Teachers: It’s mid-March. Please spell my child’s name correctly already!

[Anonymous]

Not when I have 130+ students. I try my best but it's a lot. I've got a Kelsy, two Kelssys, two Keysis, three Kellsys, a Kayse and a Kelsee. That's just one example.

you suck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love teachers, and I know it’s been a long, hard year so far. I know my kid’s “foreign” name is not one you’re used to. But it’s mid-March! Can you spell the name correctly already?!? It means a lot to my child and when you get it wrong, they think you don’t care enough to try to get it right, no matter how much I try to reassure them.

Thanks for listening and maybe being a tiny bit more careful.

I have a very basic name not complicated at all and people misspell it all the time! This is from family members as well as strangers. Misspelling a name does not mean your teachers don't care. Try to be less sensitive and let it roll off their backs. This is such small potatoes.

No. Have you not been called the wrong name by someone you though knew you well? It is disconcerting to an adult much less a child.

I never changed my last name when I got married. However, my MIL insists on sending every single piece of mail she sends to “Mrs. Husbands Last Name”.
I don’t understand how she hasn’t caught on after 16 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want that level of individualized attention, go private.

Ffs, a teacher should be intelligent and capable enough to learn a child's name!

FFS, if it's that important to you, choose a simple name with a simple spelling.

Wheee racism

No, reality. If I move somewhere where they speak a different language, use different phonetics, etc., it will hardly be surprising that someone might mispronounce or misspell my name. I am sorry, we have people from all over the world living here and it is not racist to misspell their name.

Wheee still racism. There are people who grew up part of non-white cultures right here in the US, speaking English, who have different naming traditions. This is a thing that regularly happens to Black kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want that level of individualized attention, go private.

I thought the brightest, most capable teachers were in public?

[Anonymous]

How old is your child OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the teacher pronouncing it correctly? If so, I think you really need to teach your child to look the other way.

My name is Sarah- it gets misspelled at least 50% of the time. It used to frustrate me, but my parents taught me not to worry about it and explained that some people just don't think about it or find it important. My son's name is Zac. Like my name, it is constantly misspelled. Sometimes we laugh that teachers will spell it differently within the same note or email.

My point is that regardless of what your name is, people will misspell it and it is not a sign that they do not care. I would work with your child on learning to laugh at it, rather than feeling sad. It is going to be happening their whole life, so it is better to start dealing with it now. Trust me, the person at Starbucks is not going to worry about spelling the name correctly on the side of the cup!

Also a Sarah. People sometimes leave off the h or they stick it after the s... kids, staff, and parents often misspell and mispronounce my name. Sometimes they make me married by using “Mrs.”... I just get over it. My last name isn’t exactly exotic but it’s not common. I’m not going to be upset when people say and spell it wrong. Parents do that ALL the time though and it honestly gets a bit irritating when they use Mrs. because I use Ms. and that should be the go to unless they know a woman prefers Mrs. or Miss. but oh well!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So mistakes are now micro aggressions? Jesus.

After you’ve been politely corrected for 6 months, it’s either a micro aggression or the person is an idiot.

My last name is French. Everyone is always pronouncing it wrong and in all different ways. They often spell it wrong too. Should I be telling the kids’ parents that they’re commuting a micro aggressions and are like totally probably racist and ignorant because they can’t pronounce my French last name correctly, nor can they spell it right? Lol!!! There are SO many names in this world and unless one is super common than it’s not uncommon to say them wrong or spell them wrong.

Get it over. I’ve been over it my whole life.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry OP. I think if your child is in high school, AND the teacher has made the effort to pronounce their name correctly, they should let it go.

However, I’ve had teachers who just refuse to learn my name (I’m white and have a Swedish name that is easy to say but spelled in a way that makes it hard to guess), and it sucks. My name is also always spelled wrong.

I’d say something if your students teacher is just flat refusing to learn your child’s name because it’s “too hard” - which is BS.

[Anonymous]

The original post does not say that the child (or parent) has corrected the teacher. Who knows — maybe they have. But, like everything, it is really best never to assume negative intent. You say the teacher doesn’t care to get it right, but isn’t it possible that the teacher DOES think she is getting it right, if she consistently uses the same spelling?

[Anonymous]

I have a hyphenated name that is either misspelled, mispronounced, or shortened. I had a teacher tell me I was spelling it wrong.

In some ways I still find it disrespectful but learned to live with it a long, long time ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love teachers, and I know it’s been a long, hard year so far. I know my kid’s “foreign” name is not one you’re used to. But it’s mid-March! Can you spell the name correctly already?!? It means a lot to my child and when you get it wrong, they think you don’t care enough to try to get it right, no matter how much I try to reassure them.

Thanks for listening and maybe being a tiny bit more careful.

I have a very basic name not complicated at all and people misspell it all the time! This is from family members as well as strangers. Misspelling a name does not mean your teachers don't care. Try to be less sensitive and let it roll off their backs. This is such small potatoes.

It is NOT SMALL POTATOES a persons name is their identity.

It is small potatoes. when people spell my name wrong or call me the wrong name I just say "my name is X" It is not my identity. People need to toughen up a bit. This is why kids are called snowflakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want that level of individualized attention, go private.

Ffs, a teacher should be intelligent and capable enough to learn a child's name!

FFS, if it's that important to you, choose a simple name with a simple spelling.

Wheee racism

No, reality. If I move somewhere where they speak a different language, use different phonetics, etc., it will hardly be surprising that someone might mispronounce or misspell my name. I am sorry, we have people from all over the world living here and it is not racist to misspell their name.

Wheee still racism. There are people who grew up part of non-white cultures right here in the US, speaking English, who have different naming traditions. This is a thing that regularly happens to Black kids.

+2 OP’s kid could be Polish, Russian, Albanian, or even a white Hispanic person for all we know. It might not be racism, but it could very much be xenophobia. And that’s a microaggression. I’m Polish-American myself and the giggling over my “ethnic” maiden name all throughout my K-12 school experience still sticks with me. I didn’t have a name for it back then but I do now - and it’s a microaggression, clear as day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want that level of individualized attention, go private.

Ffs, a teacher should be intelligent and capable enough to learn a child's name!

FFS, if it's that important to you, choose a simple name with a simple spelling.

Disgusting.

[Anonymous]

I grew up with an ethnic last name in the rural Midwest. I dreaded the first day of school from 7-12 grades. It was annoying to tell every teacher (except my Spanish teacher) how to pronounce my name. I never took it as a micoragression or racism. That is a big leap. Most people are doing the best they can do with what they’ve been given.

If this bothers your child, and it is understandable if it does, then please email the teacher again. I know I have misspelled and mispronounced (despite my best efforts) student’s names before. It has never one time been intentional and I’ve always made every effort to fix the mistake. I don’t think I’ve ever continued to make this mistake this late into the school year. If I had, I would hope for the parent to kindly remind me again rather than rant on an anonymous board.

[Anonymous]

This is going to happen time and time again. Learn to self advocate and don’t let it upset you or DC. I have a last name that was always mispronounced. I wish this was the biggest problem I (or DC) had to deal with.