<p>So my youngest son graduated high school yesterday and when the “big moment” came to walk across that stage his Head of Guidance mispronounced his last name (which is a fairly easy name, 5 letters nothing "weird!).
Seriously? The guy has known our family for 5 years and knows 2 of his older brothers as well as me ( a member of staff at the same school!)
I’m still annoyed but feel as if I have to let it go! Doesn’t help that several folks have mentioned it to me at school today. My DS didn’t think it was a big deal but looked a bit downhearted.
Has this happened to anyone else? Either at a graduation or other “big day”?</p>
<p>Yes. Not only that, they spelled my Ds last name wrong on the graduation program. Our last name is similar to a more common name which has an extra letter in it. For important events, our school gives each student a card with her name printed on it. If it is correct, the student initials it. If it is incorrect, they correct it. The graduation program test card had our last name spelled correctly, so D initialed. On the program it was misspelled with the extra letter added. I was so incredibly annoyed, but what can you do at that point? Even with the test cards, our name has repeatedly been misspelled on important programs throughout my kids’ lives. I’ve often told DH we need to just throw in the towel and change our last name to the more common one.</p>
<p>For D2’s graduation, I emailed the administrator in charge of graduation and told him what had been happening to my girls for years. He PROMISED to make sure it would not happen again for graduation. He delivered. The next day, I emailed him thanking him for taking care of it. I headlined the email “last name spelling.” He said when he saw the email with that headline, he almost had a heart attack, thinking he had let the wrong spelling slip through. :D</p>
<p>Also wanted to add…my Ds attended a private school which was a day school AND a boarding school, with many international students. It’s my understanding that the administrators calling out the names almost never missed when announcing each graduate’s last name. I have to give them props for that; they must have rehearsed and taken so much care to do it so well…</p>
<p>Back in the dark ages when high school yearbooks were still a big deal my senior picture was omitted from the yearbook. No accomplishments listed underneath, no nickname, no quote, etc. I wasn’t even listed in the not pictured section. </p>
<p>My mother was a member of the school staff as well. The yearbook company gave me stickers of my picture so my friends could stick them in their yearbooks. It was pretty embarrassing.</p>
<p>Nowadays it would probably make a good episode for any generic teen Nickelodeon show.</p>
<p>Sorry that happened (but congratulations on your son’s graduation!). Unfortunately, some people are just clueless. At younger son’s HS graduation, the last name of one his classmates was mispronounced(very noticeable as we had been friends with the family for years). Same thing as your situation- 2 older brothers and the family was very active in the school for years. It really is a shame . Hopefully, you will be able to let it go soon and remember the good parts of the day. I know it is easier said than done though. Maybe a suggestion to the school that the person practice /confirm pronunciation in advance would be appropriate so this doesn’t happen in the future?</p>
<p>I was just talking about this the other day! My son just graduated and went through the all the senior activities last week. I was so disappointed when I heard all the administrators pronounce many, many names incorrectly. These kids have lived in our small town their whole lives. How do they not know how to pronounce their names?? We do have a lot of diversity around here, but that’s the point, some of these names are so common in our community. They’re just not that difficult. Practice!</p>
<p>So sorry to hear that. At our graduation the students hand the announcer phonetic spellings of difficult names as they near the front of the line. I am thankful as we have a long French name that is even mispronounced by members of the family. :eek:</p>
<p>Just happened to my S at his college graduation. It was a bit of a bummer, but my S didn’t seem to care. At least it was spelled correctly on his diploma!</p>
