Would you correct someone who...

[manic_depressive13]

Would you keep correcting someone who repeatedly gets your name wrong? You've already corrected them twice before, and they apologised and used your real name, but the next time you saw them they reverted back to the wrong name. They are clearly very confused as it doesn't appear to be malicious. This person is just an acquaintance, and their not knowing your real name won't have broader repercussions. What would you do?

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

I can't say I've experienced that verbally, but spelling-wise I got that quite a bit. My name is spelled Dayne, and there would be times where people would put down Dane, and I'd correct them for it.

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

Since this actually has happened to me, I can say that, yes, I did correct them every time they got my name wrong. But, I simply took the whole thing in stride and treated it almost as a kind of amusing ritual with the person involved. Frankly, it struck me as funny more than anything else.

 

[Zhukov]

I might correct them a few times before just shrugging and letting them go on getting it wrong.

If it was just an acquaintance who I didn't see very often or care much about I might not even bother correcting them the first time.

 

[MHR]

I wouldn't correct them more than once. I'd find it funny. I don't think my phonetic name describes me as a person. Many thousands of people share my name, and they're not me. I don't care what people call me, as long as they're not being malicious about it. Make a nickname up, have fun with it. I don't care.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, I generally don't bother, especially with my last name which is a bit odd.

 

[DefunctTheory]

I've known exactly three people who couldn't get my name right (It's really, really easy to say). However, all three of them were Drill Sergeants.

So I guess the answer to that real life application of this question was no.

 

[Casual Shinji]

If it's just someone who I very occasionally run into, then no, I won't correct them. I have loads of aunts, uncles, and cousins who I barely see more that twice a year, and when they call me by my brother's name I just let it slide. I don't even really know their name either most of the time.

 

[SmugFrog]

That's kind of funny - do you have a difficult name? Perhaps it's just a person that has a bad memory. This has happened to me before and if it's someone that's an acquaintance I'll just give my other friends a weird look and smile and go along with it. Sometimes I like messing with a new coworker by calling them by an entirely different name. It goes something like this with me keeping a straight and serious face:

Me: "Hey Steve can you hand me that thing?"
He corrects me: "My name is Mark."
Me: "Max hand me that thing."

Sometimes people get legitimately pissed off about that because they feel disrespected. It's a good way to see who has a good sense of humor.

I also had a coworker that had an entirely (to me) unpronounceable name. It was spelled something like "Abonduniriim" - and I'm even butchering it now - but when I asked him how he pronounced it, between his accent and the difficult name I just could not figure it out. He had a nickname like AJ or something, but I always felt weird calling him that and I like to pronounce a person's name correctly.

I was giving him training and asked him about how to pronounce it and he told me - and I knew there was no way I could say it (or even understand what he said). I just said, "Oh," and then he goes:

"Say it"
"Huh?"
"Say my name."
"..."
"Abonduniriim!"
"Abon..."
"ABONDUNIRIIM! It's not hard! SAY IT!"

Fortunately the phone rang and I had to go - I tried to avoid that guy after that because, even though I liked him and we got along, man that was awkward.

 

[Barbas]

Yes, but gently. I'd say "SHHHHH", place one index finger gently against their lips and whisper softly, "No, it is...Barbas."

And maintain deep eye contact.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think maybe 15% of people who have pronounced my surname have gotten it right. So I'm used to not even trying anymore.

 

[Michel Henzel]

My dentist, whom I've been going to for some 20 years, has been doing that. After a couple of years I just gave up ans stopped caring. XD

 

[Bobular]

One of the women I work with always gets my name wrong, but its approaching a year now and so I feel kind of embarrassed about correcting her now.

 

[aba1]

Would you keep correcting someone who repeatedly gets your name wrong? You've already corrected them twice before, and they apologised and used your real name, but the next time you saw them they reverted back to the wrong name. They are clearly very confused as it doesn't appear to be malicious. This person is just an acquaintance, and their not knowing your real name won't have broader repercussions. What would you do?

