I hate when people at a place like starbucks want me to spell my first name so they can write it on a cup

This is why as much as I go by just my first name in many places, sometimes I just go by the last. It's a perfectly normal surname that almost everyone spells correctly. And it could totes be my first name--whatever--you wanted something you can write down and I'll notice when you call? Trust me, this is the way it works best.

My friend's last name is Orzechowski, and whenever anyone askes for his last name, he says "smith"

We have a guy here that we call [name changed to protect the innocent] Rob B. He's not the only Rob B here, but he is the Rob B, because no one, including him and his father are sure about how his last (Thai) name is pronounced. I actually feel I can do a good job at its pronunciation, but I absolutely cannot get Outlook to autocomplete it correctly. I have to look up all the Robs and go from there.

And there's one (Indian) woman here whose name I totally guessed kinda right, but my old boss mispronounced consistently and deliberately--up to the point where I had to say it wrong in front of him to avoid being corrected. Poor woman. I spent two weeks going "Say it again...wait, you sure? That's not what I've been told..." to her.

And, jesus, when we had an Eda here it was a continual nightmare. Like, C/Katha/erines of the world? I don't know how you do it. People would come up to me, start conversations,, and then go "...Wait...sorry....wrong one..." and then leave. Not to mention all those times she'd be referred to in meetings and I'd have to check if it was time to pay attention or not.

My last name has an "a" sound. (You know - like it's initial.)

Typically people try to pronounce the first part of my name like Sum-iko. Rather than Su-mi-ko. (oo like Sue) You know, if I didn't introduce myself.

No, that's probably about right, amych. (Not trying to speak for sumi, but we share a name.) But it's amazing how wrong people will pronounce Japanese names. My maiden name, more than my middle: people would just randomly put extra sounds in there. It was always mystifying to me, because Japanese has so few pronunciation exceptions, unlike English. But since any person I was encountering was unlikely to have ever encountered another minority, let alone a Japanese person, I suppose that was too much to expect.

I always try to spell my last name before I pronounce it. Especially over the phone. I did that today and the woman I was talking to said "but how do you pronounce it?" So I told her and she replied "yeah I would have gotten it wrong."

Usually people try to throw an L at the beginning.

I also always say Z as in Zebra (because Americans don't have the very helpful zed) and sometimes people still put in Vs or Ds.

People don't mispronounce my first or last names, though almost everyone defaults to spelling my last name with a "y" instead of an "i" if I don't say anything. Because of the famous and amazibg comedian, I guess, though I think it is more often spelled with a "y" even without that reference.

OMG, I LOVE THIS SONG.

I can't believe there's a current song on MTV that I like, but that "we'll set the world on fire..." song is the first time a song has gotten under my skin in a long time...enough to Shazam and buy it.

Watching the MTV awards show, and they show actual young people getting into it, and then during a "we are young" lyric they cut to Jennifer Aniston and she looks like she'd rather be anywhere than there.

Don't be a fogey, Aniston! I bet Brad really likes this song...

I spent the first part of my life answering to "Suzi ummmmm...Shhhh?? ...ummmm" Fourteen letters and two hyphens for a maiden name. Fun.

Did you know Facebook won't accept a maiden name with two hyphens? And most paper forms with boxes for each letter don't have room for 16 characters.

I'm VERY happy to keep the name I've had for about 25 years. Five easy letters. Yes, it gets misheard as Walls or Walts, but still...five easy letters.

It was always mystifying to me, because Japanese has so few pronunciation exceptions, unlike English.

Also true with Spanish. Which means I can figure out most of my students' names and how to say them. I have one student named Mayte which I have mispronounced all the time, but the problem is it's a non-standard Spanish-ish pronunciation. Sorry kid. (mah-tuh, not May-Tay)