So I’m coaching Little League at the YMCA. Today the recreation director from the Y called the house to let us know that practice had been rained out. (Little did he know that I’d already notified my parents that we wouldn’t be practicing.) I was at work, but Sunny spoke to Dean, a nice enough guy with biceps the size of tree trunks. What was surprising about the conversation, Sunny would tell me later, was that he actually pronounced our last name correctly. “Hi, Mrs. Bybee?” In six or seven conversations with the man, I’ve yet to hear him pronounce my name correctly. That got me to thinking of the many mispronunciations of my name I’ve heard over the years:
- Usually, people mispronounce it as “Bibby” or “Beebee”. I even got a “Bye-bye” once from a Wal-Mart clerk.
- Blake King called me “Jason Baby” in kindergarten and I bloodied his nose.
- For about half of my junior year, one of my high school football coaches thought my name was “James Bobby”.
- Until very recently, one of my co-workers referred to me as “Jason Bivey”.
- In high school, I used to receive recruiting mail from Harding University addressed to “Jason Bybeck”. Not the best recruiting strategy, I might add.
- My all-time favorite: one night a telemarketer called our house and asked to speak to “Mr. Bee-bye”. I think he was dyslexic. I also thought Sunny was going to wet her pants.
What about you? Any of you share the plight of the not-so-common last name?
already & not yet 
Um, yeah. You had me in mind when writing this, right?Just a few mispronunciations: WiddickWidrickWidwickWicheckWidiweckWick-wickWidlickWeedeckWhiteMost of the time, they start out with a Wee… or a Wi….and just stop.And plus, most people make my first name a lot more complicated than it is. I’ve gotten:LanceLynnLonnieWayneSo needless to say, when the phone is for a Lynn Widrick, he usually isn’t there.
My maiden name was Threlkeld. That’s way too many consonants for ANY one word, if you ask me! As for current confusion or questions on my current name…do you THINK I get any??? Only every time I pay a bill, use my debit card, write a check, send an email, or pretty much even SAY my name outloud.Becuase…you know…MOST people actually mispronounce or mistype their OWN name EVERY time, right???I might as well have 3 noses, b/c that’s the look I get when I tell most people my name!!!
lets see, where to begin?mah-ha-raymcharrymahonneymahaffeymahanneythat is just the tip of the iceburg! i tend to be shocked when anyone pronounces it right (more often than not, it is someone of northern descent that actually gets it right the first time). the most common is telemarketers- goes some thing like this: “hello, may i speak to Mr. Mah…mah…mah….mcharry?”sometimes if feel sorry for them and interupt thier “mah…mah…” confusion and just say “maharrey, yes, speaking”, and sometimes i don’t. you can tell some people don’t look at the name before they get on the phone so they stall when they can’t pronounce it. oh well.as for popular nicknames based on the last name? my brother was known as “scary maharrey”- which was more of an irony than anything because soaking wet he weighed about 125 lbs. However, the king of all last name nicknames (for me at least) is “Butt”, as in “maharrey butt”- it is ok to laugh- i have lived with it for 27 years. just bust out you middle-school mind and imagine where you could take that! Bri and i have discussed that there are certain boys/men our daughter will never be allowed to date (b/c of the last name) lest the dreaded maided name come back to haunt her in a very “meet the parents” kind of way (no need to name them- you can use your imagination on this one too)!
I think that I have everybody beat- my last name is Jerkins…need I say more?But I will anyway.I still hear good natured jokes about it, which bothers me not at all. I wasn’t thrilled, however, when a teacher called me something which sounds kind of like my last name but is unprintable in a family-oriented blog such as yours. The teasing from my peers stopped in 9th grade or so…when I grew to be the biggest kid in class most of the time. I considered changing it at one point, but that seemed really vain and superfluous.My first name can be spelled different ways, of course, and is also similar to other names (Alex, Alvin, Albert, etc.). One guy even called me “Ellen” one time.
My name rarely made it into print – but on those rare occasions I could always count on our local paper to misspell it! Hamet, Hammit, Hammet, Hamett – at least those are all phonetically related! Then there is the right out mispronouncing of my name – Hammock and Hammond are among the top two. And for those of you out there wondering… it’s H-A-M-M-E-T-T. That’s two m’s and two t’s please!As for my first name – No one, I mean no one (at least that I was aware of) had “Taylor” as a first name when I was growing up…not even girls! Needless to say I got called Tyler several times.
I had you guys in mind when I made my post. I was hoping you all would respond. Some of your comments made me laugh out loud! It’s nice to know we all share a special kinship!
Well, since I USED to be a baby, and a BYBEE, I was thrilled when I got married and changed my last name to BEARD. It’s a simple name and I thought I’d never have to explain or pronounce my last name. I’ve decided most people in Dr’s offices or retail, or any place where the are applications with names/addresses can’t read or spell much better than a 3 year old.I have as much trouble being a BEARD as I did being a BYBEE. And 99 out of 100 people can NOT spell GWENDOLYN DRIVE.Typically we get calledBairdsBreadsBe readBraidsand my all time favoriteThe Beers!
bommaritoi think that says enough.
Well, my maiden name was “Luethke” so you can just guess how many bad mispronunciations we’ve heard. Tricia
Trey, your comments cracked me up, man!
Trey – He is NOT kidding! He was practically rolling around in the floor laughing.Okay, I’ll play along too…First off my first name is Sunny! Is that your REAL name?SonnySunshineCloudyRainySnowyMy maiden name was Shates. That went really well with Sunny. Sunny ShadesSlatesShapesMy grandfather would tell people that our last name is hate with an s on each end.My favorite “Bybee” moment would have to be the dyslexic telemarketer.
hey jason- i know it is a little late- but it is all too relevant!the other day when we FINALLY signed a contract on our A/C getting fixed, the guy (who also fixed your air) made a comment or two about “when we fixed the Bobby’s air” i kept thinkg, why is this guy telling me about “the Bobby’s”- i got no clue who they are!……until i thought about this post and realized he meant “the Bybee’s”……classic.
For all of us who have complicated last names, maybe we should pretend not to know how to pronounce the simple ones, you know, payback.”Hello Mr. um, Smy-it-he, oh, Smith..””Is Mr. Jo-nees there? Oh, Jones, well, that’s unusual, isn’t it? Is that French?”