Expat Names that sound strange to Argentines

[mcaffa]

My name, Margaux, always gets butchered to death down here. I get Marga, Margaous, Margout, Margux, Margot and once, I got Merlot.

 

[Davidglen77]

I am one of those lucky people that has a last name that can be a first name also. Glen. GLEN, my last name, is usually converted to GLEM. I ask people when they f--k up my last name how difficult it is to get all of 4 letters pronounced correctly and they usually re-read it and then say GLEN correctly, but it happens with almost everybody I met that gets to know my last name.

 

[Montrose]

My last name has a double L in it, which is of course pronounced as just L in english, but here they say it with the sshhh (I don't know how to spell that sound) sound. It renders my name unrecognizable!

 

[xibeca]

I met a Swedish guy in Barcelona who's name was Mocos.

 

[sheawj]

I am just plain old 'Esteffy' now.
In real life? 'Stephanie', so not too different. I actually think I prefer 'Esteffy' to 'Steph', the usual.

 

[Hache]

"Your name is PERRRRRI? como 'perro'?! That's what we call dogs to get them to come to us...perriperriperri!" Usually followed by uncontrollable laughter.

"Yes! And it's spelled with two R's, como forro. Sorry, I don't know the Spanish word for underdog. ¡¡¡FORRRRRRRO!!!" Tell them that and watch them stop laughing.

 

[Hache]

People... unless you're being mocked like the OP, nothing wrong if you don't get you're names pronounced perfectly well. Especially vowels. We don't have mixed vowel sounds. Someone mentioned Facundo... I met a Facundo in college, in the US. He was an Argentine, too. Faekiundou was just about as close as the average American could get. My name's Hernán. I got Hérnan with a sounding H. Most people could get those rigth after some time, but the Spanish R... nobody that I knew. And after four years in the US my English still sounded like cr*p, anyway.

I'm very surprised about Glen and Glem, though. The N's just that... an N!

 

[philamote]

Haha I changed my dog's name too when I came here (or the spelling at least)... so I spell it "Iva" on everything...

So now your dog has an added value of 21%?

And I don't think "Eva" in itself is politically suggestive. "Evita" definitely is.

 

[lejohnson]

I get this all the time!! My name is Layne, and I either get Line or Layne. The one-syllable names tend to be difficult. When I tell people what my name is, they always wait for something more and I always have to repeat it.

My boyfriend is Argentine and his mother can never remember my first name because it is so strange to her. She insists on calling me by my middle name because it is easier.

 

[Rease]

Kiersten. Sounds like....yep...I get it all the time. Kirch...
.

I can top that - my last name IS Kirchner.
Exactly the same.

Trust me, it hasn´t made me any friends.