Out of all the dumb things my parents have done, this one tops the cake. They taught me how to spell my last name wrong all my life. On my birth certificate, my last name ends with "ens". On my dad's birth certificate, his name ends in "ons". They taught me to spell it the way it is on my dad's birth certificate. This has created so many problems when it comes to things like the bank.
When I started my job, I wrote my name with "ons". They've paid for half of my schooling. I went to pick up my certificate for my completed course, and I of course ran into trouble with my last name spelling (again). I've been slowly working on fixing this up, and I need to finish doing that. It's really pissed me off.
I sympathize, Nos! My mom is Greek and that family name has gone through some interesting passages during the years. When my grandfather got off the boat in 1910, his name was Giannacopoulos. When Uncle Paul was inducted into the Army in the 1940's, the U.S. spelled it Jonacoplos, which is what is on his grave marker. Uncle Spero didn't want to sound too Greek, so he shortened it to Janise (pronounced JaNEESE), but Uncle Paul, Mom and Uncle George spelled it Janis. When I apply for a credit card and they ask me for my mom's maiden name, it really freaks them out (I use the full Greek version just to hassle them).
Dad's name was Bibbee, which believe it or not is very difficult for people to spell and pronounce properly.
Those Greeks do funny things with names. My daughter-in-law is Greek. Her last name was Asmakis before she married my son. Her oldest brother got the full family name of Asmaraganakis and her and her younger brother got the abreviated form of Asmakis. I was told that it had something to do with the eldest son had the right to the full family name.
