Have you ever had problems with your family name?

[Helix]

More:

• Green Jellÿ – comedy metal band, originally spelled (and still pronounced) Green Jellö.
• G̈r̈oẗus̈ – Experimental band, their logo design has umlauts over only the consonants.
• Hüsker Dü – American punk band (the game "Hūsker Dū?" was published with macrons instead of umlauts).
• Infernäl Mäjesty – Canadian thrash metal band.
• Jack Ü – American EDM DJ duo, side group and collaborative project, consisting of Mad Decent founder Diplo and Owsla founder Skrillex.
• Jay-Z – American rapper (used umlaut over the y on debut album and promotion singles through sophomore album).
• Kïll Cheerleadër – Canadian punk metal band.
• King Creosote – Scottish band sometimes used a three-dot "umlaut" in some of their artwork, over the "i."
• Lȧȧz Rockit – American thrash band. German pronunciation would roughly be "Let's rock it."
• Läther – album of Frank Zappa, used an umlaut in its title.
• Leftöver Crack – American anarcho punk band.
• Living Colour's stylized logo has an umlaut over the u.
• Løvë – Aaron Carter EP
• Maxïmo Park – British indie rock band.
• Mïngle Härde – British hardcore punk/noise rock band.
• Mötley Crüe – American glam metal band.
• Motörhead – English rock band.
• Moxy Früvous – Canadian political satire band.
• Night on Bröcken – debut album by American progressive metal band Fates Warning. Apparently a reference to the German mountain Brocken, which is not spelled with an umlaut.

I remember Green Jello. Maynard James Keenan sang for them at the time, and they got sued over their name. He's a talented musician.

 

[Rumpelstil]

When in England and Scotland, nobody could pronounce my name.
But I understood - and did not mind.

 

[HK.227]

Have you ever had problems with your family name?

Wasn't fancy enough, so we bought a new one a couple of hundred years ago.

 

[Rumpelstil]

Wasn't fancy enough, so we bought a new one a couple of hundred years ago.

And how?

 

[HK.227]

And how?

We had a very boring name that tonnes of poor people also had, so when an ancestor came into money, he paid the King to change it to that of a natural feature near his home.

I'm not quite up to date on the family history, but I'm fairly certain it was the same guy who used to "comfort" poor wives if their husband was at sea, and they ran out of money to feed the kids before he came back with the paycheck. We have a lot of "undocumented" distant cousins in my family.

 

[Rumpelstil]

I'm not quite up to date on the family history, but I'm fairly certain it was the same guy who used to "comfort" poor wives if their husband was at sea, and they ran out of money to feed the kids before he came back with the paycheck. We have a lot of "undocumented" distant cousins in my family.

 

[Redress]

I remember Green Jello. Maynard James Keenan sang for them at the time, and they got sued over their name. He's a talented musician.

 

[Lisa]

Have you ever had problems with your family name?

I had and still have.
I will explain that in my next posting.
It is a special German problem.

But you might have other problems with your family name, American or otherwise.

It is not a rare thing.

I had to write my very German surname out phonetically in school or it was butchered by teachers. My friends would also laugh at the new teachers when they didn't know wheat syllable to put emphasis on.

 

[VanceMack]

My families paternal lineage is from Denmark...I am 5th generation from arrival. The only 'problem' was the Americanizing of the family name creates confusion. My paternal lineage is surname 'son' following fathers given name. So Andersson, Jensson, Madsson...and that ended several generations ago here.

 

[BitterPill]

The family name is one that seems unpronounceable to many English speakers - two sets of double consonants and a vowel combination that doesn’t much occur in English.

Roll call in school on the first day of the new semester was always embarrassing. Since roll call was in alphabetical order, I knew when to expect the slaughter of my name and headed that off with my “here” before the desecration.

Once at a family gathering my cousins traded stories of the worst pronunciations of our name. My teachers were not the worst nor the most flummoxed. I learned to appreciate my Spanish teachers because they definitely had a clue about pronunciation.

My name works well in English, has a couple Hs and a double L, but when I went to school in Mexico, my teachers wouldn't even try to pronounce it.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

I am not afraid of the anonymity issue.
My name is Haas, which is German for 'hare' or 'jackrabbit' and early in my childhood we had a redneck bus driver who thought kids were mispronouncing my name.
She heard them say "Haas" as "HOSS" which is a redneck way of saying "horse".
It's the correct way to pronounce it, not "hass"....but it's also the way "country folk" say "horse". They say "hoss".

Example:
"Well hey there partner, that's a nice hoss yew got thar."

So she thought she was being polite by calling me "Horse".

 

[venice_ca]

My name works well in English, has a couple Hs and a double L, but when I went to school in Mexico, my teachers wouldn't even try to pronounce it.

I have a double L in my surname, but my Spanish teachers in Los Angeles recognized the name as Italian; those letters were pronounced normally (for English speakers).

I did catch it in Spanish class for pronouncing Santa Lucia the Italian way.

 

[BitterPill]

I have a double L in my surname, but my Spanish teachers in Los Angeles recognized the name as Italian; those letters were pronounced normally (for English speakers).

I did catch it in Spanish class for pronouncing Santa Lucia the Italian way.

I had a friend some time ago of Italian heritage, Rella, and once when I called I affected a different voice to ask for Mr. Rella with the Spanish pronunciation.

He sure got mad.

