I have learned with my last name that people don't generally listen to you pronounce your name, they just try to slot it to a name they know.

No matter now many times I say my last name, spell it out (all four letters) and pronounce it again, a certain number of people will look at me blankly and reply "Mays?"

I even had a substitute teacher insist I must have the spelling of my name wrong.

Yep, I frequently get Holtz. Still have to spell it, but it doesn't take as long as when it was Gustafson or Glodowski.

I once got Noseworthy. But usually Ozone.

People mispronounce my name a fair amount, which is always funny to me, because you just say all the letters in the common English manner.

I am home from the traditional 3rd of July at my uncle and aunt's, which is delightful, even if we got stuck in allllll the traffic yesterday. I think everyone was trying to "beat the crowds."

I never bother saying my last name, I just spell it, with the military alphabet: "C as in Charlie, Z as in zebra, K as in kickoff," etc. They still get it wrong. And they always, always, always ask, "How do you pronounce that?" Dude, I spelled it because you canNOT look at it and then pronounce it. I know this.

Of course I taught second graders to both spell and pronounce it by using a crude word homophone. Make 'em laugh, they'll remember. My maiden name was consistently misspelled and I had no particular attachment to it, not my blood, since adopted. I'd decided long before I would take my husband's name. Heh. A lifetime of spelling and repeated pronunciation has followed. Decent conversation starter, though, should that be needed or desired.

My first name has issues but I quite like that my last name is unusual enough to not be confused with anyone but also quite spellable and pronounce-able

I had no idea how many ways there are to spell my last name, so I always spell it out when dealing with people who have to look me up in a computer. Mine, of course, is the least common.

It never occurred to me to change my name when I got married and it always sort of surprises me when a woman of my generation or younger does. I understand that it's complicated for some people.

This. I mean, I hate my last name, but it's mine. First!Husband has zero expectations that I would change it. M was a little surprised when we went to get the marriage certificate that I wasn't changing my name, but then I asked if he wanted to change his, and that was that. (If he had wanted to portmanteau our names, I would have jumped on that in a heartbeat.)

It never occurred to me to change my name when I got married and it always sort of surprises me when a woman of my generation or younger does.

This is me.

I understand that it's complicated for some people.

Also, of course, this.