Do People Ever Spell Your Name Wrong?

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on October 1, 2014 | 33 Comments


Honestly, this is more of a rant than a discussion.

I’ve bellyached many times about people spelling my name wrong, and I’m sure some of you have seen it. For some ridiculous reason, people at work STILL call me “Jess” or spell my name “Jessie” despite me correcting them a hundred f*cking times. I seriously think they do it on purpose to piss me off.

IT WORKS.

cookie monster nameOkay, maybe that’s just a tad harsh. I wouldn’t really stab someone.

Anyway. It happens online a lot, too. I get review requests from authors and they spell my name wrong. I mean, seriously, it’s plastered practically everywhere on my blog! How could you miss it?!?!

And now, people are also spelling my blog name wrong. I’ve seen “Novel Heart Beat” and “Novel Heartbeats” and “Novel Heart Beats” and I think there was one other but I can’t remember it now. I know it’s an honest mistake and I’m not trying to be mean, but…it drives me bonkers. I guess just because when I talk about blogs I’m careful to double check the spelling of the blog name and the blogger’s name, I just expect others to do the same. Maybe that’s wrong of me.

So when someone spells your name or your blog name wrong, do you correct them? Is that rude? I haven’t said anything to anyone about spelling names wrong because it makes me feel awkward. But at the same time, I would want to know if I spelled someone’s name wrong. But some people work differently than I do, and others may be offended where I would not. Should I say something? Should I just leave it alone?

Has this happened to anybody else? How did you handle it??

Jessi (Geo)

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33 responses to “Do People Ever Spell Your Name Wrong?

  1. I absolutely think you should point out when people spell your name wrong! It’s your name! It’s how you’re identified! I’m sure those people want you to spell their names correctly, too. But if they get offended, that’s their problem, not yours. You have the right to have your name spelled right, and they should respect that.

    People rarely ever spell my name wrong, but there’s really no common variations of it like yours. My blog name, though? All the time! I get “Pinkkindle” and “Pink Kindle” more often than not.

  2. OMIGOSH THIS!!!! I was just talking about this to my coworker today. I e-mail people a lot at work, and my name is all spelled out in my e-mail signature, not to mention the fact that it shows up in their inbox as being from me. But the number of times that people have written back “Thanks Mellissa” or “Melisa” or “Mellisa” is RIDICULOUS. Seriously — my name is written RIGHT THERE. RIGHT THERE.

  3. Totally get this! I have the exact same problem! I get Abby, Abbie, Abbey, Aby, and Abi! It drives me nuts but I usually just let it go. I have a lot of practice with it since my full name is Abigail and ever since I can remember I don’t think my grandma has spelled it right once!

  4. Seriously?! People spell Jessi wrong?!! Okay I would be cranky at that too. PEOPLE ALWAYS SPELL MY NAME WRONG. *fumes and cries for a million years* It’s always spelled “Kate” and my full name is “Caitlin” but do people spell it like that? Nope. I get “Caitlyn” or “Katelyn” or the other two million versions of that name but never mine. It does make me really mad. Although it’s a lot better on the internet, I’ve found, because people just see my name and type as is.
    Although my sister (who I co-blog with) is “Mime” and people call her “Mimi” on the internet. -_- She’s less than impressed, lol!

  5. Not as much anymore but I used to get “Louise” and “Louie” a lot. You’d think Lois would be a simple four letter name. Not at all.
    Now I just get “Lois? Like Lois Lane?”
    They seem to think that’s a novelty…. I think it’s been said far too many times.

  6. Not only do people write my name wrong in real life, they also pronounce it wrong and that’s even more annoying, especially when I correct them and they repeat me – and say it wrong again.. IT’S NOT THAT HARD. I’ve seen things like Melany, Mellani.. That’s why I went with the simple short ‘Mel’ version, because that’s how friends call me too :)

  7. People definitely spell my name wrong all the time. When we first meet, I usually have to correct them because it’s “A-E” not “E-E”, but then after that, I usually get something weird like “Renea” which…doesn’t even make sense. Le sigh.

  8. Although I’m fine with pronouncing my name different ways (it’s a French name, so you can pronounce it in a French, Dutch, English, or random other way), I have this pet peeve when people write my name with an accent. It’s Celine, not Céline. LEAVE THE BELLS AND WHISTLES.

