Ok, so Imogen isn't (or at least, wasn't when I was at school) an ordinary name. I got used to creative mispellings.
After a while, I even conceded that Imogene *could* be considered a name in its own right. A silly, mis-spelt name, but a name nonetheless.
However tonight I saw a story on TV about an Immogene.
Immogene.
I guess I live in the age of Phrancises, Robbbs and Mmarks. I shouldn't be suprised.
[ May 04, 2005, 10:51 AM: Message edited by: imogen ]
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
*giggle*
Blech.
I like your name. Immogene just looks silly.
Posted by imenimok (Member # 7679) on :
Whatever, Lleyezzah
Posted by arevoj (Member # 7347) on :
When I was in college, I had a professor with an uncommon name. His entire office door was covered with misspellings of his name from correspondence he'd received through the years. It was great. As my last name is also uncommon, I adopted the idea and have one on my wall at work with envelope / package cutouts of all the different ways people spell my name. Some of them are amazing.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
My favourite mailing ones are those which morph two people into one.
While living with my parents, I recieved a letter to a Mr I Barnard. Wrong gender, right initial and wrong surname (my mother's surname).
Posted by imenimok (Member # 7679) on :
There are two ways to pronounce my real name--the way blacwolve does and the real way. One year on the first day of school, every new teacher kept having trouble coming up with even a guess. I finally took a look at the list and saw that the geniuses in the office has run my first name and middle name (even more rare) together. Made for a neat sci-fi name...
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
I bet you I could come up with a third way.
I'm *good* at mispronunciation.
Posted by imenimok (Member # 7679) on :
I would be truly impressed.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Sometimes I'm Teshii, but the 'i' stands for 'one', and exists when 'Teshi' is already taken.
Posted by arevoj (Member # 7347) on :
My first name is Vera - not too difficult, right? Only four letters, after all. Here is a sampling of the names I've received: Vara Verra Dera Era Fera Vira Zeira Verna Vra and four of my favorites: Martha (??) Vicky (??) Annay Viera (??) Ms. Safety Vera (???)
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Of all of those I think Martha is the most impressive.
Only one letter in common.
I can see the similarity.
Edit: Although I do kind of like Era. It's... majestic. Immense.
[ May 04, 2005, 12:00 PM: Message edited by: imogen ]
Posted by arevoj (Member # 7347) on :
I know. Martha - I really can't figure out from where they grabbed that one. I kind of liked Annay Viera and I thought Vra was pretty good, too. (Who needs vowels?)
I wish I had done this with my maiden name. That one was long and very uncommon and was constantly messed up. Ah well.
[ May 04, 2005, 12:05 PM: Message edited by: arevoj ]
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
I never have had my name mispelled until last week, at a conference, my name badge said "Dana Scopatez."
I suspect this "how is that spelled" question is something I'm going to have to get used to.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I did it to myself for years.
When I registered at a new school in third grade I knew how to spell my name--Dan.
However, I did not know how to spell my formal name--Daniel.
I sounded it out--Danyel.
I liked it so much I promised to use it as a pen-name when I became a writer. (Yes, by fourth grade I knew I wanted to be a writer)
Only later did I learn that that spelling was used primarilly by women.
Posted by arevoj (Member # 7347) on :
I think Danyel is a great way to spell Daniel. I've not seen it used by women that way - do they use it pronounced as "Daniel" would be or do they use it for "Danielle"?
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
I have been called every name under the sun that could be possibly be confused with "Shani." Not only that, but some pretty creative spellings have been tried, too...
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Really, Shaniqua?
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
My best friend's name is Rory, and he once had someone think it was Murray. Explain that one. Usually he just gets Roy.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Mine isn't that hard (ok it's too easy), I've had the obvious Sara, but also Sahar (there was a sahar at my pre school), and people saying it like s-ARE-a instead of s-air-a.
Raia, I remember in SRT, shainee, shaunee, shana, shaina, shania, shayla, what is your name, McM was a good babysitter (but never taught a thing)
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
To this day, Pac Bell sends me my phone bill addressed to "Meagn". Yeah, it's a simple transposition, but I've told them to change it like 3 times.
It also still has my maiden name.
Of course, I suppose I can't complain too much since in the first paragraph I called them "Pac Bell" instead of "SBC" as they're called now. It was too ironic to correct.
Pix
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Don't worry, Pac Bell still uses that name internally for your region.
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Russell, you are not the first to call me that.
Sarah, that's just the beginning of what I was called! And one of my best friends is named Sahar. It's Hebrew.
Posted by Amka (Member # 690) on :
I have a common name with an uncommon spelling. Unless it is legally necessary, I tend to just ignore how it gets spelled. But if someone actually spells my name "Ami" from the beginning, I'm actually impressed.
