My parents were hippies and in a Buddhist cult, my mum heard my name in a dream and then the cult leader 'suggested' that they change it to something 'easier to pronounce'. I'm not going to say what it was, because it's quite unique and identifiable, but let's just say the difference was pretty significant and the new version was not pronounced the same way and I definitely think it's harder to pronounce. Growing up, nobody could pronounce my name unless they heard it before reading it written down. That resulted in my name being mispronounced by a lot of teachers. My PE teacher would literally invent a new name for me every week and I got so fed up with her not putting in any effort that I started skipping PE. As a teenager, I tried out a bunch of silly nicknames just because I hated my name so much and it didn't help that it was quite intrinsically linked to the cult leader.

I eventually settled on a simple and very short name that almost no one could mess up and started using it when I went to college. I legally changed my name in 2014 and added in the original version of my birth name that my mum had heard in her dream as a second middle name.

The biggest problem for me now is that I have a bit of an identity crisis at times. I'm comfortable with my new name, but I feel very detached from it, since I've only been using it for about 8 years, give or take. I equally feel a little awkward and uncomfortable when my family use my birth name. However, I absolutely love that my mum now refers to me with the original name, so definitely feel I made the right choice in adding it as a middle name. I'm currently pregnant and was very firm about the fact that my kids won't have difficult to pronounce names. One of my sisters disagrees entirely and likes unique names. I think she's just had it easy because she was named after a galaxy.

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I'm a dude named Jody. Watch out deployed soldiers because apparently I'm coming for your girl.

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There are two problems I encounter regularly:

1. Since my name is in the Bible, people ask me what it means. Then, when I answer *they tell me I'm wrong*.

2. People assume I'm wrong about the spelling or pronunciation of my name, especially on paperwork. My sister actually gets this one worse - her high school diploma has the wrong name on it.

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My last name is a slang word for 'F****r' in my country. When I graduated everyone started laughing.. but over the years when people started growing up no one seemed to care but I still get funny faces every now and then

TmzuXBOX , Ekrulila Report

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My boyfriends dad named all his children Tonty because that was his nickname growing up. I'm not sure the story behind it but basically since hes something important in his country he thought it would benefit the kids to have them all named after him. The thing is Tonty is the spanish way of calling someone a dummy in an endearing way and my boyfriend now lives in Southern California where people laugh to his face when he tells him his name. Hes developed this great way of handling it but I cant help but resent his parents for naming his something literally so stupid.

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I knew a girl called "Tissue"....... ***legal*** name... everyone in school called her "Tissue"... (pronounced ti-shoo)

When I asked her if she has a nickname or pet name she said everyone at home calls her "Marie" but that's just a dumb pet name.. I still think about this

vrvaetty , Pixel Rich Report

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Hey. Hi. Hello. I'm named after a sports car. And not a normal one like mercedes or porche...no no. A f*****g weird a*s italian name that is such a common hispanic last name that people will set it as my last name on forms without asking and ill have to correct them. Im not hispanic or italian. My dad was just mad that he knocked my mom up so he named me after the car he'd never be able to afford.


I go by Rae now.

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My name makes people break out into song. So... that's always interesting.

Edit:

I love your guesses. I suppose I'll throw everyone a hint.

Think Disney.

SnowglobeSnot , Dzenina Lukac Report

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I have a friend whose father gave all 5 of his sons the same first name. Needless to say, they all go by nicknames.

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Well my first name is normal really but by maiden name is Minger, as you expect in school it was hard but I embraced it and people stopped making fun of it as soon as I made fun of it too.

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All of the first born daughters in my family are named Danna. It's a lovely name, but almost everyone pronounces it like dana or Donna or Deanna. My mother will always tell people that it, "rhymes with banana" and that tends to help. Still, I've decided that if I ever have a girl it'll be a middle name and not a first.

kittypoocaca , Aditya Romansa Report

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My name is not really that stupid, but some stuff happened from time to time again and again.

Dröge comes from a low german word for dry (sometimes dry is used the same as boring).

The two main things happening were the really funny kids removing the dots from the ö to make Droge, which means drug (and we all no, drugs are so funny.. ^^) and (older) teachers using the word when explaining the coming topic might be a bit boring (without realizing its my last name) and everyone else knowing it just looking at me giggling.

Could definitely be worse tho ^^ (looking at you, Isaac C***s, from the other comments)

iKamex , Feliphe Schiarolli Report

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I mean, it's not totally stupid, but it is unusual and I constantly have to correct people when I introduce myself (they mishear my name as "Muriel"; this seems to be what the brain defaults to when hearing a name ending in "-rial"), explain how I got the name (hint: my parents had something to do with it), and explain how it's spelled (one letter off a real word).

