My last name is hard to spell and pronounce -- it's "Hebert", and pronounced "A-bear". I've gotten to the point where I don't bother pronouncing it at all if I know it's going to need to be spelled because it just confuses people. But I've now witnessed the worst mangling I've ever experienced on a subscription to "Scientific American" my wonderful Aunt got me for my birthday:
JESS AEBERT
That's just epically wrong. But I guess you don't become the premier popular science magazine in the world by doing things halfway. Bravo, "Scientific American", bravo!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Mangled Last Names
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6 comments:
i know how you feel. i've had to basically give up my last name. the longest my name gets now is "adam h". cajun last names are frustrating, especially trying to run a tab at a loud bar. i'm cash only now when i go out on the town.
I just tell people "It's ABEAR but it's spelled H-E-B-e-r-t. It's French." Unless I will never see the person again and I just don't fight it and say it HE-BERT. I pick my battles very carefully, and face it- people don't care what your name is. Heck, they don't care if you live or die, just pay the bill. And I just want to get my stuff, Even trade. guess I need to move onto a farm!
Jimmy
Try being an "O'Blanc" - that one even stumps the Cajuns around here! I thought leaving the "Hebert" behind would be easier. I guess I should have followed in Michelle's footsteps and married a Smith.
Mary
My nature would be to blame the spelling on a Texas accent (that I tend to nurture when addressing "our neighbors to the north or east or west" on the telephone) but I spelled the name outloud and I think the young lady repeated it. Phonetics gets the blame for this one or spell check perhaps.
We had a neighbor in Lafayette with last name of "Anna". Shouldn't be a problem, right. Unfortunately, he was planning on naming his kids, Ben, Polly and Louise E. Now that's child abuse!
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