How would you politely correct someone who kept calling you the wrong name?

[Flaxbee]

My husband and I are working with a professor who keeps calling me "Lena" (not my name - it's Erin, which isn't really very close. And the funny thing is, the woman my husband was dating before we met is named Lena :-) but the professor has never met my husband's ex)

I have no idea why he's doing this, as he has my business card, has received emails from me, and every time I need to call him I introduce myself on the phone ("Hi, this is Erin ____, do you have time to talk?" - or whatever)

I don't want to embarrass the guy, but we're going to a board meeting with him in a month or so and I know he'll probably want to introduce us, and there could just ensue some awkwardness.

Any suggestions? He might not hear very well - I don't know if this is the case or not - but he's SEEN my name in print several times. I'm not quite sure how to handle this.



edit: clarified some tenses

[flvegan]

1. Grab collar, headbutt to the bridge of the nose

right after saying "my NAME is _____"

The headbutt is the exclamation point.

[Orrex]

2. here's what you do

Say: "The funny thing about my name is that it's spelled E-R-I-N, but some people still pronounce it Lena"

If that's not as polite as hell, I don't know what is.

[Critters2]

20. LOL!!

That's brilliant!

[Midlodemocrat]

3. I think that what I would do is the next time he called me 'Lena'

I wouldn't respond. Then, when he comes closer or touches your shoulder and says 'I'm talking to you'. Shrug and say, 'I'm sorry, I thought you were talking to Lena, I'm Erin'.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Well you have an easy out. Pretend he DID meet the ex, and say

I'm Erin. Lena was the one before me.

And if he seems a bit embarrassed just pat him on the arm and encourage him to laugh it off. :)

[Flaxbee]

11. yeah, that could work. We do projects

in Russia, and this guy is sort of a Russophile, so it'd be easy for me to do that (as my husband's ex Lena is Russian).

[ghostsofgiants]

5. Stage Lena's death, complete with funeral.

Then when he sees you at the funeral and says "Lena?!" you say, "No, my name's Erin, did you know Lena well?"

[Perseid]

6. Slap him on the back and say

Hey, Porky, Jimbo here, I just wanted to say what a bang up job you have been doing.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. Call him and explain that he has your name wrong.

There are only awkward ways to do it since it's happened more than once. At this point he associates the name Lena with your face.

You can mitigate the awkwardness by telling him when not in public (via telephone, for example.) Be prepared to correct him at the board meeting if he introduces you as Lena. At that point you can make some joking comment about how you look like a Lena to the professor but your name is Erin.

[billyskank]

8. At university there was a guy who always called me Dave

I just let him. Whenever he said "Dave" I knew he meant me.

[Critters2]

22. Daveskank

Doesn't have the same ring.

[Flaxbee]

32. If I weren't worried that the mistake would propagate, I'd just

leave it be, too. But in this case it's important that I set him straight somehow.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. Correct him with an understanding smile...

"Actually, my name is Erin, and I'm fine, thanks!"

And when he apologizes, you might say something like, "Oh that's ok...I have a hard time remembering names myself", which may not be true, but might make him feel like less of an idiot.

[Flaxbee]

13. this would work, too.

I NEVER remember names, really, unless I use a name immediately or get a card. It's totally in one ear, out the other for me, most times. Not always, but very often.

It's always when we're hanging up the phone, though, or when he sends an email: "OK, thanks, bye Lena" (about 2 minutes after I've told him my name) or "Dear Lena:" and I'm thinking, WTF? My NAME is in the frigging EMAIL address!!

Oh well. People are funny. I don't really mind so much, and would have no problem being "Lena" to this guy forever, were it not that he's serving as a bridge between me and my husband and some people we really need/want to work with.

Maybe I should just change my name. :P

[LynzM]

25. You could just be "Lena" to him, I suppose....

I had a high school French class where we all picked French names. I had that teacher for three years. You know what? I still answer to Marianne :)

Good luck, however you decide to handle it. At least he picked a nice alter-name for you...!

[Flaxbee]

10. some very good suggestions here - thanks, everyone

I also have five sisters, three of whom have names that begin with "L" (though none of them are named Lena) so I actually am very used to being called the wrong name by frazzled parents. Just not Lena.

[EFerrari]

12. With a smile.

When it's all over, he'll remember the smile. :)

[BOSSHOG]

14. Call him a name that's not his

Not politically correct but fuck it. If he doesn't like what you call him he may ask why you do.

If he is Doctor Jones, refer to him as Doctor Kuntsler (or whatever.)

[Frank Cannon]

39. That's what I've always done.

I've always thought I was being sort of immature, but as you say, fuck it. It gives an opportunity to make a joke out of it and for everyone to eventually forget it.

At one of my first jobs out of college, the president of the company called me Jeff. I was too respectful of authority to correct him, so I just decided to be Jeff whenever I was around him. Within three months, half the company was calling me Jeff.

[applegrove]

15. I am terrible with names and faces. Some people just have these blind spots.

Don't take it personally. Be polite and give them a hint they can fall back on once the name slips their mind again. Cause it will slip this person's mind.