    Same with my blog name, it’s Nyx Book Reviews. Not NYX Book Reviews. Why would you randomly make the first word capitalised? It just makes no sense. It does kind of annoy me, but I usually don’t comment on it.

  9. The amount of times people have called me Caroline instead of Carolina…but even worst for me is that there is another Carolina in the institute that happens to be my best friend, and 5 years later people keep mixing us up, I get her e-mails, she gets my mail…is ridiculous. As for my blog it only happened once that they used the URL instead of the actual blog name, they are quite different, but since the link was properly directed and it was an honest mistake I didn’t tell them anything

  10. Yeah, a few times people have spelled my name wrong, which is kind of silly, because it’s not a hard name to spell. But what has annoyed me, is being mistaken for a guy. My name is Quinn, which can be a guy’s name, I realize that. But, when I went to college, originally (despite the fact that I checked the Female Box on all the forms) my college had me rooming with a guy.

    And then, when I started working full time and got insurance. Although I clearly checked the I’m a female box, I was listed as male. So when I went to the doctor’s for female issues, at first the insurance said they wouldn’t pay for it!!!!! So I had to deal with that. So annoying!

  11. Stephanie H.

    Growing up, people said and spelled my maiden name wrong on an almost daily basis. Only 6 letters long, but it was just a part of life. I was really young (like 3 or 4) and was with my mom at a bank or some place similar. They asked how to spell our name and evidently before my mom could respond, I spelled it in the same pattern my mom always did. I thought my married name would be so much easier. People can pronounce it, but they still cannot spell it!

  12. It’s not super often that people spell my name wrong. It mostly happens under one of two circumstances:

    1. Online. I’ve seen a few people spell my name “Ashely”. The first time I saw that I assumed it was a typo, but then the same person spelled my name that way multiple other times. Were those really ALL typos? Hmm.

    2. Occasionally at coffee shops. I’ve gotten: Ashleigh, Ashlee, Ashlie (that looks kind of cute!), and… Asia. No idea how that one happened.

    But most of the time I don’t run into this problem Ashley is a common name and uses the most common spelling version (Ashleigh, etc. are far less common so I think people default to Ashley).

    I guess the problem with your name is that “Jessi” may be common, but I think the “Jessie” spelling is seen way more frequently. Even Chrome has underlined Jessi as misspelt and the first suggestion is Jessie. :P

  13. My whole life people have pronounced my name wrong. And in the age of email and online, I have seen it spelled wrong too. Honestly, how hard is it to realize that my name is pronounced “Man-dina” instead of “Me-dina”? And again with the spelling, it’s not a hard name to spell. It’s been a huge deal my whole life. And yes, I still correct people on it. I’ve even had people call me Linda instead of Lisa! I have even emailed my principal when he put the wrong name in an email.

  14. I know this feeling! My name is spelt with an E but plenty of people manage to miss it out and spell it “Beverly” which drives me nuts. The thing that annoys me most is when teachers at my school misspell it. It’s written on every register and I write it on every piece of work – how long does it take for you to just check that you’ve got it right if you’re not sure?!
    When I’m writing emails, I make a point of spelling my name correctly at the end just to sort of highlight it, but I’ve not had this issue with people on my blog. I find that generally bloggers are quite okay about spelling my name (probably because getting it wrong can be a little embarrassing for all involved).

  15. This mostly happens to me in real life with my surname. My boyfriends surname often get’s misspelled as well, it can be funny to see what they come up with sometimes. Online I go by Lola and I found that it’s very difficult to misspell that one, I can’t remember an author who misspelled my name. In real life you often have to spell your name for official document or registratons of some kind, so it always feels more natural to correct them. Online I don’t think I would correct someone if they did misspell my name. I probably would just write my name at the bottom of the e-mail, so they can still see how it’s supposed to be written.

