Woes Of Uncommonly Spelled Names
May 7th, 2009 at 11:13 am by --KALEB NATION--
One of the many tribulations that plague a new and relatively unknown author is having your title constantly misspelled . I cannot even count the times people have called my book:
Brandon Hambric: The Farfield Curse
Bran Hambrick: The Fairfield Curse
Brian Hamric: The Farefeld Curses
to the point that I now just laugh when I see a new variation and add it to my growing list. I, obviously, am at fault for picking both a character name and a title that can be a hundred different words depending on how it is pronounced. Woe to me if I do a radio interview and tell people to go to BranHambric.com (for this reason, I also got TheFarfieldCurse.com, which is slightly easier to spell correctly).
Not only that, but my uncommonly-spelled name has doomed me to get the Caleb Nation equivalents on every site (AKA, CalebNation.com, Youtube.com/CalebNation, Twitter.com/CalebNation) in an attempt to ward off future squatters. Snapping up every Caleb Nation site was prompted by my research on who owns StephanieMeyer.com (the more common spelling of Stephenie Meyer’s name, whose real site is StephenieMeyer.com). Stephenie does not own it, unfortunately. A company does, and is demanding $4,695,200 for it. CalebNation.com costs me $10 a year. I think it’s worth the security 
Another woe of having a book title made of obscure words is with bookstore search engines. Amazon.com, while being quite gracious in putting my book on the rankings (the highest we got was #85 in the 9-12 list, which merited a BlogTV party of course) has gotten me confused with Some Other Author who has written Some Other Book. Recent searches for Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse rendered these results at random times:
Maybe if Bran was a Hobbit.
Bran’s long-lost, super-smart cousin.
I Twittered about these a few days ago, and thankfully we all had a glorious laugh at the Amazon’s Search Monkey’s expense. Then, Laura at the Twilight Lexicon came up with something that might help Amazon’s failmonkeys: a Branagram.
I laughed so hard (funnier still: this post will appear on my Amazon.com page for Bran Hambric; perhaps they will notice it there?).
Still, there are even more advantages to having an uncommonly-spelled name. For some reason I’ve always liked that my name is spelled with a K instead of a C, despite the obvious wonders the initials CAN might have done for me if I was to become a motivational speaker. My uncommonly spelled name has served quite well over the past few years, including this glorious, one-line review from a blog:
“The author’s name is Kaleb Nation – I will buy it just for that!”
which makes all the misspellings and search-engine-fails completely worth it
Posted in Bran Hambric, Twilight
Tags: Amazon.com, Bran Hambric, Twilight Lexicon
May 7th, 2009 at 11:27 am
[...] lieu of a post I’ll link you straight to the Lex. Also, if you’re curious, I discovered how much a domain squatter is demanding for StephanieMeyer.com (the common misspelling of StephenieMeyer.com) and lament commonly-misspelled names. Hint: the [...]
May 7th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
LOL! Mispellings crack me up xD
Kitty
xzx
May 7th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
They may mistake the curse picture for “witch”….
May 7th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
I have the same issue in school. I have a VERY uncommon last name and have gotten tons of differenet misspellings. Sort if sick of it! Love the pictrogram, and by laughing so hard, I fell off the computer chair..
May 7th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Gah try having an irish name like saoirse and lots of american and english friends, you wouldn't complain if you heard what i've been called! Anyway great post and your name seriously rocks, your parents must be cool =]
May 7th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Lol, xD
BRAIN HAMBRICC.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Bran Hambric: The Farfield Witch
A sequel Title OO:
Lawl xDD
May 7th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Brain Hambrick… spin off potenial perhaps?
I would read it
What about Bron Hambrick? A variation on Tron?
(Imagining a very amusing photo manip…it's a damn shame I can't photoshop!)
xxx
May 7th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I feel for you. Just know that when you become huge, and too good for us little people, we will all know the correct spelling.
And as a funny personal story:
I decided to marry my high school sweetheart (since divorced). At the wedding the JP kept calling me Shamu. That will mess with your self confidence, especially on your wedding day.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Yay! You aren't dead due to swine flu! lol.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I feel for you, I have had people spell my name mAckenzie for so long, it gets annoying. People also frequently forget to capatalize the K. I like my McKenzie, its me
May 7th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
How would you pronounce your name??? ….just wondering…..
May 7th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
You think misspellings are bad? Try mispronunciations! My name is Anna, but I can't tell you how many times people have said “is your name pronounced awn-uh? or ann-uh? My last name too. Its Leonard. pronounced Lenn-erd. But millions of times i have picked up the phone and heard “hello, is this the lee-o-nard household?” its sooooo annoying
May 7th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
It's pronounced – Sir-shah (easy on the 'a' though) or Sor-shah it depends on how Irish you are I guess
Btw, I'm not Irish… I just live in Ireland….
May 7th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Bag and Brain Hambric… The long lost twins of the Hambric Triplets…. of course since someone always turns out to be evil in a pair of twins, I vote for Brain to be the Evil genius of the group….
ROFL… that'd make a nice parallel universe story… I think… Having a unique name is both a blessing and a curse… My name has been mispronounced so many times since I moved here to Ireland that I've now learned to answer to my mispronounced name…
P.S. Why would anyone want to pay $4,695,200 just for a name of a website??? That's waaaaaay beyond reasonable!
