We do a lot of business in Africa where they say introduce themselves as surname, forename. As a result I get called Mr Ben as lot.
I'm more commonly known by my nickname than my real name in some friendship groups. One of my mates, who I'd known for a good few years by this point, turned around to my sister and asked her why she kept calling me Carrick*. As far as I remember, her response was "Erm, because that's what's written on his birth certificate?"
*For context:
Pros: People usually remember, not much you can mix it up with easily.
Cons: Almost always have to say, spell and explain my real name to people when they first hear it...
No idea about cases but Mhairi is pronounced as Vari
Not always - I know one who does and one who pronounces it "Marry" and she is a teuchter
Whenever I am giving my name over the phone I almost always spell the whole damn thing out . Otherwise both are usually spelt wrong.
I'm Dan. I often get called Ben. Happy to trade jobs with the Bens if either of you earn more than me.
Whenever I am giving my name over the phone I almost always spell the whole damn thing out .
G...E...Double R....Y
M....Small C....A.....S...K....I....Double L
😉
No idea about cases but Mhairi is pronounced as Vari
That was the point - it would be pronounced with an M sound in the nominative case and V in others. Source - Reddit.
Re Ben, I used to know someone from Alabama and her mum called me Bean which always amused. But really, in her accent it was Ben. So who's right?
My name’s Ben. It seems remarkable how many times people hear ‘Dan’.
Ah, so that finally explains this...
I used to have a colleague Jamie that just seemed to have an unhearable name. His voice and accent was always clear but people would call back and ask for Johnny, James, Jane, Amy, and weirdly quite often Jamis... So we all called him Jamis. It was mostly an issue for Jenny, who also had a fairly low voice, because he would screw things up for a customer then they'd phone back and think it was her.
I’ve no idea why but finding out that Moly’s real name is Ben has been a shattering experience for me
I've known Mol's real name forever, he was probably the first person I met off STW face-to-face. My shattering experience today has been discovering that PP is named Gerry. (Unless that was a joke that flew straight over my head.)
If people get my name wrong, they will always call me either Simon or Adrian.
Interesting that you should have those two names - I had a friend in Poly who was Simon Adrian, but would be randomly called by either name.
Some people call me the gangster of love.
Well, hello Maurice!
(Unless that was a joke that flew straight over my head.)
It was. It was a deliberate mishearing of TJ's actual name.
I'm actually a Craig.
or Chris....or Gregg
The issue here is that no-one ever listens to the opening line when you answer the phone. I worked in support for a while, the opener was "thank you for calling Time technical support, my name's Alan, how can I help?" but you could equally have said "thank you for calling Time technical support, you're all bastards and my cat hates you, how can I help?" and so long as it was bookended no-one would have noticed.
Everyone has called me Binners since I was at school (in 1863). I reckon there are people who I've known for years who don't know what my actual name is.
It's Adam BTW, which if not calling me Binners always gets shortened to Ad or Ads (with the one exception of my mum), apart from the landlord of my local who insists on calling my Aid, which I presume he thinks is a shortened version of Adrian
Mates daughter in deepest south of England spells her name vari. When told off in school she'd respond that if she spelled it correctly they'd pronounce it incorrectly.
"Now Mari don't be silly" was the usual reply.
It was. It was a deliberate mishearing of TJ’s actual name.
I’m actually a Craig.
or Chris….or Gregg
Aha.
Don't let Binners here that.
apart from the landlord of my local who insists on calling my Aid
Probably just thinks you need help.
I'm Alan. Some people call me 'Al' (insert one of several songs here) and I don't particularly like it. It's a concession I afford to close friends, but I have to think when someone says it because it doesn't ping that bit of your brain that can hear your name across a crowded room.
As above, a few people only know me as Cougar, it's a moniker I've used since the 1980s.
Probably just thinks you need help.
Thats a fair point. He insists on doing it despite the fact nobody else has ever called me that
yer not allowed to call me Jerry! Where my family comes from a "jerry" is a pot that you keep under the bed
The issue here is that no-one ever listens to the opening line when you answer the phone
I had considered that, but it doesn’t explain why they ALWAYS, substitute Tom for Paul, if they get my name wrong.
Kelvin must be a less unusual name these days.
I suspect this may have something to do with that
M….Small C….A…..S…K….I….Double L
How the hell did you get that? Thats what I get called! It bears no resemblance to my real name
It bears no resemblance to my real name
Phonetically, it does a bit. ( in my accent anyway)
You wouldn't hear this until someone let you in on the joke, then you couldn't un-hear it.
