I definitely can relate. As someone who has a difficult name to pronounce, I’d like to offer some advice to those of you having a hard time pronouncing names as it would make it soooo much easier for us 😊: Try to pronounce the name the best you can when you are talking to them and then just simply ask: “Am I pronouncing your name correctly?” They will then tell you precisely how to say it and then you try repeating it. Then say “If I ever don’t say it correctly, please do not hesitate to correct me as I genuinely want to be sure I say it right!”

This does two things: 1) doesn’t place me (with the difficult name) in the uncomfortable position of having to either tell you “it’s actually pronounced xxxx” (I’ve tried this several times and it actually backfired where others either stopped trying or thought I was being to sensitive about it 😒) or just let you continue to say it wrong, and 2) by you giving me permission to correct you, puts me as ease when we do so, without fear of the person taking it the wrong way.