The trouble with the name "Otto"...

It's not an accent thing to be sure, especially as the two words are homonyms. These people are hearing the sound otto/auto and thinking a human was given the name "Auto".

Out of necessity I do spell out my name most every time. I did so in the photo that started this thread, and you can see the server scratched out the incorrect "auto" and corrected it below that. Most recently I've just said "Otto" to see what they come up with.

A significant factor here is demography. Every person who wrote down "Auto" was of the same background. The Otto vs Auto episodes are likely a cultural phenomenon more than anything else.

 

An auto vs Otto update. I visited the same pizza place as the previous two weeks. The person taking the order was different than last week. For those concerned with my mispronouncuation of a homonym, I had a work colleague order for me. Same result.

20170906_122048 by Otto posted Sep 6, 2017 at 2:29 PM

 

You know you are doomed, Auto, with a forum full of guys. You'll never be called Otto again.

 

I comply with the first, but not the second.

My given name is actually Ottavio, but if you think I've had trouble with the name Otto, try to get Americans to pronounce "Ottavio". So I use the circumcised version of the original name: "Otto".

The problem is further compounded by the Spanish version of the name which is "Octavio", so anyone of Hispanic origin automatically pronounces and spells it wrong. On more than one occasion I've had Spanish speakers correct me on the spelling of "Ottavio", telling me adamantly that the name has a "c" in it. With the high population of Spanish speakers in this area, this happens very, very often.

 

Since all four of my grandparents emigrated from Italy, Ottavio is much more pleasing to my ear than Otto or Auto, or whatever you go by now.

 

I like my original name very much also. The utility of using it is very low however, even with the problems with using "Otto", the use of "Ottavio" creates significantly more.

 

Another version of my name I've only seen a couple of times. it's not close to my given name, but at least "Adam" is a real name at least occasionally given to humans.

20180216_195623 by Otto posted Feb 16, 2018 at 11:08 PM

 

During the first couple of years over at ww2talk there were several Limeys that insisted on typing at my name as "Geoff" or "Geoffrey" when it, at the time, was plainly rendered "Jeff" in my signature.

Never figured that one out.

 

The guys that created "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" rejected "Laura" as a first name for their character because, their words, "Americans couldn't pronounce Laura."

 

LOL. I'll pass that on to my wife, Laura.

 

If putting a "u" in Laura is cause for concern in the Home Island, then some of the naming conventions used in the inner city of Chicago would make your brain to somersaults.

 

I think we had two British game writing nerds who had limited exposure to pretty much everything, leave alone Americans. Remember, this was in the days of Jolt Cola.

 

Missionary work? Who are you trying to convert?