Does any one have an unusual surname and did you have problems at school because of it?

Answer 1

My first husbands surname was....................wait for it, its worth it...................Wardropper. I had to use that name for 8 years till we divorced. Nightmare. Our kids were beaten up over it at school

Answer 2

No problems at school, really, but yes, an unusual surname composed of two VERY COMMON (and easy to pronounce) words -- you'd think it wouldn't be a problem if you stuck them together, BUT NO! People mangled it constantly.

Incidentally, I haven't had much better luck with my shorter, two-syllable married name. Sigh.

I will tell you a true story, though. I'm currently indexing some Indiana marriage records, and I just the other day indexed a man with the last name Beaver who married a woman with the last name Bullocks. I kid you not.

Answer 3

My surname is not unusual but I have always had trouble with a mix up with my baptismal cert because my actual fathers surname was put down plus my Mothers first husbands surname was put down and my Mothers maiden name so the role call in school was Thomas Fitzgerald, Fitzpatrick Sinnott!!

Answer 4

Very unusual surname - had to help the teachers not only pronounce it correctly but also spell it correctly. Every yearbook has at least three or four variations of its spelling. Endured many many years of teasing and taunts because of its pronounciation. My first name wasn't much help in that department either.

I have a completely different set of names now, 20 years after graduation.

Answer 5

I was born a Wozinski because my grandfather had come over from Poloand after the war. We lived in a small village in Scotland and the teachers had real problems pronouncing my name.

We went to live in Texas in America and the teachers there pronounced it perfectly because they were used to having to deal with hundreds of unusual surnames. Just shows that they could have pronounced it properly if they had tried.

Answer 6

I have an unusual surname, didnt give me problems at school, but, although its also the name of an English town, no one can spell it!
Talking of family history records, I transcribed some burial records form Lambeth in the 18th century and one was for someone called Rice Lamb!

Answer 7

My surname isnt that unusual, its Lee, quite normal, but for some reason everyone in school used to think i was Chinese and called me a chink all the time, even though its visably obvious i'm not chinese-idiots!

Answer 8

Mine has an unusual (for Americans) spelling and no one ever pronounces or spells it correctly. I always had to explain it to people and even then they didn't seem to want to believe I was spelling it right. What a joy when I visited the country where my ancestors came from a few years ago and everyone there knew how to pronounce it and spell it correctly!

Answer 9

Mine was unusual but it is pronounced how it looks. I do have a distant relative on my husbands side whose name is Christopher Greenleaf Titsworth Walker. We've always had a laugh at that one! His great grandmothers name was Tennessee Walker (yes, like the horse!) It coudln't have been easy for those people. LOL!

Answer 10

Oh, I need to get in on this fun. I went by my stepfather's last name...and his heritage was Chinese father and Norwegian mother.. the last name was Siu. Yep, got many double takes, since I was clearly a blond, caucasian girl. Not really "problems", but always had to explain.
My stepfather married caucasian (my mom is Polish heritage), but his siblings married back into the Chinese side. When I was very little, we would go on family outings, such as dinner in Chinatown in Los Angeles. I learned at a young age to eat with chopsticks, and to this day, I CANNOT bring myself to eat Chinese food with a fork.

Answer 11

I found it impossible to tell my teacher that my surname had an A in it. It was always 'no it's mc not mac child'. my mum would go mad when it came back spelt wrong again!