<p>I know someone who has her name mispronounced constantly, even by people who know her quite well. I think part of the problem is that lots of people remind themselves “don’t pronounce it X”, so X becomes as familiar as her actual name. It contributes to the problem. It’s like playing golf - if you keep telling yourself not to shank, shank is all you’re thinking about.</p>
<p>“If it matters so much to have your kid’s name pronounced correctly, name him John Smith, or something similarly easy to pronuncicate (sic).”</p>
<p>Our surname is very close to being “Smith” in its Anglo-Saxon simplicity. People still misspell it.<br>
And my eldest daughter, whose name is equally Anglo-Saxon, as well as fairly commonplace for her age group, is constantly misspelled, because we dared use the traditional spelling. (As she told the school principal after the senior awards banquet: “I am not a church.”) Her younger sister’s name is a common one for my grandmother’s age group, and no one ever gets it right, because who ever heard of a little girl named [insert contemporary of Dorothy, Mabel and June here]?
Sometimes, no matter what you do, it still gets screwed up.</p>
<p>Yalemom, I actually got hired for one job because I managed to say the boss’s name correctly on the first try.</p>