I’m going to have a little rant about something remarkably simple. My name. It’s a grand total of five letters. Not twenty, not sixteen, not seven. Five. A number so easy to remember even toddlers can count to it.
Now, I understand my name isn’t the most common on the planet, but it’s not a spelling puzzle, either.
Say it slowly: L-l-o-y-d. You’d think this would be straightforward, right? Apparently, it’s not. There is no e sound. Why do I see people adding e seemingly randomly at any point in my name? Were you taught pronunciation while at school?
You say the letters, they make sounds, and those sounds form a recognisable word. So, how do you end up at these disastrous rearrangements after saying my name aloud?
Speaking of school, I remember one teacher who would deliberately spell my name wrong.
Here is the thing: I live in the UK. We have two large organisations that share my name: Lloyds Bank and Lloyds Pharmacy. They are not exactly obscure institutions, are they? Clearly, Lloyd is a name people are familiar with.
Why is it so difficult to understand that these are not how you spell or pronounce my name?
Loyde, LLoyde, Llyod, Lyod, Liode, Lioyd.
How is this so hard? Or are we just randomly adding letters to names for the fun of it? Should I start spelling your name with extra vowels or maybe some numbers, just to see how you like it?