You'd think my name, Andy Johns wouldn't be the kind of name people would get wrong often.... I mean in college I knew a guy named Andy Schexnyder (ok, I have no idea if I'm spelling that correctly, I lost contact with Andy S. years and years ago) and there's a name I can understand if people misspell or mispronounce.... but Johns? J-O-H-N-S simple right?
Unfortunately not so, I did a Proof of Concept project for a large financial company with Microsoft. The other day we revisited them and did a presentation for a few of the company's mucky-mucks.... Right there, on several pages of the presentation “Andy Jones”... ugh. I had to pass the MS TS one of my business cards at the break.... “Jones” is a common mistake of my name, as is “Johnson,” and “John”.... Infact my blog got read by one of the blogers I read and he made that mistake.... Ah well. I'm actually honored that someone read my blog to tell the truth. ;)
A few years ago I met a woman named “Johns” at a tech conference. We got to talking and she admitted she never understood that “Johns” was a so easily screwed up name until she got married and it became her name.... A realization my own wife made as well....
Oh and another thing, possession.... where does the apostrophe go? After the “s” for example, “this is Andy Johns' blog” and it's pronounced “Johns” not “Johnses”....
Mad? Nah, I'm not mad about it. If I were I would have had a stroke in my twenties. I laugh it off, but at some level it still bugs me. It's the annoyance of deciding to correct them or not. If I correct them there's the inevitable apology and some awkwardness. Nobody likes to be told they got something wrong, particularly a person's name. If I ignore it how long will it last? One conversation? A presentation? Who else will start calling me by the wrong name if I don't nip it in the bud?
Ahhh well, just sign me,
-A