Incorrect Name Spelling

[Lena75]

This may seem like a minor thing to some, but it is really starting to bother me. In Sunday school, EVERYBODY spells my daughter's name wrong. It's 2 letters they get wrong. And even after I've corrected them, they still do it wrong. As I was a kid and even to this day, people still spell my name wrong too. It drives me nuts. My daughter received a free Bible this last Sunday and they did very nice writing, very attractive, spelled wrong. Any advice? I've already put a sticker on the outside of her Bible, hoping they'll take a hint when they see it.

 

[Andry]

Yeah, you need to lighten up.

While we all love our children's names - after all, we chose them, we may not be particularly attentive with other kids' names.

My whole life no one's been able to say my name correctly, let alone spell it (and it's not that difficult!). Then there my last name - which is a whole other story!

In fact with my wife's name, my son's name, and my name, no one seem to be able to pronounce or spell correctly even in 2nd, 3rd, 4th go arounds!

Andry, Dorin, and Rylan. How difficult can that be?

 

[lucypevensie]

The stickers are a good idea, as well as occasional friendly verbal reminders. I often have to remind my daughter's school principal what her actual name IS (he confuses it with another much more common name). Realize that a lot of people have similar issues. If your name's not being misspelled then it might be being mispronounced or forgotten altogether. It would be nice of course if everyone remembered all of our names, and how all of our names are spelled and pronounced. It really is a lot of info to keep track of for some people, like teachers and such, who have dozens kids and their myriad names in and out of their lives constantly.

 

[bliz]

If this were an irritation with places you shop, then you should lighten up. But this is Sunday School where you daughter goes on a very regular basis. Names matter, and the correct spelling matters.

If you gave a common name an unusual spelling, you have to expect a certain amount of this and be proactive. "I'm so glad Carlie has you as her teacher. By the way, the spelling of her name is very important to her..." If you know that people tend to mess up the spelling, g out of your way to help them get it right.

Frankly, I would not hesitate to return the Bible and ask if your daughter could have one that spelled her name correctly.

 

[~ Gig ~]

There are a couple of people in our church that always spells my name wrong. I've told them several times it's Jody with a Y and an I, but it makes no difference. So I built a bridge(I got over it)

 

[PegasusOnFire]

people always spell my name wrong, albeit there are 3 spellings for my name, Bobbie(the way I spell it), Bobbi, and Bobby.

 

[Lena75]

Yeah, you need to lighten up.

While we all love our children's names - after all, we chose them, we may not be particularly attentive with other kids' names.

My whole life no one's been able to say my name correctly, let alone spell it (and it's not that difficult!). Then there my last name - which is a whole other story!

In fact with my wife's name, my son's name, and my name, no one seem to be able to pronounce or spell correctly even in 2nd, 3rd, 4th go arounds!

Andry, Dorin, and Rylan. How difficult can that be?

Well, there are lots of Rs! So it shouldn't be so complicated. Even I had to look twice!

 

[Lena75]

Thanks for your replies! I know I've gotta live with it for now. And when she grows up, she's gotta deal with it. BTW, I know you're all curious, her name is Candace. Not Candice or Candise or any other way you can think it. I've even thought of taking a washable marker and writing her name on her forehead just for Sunday school! LOL! But, I'm not THAT desperate.

My brother had a big problem with his name too, in kindergarten. The teacher decided to shorten his name and call him Benji. Since he was ALWAYS called Benjamin at home because that's all he was taught, he completely ignored his teacher. So one day mom got a call complaining. Finally mom asked what do you call him? Boy did that teacher get it. No more Benji after that!

I've also realized my daughter will most likely adopt the nickname "Candy". If we call her that now, she has a hissy fit. I'm CANDACE! Not Candy!
Oh, well. That's kids for ya.

 

[JillLars]

Returning a gift because a name is misspelled is rude and inconsiderate.

I'm not saying she should return the gift (especially if its a bible), but giving a gift without first checking how to spell the name is incredibly rude and inconsiderate. How hard is it to just make a list and check the spelling of each child's name before you address the gift? I know I do that when giving gifts (My aunt Lori, or my friend Lauri, it can get confusing sometimes.)

 

[Lena75]

I'm not saying she should return the gift (especially if its a bible), but giving a gift without first checking how to spell the name is incredibly rude and inconsiderate. How hard is it to just make a list and check the spelling of each child's name before you address the gift? I know I do that when giving gifts (My aunt Lori, or my friend Lauri, it can get confusing sometimes.)

Yeah, they never did confirm the spelling of the name. I'll see if I can get it changed. A Bible is special and there shouldn't be mistakes, right?

 

[selune]

I agree on the name confirmation, they should have checked. Maybe check around for a nameplate to cover the mistake and have the person who did the fancy writing write the new one? But on a similar note, when my husband and I were dating, for my birthday he got a photo album engraved with our names on it and the engraver misspelled his name! It was too late to exchange it (I was due back any time) so the engraver gave him $$ off the order. What makes this so funny to me is I'M the one with the oddball name and his is much more common. We cherish the album as a sweet keepsake.

 

[EmSchmem]

I'm actually very anti alternate spellings of names. I worked as a teacher's aide a couple years ago and all of the kids that had alternate spellings had hard times with spelling other things. Obviously there is room for ethnic spellings (like Rebekah as opposed to Rebecca) but to just start making up spellings there IS some asking for misspellings. but I DO agree that to mispell a kids name on a gift like a Bible is harsh. Check the list. it isn't that hard.

