My son's name, Ellis, is often auto-corrected by people's brains to Alex, so we taught him to spell it as soon as he could, becuase it would frustrate him to be called the wrong name.  And every once in awhile people will look at him strangely and say, "Your name is Alice?"

My daughter's name is Sarah, and at least once a week someone will call me Sarah or her Elizabeth. The names sound nothing alike, but they are apparently in the same category of names in people's minds.

This isn't about two names that get mixed up due to their similarity, but what can happen if the parent has an ahead-of-the-curve name and the child a behind-the-curve one for their respective generations. On another (non-name-related) online forum I frequent there is a baby-boomer-aged member named Jen(ny), although in her case it's short for Jane and not Jennifer; she named her daughter Linda (a name much more common for mom's generation than her daughter's). She's told several stories about people getting them confused name-wise.

I always get Jen. My random, more-than-once mistake name is Pam. Our last name always gets heard as King instead of K@ng.

I can relate ot KellyXY's comment - the generational names I always get confused are this mother-daughter named Grace (m) and Diane (d).

Another generationally-confusing parent-child name set I thought of, this time a father-son one that I vaguely recall one time online somewhere, is Nathan (dad) and Paul (his son); many often expect it to be the other way around.

My name is Elsha (pronounced just like it's spelled: el-sha) but people often add an i and prounounce it Elisha. I've also gotten Elsa, Elsie, and Elijah. (How you get Elijah out of Elsha is beyond me.)

My husband Brian often gets Ryan, and my daughter Kalena has gotten Korrina. No problems (yet) with our sons: William and Daniel. But considering they are only 2 1/2 years and 3 months old, there's plenty of time.

I, Brittany, have only recently started having a lot of phone conversations that end in "OK, thanks Bernice." It seems so funny to me, because I have SUCH a different impression of the two names. I suppose that a lot of these callers must be older than the folks I was dealing with in past jobs, because I can't reacall it ever happening before (and I have almost always reduced my name to two syllables throughout my life).

With Beth, you get Jeff, Steph, Jen, Ben, and Bess.  And if anyone calls out any of those names, I turn my head.

Add one to the Rebecca/Rachel, David/Daniel, and other Biblical mix-ups pile: I am a Hannah who gets called Sarah and my husband is a Jacob who gets called Josh.

Folks who don’t hear my name properly (whether because I have mumbled or my voice has been drowned out) inevitably think me to be Helen or Heather—two very different names indeed!

Oh, and if you so much as say, “And, uh...” I will think you are talking about me!

"This is my daughter, Eliza."

-"Eliza?  Isn't that a boy's name?"

"No, Eliza, from Elizabeth?"

-"Yes, that's what I said, Elijah. Like the prophet."

Sigh. Didn't see that one coming when we named our little girl!

My sister Maureen gets Maria or Colleen all the time. I named my son Rhys, and his is mistaken when people see the name... we get "rice" a LOT. But, we knew pretty much no one was going to get it right on the first try, and don't get upset about it. As a Katie, I get Kasey or ocassionally Kaylee.

The difference between Merry and Mary is about the same as the difference between Ellis and Alice. Merry wants her name pronounced with a shwa not a broad/nasalized 'a' sound. (I can't remember the linguistic term for that.) But, it's like pin and pen, some people hear/pronounce it, some don't.

Angela doesn't get misunderstood often... But I have been called "Tangible" (actually, the guy who thought this was my name still calls me Tangible as a joke) and "Tarantula" (which caught on like wildfire for about a week when my friends heard about it).

I'm an adult Abig@il who usually goes by Abby, and I've had very few mixups with my name. I can recall one instance each of "Annie" and "Amy" (and the latter was in an announcement and may have been more on the order of a typo because an actual Amy was also mentioned in the announcement). Any other instances I have forgotten, so they must have been fairly insignificant. I do wonder, though, if any of this will change as the current cohort of mostly under ten Abig@ils grows up. I could see girls named Addy having mixups with girls named Abby, in addition to the Addison/Madison Addy/Maddy cases previously mentioned.

