1 post tagged “annoyances”

So, I have a name which is pretty common in Japanese. My last name, Itoh, is like the Smith or Jones of Japanese. My first name, Makiko, is not that unusual.

I know that the name is not that easy for non-Japanese people. Especially English speakers. Still, it really bugs me when people misspell it. If they mispronounce it I can correct them on the spot (a common one is MaKAAAko, which sounds like kaka, or something). When they misspell it I try to correct them.  Sometimes they correct it. sometimes they don't.

For instance, this weekend a post I wrote on my food blog about bunny bao got linked to a lot. Some of those mention my name and it's mispelled over and over. The abbreviated version of my first name is only 4 frigging letters, but it's still misspelled - over the years I've seen Mako, Miko, Miki, Maka and Mike (wtf?)

And as for my last name, I spell it Itoh with an H. That's what it says on my passport and my credit cards. That's how my father spells his last name. I know some 伊藤s or 伊東s (I am an 伊藤) spell it without an H, e.g. Joi Ito. Some others, like the electronics company C. Itoh, spell it with an H. I spell it with H and I would like it spelled with an H.

But people write Ito, and don't even bother to correct when I ask them to all the time.

Like, Mr. Jones, what if I spell your name Goanez just for the heck of it?

I see that as a form of cultural insensitivity. Really. Just because my name is hard for you, doesn't give you the right to mangle it at will. And I see it mostly (or even exclusively) with English (American) speakers.