Comments on: Which may explain John Ydstie

By: Hatless in Hattiesburg

Hatless in Hattiesburg — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:26:30 +0000

NPR name…

Problem is – my middle initial doesn’t fit in any pronounceable way into my first name. Shuffling in a few of both names’ letters though, it might be …

By: McGehee

McGehee — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:39:09 +0000

Not bad. Compared to some, I’m lucky in that I have more than one place to insert the borrowed initial into my first name — but if it hadn’t been for that drive down from Alaska ten years ago I’d have to petition for Utah or some such to be considered “foreign.”

Which, given the point of the exercise is NPR, would probably be accepted enthusiastically.

By: CGHill

CGHill — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:15:22 +0000

I think I’m going to borrow a Turkish diacritic, inasmuch as it’s their town: Charğles Sinop.

By: McGehee

McGehee — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:01:50 +0000

Hmmm. Kevmin Beavercreek? Kemvin Poucecoupe?

Kmevin Coutts!

By: Ted

Ted — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:50:27 +0000

Meet Rotbert Reuschbach.

By: sya

sya — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:47:30 +0000

Dang it, I don’t have a middle name.

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:11:54 +0000

…Though the benefit to using “Montréal” would be that I could pronounce it “mohn-rey-arrrghhhl” and get angry with anyone who didn’t pronounce it PRECISELY as I did.

(My real surname? I get it mispronounced from time to time. It’s not that hard but people seem to like to leave off the last two t’s. I’ve never taken anyone to task for it; it seems kind of a prima donna ish thing to do.)

By: Tatyana

Tatyana — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:09:45 +0000

Hehe. I don’t even have to bother my pretty little head.
All I have to do is to sign my real name…alongside to the collection of misspelings, actual and real (I have envelopes to prove it).
The absolute favorite in the race is KECHANA. Not even one “T” where I have two.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:02:16 +0000

Welcome to All Things Considered. I’m Marak Santanyi.

It’s on Mallorca. And I went there for WORK. Those were the days. . . .

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:27:56 +0000

Or I suppose I could use one of the Hawaiian place-names, even though that’s technically the same country. (Maybe I can claim I am being “vintage” of 50+ years ago?)

By: CGHill

CGHill — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:20:14 +0000

You could get away with Montréal provided you pronounce it with as much feigned-French Canadian accent as is humanly possible. And you must spell it with the accent aigu.

By: Kirk

Kirk — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:08:05 +0000

Under this metaphor, I would be Lorken Sestriere….the darn thing works, doesn’t it?

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:07:22 +0000

I suppose if you’ve never been anywhere exotic, you don’t qualify for an NPR name? Canada is the only other country I’ve been to, and at that, only to Toronto and Montreal.

By: smitty

smitty — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:33:43 +0000

This is interesting. Slightly varying the rules, I could be Christophle Shilbottle.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Shilbottle,+Alnwick,+Northumberland,+NE66,+UK&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=50.37814,78.398437&ie=UTF8&ll=55.328949,-1.691551&spn=0.142572,0.306244&z=12&iwloc=A