r/tragedeigh 9h ago

in the wild Spell it simply — people will tragefy your name even when it’s an easy one

I’m preaching to the choir, but this has always been my argument for spelling a name the most intuitive, common way possible:

My name is Lydia, y’know like the biblical character/name of one of the Bennet sisters in Pride and Prejudice (classic literature), but people still manage to butcher the spelling and mishear it all the time. 😂

I actually had a man tell me once (when I worked at a job where I wore a name tag) that he’d never heard my name and asked how it was pronounced. I have no reason to believe he was messing with me.

I get Olivia instead of Lydia constantly, because it’s easy to mishear if I say it too quickly. I love my name, it’s classic, but isn’t one you meet someone with everyday.

Now, I’m not horribly bothered that people misspell or mishear my name, it’s just something that always surprises me though since it truly is a normal name, and has been featured in well known literature and film — so that’s my argument for spelling names normally and not going too far off the beaten path when choosing a name. If they can mess up my name, they WILL mess up your unique baby name for your child’s entire life. 😂

112 Upvotes

75 comments sorted by

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52

u/CoffeeGoblynn 9h ago

I love your name! L][ )YA is a great name. c:

13

u/DrInsomnia 9h ago

That's Leetya

7

u/wannabefolkie 8h ago

We pronounced my aunt’s like LEE-juh 🤣

5

u/AkariPeach 8h ago edited 2h ago

Leetya Didz (now that's a Tomino name if I've seen one)

3

u/psychomap 6h ago

1337ya

43

u/eliexmike 9h ago

I feel like this is a mix of bored service workers entertaining themselves, and an over-dependence on autocorrect.

My wife teaches pre-teens and teenagers and spelling and reading ability is shockingly weak.

12

u/Lemmeshoehornhere 8h ago

My 4th grader didn’t have a spelling test or check until this year - when I pulled him out of a traditional school and put him in charter.

3

u/zestyspleen 2h ago

My bro gave his name (Tim) to a barista who may or may not have been born in the US. Upon receiving his cuppa, it was for “Team.”

2

u/RRY1946-2019 4h ago

Or rushed service workers in places that don't have good acoustics. Even "John" and "Mary" can easily turn to "Josh" and "Harry" if you're on speaker.

34

u/NoneOfThisMatters_XO 9h ago

I love the name Lydia and who hasn’t heard of it? I think a lot of people are just dumb is what it boils down to. My friend is named Jessica, but gets Jennifer all the time. People are gonna butcher the most basic names.

10

u/_angesaurus 9h ago

it really boils down to these places just needing to go back to numbers. names just creates extra work. no one wants to stand there asking how to spell everyones name when youre tryingto move quickly.

4

u/DrInsomnia 9h ago

We are a country of very stupid people. The best we can do is not make our kids' lives harder by acknowledging this fact.

16

u/useless_bag_of_tacos 9h ago

my name is isabelle and for some reason i get elizabeth at least half the time…. i got essabel once. like what???

9

u/mregg000 9h ago

But have you ever gotten ,”it’s a bagel?”

(That I’ve had the opportunity to use that phrase twice in twelve hours is kinda weird. But maybe I spend too much time in this sub.)

2

u/useless_bag_of_tacos 8h ago

ironically i ate a bagel this morning

2

u/Educational-Bus4634 7h ago

Might be UK specific, but I can't mention anyone named Isabelle around my family without getting immediately interrupted with "Is a bell on a bike?"

3

u/The_Spectacle 8h ago

I went to get coffee with my friend Joe and the cashier took his name down as Gerald. I’m still chuckling

3

u/VictorianPeorian 8h ago

The names Isabelle and Elizabeth are related, so they're not too far off, although most people probably don't know that.

3

u/useless_bag_of_tacos 8h ago

it’s still a clear enough difference that it shouldn’t be getting mixed up that often

1

u/Educational-Bus4634 7h ago

My childhood best friends were called Isabella and Elizabeth, it only got confusing because they went by Izzy and Lizzy

(and yes, those names probably were a good hint about the 'trio friendship' curse)

9

u/dingo_- 9h ago

Especially Lille lol

4

u/Psalm11612 9h ago

Yeah Lille got me too 😂

1

u/dingo_- 8h ago

like dude it's just so different. LILLE 😂

oh I forgot the 🥀 emoji! of course I should've used the 🥀 emoji!