<p>My daughter received her master’s degree last week. Each graduate had a card with their name that they handed to the professor who was announcing their degree as they crossed the stage. The professor was a person with a British accent. She mispronounced a long Italian name and the graduate stopped, turned to the microphone in a huff and shouted as at a dog “Absolutely not” and repronounced her name, with the sweeping/snapping across her body hand gesture. (you know the one, where the teeth are sucked and the head is tossed) It brought the entire ceremony to a standstill and everyone was talking about it at the reception afterward. One of the most obnoxious things I’ve ever witnessed.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s disappointing, but really as long as it’s spelled correctly on the diploma, shrug and move on. I have a somewhat common name but it can be spelled about 5 million different ways, so the spelling is what I always worry about more than pronunciation.</p>
<p>You’d think that a masters degree program wouldn’t have so many degree recipients that it wasn’t possible to go over the names in advance.</p>
<p>I’ve seen this happen before in other settings. If you don’t want to spend some time to get it right, let someone who does read the names.</p>
<p>4BoysMum, I’m sorry his name got messed up. My kids get their names mispronounced a lot - by now they’re at the point where they just roll their eyes and move on.</p>
<p>At my wedding, the priest was so concerned about getting my husband’s very difficult name right that he mispronounced my more common maiden name.</p>
<p>Though, Nrdsb4, your story resonated with me. My maiden name is also similar to a much more common name with one extra letter, so I’ve seen it misspelled in so many contexts!</p>
<p>DS had the lead in the spring musical his senior year. They left his pic and bio out of the playbill. I had to point it out to the director on opening night. Whoops. The director was mortified. He had inserts printed and handed them out for the other shows, but it just wasn’t the same. S was a good sport about but you could tell he was like, “What the heck…”</p>
<p>ETA…sorry…this was kind of unrelated to the OP. I had read a couple of the responses and got carried away. Hijack over! (Although maybe I should have put that in the get if off your chest thread a long time ago, it felt so good to whine about that!! 
)</p>
<p>
Did you miss the part where the person reading the names had an accent? There is an entire thread about the different ways words are pronounced in different places. Someone with a British accent will inevitably pronounce a very long Italian name differently than someone from, say, Brooklyn. </p>
<p>Also, this was a large university. Lots of graduates.</p>
<p>I have an unusual name. The last name is slavic and my first name is a slavic spelling of a still uncommon anglo name. The mispronunciation has been frustrating and comical.</p>
<p>Kids were given the slavic surname as a second middle name. Part of DS HS graduation practice included the name announcer working with each student until she got it right. In DS case she phonetically wrote the spelling in her notes and pronounced it flawlessly!</p>
<p>When your name gets consistently mispronounced and/or misspelled can become a sore subject. That said, our junk mail and solicitation phone calls are often hysterically funny.</p>
<p>D’s name was mispronounced at law school graduation. Like mom2009’s son, she did not care because it was spelled correctly on her degree.</p>
<p>I really think there is little excuse for mispronouncing names on such a solemn occasion. When D graduated HS a few years ago, the German teacher, who also had expertise in other languages, was tasked with calling the name of each graduate. He did a great job!</p>
<p>I think there is absolutely no excuse for stopping a ceremony and yelling at someone on the stage for such a thing, but that’s just me. Even people who are familiar with a name can flub when they are nervous or have been outdoors in 90+ weather in a black robe, cap and hood for 3+ hours.</p>
<p>I have a friend who married a man whose last name is commonly mispronounced as Butterball. When they met with the minister to prepare for the ceremony, they went over the correct pronunciation and conveyed how important it was not to call them Butterballs. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the minister said, “I now present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Butterball”. It was unfortunate, but nothing could be done about it. It was just a slip of the tongue.</p>
<p>I would give the guy some slack. With so many names to say, a mispronunciation is bound to happen.</p>
<p>My D just graduated from medical school. She has a name that looks similar to a popular name of women of her age group, but pronounced differently. They also had cards to hand to the announcer with their names. She put “name” rhymes with “—” on her card. The man started to say it wrong but then corrected himself, so her first name came out sort of a combination of the right and wrong names. But another girl who came later in graduation had my D’s same name and it was pronounced wrong. Really, there ought to be some sort of practice or something. But name is definitely correct on her diploma!</p>