I have heard that Abig@il is sometimes misheard in England/UK as "happy girl." Wouldn't have occurred to me in a hundred years, but makes sense with some of the English accents.

As a Jessica, "Yes!" very often sounds like "Jess!".  Name-wise, I'm often mistaken for Jennifer.  I guess people's brains only have room for one excessively-popular-80s-J-name :).

Edit - I guess I should have read through the replies first to see that my issue is not uniqye!  Jessica M - I'm glad someone else confuses Yes for Jess :)

After thinking about it, I realized that only people aged 35+ make the Jennifer mistake.  It seems like it's mostly people where Jennifer was more popular in their age group.

I never thought about Melissa and Michelle but that makes sense!  I wonder if it's the same for you Melissas - Is it mostly older people who mistake you for Michelles, as I believe it was popular first?

I think almost any name is vulnerable to confusion if it's similar to another, more common name; or, is so common in your generation that people forget it; or if you are speaking to someone with a different accent from your own.

PJ - I'm a Molly who gets called Holly and Polly. Oddly enough, I've gotten Paulie as well -although I don't say a short "o" as "aw". Holly is much more common for women my age, so I'm not surprised.

Also, occassionally, Melly, which I really don't care for. Again, though, there are tons of women my age named Melissa, Melanie, and Melody, so I suppose it's a reasonable guess. [NB: I probably know dozens of Mels, but no Mellys, except possibly with their families or when they were children]. And Emily, my God, Emily.

I think part of the problem is that I live in the Great Lakes region, in a city with VERY nasal vowels. I'm from here but don't have the accent (I'm forever being asked where I'm from), and this REALLY throws some people who are expecting to hear nasal vowels -- Molly sounds like Maahlly here, kind of.

I turn my head if I hear Somalia or Mali, or, occassionally and most frustrating, Mommy, if it's a little kid whose Ms aren't distinct yet.

ALSO: I have a seven-year-old dog named Harper (it wasn't so trendy yet, ok;)) and it's forever being misheard as Parker. Same vowel sounds, plosives in the middle. Just a heads-up if you're considering it as a baby name!

I'm in love with the Ashley actually one..

Add me to the list of Ashleys who have responded to "actually" on many occasions. I've been accused of over-pronouncing "actually" as a result. I've even done it at work. I'm a teacher, so, of course, the kids call me Mrs. LN. Even so, I'll hear "actually . . . " and turn!

My name is Kristen, but I get Christine all the time!  

"Hi, I'm Clare."

"Cath?"

"Clare."

"Kate?"

"C-Lare."

"Kelly?"

Enunciation.  I'm doing it wrong.

My daughter is Miriam, and she is sometimes called Marian.

Once, I even told someone her name, and they repilied, "Oh, like the Music Man! Miriam the librarian!"

She heard ME correctly, but she had either misheard the song, or was not correctly remembering the musical.

I consulted with my friend Melissa, who was born in the late '80s, and she said that she never gets "Michelle", but that she has been called "Melanie" on more than one occasion. That one makes more sense to me because they are both frequently shortened to "Mel". Funnily, though, she is not a "Mel". It just doesn't feel like her, and she doesn't like it because it can also be short for a name that isn't hers.

When someone nearby says "Really?" I often whip my head around, thinking they are calling me.

don't have much of a problem with this now, but growing up, i would be called Dena,Diana,Donna, anything but Dana, for some reason.

JKE, Regarding your name Jae: as you may know, Jae is common in Korea where it can be one of the two elements of a Korean name. I have a Korean friend called Jae. Another Korean adoptee friend named her daughter Jacey to include her own Korean birth name Jae.

My granddaughter is Jane. Others can't seem to relate to a toddler being called Jane and often ask after being told her name, "Jade?"

I'm a Catherine and I usually turn my head at Kevin or Patrick, when they're said quickly.

I have heard Tiffany called Stephanie, Lauren called Warren, and Heather called Heidi.

Tara = (american pronunciation)

Sarah

Karen

Cara

Paris

Farrah

and when I hear:

"terrible"

"error"

"careless"

I think they're talking about me! Not the name I would have chosen.

