> There wasn't room for all of that in the subject line. It was supposed to say "I'm not changing my name and I wish other people would stop doing it for me."
> I ran into this when I was an elementary student in Hazard, Ky. Every year on the first day of school, the teachers would read the list of students who were assigned to their class. When they read "Harold Merrill." I sat there tight lipped and didn't answer. That wasn't my name. Then they got to the end of the list and said, "Is there anybody here whose name I did not call?" My hand went up.
> "What is your name?"
> "Howard Murrill"
> (pause)"Oh, here it is." (check)
> Then it was time to assign seats.
> "Take this seat right here, Harold."
> I just stood there looking out the window.
> "Harold!" Kids start punching me, so I take the @#%&>>>! seat. By the end of the first six weeks the teacher has learned my name and it is correct on my report card, although sometimes it is written over a scratched-out "Harold Merrill."
> It even happened in high school, but by then I would tell them it was mispelled and/or mispronounced and everything would be ok until the next class.
> Then I went to college, where on a stone tablet, they had inscribed, "Everybody has a first name, a middle initial, and a last name." I felt sorry for a few students, mostly girls, who had no middle name so were given the middle name, NMI. I also felt sorry for myself because they called me William and got confused when Howard was on my papers.
> "What is your first name?"
> "William."
> "Then why don't you put it on your papers?"
> "I never use William. Everybody calls me Howard."
> "Oh."
> Then I went into the army. The Army also has one of those stone tablets. There's the right way, the wrong way, and the Army way.
> I was William H. They even insisted that I change my signature. Can you believe that! They tell you how to sign your name! I wrote is so poorly they couldn't read it, but that was ok because William H. Murrill was always neatly typed underneath anyway.
> Then I started teaching and I gave the school office my name as just Howard Murrill. Sometimes it was Harold Merle, but at least it wasn't William. Then one day after 25 years, I got a check written to William H. By this time they had figured out how to spell Murrill, but I have no idea where William came from. Maybe it was from some tax stuff. IRS calls me William.
> I took the check to the bank and endorsed it Howard Murrill. The teller must have turned it over ten times. Then she told me to sign it again using William H.
> "That's my legal signature. It will have to do."
> "I'm sorry, but we can't..."
> "Would you let somebody tell you how to sign your name?"
> There was a long pause. Then she said, "I'm sorry, but..." again.
> "Give me the check and I'll take it back to the school office and have them reissue it to my correct name." She cashed it.
> Some day I'm going back to Hazard and look up my old school records just to see what name is on there.
> Howard

In school, whenever the teacher would get my name right on the first try, I was amazed. In all my years of school, I'd say a teacher got my name right on the first try maybe 5 times (that includes substitute teachers). My name is spelled Alethea, and pronounced (since I'm sure most of you are mispronouncing it right now) a LEE thee a. I get Althea (missing the first "e"), Aletha (missing the second "e"), al e THEE a (at least they pronounce all the syllables with that one) and countless others. I had a boss call me Athena for three years (I gave up correcting him after a couple of months).

And over the phone it's even worse. I'll answer to Olivia, Alicia, Alisha, Aretha, or pretty much anything that starts with "A".

I rarely post on this board (though I try to read it every day) but this is one subject I can reaaly relate to.

Ale"Greek for truth"thea