spent my time correcting instructors on the first day of a new term. The name? Marcos Mackey. Has sort of that good ol' Columbian/Irish combo feel that is all the rage. ;-)

Oh and on truncating names... word to the wise, don't do it, don't even allow it. It's not so much that I care of whether I'm called a Mark or Marc as opposed to Marcus (although my aunt insists that in my youth I was adamant about being called "Marcus" and not "Mark/Marc"), but when it comes to having to correct the error due to a billing requirement in regards to health insurance, I had to go through the political nightmare of trying to correct billing and the office staff at a hospital so Blue Cross and Blue Shield would bill my insurance under the correct name as my insurance insisted it wasn't anyone they dealt with. So even if you don't care otherwise... care when it comes to the nightmare that could result. It's not fun.

FROM: christoph
DATE: Thursday January 23, 2003 -- 4:40:26 pm

My best friend is named SHARI - sha-ree ... people that have known her, for 10 years call her Sherry. My partneris named Jamin and his own brothers call him Jamie, I think I am the only person who pronounces it right. Just repeat the name the way the person says it. Everyone I ontroduce him to says it right because I make them. This is Jamin... H Jamie...NO Jamin...Jam in ... NO Jamin... like J-men. OOn the flip side. I know an few women who gripe about the way they constantly have to spell their exotic sounding names every time they say it and then you meet their kids and they are named FHRUEOOFNCCNETTA or the like! Goofs

FROM: Robben
DATE: Friday January 24, 2003 -- 7:21:30 am

'Mud' occasionally... ;)
To my Mum, it'll always be Robbie. Got Bob in highschool by a math teacher, and it stuck until i graduated.

FROM: SailorMoonFan
DATE: Sunday January 26, 2003 -- 8:42:31 pm

I'm usually called Sabrina or Brina...Brina bothers me, though...that sounds soooo corny, but Sabrina is...I dont know...sophisticated? NEway, I think people call you other names cause they think you're someone else they know...i think

FROM: Big Fat Lizard
DATE: Tuesday January 28, 2003 -- 3:15:57 pm

This is a great one for me! My last name has only 3 letters it's a lot like fox but with a different first letter - but you'd be suprised how this simple last name people say Fax, Faux, and ask me how to pronounce it all the time... as simple as it is people get it wrong a lot of the time!

FROM: Jamin
DATE: Tuesday November 8, 2005 -- 12:41:09 am

Professors can never get my name right! I usually end up feeling like one of Bob Marley's back-up singers because they all call me Jammin'. I also get the occasional ja-meeeen and even Jasmine. C'mon people... It's only five letters. 'Benjamin' without the 'Ben.' 'Jamie' with an 'N' replacing the 'E.' How difficult is it?

FROM: Joseph
DATE: Tuesday November 8, 2005 -- 3:11:29 pm

I was the only guy in the office for a long time. I've been here quite a while, but my assistant called me "John" all the time. I finally got her to call me "Joseph." Then, another guy got hired not too long ago and he isn't even on my floor. His name is Kevin. Now, my assistant calls me Kevin.
WTF?