Uh oh, I'm an Ari. I've never gotten a mistaken Siri call, but we'll see what happens. 

My full name is Ariana - pronounced Ari-ah-na. I get Ari-anne-a and Aria, but not that often. My name's not very common with people my age (I'm in my late 20s), so I've never had too many problems. Spelling is the major issue for me (Ariana v. Arianna). Ari is often misheard as Ali, I've had several people think my full name name is Alison.

I'm sure this one isn't a common experience - my brother went though a Greek mythology phase when we were in middle school and started calling me Ariadne. I was going exclusvively by Ari at the time and when I started using my full name ten years later (after college), I got so many comments along the lines of, "Wait, I thought your full name was Ariadne?"

My daughter's name is Elizabeth, nickname Lissa. People hear Melissa all the time, which is expected, but, luckily, we've never gotten Michelle. It might just be a generational thing. 

If my name (Tara) is mistaken for something else, it is always Karen.  My son Levi is very young and I don't think it's been mistaken for something else yet...but I do expect some occasional Eli confusion.

At all family dinners, there is at least one incident when I think someone is calling me instead of my cousin, Tara! Especially since we are often called "Tar" and "Kar" by family members.

(Except we don't pronounce our names like you do. Kar ≠ Care and Tar sounds like "Tan".)

I'm often mistaken for Mary-Anne, i'm Kerri-ann by the way. So i say "Hi i'm K*erri-ann really trying to pronounce the /K/ sound. I sound rather strange. I also get Kerry, Mary, etc,  yay the hyphen names. 

In High school my English teacher (who should know but was in his late 60's- so we will give him that) Would call me Mary-Jane?? Anyway, after 6 months i just went with it after countless times other students would correct him.

I swear there was a Head Teacher scratching his head thinking "Why is this Mary- Jane skipping all her classes but English?"

My name is Katlyn(pronounced as Kate-lyn). I have gotten everything from Kathleen, Kathy, Catlyn to Kateland. I just listen for the name that sounds the closest and go from there. I usually have to correct them when they ask. It has always happened. My family calls me Katy ( so no confusion there). And in causual settings, I've gone by Kate in the past.

My name is Heidi that is ocassionally called Heather and somtimes Holly, but neither very often. Spelling it right seems to be harder than for people than to hear and remember it correctly. 

My son's name is Elias and he is constantly being called Elijah, which is understandable. However, when people are trying to remember his name they'll say Eliza a lot too, which seems odd since he very much looks like a boy. It's similar to the Dennis-Denise and Eliza being called Elijah comments earlier.

I never knew the Michelle/Melissa thing, the names don't seem in the same catagory to me.

I'm a Catherine and I very often get Christine.  Anyone else had that?  I think people remember "Long name, starts with C"  On the phone, I've had people mishear my name as Captain, which I think is actually quite dashing!

Generational ones that I constantly mess up:

Father Hudson with son George

Mother Emily with son Elizabeth

My name is Alexandria, and I constantly get called Alexandra.  It's not that hard, there is just a little 'i' squeezed right in there.  Also people spell my nickname: Alex, as Aleks.  Wtf where do they get Aleks from? The original spelling is Alex.  I make sure to pronounce the 'x' extra hard so that people know how to spell it.  I know that Alexandria and Alexandra are alike, so it doesn't matter as long as I correct them.  But how could Alex get misspelled that way? Just wondering because it's a very common name for both boys and girls, and my name, Alex, gets spelled as Aleks.  Some people, when they text me, spell it with all capitals.  For example: "Hey, ALEKS, do you want to hang out?" Or if I say "Hello friendsnamehere" they say "Hi, ALEKS." I have to correct people with that.  I don't know where "ALEKS" came from, and it's not so hard since the original spelling is Alex.  I'm not being mean about this, but I just think it's very weird.

