What's in a name?

In case you haven't notice, my name is spelled E-r-i-k, not E-r-i-c, nor A-r-i-c, nor any other variation. My parents decided that the spelling of my name would not be the usual way most people think when they hear it. I'm not exactly sure why, as they aren't the kind to try to be unique for the sake of it, but they did and all my life I have to spell it out for those unfamiliar.

I'm not bitter about it as a long time ago when I was in elementary school I decided to stop caring about how people chose to spell it. Granted back then I believed the defense department should invest in a G.I. Joe team exactly how the cartoon imagined it and seeing a pair of boobs was better than Christmas morning. Still I found it a useless quest to ensure my name be spelled correctly on every document, as someone would always forget.

 

What's really odd is when I send an email to someone, which has my name on it, and that person replies spelling my name incorrectly. It happens more often than one would imagine, well at least someone who has a name that's easy to write out correctly. I often wonder about those people and their reading comprehension, then I blame public schools and MTV for their lack of caring.

 

If I had a name like Rajadashaveja, would people take the time to ensure it's spelled correctly? Probably, but since my Christian name is all Scandinavian like, it goes largely unnoticed. Even friends I've known for years still forget the 'c' should be replaced with a 'k'. Some friends on Facebook, who can clearly see my name, leave a comment with it misspelled. Still it's nothing of great concern, as my world has larger issues than how people perceive what my name should look like in writing. It can be amusing though.

 

Take for instance how I called out my best friend of almost twenty years, and the best man in my wedding, in email for spelling my name wrong. He responded hilariously:

 

Yes, thank you, Paul, for spelling Erik's name correctly. I'm almost 38 years old now and I consider myself lucky that I don't shit my pants every other day and walk around pulling a James Stockdale saying "Who am I, why am I here?". It's funny...I don't have trouble with other four letter words...like "dick" and "head"...or even "fuck" and "tard". Maybe I spelled it wrong because yesterday was my last day of work for the week and I sent 27 emails to my manager...also named Eric...but clearly with a C. Or, maybe I was abducted by aliens 10 years ago and I'm no longer who I claim to be...that is why I do strange things like fuck up the spelling of my best friends name...or find myself attracted to pregnant women. Who is to say really....all I know is that this was not the first time I have spelled Erik's name wrong...and it most assuredly won't be the last. We can only hope that as I advance in age and continue to lose my grip on reality (Grip Loss sequel anyone???), I will take more creative liberties with the spelling...maybe Erek...or Erick...or I could go all nordic on everyone's ass and spell it Eirik. Maybe one day, if we are all lucky, I will forget Erik's name completely and start calling him Harry, or Sam, or Jason...and just continue to cycle through names of TV show characters from the 80's. That will be fun times won't it! Ahhhh...it's nice to have something to look forward to. Oh, in case you were wondering, Night Court, Cheers, and Growing Pains.

Today is going to be a good day.

Corey    

 

"I wish my name was Brian because maybe sometimes people would misspell my name and call me Brain. That's like a free compliment and you don't even gotta be smart to notice it." - Mitch Hedberg