    I have misspelled other bloggers or author’s names afew times and am always very embarressed when this happens. I made typo’s a few times and once had contact with an author called Suzanna and I am afraid I misspelled that as Suzanne a few times as that name’s more common. I think that’s what happens in your case Jessi isn’t a common name, but Jessie is, so people tend to assume that’s how it spelled when they don’t look closely enough. I can understand how frustrating it must be though :(

  16. Chenise J.

    Chenise isn’t the most common way to spell my name at all (it’s usually Chanice, Shanice, etc.) but it drives me bonkers when people completely butcher it. When I’m wearing a name tag at work, people joke (and probably always think they’re the only one to make that joke) “oh ha ha I thought your name was Chinese”. Like NO! WHY would my parents name me that?! That’s not a name!

  17. I get it all the time. People write “Rachael” constantly, and then some people take to writing Rach, which I don’t mind, but when it’s someone I don’t like (in work, not a blogger) I’m a bit like, “Dude, we don’t even like each other, don’t nickname me!” Lol!

  18. Yeah, people like to spell my name with an extra “y.” It’s funny because I know more people with my name who spell it like I do (Haley), but everyone else seems to always, almost always spell it “Hayley.” I’m not sure why. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that spelling. I just don’t understand why it’s the one absolutely everyone goes to. I’ve known more people who spell the name “Hailey” then “Hayley” too.) My own relatives do it, and they’ve known me my entire life.

    People will also mishear my name to be Kayley a lot, so I have to correct new people about that usually.

  19. As a little elementary school girl, I was plagued with Valentines and birthday party invites plastered with “Dayna,” “Danah,” “Daina,” etc. I’ve even seen “Dinah,” which isn’t even pronounced the same way as Dana. my last name is frequently misspelled, too.
    I’ve even had my name misspelled on academic awards. One year, my name was misspelled on a birthday card … for me.

  20. YES. THIS. JUST, YES.

    I mean, you wonder how people mess up a simple name of “Kelly” right? One reason is my fifth grade self – when I was in fifth grade, I created the main email I’m using now, which spells my name as “kelli.” Technically, fifth grade me thought it was “kellix” with a “x3” face, but yeah. Now sometimes, I have publishers, authors, and even people who tell me that I’ve won a giveaway call me “Kelli.” Seriously guys, my name is RIGHT THERE on my blog and in my name entry for giveaways.

    The second way is who knows? I went to Shake Shack the other day, the guy asked for my name, I said “Kelly,” and he spelled it as “Kely.” That was the first and only time I’ve seen my name spelled that way and I was just like, what?

    Since this misspelling of my name often happens to me, I am VERY careful when I answer tweets and emails. I always double-check to see if I get the name spelled right because I know how it feels when it happens to me.

  21. I can chime in on this topic! Oh, boy. My name is Charlie, and I’m named after my dad (who was named after HIS dad…see where this is going?). When I was younger (before grown ups start letting you write your own name), people would spell it “Charley.” Um. No. They (ahem, Sunday School teachers) would still spell it wrong even when I corrected them.

    My middle name is completely different than my father’s or his father’s. I have received mail from various credit card and loan lenders – and even AARP!! – that come to MY address (first at college, now in Austin) in my dad’s name. I get mail addressed to me at the school I work at addressed to “Mr.” Charlie Anderson. I get EMAILS FROM PARENTS addressed to “Mr.” Charlie Anderson when I have in LARGE letters in my signature line “MS. CHARLIE ANDERSON.” This is so bad that on the first day of sixth grade a teacher asked my mother where her son, Charlie, was. I was standing RIGHT THERE, clearly old enough to look like I was a 6th grader. Despite filling out the forms for school every year, my school district had me marked in the system as male from kindergarten until sixth grade. How pathetic is that?

    On top of that, when people ask my name and I tell them, the next question always is: what’s your real name? Ummm…I told you my real name. Duh. I didn’t say something totally suspicious like Cat Woman or Wonder Woman. My real name is Charlie. It says so on my birth certificate, my SSC, and my driver’s license, as well as all of my professional development certificates and teaching certificates. I even had to show one of my fiance’s friends my driver’s license for him to believe me. Seriously?

    Now that I am older, and I have stressed my entire life that my name is Charlie and I am a girl, I don’t get offended. I get pissed. Very pissed. Anything that comes to “Mr.” Anderson? Goes right in the trash after I seethe over it with my deathly laser eyes for two minutes.

    As far as my blog, so far no one’s gotten that wrong.