 

[venice_ca]

I had a friend some time ago of Italian heritage, Rella, and once when I called I affected a different voice to ask for Mr. Rella with the Spanish pronunciation.

He sure got mad.

My mother’s first name has a double L, and she had a teacher in high school who used the Spanish pronunciation for an entire semester. My mother never corrected her. I was flabbergasted when she told me the tale - the strict household disciplinarian was too timid to assert herself in high school. (My mother’s maiden name was also Italian, but friendly than my father’s.)

 

[BitterPill]

My mother’s first name has a double L, and she had a teacher in high school who used the Spanish pronunciation for an entire semester. My mother never corrected her. I was flabbergasted when she told me the tale - the strict household disciplinarian was too timid to assert herself in high school. (My mother’s maiden name was also Italian, but friendly than my father’s.)

Your mom sounds sweet.

 

[Rumpelstil]

I am not afraid of the anonymity issue.
My name is Haas, which is German for 'hare' or 'jackrabbit' and early in my childhood we had a redneck bus driver who thought kids were mispronouncing my name.

Interesting how many members here have German names.
Btw: I know several families called "Haas".
It is quite a wide-spread name here.

 

[BitterPill]

Interesting how many members here have German names.
Btw: I know several families called "Haas".
It is quite a wide-spread name here.

This site names the most common surnames by state and gives some insight into the predominant ethnicities of those states:

What’s the Most Common Surname By State?

Smith or Johnson are the most popular last names in the U.S. But there are regional differences. Learn about common surnames by state

blogs.ancestry.com

and the German revolution of 1848 meant the next decade saw nearly a million German immigrants settle in the US:

Research Guides: The Germans in America: Introduction

A chronology of German immigration to the United States, with links to German-American newspapers and suggestions for further reading.

www.loc.gov

 

[Rumpelstil]

This site names the most common surnames by state and gives some insight into the predominant ethnicities of those states:

What’s the Most Common Surname By State?

Smith or Johnson are the most popular last names in the U.S. But there are regional differences. Learn about common surnames by state

blogs.ancestry.com

and the German revolution of 1848 meant the next decade saw nearly a million German immigrants settle in the US:

Research Guides: The Germans in America: Introduction

A chronology of German immigration to the United States, with links to German-American newspapers and suggestions for further reading.

www.loc.gov

Yes, so it is.

And Google told me that my family name also exists in the US - though quite rarely.
And without that difficult Umlaut.

 

[Rumpelstil]

Suppose my name really was Gewürztraminer, it would be Gewuerztraminer in the US.

 

[venice_ca]

This site names the most common surnames by state and gives some insight into the predominant ethnicities of those states:

What’s the Most Common Surname By State?

Smith or Johnson are the most popular last names in the U.S. But there are regional differences. Learn about common surnames by state

blogs.ancestry.com

and the German revolution of 1848 meant the next decade saw nearly a million German immigrants settle in the US:

Research Guides: The Germans in America: Introduction

A chronology of German immigration to the United States, with links to German-American newspapers and suggestions for further reading.

www.loc.gov

Thanks for the link.

No surprises for California, although the top names in New Mexico would not have surprised me were they dominant here as well.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Interesting how many members here have German names.
Btw: I know several families called "Haas".
It is quite a wide-spread name here.

Of course it is, but here in Murrikuh a lot of people think it's "H" with an ASS following it thus they say HASS, like "ASS".
And when some folks hear it pronounced correctly they end up spelling it "HOSS" which is where the "country folks" get confused and think my name is "HORSE".

"That thar is a real nice hoss you got!"
(Shut up and talk right, and say "HORSE!")


It's incredible how badly Americans can screw up a name with four simple letters in it.

Jeff Hoss
Jeff Hass
Jeff Horse
Jeff Haus
Jeff House
Jeff Hawes

Someone even gifted me some "business cards" back about 45 years ago with "Jeff Hoss" on them.
And I bet if they had bothered asking for the spelling they STILL would have screwed it up and I would have gotten Jeff Hass anyway.
I guess there's something about repeating the letter "a" that sets off alarm bells in their heads, like you can't possibly have two a's together in a name.

 

[Rumpelstil]

I guess there's something about repeating the letter "a" that sets off alarm bells in their heads, like you can't possibly have two a's together in a name.

Whereas in Finland they even manage a double ää and öö and maybe even üü.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Whereas in Finland they even manage a double ää and öö and maybe even üü.

Yes, you're right.
Americans seem handicapped when it comes to unusual name spellings AND pronunciation.
If it's not Bob Smith or Joe Blow, you're screwed.
I think I will change my name to Bob Dobbs!
I need some slack anyway.

 

[Rumpelstil]

Yes, you're right.
Americans seem handicapped when it comes to unusual name spellings AND pronunciation.

Same in Germany often.
My name is short - only 5 letters.
So many people think it is too short and use 6 letters.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Same in Germany often.
My name is short - only 5 letters.
So many people think it is too short and use 6 letters.

Sorry but I need to laugh...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Germans are not "short" with anything language related.
You guys have words that are two feet long!

There's even a scene in "Coal Miner's Daughter" (story of country singer Loretta Lynn) where actress Sissy Spacek points to a word in a medical book and says
"Lookee here, that word is about a foot long!" and when I saw that my first reaction was to turn to my wife and say "She's lucky it's not a GERMAN book!"

That dadgum word is a foot long.

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