May 7th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
the clues for the title of your book are funny. ^^ XD
May 7th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Wow I can't believe that site wants almost 5mil for a one letter variation. So lame
I understand the misspelling of a name. My name is Candace and I have seen it as Kandice, Candice, Kandace, Candance and also Candy. But the older I get the funnier it is when people incorrectly spell my name
May 7th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I have the same name woes. My name is spelled krYstina, instead of krIstina like everyone else. I kinda like because it makes it different, but having everyone spell you name wrong gets old after a little while.
May 7th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Don't forget Kalib Nation!
People are always pronouncing my last name wrong. XD
May 7th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
My name is Christiana. I think I have you all beat. (Pronounced Chris-tea-on-uh) People have spelled it with a 'K' with an extra 'n', without an 'a'. People have called me 'Christina' 'Christan' 'Chrissy' 'Christy' 'Chrissy-nana' all variations which I hate. There are only two names I go by and that's 'Christiana' or 'Chris'. -.-;;
It was a nightmare as a child searching the personalized mugs, keychains, and bike license plates for my name. I still have yet to find one that you don't make yourself or customize. lol
They've even misspelled my name on my freaking student ID! Twice!
x.x
May 8th, 2009 at 1:21 am
ahahhahehehehehahahhahahehehahahahhahahwhehehahaehuwhwoaiwWAAWAWHAHAHAHWHAHWHAHWAHWAHWHAHWHAWHAHHWAHWHAWAWAWAW
CALLLIB NAASHIN LOLOLOLOLOLOOLOLOLOL
May 8th, 2009 at 3:49 am
A conversation I had a few days ago:
Meryn: What are some guys names that begin with K?
Jacinta: Umm. Kenny? Kenneth?
Me: Kaleb.
Ally: No, you tool. Caleb's spelt with a C.
Me: NO, it can be spelt with a K. As in Kaleb Nation!
Everyone: Who?
Me: WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO READ TWILIGHT???
…yeah.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Considering Rapunzel (my name) comes from a decidedly famous children's story, it's amazing how many people can't spell it. Or pronounce it.
And I empathise with Jessie about the keychains thing – I have NEVER seen a Rapunzel one. Ever. Though I have seen Jessie…
…And don't get me started on nicknames…
Rap, Rappers, Zellers, Rapsie, Rah, Pun, Punny, Rapu, etc etc. Tell me if you'd like ANY of them.
and how can you misspell Rapunzel?
Rapanzel, Rapunzell, Rahponzel, Rapunsel, Rapuhnzel. There are more. About one mailbag full of Christmas cards more.
…and you thought your names were weird…
May 8th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I used to go by Katy (short for Katerina which no one can spell EITHER for some weird reason) which resulted in almost every person I know (including two of my grandparents ;_;) spelling my name Katie or Katey.
Eek.
I prefer Kate anyway, so that's what I go by now. xD
May 8th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
LoL that happens to me too…one time in school my best friend who have known me forever still spell my name,”Ann” without an “E” and i get so angry and annoyed that whenever i meet someone i have to say,”Hi im anne…with an e” And heres the worst part adults and students in my school say my last name wrong -_- its pronounced bob-is not bow-bis =_=… life is hard when u have the weirdest last name and the most uncommon first name =_=
May 8th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
on the first day of school…they pronounced it…”boo-bis” -_- that is so embarrassing….a great way to start a new year at new school -_-
May 8th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
You know, when I first found your website, and I saw your name was Kaleb, with a “K”, I didn't even notice it. I honestly thought that was how everyone spelled Kaleb/Caleb.
I had a birthday party recently, and I had to write, I think it was 62 invitations, and I wrote one to a guy named Caleb, but I spelled it with a “K” and didn't even realize it. Well, he told me, and I was explained why I spelled it with a “K” and he looked at me like I had 3 heads. Yeah, he didn't show up at that. Haha.
May 9th, 2009 at 3:52 am
Haha my name isn't really Jessie. It's the name I wish I had.
And I think you win.. ._.
Though Christmas is annoying when they put 'Merry Christmas' on the cards in cursive, so I can't tell if it's my name or just 'Christmas'.
May 9th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Kaleb it's funny how you mentioned your commonly misspelled name…
Both my parents and myself have bizarre names that not only can people not spell,
But also not say…
But when I told my Mom about your book she said,
“Wait, his name is actually Kaleb Nation? That is such a neat name”
This just reminded me of that moment
Good luck with Amazon.
May 9th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
With a name like Freya, I know all about mispronunciations. My name is pronounced Fray-ah, but I always get called Free-yah and Fry-ah.
May 11th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Oh, I know that all too well! My name is Vlora and usually it´s spelled with F. So I always have to tell people that it´s spelled with V. A few days ago, somebody who has known me for years spelled it wrong-.-
May 11th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Wut??
September 10th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
My name, Karina, often gets said as Katrina. Plus today, I got my GSCE revision guides (2 of them at least) and they put Kari on the cover! No my friends call me Cash & Carry.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
My name, Karina, often gets said as Katrina. Plus today, I got my GSCE revision guides (2 of them at least) and they put Kari on the cover! No my friends call me Cash & Carry.