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I named my second son Michael which apparently was popular way back then as when he first went to school there were 3 boys in his class with the same name and the last name also. Now I had never called him Michael but Misha, the Russian short for Mikhail and that was the name he was used to although he did know his proper name. Come roll call there were two boys who got up but Misha just sat there. Teacher said there were 3 of them on his list and was the third one not there? Only when the teacher also said his middle name did Misha realize that he was meant. The other two boys were called Mikey and Micky respectively. So the problem was solved with Misha staying Misha and the other two boys keeping their nicknames. From a very young age when he was asked his name he would say "Misha, M-i-s-h-a, Misha". People usually did not forget, although some tried for "Mister" and "Mitchell" and other weird pronunciations which he then would correct with his "Misha, M-i-s-h-a, Misha", didn't you hear me?" He just would not put up with people mispronouncing his name which is really quite easy. However, he was never bullied because of his name, perhaps because he was quite arrogant (still is) and would let everything just roll off him, saying he had no use for ignorant people and that he would not fight with unarmed people. He has been trying to get his name officially changed to Misha but never goes quite through with it.
There is a pediatrician in a nearby town whose last name is Isburg. Pronounced like iceberg or eyes-berg, close enough. He likes to tell kids that his cousin starred in Titanic.
I can't say I blame him as I have done the same thing, I refuse to have my name changed to the English pronunciation (which has only 2 syllables in English and French but has 3 in my language and most other languages where it is used: Spanish, Russian, the original Greek, Italian, the Skandinavian and Eastern European languages) because of lazy people who do not want to put a little effort into correct pronunciation. These same people would take umbrage if their name was grossly mispronounced someplace else.
Until not too long ago in Germany you could not name a child with a foreign language name unless it had already been used for many years. I had a friend in grade school who was named Bettina which was allowed but only because she had an Italian father who had expected to return there.They decided to stay. I have a nephew whose wife's name is Carmen, she was born in North Africa to German parents. People thought nothing of it when they returned to Germany because everyone was familiar with the opera of that name, so it was familiar but still foreign. After WWII with the influx of refugees from former German colonies in the Eastern countries (where German names had become changed with time, sometimes barely recognizable or had become old-fashioned), many foreign names showed up and then German parents liked the foreign names and gave them to their children. Now you can find German children with all kinds of names from all over the world although the Northern European names are still very popular. But they are still sticky with names that don't tell you the gender of the child. That too will change over time.
out of us, and it worked. Can't wait to do this to my son. 
I got a second nasty letter from a collection agency.
I had already sent them a letter disputing the charge with proof from Medicare and my secondary insurance that this is a bogus charge due to a mistake by the billing dept where they turned in the bill twice and of course neither of them will pay it twice and neither will I. 
I had told them in my letter that I wanted this taken care of within 30 days or I would turn it over to the Dept of Managed Healthcare. 
I got no response to my letter and no acknowledgement of my letter but now this second collection letter.
I will have to take this up with the Dept of Managed Healthcare as I had threatened.
When a dentist charged me more than Delta Dental allows and they wanted to charge me the difference the Dept contacted Delta Dental who made the dentist pay me back what the dentist had overcharged me.
But who wants to go through that because some billing clerk screwed up? But that's the only way I can stop them from affecting my very good credit. 
GRRRRRR!
