A Name Is Just a Name

[flossieskid]

I am sure many people can relate to the frustration that occurs when someone misspells your name or mispronounces it because they heard it wrong. Our children were raised to be polite and not correct their elders, so our son Ryan has been called “Brian” and our daughter Nikki has been called “Mickey” more times than either of them can remember! Having gone through my entire life telling people that I spell “Tracey” with an “e”, I am lucky because my name sounds the same in spoken form no matter how one spells it. Since my Mom used her stage name “Marlowe” for work, and had many personal friends in the industry who knew her married name “McCallion”, she would often forget which name she should use when calling them. She always preferred just saying “Nora”, but studio assistants or secretaries would always ask for a last name. Also, my Mom had a rather deep voice, affected, no doubt, by all the cigarettes she and countless other actors on set would smoke all day while waiting for their scene to be lit and then filmed. Talk about secondary smoke damage!! But, one day she called Earl at the studio and she said “Nora” was calling, to his assistant. Of course, the secretary asked for her last name. Since Earl had known my parents for years socially, before she started The Waltons, she just answered “Nora McCallion”. The secretary said, “Just a moment, I’ll connect you.” Earl picked up the phone and tentatively said, “This is Earl Hamner.” My Mom thought his response was rather formal since they had been friends for decades. She said, “Earl, it’s Nora.” Of course, he recognized my Mom’s voice right away and let out a huge guffaw and said, “Nora, my secretary told me it was a man named “Norman Callion” on the line and I didn’t remember anyone I knew by that name!” She and Earl loved to share that story with everyone on the set for weeks afterward. They all laughed, but sadly no one stopped smoking!! So, this is Tracey with an “e” signing off, hoping that story gave you a chuckle, as well!

[Easton]

^ Indeed it did. I quite enjoyed that tiny tale, and I enjoy off of the stories you share with us.

It reminded me of a movie critic many years ago who reviewed the movie 'The Andromeda Strain'. Back at his hotel, he compiled his notes, wrote up the review and phoned it in to the paper. However, instead of pronouncing it 'an-DRAH-mah-dah', he pronounced it 'AN-droh-MEE-dah'.

The next day, the movie review for 'The Andromeda Strain' appeared in the newspaper with the title, 'Andrew Meets A Train'.

[noplacelikehome]

Receptionists have a very difficult job. I was a receptionist for a few years for a law office. I had two callers that called very frequently, the problem is that they would never give me their name - and their two voices sounded exactly alike. I'm sure they thought I should know their voice by now. But, being unable to transfer their call without knowing who was calling - I had to repeatedly ask for their name.

They were a little frustrated with me I'm sure. Little did they know - there was someone else with exactly the same tone to their voice.

[patriciaanne]

I have a very easy name to pronounce. The trouble I had growing up is that everyone thought I was named after my mother and called me by that name. Why? Because my younger sister was named after my mother and people just assumed that the oldest would be.

For awhile I did correct people and then I just gave up. Once someone came back to me and asked me why I hadn't corrected him for calling me by my sister's name. I said, "Well, I did correct people for the first 8 or 10 years, but then it just seemed easier to answer to both." 😊

[Marilyn]

When I was a little kid, my playmates could not pronounce my name so I ended up being called 'Moe'. I am still 'Moe' to this day. My nieces and nephews call me 'Auntie Moe'.

[carol]

Carol should be easy to pronounce but I sometimes get "Carl" and for some reason, (I'm not being racist just stating a fact), African Americans that I worked with and when I was in school almost always pronounce my name "Curl"

[Deleted]

I get called Melvin, Kevin as a kid I wanted my name to be 'ordinary' like John or David but as I grew older I understood folks remember you better if your name is 'different'. Back then I knew or heard of no-one with my name.

[whisper]

I sometimes get called Sal instead of Val, especially when giving my name over the phone. To my family I am Mozzie or Moz 

[JessicaGirlSpy]

A few times I've been called Mary instead of Molly.