 

[TwinCrier]

If I had a nickle for everytime Daltin was labeled Dalton and Christiane was called Christine, Christy Ann, or Charissa got her name pronounced like Charlie instead on Karissa, I would be a rich, rich woman. I thought Christian was safe.... until the spelling of Kristian became popular. I actually had few mispellings of my name when I spelled it Dyahanne. Now I get Dian, Dianne, Dyan, you name it. Even my poor DH must deal with Arron and Erin. I always hope someone will look at how their name is really spelled, after all, you have to sign up or register for most things, so it's there.
DIANE!

 

[meg324]

hey, my mom had her name foil engraved on a Bible that she got when she was married to my dad. She got divorced, so she had an engraver (or whoever does that stuff) take the original foil out and replace it with her maiden name. That may fix her name on the Bible. I'm sure it's lovely with the exception of the name being spelled incorrectly.
My name is Megan. I go by Megan. Nobody calls me Meg (my screen name, my original was too close to someone else's!!)... BUT... people have called me Meg a LOt (Which I used to hate meg ryan b/c she was popular at the time and I blamed her, LOL!) and then they spell it incorrectly. MegHan, Meagan, meaghan... That's not me!
I recently had to give a deposition and I received an affadavit that I had to sign... my name was spelled wrong. I called and told them it was spelled incorrectly and they would not receive it back until I got the affadavit with the correct spelling. They could email it or mail it to me.
My little brother is James and we called him Jamie growing up. his kindergarten teacher decided that since there was a girl whose given name was jamie, He needed to be called James. My 5 year old brother cried every single day for the first two MONTHS of school.
Because of this, I made sure to name my kids simple names - so I thought!!
My daughter's name is Elise. Pronounce "uh-lease" - not EEEE-LEEESss LOL... it's not spelled Elyse, or eliese or any other variation. She is named after my grandmother whose middle name is Alice, but pronounced liek Elise... I wanted to do that but I didn't want her to be called alice as in "wonderland"

Sometimes you jsut can't win.
I think that because this is a place where she is regularly, you need to speak with the teacher. It's tough to have to bring it up b/c I'm sure it's an uncomfortable situation to be in "nice Bible, her name's wrong"...


Hehe, and I don't know where these people are from... Maybe some alternate universe where everyon'e name is spelled an alternate way, lol... I was thinking maybe you named her some variation of the original name.... but I always spell Candace that way!! LOL!! I was like "oh really? wow... that IS weird that they misspelled it"... but then again, they may have an aunt candise or something!

 

[bliz]

It's not just unusual names or unique spellings people mess up. My nick name is Betsy. (I was a young girl when the Betsy Wetsy doll was popular! Oh the horror of it all!) I get called Bessie, Becky, Betty and I've seen it spelled Betsey and Bettsy - but hardly anyone asks how they should spell it, or reads what I have carefully written. My maiden name was the same way. I would give it to people, and they would tell me I was not pronouncing it correctly!

I think for those reasons I think names are very important and that we should all make an effort to get other people's names right.

 

[herev]

I don't think you are being ONE BIT PETTY--and those that say so are ignoring your feelings. If it bothers you, speak up, request a new Bible (I would) and then move on.
For my last name (Conder):
In my life, officially (as in on official documents by one place or another), I've been:
Conders
Condor
Condors
Condon
Condom (

Don't say it...)
Conden
and even once:
Condemn
Am I used to it--sure
Am I picky about it, YES
One thing I have learned to do is always spell my name when I give it. Hi, my name is Conder, c-o-n-d-E-r, it helps some, but most people want to have your name right and would like to be corrected
If it is important (undestandably--its your NAME), then speak up politely and immediately.

 

[JillLars]

Believe it or not, the people at the bank where I opened my first account spelled my name wrong.

My name is Jill, its not rocket science. They spelled it Jil. What a hassle that was.

 

[Lena75]

I just checked my Who's Who in the Bible. How about we all check out Acts 8:27 and see if they're all spelt the same Candace?

As for our last name, it's Bergen. Yeah, laugh it up. That's exactly what the doctors did when she was born. I think it's very beautiful. But we've been called Bergan, or some people pronounce it with a soft g and sounds like "virgin". And don't forget about Berger! Since we only just received the Bible this last Sunday, I'll mention it this Sunday.

 

[Swtsnshyn]

I'm actually very anti alternate spellings of names. I worked as a teacher's aide a couple years ago and all of the kids that had alternate spellings had hard times with spelling other things.

That might have been your experience, but our experience is the exact opposite. We used an alternative spelling for our daughter's name, and she went to district (and did very well) for the National Spelling Bee several times. She's grown now and is still an excellent speller.



Shannan was in the same school district from kindergarten through high school. We had problems with teachers constantly spelling her wrong. When they would send notes home with her name misspelled, I would send a note back reminding them that it was spelled with and "an" on the end, not and "on". Usually after a couple of times the teacher would spell it correctly.

As for the name Candace, that is the spelling that I would think of. The other spellings (I would think) would be alternative spellings.



There is nothing wrong with bringing this issue to the attention of the person/people involved. You can let them know how beautiful the writing is; however, would it be possible to have her name spelled correctly.




God Bless!!
Dawn
Shining brightly for Jesus

 

[Mayzoo]

Heck there is just no getting around names being spelled wrong any more. My daughter's name is Mary. Sound easy? Well I thought it was, UNTIL I was asked is that Merri, Mari, Meri, Mery, etc..... you get the point. I have a last name that should be easy. For example if my last name was Monday (it isn't but for the example it works), I tell people "'Monday', like the day of the week"....they then promptly say "Is that M O N D A Y?". After a while you just learn that no name is simple any more!!!