I was married for 8 months (a story not worth retelling) but retained the lastname for almost 10 years. It was 'McMinn' and by those in the family it was pronounced 'Mickminn' yet most could not spell or pronounce it. Drove me nuts. I entered the Army with that name and only kept it because it was such a hassle in the military when your lastname changed. No one could ever spell it and usually called me 'Mac' (even though there was no Mac in McMinn). My maiden name is Skogen - no 'Mac' in there either! :o)


>Ah, sorry, but it sounds like a Scotsman refusing to sample the food:
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>"Nae Tastings" :-)
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>My gripe, along those lines, is that I've always had to spell out my surname to people, on the phone, in an office, anywhere where they want to record my name. Invariably they've written down the name of those burger wallahs before I've finished, then have to cross out the "a" from "Mac", the "ald" and replace it with "ell", change to capital "D", etc., till in the end they've so spoilt the document that they have to start again.
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>I'll bet you the vast majority on the UT automatically read it as "Macdonald" (unless they've needed to check it isn't "Thurber" that's posted) :-)
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>By the way, the original "Hastings", as in "the Battle of ..." is just a stone's throw (or arrow flight?) from here.
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>>Couldn't resist...here's my peeve...
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>>Ok, everyone say my first name out loud...
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>>Now, all those that pronounced it like "ate", ie. I ate an apple, go to the head of class, you don't belong in my peeve...
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>>For those that pronounced it like "at", ie. that gnat is bugging me, please take a long jump off a short pier...are you too stupid to know that the "e" makes the "a" long? I would spell it like "Nat" if I wanted it pronounced that way!
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>>You know...I do feel better now! <g>