Don’t Just Call Me Jane

I sympathize. My full first name is Katrina, and at least once a week (at least not once an hour anymore, as it was in 2005) do I need to explain that I am not a hurricane. I think somewhere around the third week after the hurricane I lost my ability to completely keep the irritation out of my voice. I am not a hurricane. I did not destroy New Orleans although I am very sorry that the OTHER Katrina almost did. No, my parents did not psychically know that a hurricane would arrive 20-some years after I was born. Although I answer the phone at work with my full name, my friends all call me Kat. I got so frustrated I started using my nickname on the phones for a little while after the hurricane, but then they all thought I was saying Pat, or even Matt, so I went back to dealing with the hurricane jokes.

I want to say that you hit the nail on the head with this article. My name is Johnna and everything that you wrote hit home. I however now have the married name of Yoder. So once I get down explaining my first name I have to explain the fact that my last name is Yoder but I am not AMISH....

My first name is Kirstin. On my first spelling test in 7th grade, the teacher took off 5 points because I "misspelled" my name - she corrected it to Kirsten. I told her that I had spelled it correctly. She then sent me home with a note about how students shouldn't correct teachers. My father, a high school teacher, spent some time with her and the principal explaining that my name is Kirstin and the teacher owed me 5 spelling points and an apology.

I've also been challenged by poll workers who feel that no one with my name - my last name is not in the top 100 US family names - cannot be a US citizen. Every election, I go to the polls when they open, wondering if I'll have to call in a lawyer.

I struggle with my name - it's part of who I am, and for 37 years has been how I've identified myself, but at the same time, I truly hate the confusion, having to constantly correct the misspelling and mispronounciations, being unable to buy personalized items without placing a special order, and answering why my parents didn't go with the more American "Kirsten" or "Kristen." Some days, it's not worth the hassle.

A friend sent me this article and I am thrilled to discover other women named Jonna, Johnna, and Johna!!! Named after my father, I have gone through it all. I do have a Starbucks name, "Julie", because I am so tired (at age 55) of people butchering my name (especially calling me Jonah, the whale guy!) Fortunately, my maiden name is Hayden and my married name is Robinson, so the last name is not a problem. One interesting aspect I gained from the article: I thought most of the trouble with my name was because my parents did not spell it with the "H" (jonna vs. johnna or johna). I can see now that even the "H" would not have helped people pronounce it correctly. To Jonna Dare, you are only the second person I have ever met who has the exact same spelling of my first name. We are definitely unique in this world!

"Johna/Johnna/Jonna's" of the world unite! An old friend just sent me this article and I think it's fabulous! I have struggled my whole like with this name and I'm glad to see I'm not alone! My last name is of Greek origin, Filis and so I get calls all the time for "Jo-han" "Phy-lus" (think of the scientific term, "phylum") although the name is pronounced like "Phyllis" as in Phyllis Diller. My father's name is John and now I have a nephew name Jonathan. After many years, I have come to accept my name and the uniqueness of it and now get lots of compliments on it. Thanks you for this excellent and special article and I send my best to all the Johna, Johnna, Jonnas out there!

Im so excited that Im not the only one! My name is Johnna Phillips. Yeah my last name is easy now but my maiden name was-Poehlein, pronounced payline! I have never met another Johnna before. Im glad that you wrote this article so maybe people will pronounce our name right! Simply, John.......na!! I was named after my grandpa Johnny, he died when my mom was 12 and she named me after him. I love my name and hope

Im so excited that Im not the only one! My name is Johnna Phillips. Yeah my last name is easy now but my maiden name was-Poehlein, pronounced payline! I have never met another Johnna before. Im glad that you wrote this article so maybe people will pronounce our name right! Simply, John.......na!! I was named after my grandpa Johnny, he died when my mom was 12 and she named me after him. I love my name and hope to meet other Johnnas!

My name is Johnna! Im so happy after reading this article and knowing there is other Johnnas out there that have the same issue as me. Im so used to correcting everyone when they first meet me. I love my name and I wouldnt change it for the world. I was named after my father John, not because they wanted a boy. Thats like saying every erica was suppose to be an eric....haha. Thank you for writing such an article. Probably touched me more than anything Ive read in a while!

My name is Johnna Wilson, maiden name Burke. I never thought there was so many others with the same name as me. I live in Canada and have only met one other person with the same name. I can't stand the fact that no one can say it properly. It s nice to hear the same complaints on how people pronouce it. And it really is not that hard if they actually looked at it. Its great to see a few more people with this great name!!!