[jmm]

16. My expectations are so low that

I'm happy when people get my gender right. I've been called Justin and Joseph more times than I care to admit by people I deal with often on the phone. I'm sure there are enough people here that have talked to me that can confirm I don't sound like a man.

I've worked with a woman for over a year who keeps calling me Jennifer. She's even sent memos to my department "Attn: Jennifer." I would politely respond that I don't know who she is but I'd be glad to help her until one day I found out about name she hates to be called. Somebody that's known her for years told me she snaps when people call her by a particular name. After that whenever she called me Jennifer I called her by the name and now she's almost always gets my name right.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

17. I would kindly but firmly tell him, "MY NAME IS ERIN"

You have the right to be known by your correct name, dammit!

[Generic Brad]

18. I would use reverse psychology

Every time he calls you the wrong name - go right back at him by doing the same thing to him. If his name is Professor Davis, call him Professor Chang instead. Inevitably he will correct you. That is your opportunity to let him know your name is Erin and end it with a dose of good humor.

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. Put the blame partly on yourself: "(his name), I really should have addressed this earlier,

I'm embarrassed that I've misled you into calling me by the wrong name for so long, but my name is Erin, not Lena. Please forgive me for not making it clearer earlier."

And then he'll apologize, and it'll all be even steven and no one loses.

[Flaxbee]

28. you know, that kind of approach is entirely my style.

It doesn't hurt to take the blame for something like this and I can deflect his embarrassment by making it seem like I'm the one who made a mistake.

Thanks, Rabrrrrrr

[noamnety]

21. Next time you see him

Wear a big name tag.

If he comments on you wearing a name tag, laugh with embarrassment, and explain you just came from a meeting and forgot to take the tag off. (But leave it on.)

[mwooldri]

23. I wouldn't be polite about it. I'd embarrass the person.

If it's once or twice then I'd be much more tactful. If they continually kept on doing it I'd be a bit more forceful (But my name's not XXX it's YYY). Then I'd completely ignore any references to XXX and insist on being addressed YYY.

Mark.

[barb162]

24. The next time you see him, tell him nicely your name

and that he's been calling you Lena.

[Boojatta]

26. If you want to be extremely polite,

you can do the paperwork and pay money to officially change your name to "Lena."

[Drunken Irishman]

27. "I'm Erin, bitch!"

[Flaxbee]

29. you know, I wandered off to make a few dishes for tomorrow

and came back to some very funny suggestions! :rofl: Thanks, everyone! :hi:

[Aristus]

30. My name is Bob, and patients, people on the phone, lots of others,

are always calling me Don, Paul, Tom, or some other similar sounding name. If they say it once, I'll let it pass. If they say it a second time, I'll say: "I'm sorry, it's Bob".

Usual response: "Oh, I'm sorry, Bob."

No problem.

B-)

[Flaxbee]

33. my husband gets that, too.

For a looong time, he worked in Russia and the Russians weren't really clear on the "ah" sound, pronouncing his name "Boob". Was very funny, really, so he'll respond if you call him Boob.

[fudge stripe cookays]

36. .

:rofl:

[Indi Guy]

31. Seriously, The prof may be dyslexic...

Don't correct him -- have your friends call you by your proper name in his presence.

[Flaxbee]

34. that's what I was thinking, too

But why just my name?

[TorchTheWitch]

40. To him you look like a Lena

I ran into a guy today I haven't seen for years whose name is Mike, but as long as I've known him I want to call him Mark... and many times I HAVE called him Mark in the past by mistake. Well, dang it all, he LOOKS like he should be Mark instead of Mike. If he didn't look so dang much like a Mark I would undoubtly just... forget what his name is alltogether like I usually do with most people. LOL!

And yeah, when I ran into him I said "Hey Mark! How are you!"
:banghead:

[JVS]

35. Have someone call you by name in front of him, or have them call on the cell and say "Erin here!"

[fudge stripe cookays]

37. I'm not polite anymore.

I have the right to be called by my correct name!

I have a couple people at work who just don't get it, and even though I correct their pronunciation constantly, they continue to use a short vowel in my name rather than the long vowel sound. It's not even the same name.

When they say it, I just quickly say "my real name." They're both still doing it. They just have mental blocks against the correct pronunciation! And I'll correct them every single time.

[TorchTheWitch]

38. The sooner you correct the problem the better

Just tell him nicely that your name is Erin and you would like to be addressed as Erin. EVERY time he calls you by the wrong name, gently correct him as every time he calls you by the wrong name and you don't correct him the more the wrong name will stick in his head and associate it with you.

Calling someone by the wrong name can be very embarrassing when you're corrected no matter how nicely it's done, so it might go more smoothly for him if you correct him as though he had merely had a slip of the tongue.

[zanne]

41. As an older person, I hate being called "Suzanne"

I have never looked or acted like a "Suzanne", but no matter how many times I correct people, they refuse to call me plain old "Sue".

[liberal hypnotist]

42. Here's what I'd do.

Change my name to what most people call me.