A woman has blasted her mum for giving her an ‘awkward’ name that is persistently mispronounced. Explaining how friends, teachers, and doctors have consistently stumbled over it or presumed it was a peculiar variant of another name, she took to Reddit to air her grievances, saying: “Growing up, no one pronounced my name correctly and I blame my parents for it. I know for a fact my middle name is a possible one because it’s ridiculously long for no reason and I genuinely hate it. I have even thought about changing my name to my nickname.”
Her first name is Gerrica, which should be said as jer-ee-ka, yet she noted: “I think the more common spelling is with a J. I’ve had people call me Garcia, Jerrecia (jer-reese-ia), Gerika (pronounced at the beginning like bear), I even had my second grade teacher call me Jessica the entire year.” She also expressed having never met anyone with the same name or spelling, despite believing others out there share it. Adding insult to injury is her middle name—LeighAnna—which is pronounced Lee-Anna and not Ley-Ana.
She revealed: “My best friend’s mum has the same middle name as me, but spelt normally. I’ve always been embarrassed with my name, my nickname is Jerri. I spell it this way specifically because of a friend I had in 8th grade. My mum said she was originally going to name me Jerri after my dad Jerry but my dad didn’t want that. Because of this, my kids have very easy to spell and pronounce names.”
While many users expressed their shock over her naming plight, some sympathised, sharing their own challenging name stories. A user commented: “The teacher calling you Jessica the whole year was a straight up d*** move. They knew your name.”
Another shared their frustration: “I had a teacher who was only using the first part of my double barrel first name, and mispronounced it too. I asked her to call me by my name because… it’s my frigging name? And this b**** rolls her eyes, calls me by the same incomplete mispronunciation she’s been using all along, and goes on a rant about how she has so many students she doesn’t have time to remember all our names.”
To compound the issue, this user discovered an ironic twist: “The real kick in the teeth? I later learned that the second half of my first name – the one she just could not muster the brain cells to remember? It was her own damn name.” Yet another user joined the dialogue saying: “I think it’s truly, truly, truly outrageous! ” One added a touch of humour: “Gerrica don’t listen to everyone insulting you name. It’s lovely. Pass on my love to your sister Veruca and little brother Wort.”