My name is Susanna (not Suzanne, not Susie and certainly not Sue!)
Hello!
You sent me an email today addressed to Suzanne. That is not my name. My name is Susanna. That is why I put it at the bottom of my email (maybe you didn’t read it?) It’s on my biog too. There is an “a” at the end. No “h”. Though if you added an “h” somehow I wouldn’t mind as much.
You see Suzanne is French. There is not an ounce of French in me. If you heard me pronounce “monsieur” this would immediately become apparent. Susanna is Italian and Spanish in origin and I have to say I feel pretty comfortable showing off with the occasional “vaminos ala playa” when needed (thanks Dora). Only my mother, father, siblings and a few close friends from school call me Susie. I have never, ever been a Sue. There was a girl in my 6th grade class called Sue. She had long blond hair and blue eyes and looked like a Barbie doll. We weren’t anything alike.
Don’t worry though. You’re not the only person that does this. Other people do it regularly too — and it bugs me just as much — so please don’t take this personally.
Kind regards,
-SusannA
What I enjoyed reading lately… - Perfectly Happy Mum | 13th Feb 14
[…] A Modern Mother, My name is Susanna (not Suzanne, not Susie and certainly not Sue!) […]
Mummy Big Bum | 12th Nov 11
Ughh I can completely sympathise. I am officially a Victoria, but have been a Vicki since the birth certificate got filed away in a drawer. Which was over 22 years ago. Yet my uncles, aunts, godparents, etc. still insist on writing my name ‘Vicky’. Some of my kind-of-friends do it too. I ALWAYS sign off on texts to them just to try and get the message across but to no avail.
Incidentally, I am in the process of applying for jobs and it seems totally foreign to pretend my name is Victoria. It goes against the grain…but I can imagine Victoria having more luck than Vicki.
round and brown | 29th Jul 10
Only my mother, father, siblings and a few close friends from school call me Susie. I have never, ever been a Sue. There was a girl in my 6th grade class called Sue. She had long blond hair and blue eyes and looked like a Barbie doll. We weren’t anything alike.
Air Jordan | 24th Jun 10
Good statement, I prefer to post suggestions because the device lets web owners to remain more engaged and towards the possibility to study from each other. It’s not bad. Do you think so?
Suzanne | 3rd Jan 10
i am Suzanne, i hate it when people pronounce my name as Susanna or Susan… And i really hate it when people spell my name wrong: e.g. Suzzane susan suzanna suzan GRR! but i dont mind people calling me Suzy, just not Sue either… makes me sound old. im glad i let all that out hehe x
Miss Behaving | 6th Oct 09
I feel your pain, I spent so much time spelling my name to people who aren’t listening, then marrying a Japanese guy and having to explain the surname drives me over the edge at times.
A Modern Mother | 4th Oct 09
Natalie – yes, WH’s song is my theme song!
Tree — Yes, I can see why
Treemama | 3rd Oct 09
And don’t call me Jenny. I might pop my head off.
Natalie | 3rd Oct 09
You could do a rerelease if Whitney Houston’s song, My Name is Not Susan 😉 People email and put Nathalie and even…Natile.
A Modern Mother | 3rd Oct 09
MummyTips– Electra, how wonderful!
Rosie — are you a little bit French?
Nixd — Just change it to Nixd…
nixdminx | 3rd Oct 09
…and if I ever have a boy, I’m gonna call him Bill or George..anything but Sue! (that’s for you Johnny Cash fanes…) Oh and the joy of having a three letter name which is universal…Eoife, Eve, Ewa, Ava, Evie – no, it’s Eva thank you…
Rosie Scribble | 2nd Oct 09
This made me smile. My sister is a Suzanne, never Suzanna or Susanna and actually she prefers Sue but hates Suzie. My fault. My parents let me choose her name!
MummyTips | 2nd Oct 09
Having a name that in the 70’s no one could pronounce – Sian (thats Sharne to all you non Welsh), I totally wanted to give my own children names that;
a) are not hard to say and
b) that cannot be shortened.
But Biba – has become Bea, Sonny is Son and Betty is Boo??
Susanna I feel your frustration and often think of giving myself a spangly new PR name like Electra or Apple….
So that I can just laugh instead of getting frustrated.
A Modern Mother | 2nd Oct 09
Maternal –I didn’t know you were French!
Maternal Tales | 1st Oct 09
Oh poor you. I feel your pain. Normally people get my first name right (Emily)…although all the French side of the family spell it with an ie at the end which I kind of forgive them for…but English people just can’t pronounce the surname (Bassin). Hard to write it phonetically but if you say it with a french accent it’s probably right. Most English people say it like it only has one ‘s’ as in a place where you wash your hands…and when I correct them I feel like Hyacynth Bucket (or ‘Bouquet’). Just a tad annoying.
A Modern Mother | 1st Oct 09
SPD–thanks E
SingleParentDad | 1st Oct 09
You tell ’em Sue.
A Modern Mother | 1st Oct 09
Peggy — thanks!
Catharine — I get it right all the time too which is what frustrates me!
Catharine Withenay | 1st Oct 09
I am Catharine Withenay for a reason: I am Catharine With – an – A.
I’m often asked if it is with a K or a C, but never about the rest of it! Most people spell it with an E (Catherine) and I share your frustrations with emailers in particular who seem incapable of copying the name I type. (I get it right – all the time!!)
Peggy | 1st Oct 09
I have highlighted your post because it made me laugh! http://www.perfectlyhappymum.com/perfectly_happy_mum/2009/10/what-i-enjoyed-reading-lately.html
A Modern Mother | 30th Sep 09
Antonella- With so many Italians here I’m suprised, people just don’t seem to take the time to read…
Toomany- it’s a she and she did it again today! Grandparents seem to be exempt from proper names…
TooManyHats | 30th Sep 09
You tell him! All our kids have names that can easily be shortened or changed. We only call them by their full name because that’s why we named them those names. So far it’s worked with all but my parents. So we don’t sound too proper we certainly have pet names for them.
