I Hate Misspelling Someone’s Name
It’s my sign of respect
I can’t tell you how many times people call me Meghan in emails.
Even though my name is right there, staring in front of you.
I’ve seen it in Medium comments, letters, contracts, text messages and more.
I try not to take it personally – people can be careless or make mistakes, I get it. Then there’s autocorrect to blame too.
But I never want to repeat that same mistake.
Your name is important. It’s yours. And me spelling it and saying it correctly is a sign of respect.
I triple check whenever I write out someone’s name. Especially if it has unique spelling.
If someone has a name I don’t know how to pronounce, I ask them. And I try my very hardest to mimic their pronunciation, even for names that feel foreign on my tongue.
Am I the only one who does this? To take extra care with each person’s name as though it’s a gift they’ve preciously handed to me?
Because I do think it’s a gift. To have the privilege to know you and call you by your name.
If I ever see that I misspell a name or autocorrect gets all trigger-happy, I cringe…