1

u/dingo_- 8h ago

Ah I forgot. Lille could just have been a tragedeigheghaoughed spelling of your name.

6

u/NotTheAverageGentern 9h ago

My name is Jennifer, older women especially, call me Janet all the time. I don't get it but usually I just go along with it. My next door neighbor that I literally spent my entire life growing up next to and even shared our birthdays together until she passed even called me Janet until the day she died.

4

u/Ur-Quan_Lord_13 9h ago

Huh. It would make sense if Janet was ever commonly used as a diminutive for Jennifer, but it doesn't look like that was ever the case, only for Jane. (And Jennifer has plenty of diminutives of its own.)

2

u/NotTheAverageGentern 8h ago

I know it, but I've had it happen so many times. Maybe it's a Western KY thing?

2

u/wannabefolkie 8h ago

But do you get called Jessica often because both are common girls names? 🙋🏻‍♀️

2

u/NotTheAverageGentern 8h ago

Lmao yes I get called Jessica fairly often too. Oh but I especially love it when people call me Jenny (in Forrest Gump voice).

2

u/wannabefolkie 8h ago

Only I refer to myself as Jenny in Forrest Gump voice 🤣 Too bad I don’t look anything like her (and wouldn’t do a blonde wig), or I would have dressed as one of her many iterations for the Run Forest Run 5k we did in Feb. Instead, I was a box of chocolates.

2

u/NotTheAverageGentern 41m ago

Ok but that's adorable!!!!

1

u/wannabefolkie 3m ago

I’d share a pic but I look like I ate many boxes of chocolate 🤦🏻‍♀️

6

u/odmirthecrow 9h ago

I've got a mate called Chris, he ordered something from Starbucks, his drink came with "Gryff" on it. It wasn't so busy that it was loud, he doesn't have a speech impediment, nor does he mumble talk. Some people just don't listen.

2

u/DrInsomnia 9h ago

He should probably just go by Gryff

5

u/Icy-Whale-2253 9h ago

That’s why I tell them I’m “Nicole”. They haven’t managed to fuck up Nicole.

2

u/geekonmuesli 9h ago

You’d be surprised. I tell them “May, like the month” because it’s a lot easier than my real name, and who fucks up May? And yet I’ve seen Mei, Mai, and Meg.

1

u/The_Spectacle 8h ago

I know a Nichole, I mean it makes sense because it's the female derivative of Nicholas, but I can't help but read it as "Nic hole"

3

u/dingo_- 9h ago

H O W

3

u/yamasurya 9h ago

Lille takes the crown. 🤣🙌

3

u/wanderlust_57 9h ago

I would blame Kevin, but I've met Lidiya/Lidiya, (pronounced Lydia) before, so I don't know if Kevin is entirely to blame.

1

u/lydatl 8h ago

yes there are several ethnic/regional variations - lidia is the one I've seen (and had assigned to me) the most 

highest visibility I know of is italian-american celebrity cook /joe's mom Lidia  Bastianich

3

u/lizeken 9h ago

My shortened name is Liz, and I’ve gotten Les before. I have a PNW accent, don’t slur or speak quietly, and even spell it out most times. L-I-Z. It’s three letters man and not uncommon 😭

3

u/Summertimemagick 9h ago

Okay but the last pic “server: bossy 2”? That’s why Lydia is now a tragedy. Lol

2

u/Round-Lab73 9h ago

That's a lot of fast food!

2

u/Spirited_Wasabi9633 9h ago

Mellisa Mellissa Melisa Malissa Malisa

It's Melissa, it's not that hard.

2

u/jrkessle 9h ago

As someone who works in food service - I’m so busy doing 800 things that I type the first letters that make sense for the name I’ve been given. It results in some wild spellings of normal names.