Antonella | 30th Sep 09
Hi Susanna, I perfectly understand your frustration. Can you imagine how much my name is being modified, abbreviated and so in English? Some names might be different and more difficult but at least in writing people should do their best to get it right! Ciao. Antonella
Suki-lou | 30th Sep 09
I am so with you on that…I will not answer to Susan, and only a few priviliged people get away with Sue!
Very Bored Housewife | 30th Sep 09
My husband’s name is Alastair but he prefers to go by Al. It winds me up something chronic when people call him Alan. Weirdly it doesn’t seem to bother him that much though, he’ll answer to most things!
Victoria | 30th Sep 09
I have the same problem. I am, and always have been, Victoria to almost everyone including my husband(Toria to my parents and brother). I’m not Vicky, Vicks, Vic or anything else, especially not to the electrician who’s botching my new light switch.
Camilla from Dyson | 30th Sep 09
Is it sad that I have just gone back through my sent items to check that I’d spelt your name correctly? I did, by the way!
Josie @Sleep is for the Week | 30th Sep 09
Can completely relate to this one. You wouldn’t think a fair simple name like Josie would cause many problems but people hardly ever get it right.
My family and good friends call me Jo which is fine and I love. But strangers have a tendency to pronounce it ‘Jo-zee’ or if they’re trying to be pally (and REALLY want to pee me off) then they shorten it to ‘Jose’. It makes my toes curl.
It’s Josie, like Jo-cee.Get it right.
Phew! Thanks for that! x
A Modern Mother | 30th Sep 09
Beth — you can still call me Susie!
Perfectly Happy — LOL!
Perfectly Happy Mum | 29th Sep 09
Nice one Sue! 😉
Sometime people call Becky or Polly, I think they can’t get over the fact that I am a Peggy under 85 years old…
Beth | 29th Sep 09
I promise to forget all past Susie references made by me from college. I TOTALLY get your dilemma!
A Modern Mother | 29th Sep 09
Bush Mummy — can’t wait to hear what you’ve decided on…
Nicola — Yes, not many Nicola’s in the US…
Nicola | 29th Sep 09
We encounter similar situations in my family constantly. I rarely meet Americans who can either say or spell Nicola correctly. “Nicole-ah?” they enquire. Nooooo. Nicola. Like the drink. Pronounced like the cough sweet but with an N at the start. It doesn’t do any good.
My sister is a Deborah – and HATES it when people call her Debbie. She has never been a Debbie. Doesn’t even look like a Debbie. Deb she will accept. Debbie has on occasion provoked a violent rage…but does that stop people? No, it does not.
As for Captain Underpants – his name is Monte. Now most people will pronounce it correctly. But it is the rare person who will write an ‘e’ at the end instead of a ‘y’. Even when replying to invitations which clearly spell his name correctly. Our own families spell it wrong ALL THE TIME. Drives me nuts.
Bush Mummy | 29th Sep 09
Good for you.. it is SO annoying when people get your name wrong. I have spent hours with my husband deliberating over our forthcoming new baby’s name to avoid any hideous misspellings or shortenings.. Am hoping one way or the other that we have cracked it but you can never be sure.
BM x
A Modern Mother | 29th Sep 09
I was Susie until I applied for my first career job, then I switched to Susanna (the name I was baptised with).
Liz (LivingwithKids) | 29th Sep 09
I have the opposite problem – my name is definitely, as far as I’m concerned, Liz, but my mother insists on calling me ‘Elizabeth’ which was, apparently, the name I was baptised with….
A Modern Mother | 29th Sep 09
Melissa — yes, you have to wonder what these people are thinking…no doubt it was a someone trying to sell you something…
Melissa | 29th Sep 09
I hear you. When I was younger, people tried to call me Missy and I didn’t like that at all!
Funny, though, that it came in an email message. This week I got a “personal” email message that started with “Dear %Contact Name%” … I didn’t read the rest of the message!
A Modern Mother | 29th Sep 09
Tawny — Ahmen! (so where did Tawny come from?!)
Tasha — Like Natasha, it sounds so Russian and make me think of fury hats…no baby yet?
Coding Mamma (Tasha) | 29th Sep 09
Oh dear. Think I’ve probably got it wrong on occasion! Will try to make sure it’s imprinted on my brain now, so I don’t make the mistake again!
Chris gets similarly annoyed when people put an e on the end of his surname (Clark). Quite often they do it anyway, having asked ‘Is that with or without an e?’ like he must have made a mistake.
And I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate it when people call me Natasha.
tawny75 | 29th Sep 09
I am a Nicky, not a Nikki, a Nicki a Niki or a Nickie, I am only Nicola to my mother.
It drives me mental!
A Modern Mother | 29th Sep 09
MTJAM — Ggrrrrr! (so your laptop is working again?!)
MTJAM | 29th Sep 09
Just so annoying, I’m sure. People spell my name incorrectly all the time, despite it forming part of the e-mail address they have JUST HAD TO TYPE! Grrrr….
Good rant, Suzeeeeeeeee x
A Modern Mother | 29th Sep 09
I had a friend in La Jola with a daughter named Elenor, but she also pronounced it Helena. Thanks so much for clearning that one up for me! I also thought I misheard it.
Insomniac Mummy | 29th Sep 09
My Sunday name is Eleanor, lots of people call me Ellie. Most of my husband’s family (11 years on) still call me Helena but spell it Elenor……aaaaaaarrrrrggghhh.
I feel your pain.
🙂