Vladimir has a mispelling from what I can only say is a typo that occured very early on in his credit history that has invaded his records enough that one credit company uses that as his name. "Vlagimar" or something like that.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
People always wanna put an e in my name. Abbey. I'm like, "I'm not a church!!"
Yeah. And they can't for the life of them manage to spell my last name. EVER.
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Heh... I don't give people my last name unless they ask. They have enough trouble with my first name.
If they do ask, I don't even say it... I just spell it out for them.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
My name is Victoria but I am often mistakenly called Veronica and Vanessa instead. It's like the "V" is enough and the whole of "Victoria" is just too much to remember.
Posted by Desdemona (Member # 7100) on :
Imogen is a Shakespeare name. I love it just for that.
My nicname is plain and simple and boring. Kate. Not hard to misspell.
Kathryn, on the other hand.. Katherine, Catherine, Cathryn. The list goes on.
Posted by arevoj (Member # 7347) on :
I, too, have always had to just spell out my last name. In fact, I've always done this - maiden name and married name. If ever we call to place an order for take-out and they need a name, we give them either my husband's first name or just say "Smith". It is much less time consuming that way.
Also, I work in an office with a Velma and, until just recently, a LaVerne nicknamed Verne. (What are the odds of getting three V's together in one room?) People constantly call each of us by another's name.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
How many people knew that "Caitlin" should be pronounced: Cathleen? (Irish accent)
My daughter's middle name is Guenevere (Pronounced "Jennifer" as in the original Welsh).
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Wow, Glenn, that's really pretty... what's her first name?
Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
My parents managed to give me three names that no-one can ever spell right.
My surname is spelt exactly how it sounds, three syllables, very simple, yet somehow no-one can cope with it. I gave up caring a long time ago.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Actually, the original Welsh form of Guenevere (or Gwenhwyfar or Gwynyfyr or whatever) had a hard g sound, just like it does today. The form with a soft g or j comes from Cornwall.
Posted by Ppaa Mosoe (Member # 5689) on :
quote:Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht teh frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe.
See? It dsone't rlaley mtaetr how you selpl the neams. *wnik*
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Hey mods, can you email Papa Moose and tell him that's OLD?
Posted by Randi (Member # 7904) on :
Hey Papa Moose,
I've never seen that before and I liked it!
Everyone always spells my name with a y at the end instead of an i. OSC spelled it my way in SotG.
People who have not met me see my name and think I am a guy. When I went to college (many years ago) I was assigned a male roommate.
Posted by Dragon (Member # 3670) on :
Randi, my choir director's name is Patricia, but she origionally wanted to go to a school that at the time did not accept women. She applied anyway, and got in due to the fact that they never actually asked her gender, and only required the first few letters of her name on the application. It was only when they were going to assign her her room that they realized their mistake and told her she couldn't come.
I don't get many interesting spellings of Jennifer (though I spell Jen with one n and often get two). However, I had a math teacher last year who refused to call me Jen and decided that my name was actually Allison.
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
My first name is Carol. How hard it that? Yet we had a landlord that for the six years we lived in his building - spelled my name Carroll. That's the spelling for a man! Sheesh. Every time I wrote him a note, I spelled my name correctly, every time he wrote a rent receipt or other note, he spelled it wrong.
I named my younger daughter Cayla - she's like the only one in the country that spells it with a "C" instead of a "K". Bad mommy - poor Cayla has to introduce herself as, "Hi, I'm Cayla with a 'C'".
And, working at a newspaper, I often get to put the news of record on the page, including birth announcements. We see some serious lapses in judgement in the naming department. How many of you have seen a girl with the middle name Aaron?
Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
Once I was reading the birth announcements in the London Times and came across a child who had been named 'Magenta Poodle'.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote: Iltnsegnetiry I'm sdutynig tihs crsrootaivnel pnoheenmon at the Dptmnearet of Liuniigctss at Absytrytewh Uivsreitny and my exartrnairdoy doisiervecs waleoetderhlhy cndairotct the picsbeliud fdnngiis rrgdinaeg the rtlvaeie dfuictlify of ialtnstny ttalrisanng sentences. My rsceeerhars deplveeod a cnionevent ctnoiaptorn at hnasoa/tw.nartswdbvweos/utrtek:p./il taht dosnatterems that the hhpsteyios uuiqelny wrtaarns criieltidby if the aoussmpitn that the prreoecandpne of your wrods is not eendetxd is uueniqtolnabse. Aoilegpos for aidnoptg a cdocianorttry vwpiienot but, ttoheliacrley spkeaing, lgitehnneng the words can mnartafucue an iocnuurgons samenttet that is vlrtiauly isbpilechmoenrne.