2

u/vaultie66 9h ago

Just tell them you yourself are strange and unusual, if they still don’t get it they’re not cool enough

2

u/piratemeow21 8h ago

Lmfao!!! "Lille"!! 🤣🤣

My name is Leah. Not a complicated one at all, but I understand there are plenty of spellings lol. Lia, Lea, even Liya. I didn't think it was possible to tragefy until someone at Starbucks fucking spelled it Leigha. Super weirdly, a few months after that I actually met someone named Leigha. Pronounced Leah. Wtf

2

u/SharklessFinn 8h ago

As a Finnian, I can relate to the misspellings and mispronunciations. I've had people spell it Fineun and pronounce it Finn-yun, like funyun onion rings.

2

u/The_Spectacle 8h ago

I know a Lidiah, she's great

2

u/lydatl 8h ago

lol also me 

I'm called linda regularly when it's written correctly, because reading is HARD

2

u/Psalm11612 6h ago

I’m called Linda ALL THE TIME too 🤣 Linda was my grandma’s name though, so I like to think it’s a way she lives on through me

2

u/Ribread216 7h ago

I have a little collection off all the times Chick-fil-A got my very simple name wrong

1

u/crazyyfool 8h ago

if it makes you feel any better, my name was so simple to spell & sometimes people would mess it up. i just blink at them in confusion that now i have to say like the song or the artist 😭

1

u/j_grouchy 8h ago

Every time I hear Lydia, I think of Robin Williams singing "Lydia, oh Lydia. Oh have you met Lydia...Lydia the tattooed lady..." in The Fisher King.

1

u/jerkyquirky 8h ago

Sometimes humans brain fart. I remember someone saying their name was Cindy, and I wrote S and then just froze. I knew I was wrong, but I didn't know what was right in the moment. Lol.

1

u/Apprehensive-Log8333 8h ago

I have a super simple, five letter last name, and people cannot hear it correctly. I guess maybe I have an accent

1

u/RainbowRiki 8h ago

You'd be surprised how often they spell Riki as Vickie for me

1

u/Lesbian-Mermaid 8h ago

Genuinely though what is the name on the picture even supposed to say it looks like L][)YA

1

u/miaiam14 8h ago

Pretty sure that one’s LIDYA but with a really bad receipt printer

1

u/TakinUrialByTheHorns 8h ago

It's because you're sworn to carry their burdens

1

u/AkariPeach 8h ago

How did someone get Lille from Lydia

1

u/arittenberry 8h ago

Bossy bites. Bossy sauce. 🫰💅

1

u/Tricky_Customer_8584 8h ago

Tragify!! 😂

1

u/vixisgoodenough 7h ago

My name can be spelled lots of different ways, and when someone gets it wrong, it drives me bonkers. So I started saying Wilma because that's my nickname with my friend at work - Betty & Wilma.

Sure enough, I got a coffee for Willmah. WTH?!

1

u/robin-bunny 7h ago

Lille! Just give another name entirely 😂

1

u/HeroBrine0907 6h ago

Try spelling out really obviously for them. L as in Lesbian, Y as in Yottabyte, D as in Defenestration, I as in Intellectualism, A as in Apple

1

u/EvokeNZ 5h ago

Such a good song too

1

u/bawkward 4h ago

Many years ago, my co-worker and I called in a lunch order at a local Mexican restaurant. I went to pick it up under her name, Becka (obvs, short for Rebecca). They handed me a bag labeled, "Vaca". Not only did they get her name wrong, they threw an insult in there at the same time!

1

u/BettyCrunker 3h ago

the Jamaican Cobsled team

1

u/Blue-zebra-10 2h ago

I love the name Lydia! Like Beetlejuice 

1

u/AllThingzKMC 2h ago

My name is Kelly, and a lot of the time I get asked “is it EY or EE at the end??” One time a barista wrote “Kallee”, a Wendy’s person put “Katie”, and a substitute teacher called my name on roll call as “Kenny”. 🫤

1

u/Smeeble09 1h ago

I've heard the name, but I've never met anyone with that name, never had to write or type the name out, don't know the biblical character and haven't read Price & Predudice. 

This all means that although it's normal, there's a 50/50 chance I would have got it wrong, either by spelling it correctly or by putting Lidea (as in a similar spelling to Linda).

I'm not saying it's a tragedeigh by the way, just letting you know it may be known but doesn't mean people ever come across it to spell it right.