We used to have a Paul Phillips working with us, and when his phone rang everyone else would go silent just to hear him say "Hello, Poof Lips speaking..."
Phonetically, it does a bit. ( in my accent anyway)
I guess so seeing as its happened numerous times Lucky guess?
I’m actually a Craig.
or Chris….or Gregg
or Bill or Billy or Mac or Buddy.
yer not allowed to call me Jerry! Where my family comes from a “jerry” is a pot that you keep under the bed
I don't think this was a wise comment Jerry.
Lucky guess?
Educated rather than lucky.
The dominant sound is the ASK in both.
so many name issues. I have a two name first name, no middle name. No hyphen on my birth certificate, but one must have been added at primary school. Still get called by only one of them, which is odd, just doesn't register as my name.
I also have an unusual Irish surname. a "mc" one. Got a letter for a Mr Mick XXXX 🙂
Made me laugh.
I’ve no idea why but finding out that Moly’s real name is Ben has been a shattering experience for me.
Wait, what? Why? Did you think my name was actually Molly or something?
Thats what I get called! It bears no resemblance to my real name
The cadence, or the pattern of sounds is identical.
I don’t think this was a wise comment Jerry.
I set them up!
My cousin spent 6 months studiously educating teachers and other pupils that his sister, who was joining the school the following year preferred people to use her middle name, Gwendoline*.
She absolutely hated him for that. 🤣
*her middle name isn't even Gwendoline.
’m more commonly known by my nickname than my real name in some friendship groups. One of my mates, who I’d known for a good few years by this point, turned around to my g/f and asked her why she kept calling me Paul*. As far as I remember, her response was “Erm, because that’s his name”
I have this +1, except I have two obvious nickname & one not so obvious, so depending on where/when you met me.. but I have friends who are convinced my real name is Lionel, thing is ppl really remember that name
Some people call me the gangster of love.
Witt woo!
Alright Dave.
I started calling a close friend ‘Ken’ a few years back, due to some long-forgotten private joke. Problem is I now can’t stop. His real name ‘Oliver’ seems so weird and incongruous that I now just call him ‘mate’ as a way to avoid calling him ‘Ken’ which is now odd for him I imagine.
Cheers,
Ted
Whilst working as a prison officer I was called names most of you haven’t heard. The cons weren’t too bad, but other staff could be on a different level. 😂
There was a shitty kid in school called Steven, however when he arrived in school as a new kid it was during the 'if you see Sid, tell him' British Gas privatisation ad campaign. So when asked what his name was he said 'Sid'. The name stuck to the point that very few people, kids or staff, knew that wasn't actually his name.
I get called Max frequently, I mean, I could understand them hearing that over the phone or a zoom with brief intros...
But if you were to take a gamble on Max or Matt, Matt would probably be a safer bet!
My name is apparently rude or inappropriate in the far east. I got called Mr Huge a lot.
I'm not even that fat.
My name is apparently rude or inappropriate in the far east. I got called Mr Huge a lot.
I’m not even that fat.
Maybe they were not refering to the girth of your stomach, if you know what I mean 😉
I have a two name first name, no middle name.
JP?
No one in any of the offices, in earshot, thinks it sounds like I’m saying Paul. I’ve made a recording of me answering the phone, at no point does it sound like I’m saying Paul.
Whenever I have to give my phone number to someone, over the phone, they frequently hear the 'two' as a 'three'
Many moons ago a was getting some printing work done and had a company quoting. My name is pretty common in Scotland where I live but really quite uncommon sound of the border where I grew up. So this guy quoting, at this English printing company,... he had the same name and he was remarking on how rare he gets to speak to anyone else with the same name. And we had a conversation as to the comparative rareness / commonness north and south and why I'm not sure why I was given the name as I have no real Scottish ancestry and it was the same for him. Pleasant banter. Anyway he tells me he'll call back in a few minutes with a price.
five minutes later... phone rings, I answer, same guy "can I speak to Paul please?"
From birth my official and used first name has been Jay. You wouldn’t think that such a short name would proved so troublesome.
I’ve been called Jamie, Jason, James, Jeremy and Jerry. When some people realise that I am half Mauritian-asian, they then ask if ‘Jay’ is short for something. I’ve been called Jaspal, Jayshree, Jasvinder, Javinder, Jatinder. None of those have been people none of these have been from people with any Indian asian origin.