As for how life's been lately, it's had its ups and downs. Sometimes ups outnumber the downs. Not this goddamn week...

But thanks for asking!

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My name isn’t a pun or anything funny but my parents gave me a triple whammy to deal with.

My first name is a common one, but spelled unusually. I constantly get people spelling it incorrectly (when they ask my name and spell it incorrectly I understand, my hatred is for the lazy people who respond to an email and spell it wrong. Seriously, it’s right there in the email address AND my signature, it just feels disrespectful to then spell it wrong)

My middle name is a girls name from my father’s home country, but in any other country it’s a boys name. I got bullied about this when I was younger and less confident.

My last name is again from my dad’s home country. Just unusual and quite difficult for people to spell, so I have had a lifetime of slowly spelling it out to anyone I meet, or have to give details to on the phone.

I have learned to love my first and last names, I’m proud they are a little more unique than every last Sarah and Katie I meet.

Hate my middle name still. It’s only on my passport now, which I show to no one. It’s not on any other documents, my licence or anything. It’s not a very ‘pretty’ name and I plan to have it removed entirely if I change my name when I marry.

LokisB****206 , Stephen Phillips Report

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My mom named me after a (not at the time) nautical Disney Princess, thinking it would be different and unique. it totally still is, but OMG the times as a child people would shriek Disney music in my face got old f*****g fast. I was born MONTHS before that movie came out, but it was double worse was b/c my first middle and last name all rhymed on top of everything else.

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I have more than one problem:

My parents chose one name for me, but from birth, have called me a "nickname" that everyone thinks is a totally different name. Think John - Jack but for a girl.

The second problem is that I'm named after my grandma, who we were extremely close with, and my middle name is after my mother. Very meaningful but I literally couldn't use my actual first name or my actual middle name. The middle name has no nicknames.

The final problem is that my "nickname" is actually a pretty common name for girls born in the era as me. *And it's not even really my name, but I can't just use my actual first name or my middle name*

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People always always always mispronounce my name. I often get called Ryan or Rhianna because people don't care. I just go by Rae, it's easier.

My last name isn't any better. Having a very Polish last name makes things difficult for some people.

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My name is very ordinary, but the first name and surname don't go together. Not in the sense of a cultural clash, they just sound weird. My parents were big on middle names, and it's lovely with my middle name included, but on its own it's just difficult to say out loud unless you enunciate like a 50s newscaster. There's one too many 'R's in there. I can tell when people get caught out by my surname because they kind of slur it and then look belatedly confused because it's so easy on paper. For someone who has a very common first name and a very common surname I spend a lot of time ready to catch mispronunciations.

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My mother thought it was all well and good to let my father name me after a violent American Indian tribe, but with different spelling so that it was still unique or whatever. If I was a boy his choice was Damien from the omen.

Still salty I couldn’t find my name on a coke bottle when those were trending. That and my name is hyphenated so bullying me always made the bully sound verbally challenged.

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My Chinese name is a unisex kind and for years I keep having to repeat it and people still get it wrong all the time. So I would write it down on a piece of paper but people still get it wrong cos it's really similar to this other word. Sometimes I just go with the wrong name bec it's too much of a hassle to keep correcting them. And so that they wouldn't feel bad.

Meanwhile my English first name is a car model.

Edit: Changed car brand to model.

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I don’t have a stupid name (I’m often complimented on it once people realise how to say it right), but the pronunciation isn’t immediately obvious from an initial read, and it’s very uncommon. It’s made worse by my last name also not being pronounced in the way it is spelt. Usually I might correct people on my first name and won’t bother with the last unless I know I’ll be seeing them a lot, but it gets exhausting so sometimes I just leave it alone. Worst time was working with someone for 6 years and they never said it right, but it just went too far so I never bothered to correct it!


Needless to say, I use a fake name when I order takeaway coffee, to save the baristas some trouble!

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I have a very ethnic name, it’s long and hard to pronounce and has too many consonants. It’s a word in Spanish and has a beautiful meaning, but so difficult to manage in he US. I regret not using my middle name as soon as I graduated HS. It would be so much easier to navigate adulthood and career searches.

In my years I have come across some strange names, however...

Christopher Chris

Jesse Owens

Aysiahah (Isaiah)

Rusty Rimmer

Chanda Lear

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I have a not so common name but it's not very hard to pronounce. I even give people easy ways to pronounce it and still, they call me the wrong name. So I just stopped telling people unless they ask

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