And sometimes I wonder: How hard can it be?

I always thought I had a pretty ordinary name. It’s not that I dislike it per se, but “Sandra” was a very common first name in the seventies and with a somewhat “ordinary”, typical German last name, I wasn’t particularly happy with it.

There was another girl with the same name at my highschool [how many people actually KNOW a person with the same name? Besides my Dad and my Granddad, who have the exact same name, too] and I found it annoying to be confused with her.

I used to be an active member of the student body pretty much all throughout middle school and highschool, but when there were announcements at the bulletin board, I repreatedly found my name with the wrong grade association – so it always looked like that other person with my name was doing all the work, when, in fact, I did! That kind of pissed me off!

When I came to the US, I was somewhat relieved when I realized that “Sandra” is a lot less common of a name here and people are actually sometimes pleasantly surprised to hear it, because it’s kind of rare. The only few times I encountered another “Sandra” were either Mexican girls or older women. It seems like this name was more popular over here in the generation of my parents.

With the rarity of my name here came also a high level of inventiveness and speculation on what my actual name is. Numerous people to whom I introduced myself as “Sandra” kept calling me “Sandy” [which I am not a great fan of]. Other people would just simply assume that my name is “Sondra” or “Zandra”.

The most interesting name variation though did I hear today when I went out to lunch with my co-workers. Someone actually put down my name as “Sandera”.

I mean, seriously, how hard can it be?

  1. hard. seriously. you wouldn’t guess how hard a simple name like “Susi” can be…
    Suzie, Suzy, Susie, Zusie… HELLOO??

  2. its not really surprising that people dont know how to spell susi in the US… but sandra? THAT shouldnt be so hard. oh by the way. ‘steffany’ is how someone spelled my name in an email i got today :)

  3. How hard can it be? The beloved GEZ always writes letters to “Sanora” – I mean, seriously!

  4. That suprises me. Sandra shouldn’t be that difficult. But I am also used to see my name in so many different spelling. I admit, Tanja especially with a “J” can be an issue here, but when I read “Toja”, I was shocked.

  5. I so hear you. I think my name is pretty unique and i havent met anyone with the same name yet. But people cant figure it out for the life of them. Im usually either Olivia or Sophia but mostly Olivia. Ugh

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