  22. I don’t get a lot of my spelling wrong (though I get a Cayla every now and again) – most of the time I’m called an entirely different name! Most often it’s Sheila (who the hell knows why that happens…) or Kailynn. Usually that’s if I’m talking – typing usually fixes those issues.

    I always make sure I’m spelling someone’s name right – sometimes I have to check every time I’m on their blog no matter how many times I visit! But I just think it’s ten times more respectful (not to mention just plain common courtesy) to pay attention to someone’s name.

  23. *sigh* Yes, this has happened. Although “Rosie” is the most common spelling of the name, I still get people, every now & then, that spell it “Rosey” or “Rosi”… I don’t really correct them, because I find it pointless. Unless it’s on like, an official document or something. But then, my real name goes on it: “Roseanna” – and LOTS of times that gets spelled wrong, as “Rosanna.” I guess a lot of people who are named the same as me don’t have that little “e” in there. It does get annoying having to correct it almost every time.

  24. It doesn’t bug me so much, the only variations I get, are Sheryl and Cherly really. Cherryl, sometimes.

    I do get annoyed though when people call me Shirly or Shelly. Once, when I introduced myself, somebody actually heard Michelle…

  25. Oh girl, if I got upset every time someone said or spelt my name wrong, I’d lead a very unhappy life. I find it’s generally not worth getting upset about because a) 99% of the time the people aren’t doing it with any cruel intention behind it and b)getting upset generally only affects you and not them!

    I will say though, I might be slightly luckier than you when it comes to the spelling situation because most people when they hear your name probably assume they know how to spell it, so don’t ask. Me? The second I say my name they just sort of look at me funny and I know I will have to spell it for them because they won’t even attempt it on their own since they haven’t heard of it before.

    But yeah, I’ve received birthday invitations and emails from friends and stuff like that with my name spelt wrong. It definitely happens!

    If it DOES bother you though, you should say something. My general rule is that I will attempt to correct a person once, just sort of give them a heads up and say “Hey, I know you probably didn’t realize this but my name is actually spelled like this.” If they get it wrong after that, I tend to just accept it because I know in their mind they probably have it memorized that way and it would take more work than I’m willing to do to get them to change it. Usually though once you point it out to someone once they’ll realize their mistake (because generally it’s unintentional and they feel bad) and they are more aware in the future and fix it. (This has actually happened with me and Shannelle. During one of our recaps I forgot one of the ‘n’s in her name so she left a comment just giving me a heads up. I apologized and fixed it in the post and have always double checked when linking to her since then that I’m typing it right!)

    So yes, I say it doesn’t hurt to say something, but do so in a nice way because I’m sure the person who’s made the mistake didn’t mean any harm! <3

  26. OH MY GOD. You have no idea!

    I literally always get my name spelt wrong- I get everything from Eli, to Elli, to Ellie and even Ally sometimes. I don’t really correct people unless it’s for something important- like if it’s a tweet, it doesn’t matter but for Uni and stuff that like, it obviously matter. I will say, it definitely turns me off review requests. I feel like…it’s not hard to spell, it’s just three letters!!! It’s made worse by the fact that my best friend/co-bloggers name is Chami, but NO ONE ever spells her name wrong on review requests! I don’t understand it at all :/

  27. I totally get it.
    I am an Indian and when authors from all around the world contact me for reviews and stuff, they don’t read my name properly and just assume that it’s Meghan or Megan. The number of times that I have been called those two names is way to high to count and it totally pisses me off too!
    One time, a author contacted me with “Hello, Holly”. I assume it’s because I did a interview with the author Holly Lauren but, Hey! Have the decency to at least know my name before you start to contact me.
    Anyway, I usually don’t correct them or anything because as you said it’s awkward and I get REALLY weirs in awkward situations, even if it’s online so, I try ignore them..

  28. TM

    I, too, can relate. I have one of those names that can be spelled a number of ways. And people always spell mine the way I DON’T spell it. It never really bothered me when I was younger, but as I’ve gotten older –It does. My name is my brand. Whenever I see my name in a text, email or letter spelled the way I don’t spell it, I cringe. I’m like, “That’s not me”. So now, I absolutely correct people when they spell my name wrong. I did it just the other day. To someone who should be able to relate because he has one of those names that can be spelled a number of ways, too.

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