Random Mini Rant

A regular customer asked me this question today, "Is your real name Melanie but you just changed it to make your name sound cooler?"

Ummm....

I was taken aback for a second, contemplating if this lady really just ask me that question. Well, I snapped myself out from my stupor and I told her, "Nope, my real name is Maylanie. My Dad named me and I haven't changed the spelling or pronunciation. It's the same as it is on my birth certificate."

I love my name and as many times people butcher it or fail to say it correctly, I still truly love it. But it's really funny how a unique name can be such a burden to some people.

I get this all the time when I answer the phone at work:

Convo Example #1
Client: "What's your name?"
Me: "Maylanie"
Client: "....What???"
Me: "Maylanie"
Client: "(chuckle)...Whatever...I need your help with some printing..."

Convo Example #2
Client: "What did you just say?"
Me: "Maylanie"
Client: "That's a weird one..."
Me: "How can I help you?"

Convo Example #3
Me: "My name is Maylanie..."
Client: "Why?"

Convo Example #4
Client: "Who am I talking to?"
Me: "Maylanie"
Client: "What the hell did you just say?"

I can go on and on and on and list more of these real life conversations I've had with random people and the struggles they have with pronouncing my name.

I've even had a coworker who refused to say my name for a whole month because it was "SO HARD TO SAY! (giggle giggle)."

*Sigh* People sometimes...

My Mom and I always have a great time at Starbucks after church on Sundays. My Mom just LOVES to see what the baristas came up with when they wrote my name on our cups. When the barista asks for my name, I'll say it, sometimes twice and then I'll spell it out for them...slowly. Sometimes they finish writing my name way before I get to the third to the last letter.

"Got it," he or she says.

89.9% of the time, they always spell my name wrong (even though I clearly spelled it out for them) or they'll announce it wrong. My mom would laugh so hard tears would be streaming from her eyes when she saw the ridiculous names they came up with. She even wanted to start collecting all the cups!

I've gotten Myronnie, Mylanta, Bailoni, Maroney, Mailodie, Malaylay, Macaroni, Maywami, Mybonnie, Maryanne, Melodie, Margot, Moloni, Melanie...etc.

I've even been called, "MyMommy" and "Higherthanmyknees." Really! Seriously! I don't know where people get it or maybe they just want to be plain ole mean. But whatever, I just got to shrug it off since this is something I've dealt with my entire life. It's just plain silly!

To this day, I think my parents are the only ones who say my name correctly: "My-lah-nee" and surprisingly a few people do too. Most of the time, I forget to say my own name correctly. I'm used to saying "May" instead of "My." My Brother doesn't pronounce my name correctly either. Neither does my Boyfriend or any of my relatives or friends but that's OK, I'm totally cool with it! I'll take My-lanie or May-lanie any day! Anything else...I'm sorry, but you'll just have to try again =)