In my lifetime I have had 3 last names that people manage to mispronounce or misspell. Kosmala (Russian), Ried (German), Notaro (Italian). Most of the time I understand why this happens and I accepted the mispronunciation except when it mattered to me. What is especially annoying however is even when I have pronounced my name and spell it for them if asked, some people still do not get it right. For myself, I ask students to pronounce their names for me when I do not know them. On the roster, I write down my own personal pronunciation key so I can remember how to say it. I then refer back to it every time I say the student's name, at first checking if I said it accurately. A name is powerful and I want to honor it.
