Well here’s a “no shit” moment for those of us who have unusual last names.
All computers and some people don’t like us.
More than 50 years into the Information Age, computers in the U.S. are still getting confused by the apostrophe.
It is not just the bad luck of the Irish. French, Italian and African names with apostrophes can befuddle computer systems, too. So can Arabic names with hyphens, and Dutch surnames with “van” and a space in them.
We’re one of those with a space in our last name. I was taught to capitalize the first letter of both parts of our last name. Going Like Sixty. Therefore I have four initials in my name including my middle name. Going As Like Sixty.
I hate monograms. I mean I like them, but they look wrong no matter how they are done when using my name. Is it gSl. Wrong. Like Sixty is my last name. So gLs is wrong too. So I use GLS. (Did I mention my wife has a $10,000 embroidery machine and I have two monogrammed shirts?)
I have an uncle who loves genealogy and he actually changed the way he spelled his last name when he was seventy+ years old. He proved it was more historically accurate. Going likSixty.
The second part of my last name is usually misspelled. Sixti. I don’t care anymore. If someone repeats my name with it spelled wrong, I don’t correct them. This also confuses the credit monitoring services.
That is not a bad thing.
Back to the computers.
Often we have to tell people, “there is a space between Like and Sixty” or “look under Sixty” or “look under Like.” “Try I instead of Y at the end.”
Prescriptions used to get filed under L or S. Now the pharmacy prints a bold letter (L) on the label to take the human element out of filing.
I understand why women keep their maiden names for business after they get married. But those who hyphenated I bet are sorry they did.
I like using SSN for identification.
But for practicality, bar coding babies has to be the best solution.
My unusual name sob story is that the name is famous locally (my response when people ask is “close enough for the name - but not for the money” - although I should be getting dividend checks since my family was involved at the beginning) But outside of a 50-75 mile radius, my name is butchered
It makes for some really interesting junk mail. They’re trying to act like they know you and they just use those programs that grab your first name and say “Dear M.” Hah!
I know a family that uses middle names because they all have the same first and last name.
Forget about the John Smiths of the world. I would rather have my name than John Smith
Another reason I don’t use my first name is because that was also the name of the town tart in high school, and I wanted to distance myself so there was no confusion about who was willing to do what.