I actually tend to like that sorta thing I find it makes for a good story and or laugh so I just sorta roll with it and embrace the new name to confuse people. That is just me though.

 

[aba1]

Yes, but gently. I'd say "SHHHHH", place one index finger gently against their lips and whisper softly, "No, it is...Barbas."

And maintain deep eye contact.

See this is what I am talking about you gotta have fun with it XD

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

It happens occasionally. The way I sort it out is every time they get my name right I call them by their correct name. Every time they get my name wrong, I call them by an incorrect name.

 

[Fallow]

Yes, but gently. I'd say "SHHHHH", place one index finger gently against their lips and whisper softly, "No, it is...Barbas."

And maintain deep eye contact.

This should be in a movie. I'd pay a lot of money for Tom Seleck to do this to people about town.


OT:
Hell naw. If they get your name wrong, just do something fun with it. It's never not funny, especially if the other person finds it mildly awkward. If your a foreigner, pretend to get all insulted and tehn enjoy five minutes of frenzied apologies after which you just wave it off with a laugh and a smile.

 

[Mr Fixit]

As someone that has a very common name, Michael, yes it does bug me quite a bit. I'll politely correct people once or twice, but give up if they persist & just consider them to be idiots.

The only time it's really pissed me off is when one of my bosses kept forgetting my name & called me "boy". I have never been happier than when I told that senile old bat I was quitting.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Would you keep correcting someone who repeatedly gets your name wrong? You've already corrected them twice before, and they apologised and used your real name, but the next time you saw them they reverted back to the wrong name. They are clearly very confused as it doesn't appear to be malicious. This person is just an acquaintance, and their not knowing your real name won't have broader repercussions. What would you do?

I go through this all the time. I have a name that is (apparently) easily misheard, and as it's mildly unusual it tends to be misspelled as well, even when they've got my email signature right there to refer to. Clients mispronounce it or just entirely misapprehend it about 75-80% of the time, and even co-workers I've known for years or MY OWN GIRLFRIEND'S MOTHER have misspelled it at times.

If it's someone I see regularly I'll gently correct it the first time, eventually ratcheting up to joking scorn. If it's someone I've known a long time I'll really wind them up if they call me by the wrong name.

With clients I just can't be bothered. I'll simply respond to the wrong name.

 

[happyninja42]

Would you keep correcting someone who repeatedly gets your name wrong? You've already corrected them twice before, and they apologised and used your real name, but the next time you saw them they reverted back to the wrong name. They are clearly very confused as it doesn't appear to be malicious. This person is just an acquaintance, and their not knowing your real name won't have broader repercussions. What would you do?

Yeah, I would continue to correct them, but if it's an obvious case of a mental issue with remembering names, which is basically what you've presented, I wouldn't be offended by it. I actually have this happen a lot, as people constantly mis-hear my name, and pronounce it differently. Also I see a lot of clients at work, who I've known for years, but we only see each other a few times a year based on the claims they are filing. And we know each other on site, but they frequently forget my name, and I forget theirs. I have a bit more of an excuse because I see hundreds of people a year, and the names just flow past me over the course of a work week. For them, they only have to remember the one name, but hey, they only see me a few times a year, not unreasonable to assume they might forget it.

I see nothing wrong with correcting them, because you know, what they are calling me isn't actually my name, but to get offended by it seems uncalled for. I mean, you specifically describe it as someone who's got some kind of issue with remembering names, I'm not going to hold that against them. I'm terrible with names myself, but I do eventually get it right. But no, I don't think it's a big deal. If they were intentionally saying my name wrong to try and annoy me, that's a different story. Or if they've given me a nickname as a term of endearment, that's also a different story. But if it's just something like "Hey Bob!" "It's Rob" "Rob! Right, sorry!" *shrugs* Meh, no big deal in my book.