Alexandria, I cannot account for the capitalization, nor can I explain why people assume that you use this version of Alex - especially if you live in a primarily English-speaking country. However, if you look at the list of the variants of Alexander used around the world, maybe this mistake won't seem quite so bizarre to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander#Variants_and_diminutives

Guest20: Did you meant daughter, not son, Elizabeth (or are there really boy Elizabeths out there?).

My name is Elizabeth. Aside from the people who can't remember my name and guess Emily or Laura or Sarah (which I take as "You just look like a Sarah" moments rather than because it sounds like my name), and the people who insist on abbreviating my name to Liz or whatnot without asking me if it's okay, there's only one name that I can really think of that people mix up with mine: MelissaBeth. I don't THINK I'm a mumbler, but the number of times people have immediately called me MelissaBeth after I've introduced myself (and I pronounce my name Ee-lizabeth rather than Uh-lizabeth) makes me wonder, because the relative frequencies of Elizabeths vs. MelissaBeths really should be in my favor. Or have I missed something? Is MelissaBeth the new Isabella?

A generational mix-up:

On the Showtime series Homeland, the mother is named Jessica and the 14-year-old daughter is Dana.

My name is Kaddie (like Katie but with the "d" sound).  I like it better now since I am with adults and not ignorant classmates that liked to call me Cad or Caddie -did.  I guess I could have been called worse and when one thinks about most names someone can form a name from it if they want to.  My hubby and I are expecting a baby girl any day now and we are in love with the older vintage names.  Unfortunately, too many of those old names are being overused today.  My husband dosn't want our little girl to have a masculine or unisex name.  He wants her to have a cute but classy feminine name.  So we started looking at the old names from the 50's and 60's.  We will change the spelling if possible for a modern twist and a updated middle name to go with it. So far our favorites are names like Karyn Hannah, Stacy Adele, Brenda Brooks, and Barbara (but having trouble with a sweet middle name).  My husband sometimes calls me Kaddi-did and it doesn't bother me now like when I was a kid.

My brother was known as Mack, short for Macklin (our mother's maiden name).

We named our elder son Mark...  Then my younger son named their son Max!

Family conversations can get very complicated!

On another note - my niece's name is Lara and naturally everyone calls her Laura.

My name is Tiffanie and I get called Stephanie very often. I've even had several people reply to emails - with my name in the From field and signed at the bottom of the email - by saying, Dear Stephanie... And of course they spell it wrong, but that I'll always be used to.

My daughter's name is Emery and I think at least one person thought I said Ann-Marie. I was worried that folks would think I said Emily - she's only 3 months old, so we'll have to see what other mistakes people come up with!

My name, Haley, is always heard as Kaley or what have you. This is why I devised the "Bar Test" for any possible baby names. I pretend I'm in a crowded bar introducing myself, and only pick names that are very clearly understood!

My name is Grace, but people often hear Chris, Greg or Gray.  

I'm a Faye, and when I was growing up I got "Faith" a lot, or just misspellings (no e). My real trouble though is that (partially from overcompensating for not paying ENOUGH attention when I was younger, I think, and partially just mishearing) I tend to turn whenever anyone says anything with that long A sound. Hey, okay, etc.

@Jennie - I suppose this is probably confused even more because in some dialects of American English, "Ginny" and "Jennie" wouldn't be pronounced very differently, either.

All the Astrids on here getting messed up strikes me as funny only because I just started watching Fringe and Astrid on that show is CONSTANTLY getting her name messed up (usually by Walter).

My name is Andrea. For whatever reason, some people think it is Angela or Audrey. I had two Angelas in my grade school class, so I somewhat understood the confusion back then, but it's happened since then when there were no other Angelas (or Audreys or Andreas) in the office or anywhere else. The other annoying thing about the name is how many pronounciations there are. I am ANN-dree-uh but no matter how I introduce myself, I hear ON-dray-uh or ON-dree-uh, neither of which I like.

I'm another Erin who is often called Anne, especially over the phone. We have a 9-month old daughter named Mae after my husband's grandmother. When people ask her name they are constantly mistaking it for "Meg". I've gotten in the habit of saying "like the month". I figure it doesn't really matter if most people are thinking of it spelled wrong.