How to professionally and politely correct people’s pronunciation of my name

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who put the correct pronunciation in their email sig

I have several colleagues who do this and think it’s great.

Hugely disrespectful not to put in the effort to pronounce someone’s name correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have trouble pronouncing hard to pronounce name or spell them. I had people who work for and with me no clue how to say or spell their name.

People should have a work name one guy at work has like a 40 letter name. Something like sdullalllahhh muddalllllahh.

Or you could try. If you can pronounce Alexander and Elizabeth, you can do long names.

Liz and Alex. I would never spell or say their full name. I like one syllable first and last names. Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Bob Hope, Will Smith etc.

Is it OK with you if other people change your name to something they like better?

I know of an Elizabeth who will stab you in the eye if you call her Liz. You are alienating people left and right. It’s an interesting choice.

I usually start emails,
Hi,
End them
Thx!

Hi,

Can you get me 12-31 report?

Thx!

Heck the President of USA is Joe he does don’t make people write Joseph.

Joe,

dinner time

Jill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best is when someone has a short-cut for how to remember. ""it with rhymes with " ..."".

Generally though, it is a problem of uniqueness. You have decided to keep a unique name, live with it. You could have changed it. It's not their fault. Not everyone else's fault. Not entirely.

Yes! If you can come up with a rhyme and introduce yourself that way it will help people remember. I know several people with names like this and the little “name, like rhyming word” they used the first time we met stuck with me

[Anonymous]

My name is Margaret.

Most Asian people say Maw-gwet

My coworker is Veronica they call her wonica

I’d say let it go, I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My name is Margaret.

Most Asian people say Maw-gwet

My coworker is Veronica they call her wonica

I’d say let it go, I do.

And most Asians get really confused when people say Peggy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My name is Margaret.

Most Asian people say Maw-gwet

My coworker is Veronica they call her wonica

I’d say let it go, I do.

I think people get a pass when they actually can’t pronounce certain letters. Like Asians and R.

A Spanish coworker got really frustrated that no one would say his name right, mostly because we weren’t rolling the R. Very few English people can roll their R’s. Similar to Raul.

Some names just aren’t familiar and have tough pronunciations. Like Thierry or Siobhan. Those are the ones that people can be trained to say right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have trouble pronouncing hard to pronounce name or spell them. I had people who work for and with me no clue how to say or spell their name.

People should have a work name one guy at work has like a 40 letter name. Something like sdullalllahhh muddalllllahh.

I have trouble respecting people like you. How little IQ and EQ do you have to have to not be able to take 3 minutes to learn to string some syllables together so you can properly address the fellow human beings around you?

There is ZERO excuse for misspelling a name. It’s ridiculous how often people do this when 99% of the time, the correct spelling is abundantly clear from the person’s email address or signature block (not to mention the staff directory that you can’t bother to look at).

Because I have trouble with it. When I do presentations I remove all big words as I can’t pronounce or remember them. I also can’t remember regular names very well. I don’t know or remember 95 percent of people’s names.

You’re competent enough to have people working for you and to be making presentations. I think you’re capable of working on this problem, if only you care enough to do so.

Would you say this same thing about my lisp or my stutter?? Damn

[Anonymous]

I just repeat my name correctly and sometimes will correct if the opportunity arises like if there is a break in conversation. But my mispronunciation is minor so I am not going to interrupt people for something many wouldn't even notice.

People often get my title wrong (example: calling me an MD when I am an NP). This I always correct because their mistake is in my favor and it feels odd. They apologize profusely because they feel they've insulted me by making me reveal I am not that thing, but I feel the opposite - they thought I was and I still belong.

[Anonymous]

I'm an Andrea. There are multiple ways to pronounce it. I find that people default to the way that someone close to them pronounces it and have a hard time shaking it.

Some people ask, and I appreciate them asking. If asked, I'll give my pronunciation. But I don't typically correct people on the spot (I will use my pronunciation if I'm re-introducing myself). There are people who persist in the wrong pronunciation even though they've known me for years and have heard everyone else call me the other (correct) name for years.

I think a lot depends on the situation. Like my boss's boss always says it wrong. I don't interact with him much though, so there's not a lot to gain by correcting him. If I hired a new person and they used an alternate pronunciation, I'd wait for a chance to talk with them one-on-one and point it out. I wouldn't point it out in front of other people. But that's a person I'm going to be talking to daily where it's going to get awkward for them if they realize they've been saying it wrong.

As for nicknames, just please tell people what you prefer! I always ask and so many people say "oh whatever" and then I feel weird because I don't actually know if they want to be Dave or David or Jen or Jennifer.

[Anonymous]

Put the phonetic in your email. If your name is "Yalinda" put yah-lynne-duh underneath.

[Anonymous]

I'm Teresa. Pronounced Ter-ayyyyy-sah. Not Theresa like the mother. My family, husband, and best friends pronounce it right. I've given up on general society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My name is Margaret.

Most Asian people say Maw-gwet

My coworker is Veronica they call her wonica

I’d say let it go, I do.

I think people get a pass when they actually can’t pronounce certain letters. Like Asians and R.

A Spanish coworker got really frustrated that no one would say his name right, mostly because we weren’t rolling the R. Very few English people can roll their R’s. Similar to Raul.

Some names just aren’t familiar and have tough pronunciations. Like Thierry or Siobhan. Those are the ones that people can be trained to say right.

This is clearly true for OP. And the person who mispronounces mjhfgylllll ghrdflllll

Everybody needs to grown up and stop getting offended that people can’t pronounce names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have trouble pronouncing hard to pronounce name or spell them. I had people who work for and with me no clue how to say or spell their name.

People should have a work name one guy at work has like a 40 letter name. Something like sdullalllahhh muddalllllahh.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll change my name, which I've had for 44 years, to something else 9-5 so you can go about your life easier.

[Anonymous]

I have a difficult to pronounce correctly name despite being of western European origin. I long stopped caring about people mispronouncing or misspelling it. It's really not worth the energy caring about it. Those who work with me enough times learn quickly enough and that's what matters, not a stranger or a one off meeting at a conference. If I had a close coworker who repeatedly mispronounced it, that's when I'd gently and politely speak to him or her about it.

I'd advise people to stop getting so uptight about what they can't control. You aren't that important nor special, none of us are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard a colleague mispronouncing another person’s name in a meeting this week. I used her name correctly to try to subtly correct it but it didn’t take. The woman has an unusual name that isn’t hard to pronounce but the spelling doesn’t match the pronunciation. I am not sure the answer here.

They might have assumed you pronounced it wrong.