> Does anyone else here have any stories about having their name mangled or changed completely?

Okay. My first name is Robert. Seems pretty simple, right? Well, it is. It's pronounced exactly the way that it's spelt. On paper, most people seem to manage to pronounce it just fine. However, trouble sometimes arises in that, well, I seem to have an accent which sort of changes the 'R' sound just enough to confuse people a little bit when I pronounce it myself. I generally have, well, a 50% success rate of the other person getting my name correct on the first try after I say it. Some people never get it though, so sometimes I just give up and say "Call me Kaz!" And I can pronounce that without a problem! But I must say, it *does* kind of suck that *I* can't quite pronounce my own name right!

Oh, and then there are my teachers at school whom, with the expection of one or two, have ALL called me "David" at one point or another. And some kept doing that throughout an ENTIRE year regardless of how many times I tried to correct them! And, erm, no; my accent is not such that it makes "Robert" sound like "David" in any way, shape, or form.

-Ka"Hrm, now that you all know my first name you can now all stalk me and track my every movements and...hey, if you're going to do that, want to come in for some cookies? ;-)"z!