Both of my first and last names are always mispronounced. Occasionally I'll run across someone who can manage to apply the simple and correct phonetics to it. My first name is Jona which is a combination of my father's name, Joseph, and my mother's name, Verna and is pronounced the same as Jonah. I guess it depends on the speaker's idea of where to apply the imaginary hyphen if they pronounce it Jo-na or Jon-a. More often than not, I'm called Jon-a. Others also try to spell it Joana, which does make sense, but isn't right for me. My last name is the same as Hagan but without the N at the end, but people have pronounced it every which way ... Hag-a, Hog-a, Hagee ... I digress. As someone who was taught on the first day of preschool to spell my name to whomever I met, I enjoyed your article. Like you, I love my name!

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Hi,
I'm a "Johnna" as well and I TOTALLY understand your frustration with the pronunciation and spelling of our unique name. I have come to appreciate the my name as I've grown older just as you have. Another comment I always get besides the "your parents must have wanted a boy" is: I bet your father's name is John. It is actually, but my mother also went to school with a girl named Johnna and fell in love with the name. So, to all of you people with normal names: BE NICE and show some consideration. I am proud of my name and happen to appreciate its uniqueness!!!

Hello Johnna, I loved your article and understand everything. My name is Johnna Pimentel. Not only do they get my first name wrong but my last name too. I have had people tell me, "Like Jonah and the Whale, right?". Then people think it is funny to say Pimento.

My maiden name is Wilson. I met another Johnna Wilson back in the 80's. Since then I have come in contact with a very few Johnna's. My teachers would always hesitate when it came to my name. And people still do that now. I correct some people but I get tired of doing it all the time. And then some people don't like to be corrected in the first place. It took me several months to get a promotion award changed to reflect the correct spelling of my name.

But the best story I have is when I went into the Marine Corps. The recruiter marked that I was a man, that was great, and they had me going to one of the male boot camps. When they called my name for roll call, they said John A. They realized that I was not a man, quite obvious for me, and they were stunned. It took several attempts at my name to straighten the spelling of my name out. Then they had to change me to the Paris Island location. What a mess. It took several hours to get all worked out.

Thanks again for the article.
johnnakp@gmail.com

I am Johnna Pimentel. Thanks for you article, I loved it and I can totally understand. I get called Jonah, as in Jonah in the Whale, right? And then some people think it is funny to call me "Pimento". My maiden name was Johnna Wilson. I met another Johnna Wilson back in the 80's.

I have spoken to people who actually can pronounce my name correctly. I always knew in school when the teacher was doing roll call, that there would always be a pause before my name. That happened more times than I can count.

My mom told me that she took names of certain relatives and took parts of their names and made mine.

Thanks,
johnnakp@gmail.com

Oh, you poor thing! How tough to have to spell your name all the time!

Nancy Tagliabue Polhamus

Hi Johnna,
I really enjoyed your article. I've been correcting the pronunciation of my name for many years. I grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone else. Unfortunately, there was a girl named Johanna a year behind me in school. I would train the teachers to pronounce my name correctly, and then the following year they would all call her Johnna. During my senior year she asked me where I was going to college because she didn't want to go to the same school!
Also, there was a plumber in town named John who had the same last name. People always assumed I was his daughter and would start to tell me their plumbing problems. I would always have to inform them that my father's name was Donald and he was a mechanical engineer!
To make matters worse . . . I married a Pilipchuk. Now I have two names that never get pronounced correctly.
Thanks again.
johnnawp@yahoo.com

Hi Johnna,
I am a Johnna living in Hillsborough NC. Your article validated everything I've been experiencing for many years. Not only do I have a unique first name, but I married a Pilipchuk. Now, instead of Johnna Marie Webb I am Johnna Pilipchuk. I grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone else. There was a plumber in town named John Webb. Many times people started to tell me their plumbing problems thinking I was John Webb's daughter. I would explain that my father's name was Donald and he was a mechanical engineer!

I would love to know from other Johnna's how you got your name.

Thank you, Johnna Kaplan, for putting our plight in words.

Johnna Pilipchuk (That's Pi - lip- chuk) johnnawp@yahoo.com

Hi Johnna,
My name is Johnna also and I live in California
I get alot of weird sayings and spelling also. That is so funny about Starbucks they just don't get it do they.?
Anyway I just wanted to tell you that there is a couple of us out there.
If you would like to email me back my email is mybirds12@yahoo.com