It spreads

[jmattax]

As I'm sitting here fated_chylde is trying to change her name with various places and is learning what I've known for a long time. Having my last name is a blessing and a curse. If I want a username I can get jmattax anywhere, however if I'm stuck on the phone with someone it takes 2 or three tries to get my name, even when I spell it out for them.

Comments

[discreet_chaos]

My wife is hyphenated and that occasionally brings-up problems, like for some reason the automated ticket things in airports don't like it. But, one of the advantages of having a unique name is that this morning, she forwarded an email from the best man at my wedding, whom I haven't spoken to in about a dozen years. He had found her through a Google and if her name (or mine) were any less special, it probably would've never worked.

[sacra_imbri]

I know the pain of having a simple, phonetic last name that's just deviated enough from something more common that nobody can spell it. You all have my empathy.

[niap_si_efil]

I have a somewhat inverted problem; a simple last name that ~50% of people I talk to on the phone try to add letters to, or alter the spelling of.

[dexander]

At least you only have six strange letters to worry about. I have ten and everyone seems to think a "t" simply has to go between the "n" and the "d". To top it off "Allan" gets misspelled even more often.