It is a commonly known fact that if your parents gave you a unique name, somebody will butcher it when they attempt to say it out loud at some time. While many individuals may speak it incorrectly at first, it is extremely simple to learn how to pronounce it correctly if individuals are willing to put up with the attempt. One individual described how they had a ‘complex’ name that several people, such as colleagues in their government position, find difficult to pronounce. Read the whole story and would you react the same if your name was mispronounced every single time.
Source: Reddit
I have immigrant parents and they gave me a lovely complicated name that many people cannot pronounce. I speak one of the languages okay and the other barely, but have picked up some pronunciation. As for my name, let’s use a similar sounding example name: Szczepan-Justus Meiyer-Szcześniewski. It’s been a lifelong struggle to have people pronounce my name properly.
I’ve been working a government job for 5ish years. In all that time no one has really bothered to learn to say my name correctly. They’ll try and say my name but do it in such a condescending half-arsed effort it comes out like “shubaduba my-shababaski”. When I try and correct them, they dismiss it and resume that butchery next time. After 2 years at the job I got frustrated. We’re in a professional environment and they should make a professional effort to learn my name. I do the same, I always make an effort to try and pronounce a person’s name as best I can to their satisfaction. So it got to the point every time people would try to say my name in that dismissive manner I’d report it to HR because it felt offensive.
One lady finally accrued 3ish years of my complaints (if I tried to correct her, she’d say things like “it’s just a name” or “close enough”) and with all the complaints she was let go for workplace bullying. My colleagues are quite upset at me and a few said I should learn to take a joke. To me it just felt like people were being deliberately obtuse over my “foreign name”.
Am I Wrong For Constantly Insisting People Try To Say My Name Correctly, To The Point It Got Someone Fired?
Here are a few comments on the story where it was originally posted:
