Monday, November 2, 2009

The Name Game

Monday, November 2, 2009

I don't usually post name misspellings, because - let's face it - names are kind of a crap shoot. Even really common names have those few screwball versions that mess it up for the rest of us. (I'm looking at you, Jenifer with one "n" and Jerimee with no "y"!) So really, bakers can't be expected to get them all right.

However, there is a point at which names get so thoroughly butchered that your only option is to laugh. These...[dramatic pause]... are those butcherings.

"Let's see, is it Steven or Stephen?"

"Eh, I guess I'll go with both."

This approach also works with the "ie" vs "y" issue:

(Try saying this aloud, and see if you don't sound like you're stuck in a stutter loop. "Criss-ee-ee-ee. No wait, I mean, Criss-ee-ee-ee-eah-crap.")

Those at least have a method to their mistakes, but now we're going to veer into some unexplained territory. See if you can guess the names on these next three:




Did you get them all? Here are the answers: Sarah, Susanna, and Seth. Yes, really. Seth.

Fortunately, sometimes a Wreckerator will recognize that something looks a little "off" with his or her spelling. When this happens, s/he will do the only sensible thing: draw a question mark after the name - on the cake.

Then, when the customer points out that the name in question should be "Jenny" and not "Fenny", the Wreckerator will spare no effort in making a few virtually undetectable corrections:

Magnifique.

(You've also gotta love that lone "C" hanging out under "Happy".)


Stephen P., Crissie, Linda M., Lindsey L., Amy V., & Emily H., I now dub thee Steevan, Krissy, Lynduh, Lynnzee, Aimee, & Hath. You're welcome.

- Related Wreckage: Keith and What's-Her-Name


Note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN!!! Those of you coming to see us tonight in Kansas City, be sure to offer him plenty of birthday greetings, songs, spankings, etc.
Anonymous said...

What Hath wreckerators wrought!

Lucia said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!
Loved todays post!

Bek said...

Wow. I had no idea Hath = Seth. That one threw me for a big loop.

Happy Birthday, Jaon?!!

Lucille Ball Jr. said...

to funny!

Me said...

I couldn't figure out why my page kept refreshing, I guess it was because you were posting the new pics. I suppose it pays to forget to set the clock by my bed back an hour and get up way to early for classes. Have a great day. Debra

Tracy O said...

Happy Birthday John! Or Jon. Or Joahan. Or Joan. Oh, just have a happy day, OK?

Tracy O (can't wait to see you in Atlanta!)

WV:dinguar - When the wreckorators can't decide between singular and double.

Unknown said...

That's too funnyie! I guess they are covering all their bases, there, yes? (Reminds me of Stepfanie Kramer . . . when she was registering her name with the Screen Actors Guild, she found out that both traditional spellings of Stephanie (Stefanie) were already used with her name "Kramer." She wrote "Stepfanie," never really expecting it to be accepted, but it was. The rest is history!)

I got Sarah . . . got Susanne . . . never in a million years would have gotten Seth! Seth? Really?

Poor Jfenny! I would have said, "Pfooiey!"

WV: tryet. Always ask the customer for the proper spelling. Tryet next time!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, John! Or is it Jonh? lol

Trevor said...

Happy Birthday John. Your spanking will have to wait for Bethesda.

WONDERFUL entry. I'm cracking up at some of those. I went 2 for 3 on the names. Seth? Really? Um, sure thing... whatever you say....

I did, notice however, Susanne's cake looks like the decorator made an even WORSE spelling and cleared some of the icing off.

Anonymous said...

I thought Seth's cake looked like it was saying "Happy Birthday Hoth" as in the icy planet in Empire Strikes Back.

How would one know when a planet was born? Or do they just pick a day to celebrate? Why don't we have a birthday for Earth? Huh? HUH?

Cheri said...

WOW. Just WOW. ('Seth', really?!?!? I am still just stunned at how that one came out LOL)

DebraSue said...

HB2U John -- Kansas City is too far from Minnesota, but if you get up to the land of the Mall of America I will definitely come and visit.

I have a daughter named Sarah and I can imagine the conversation went something like this. "please write Happy Birthday Sarah with an 'H'"

Congrats too on the BUZZ BOOK in People magazine

Helena Handcard said...

I love the stripy purple slugs around the edges of Sausnna's cake.

wv: clerch
Here's a fine clerch of Wrecks!

Etiquette Bitch said...

Happy Birthday, John!

Unknown said...

Well...if you just run by the "Sarah" and "Susanna" cakes really fast, they look about right, like one of those anagrams or something. I thought the "Hath" one was for someone from a Star Wars film.

Olivia said...

Similar to cake writing, I do writing on ceramic plates for folks. So far I've seen: Madison, Maddyson, Madyson, Maedesun, Maddison, Maddisson and Madson. I would've sworn that there was only one way to spell it, "Madison."

Granted I double and triple check the names I am given, but really, it can be hard on the side where one has to wonder, if the name spelling was done in ignorance or a unfortunate creative choice.

Unknown said...

BTW, Happy Birthday, John! Hope you have a terrific day! No falling and hitting your head, no hospital visits, no infections, no ICU, no . . . well, you get the picture!

Les said...

The "Susanna" one isn't supposed to be "Savanna"? It looks more to be like the Wrecker wrote "Savannah" and was then told there was no "H"...

mystic_eye_cda said...

What's the purple rectangular thing in the bottom right on "Sauanna's cake? And is that butterfly a gingerbread cookie?

And airbrushing the border = fail.

Pangolin said...

Happy B'day John!
-------
This is exactly why, when I had to get a bakery cake at the last minute because I was too sick to make my twins' cake as planned, I did not ask them to put names on the cake but just "Happy Birthday". Their names are uncommon (though standardly spelled), and there just wasn't time to fix it, if things went wrong.

Julie said...

My 2 & 4 year old girls just begged me to sing "Happy Birthday" because they saw the birthday cakes. HA!

Happy Birthday John!

Anonymous said...

Wonder what happy birthday wrecks will be waiting for today's birthday boy in at the Kansas City meet. tee hee

Jiminycricket said...

I used to see a lot of kreatif name spellings when I taught school, but come on, people!

Looks like Hath was having a happy 21st, and after beginning the celebration a little early, tried to put the candles on the cake himself.

Luvin' Ewe said...

that "C" under the happy birthday? that's the grade she got on the cake.....

Heather said...

Did you know Cake Wrecks was on the Graham Norton Show on BBC1? It was re-broadcast in the States on Saturday. You got big laughs.

Unknown said...

My name is pretty basic Anglo stuff and still gets spelled wrong, most recently by my OB/GYNs office. Most people seem to want to cram an extra 'e' into it to make it Kimberley. I keep telling people that I am neither a diamond mine nor a bloody great desert, thanks.

I've actually had to argue about it more than once. Yes, argue that MY name is spelled the way *I* spell it, and no, that I didn't write it wrong on the form. Duhhhhhhhhhh.

As for Sausanna, I think the baker had sausages for breakfast and maybe is also a Kids in the Hall fan. "SAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUSAGES!" A small number of those reading will find this very funny, the rest will be confused, as is the KitH way. :D

Anonymous said...

haha!! this is great!! I like the F and J combo the best. I believe the second "S" name is supposed to be Savanna. U and V look the same though, right?!

Tracy O said...

Jen and John - You've moved up to international television - saw Graham Norton highlighting your blog on BBC America - way to go!!!!!

Tracy O

Auntie Meme said...

I thought it was Happy Birthday, Shrek

Anonymous said...

Lucky "Shrah"! At least no one tried to create their own version of Hello Kitty. That could ruin any kid's birthday.

And do they still serve beer at Chuck E. Cheese? Because it shouldn't be to the people making cakes, even if they do get employee discounts. The butterfly is on super-straight, and the writing's sliding south-- can't blame that 'h' for jumping ship! Is that other purple thing a big candle?

Emily said...

I can relate. For my son's third birthday, I spelled his name for the lady three times, "C A S O N".

When my sister in law picked the cake up, it said, "Happy Birthday Carson".

I had a feeling that would happen and had told my SIL to make sure it said CASON. Luckily, I have a sister in law that you don't cross so we got a new cake.

Melissa said...

Happy Brithday, Jhan!

Anonymous said...

Good ones as always!

How is everyone doing? Healthy? Glad to see the tour is still on. Take care!

Renee Nefe said...

just yesterday I had the gal at the restaurant spell my name Ranay

I didn't bother to correct her cuz I figured as long as it sounded right when she called me it's all good.

Happy Birthday John!

Gary said...

What amuses and terrifies me about these mispellings is that any of these could be actual people's names.

I've always thought we should imitate the French by legislating that parents can only name their kids from an approved list of recognizable names.

I used to be a copy editor, and we were at a loss when it came to names (unless a very famous person was being named), because people spell their names every way imaginable, and many ways normal people would never imagine. Also, people have words on their birth certificates that most of us would never recognize as names at all. If a name appeared with more than one spelling in an article and we had no way of finding the correct spelling, we just went with the first version.

My mother says that people who have just had a baby (or are about to) are so hormonally disrupted that they develop bizarre tastes in names. That's as good an explanation as any.

Sometime, look at the "Baby Names" section on a forum like Yahoo Answers, and you'll see what I mean. Most of the mothers-to-be (it's rarely fathers) post things like, "I'm thinking of naming my baby Steaming Pile of Dog Dung if it's a boy, or Oozing Infected Pustule if it's a girl. How does that sound to you?"
Most of the responses are along the lines of "Oh, that's sooooo cute! You should definitely name your baby that!"

Gary said...

Oh, and happy birthday, Dzjhahnngn, and happy Dia de los Muertos, everybody else!

Anonymous said...

Those bakers may well have been right though. I know a wilfully functionally illiterate teen who insists on abbreviating Abigayle, her given name, to Abbiey. She thinks it's different. I think she needs a punch in the head with a dictionary.

Anna

Sarah said...

As a Sarah, I recognized that one IMMEDIATELY- if you say "Sarah with an -h", the H is a random letter to be placed anywhere in the name except at the end.
Creativity with silent letters knows no bounds.

Brian O'Mara-Croft said...

We used the cake for my birthday, which my wife completely forgot to pull out during a party, as the cake for my son's birthday. We just removed my name from the icing and added his.

Fun blog...keep it up!

Cheers,
Brian

Anna said...

The first time I read the Sarah cake, I thought they had gone for "Shrek" but misspelled it "Shrak". :D Doesn't make that much more sense though, does it? And Seth? Seth? How did that turn into a, misspelled, version of the Star Wars ice planet with the Tauntauns? 'Cause that's what I saw there. Though to be honest, I think if you're an entire planet, you probably get something grander for your birthday than wrecked cake.

Speaking of birthday: happy, happy, happy birthday Djauhnn!!! Oops. John. Ahem.

Anonymous said...

I agree that the Susanne one is actually probably Savanna, which makes it slightly less wrecky (though it still has plastic bits, smeared icing corrections, and airbrushing going for it).

quichepup said...

OK, here's my guesses:

Shrek (even ogres have birthdays)
Sausage-anna (butcher's daughter?)
Hoth (child of Star Wars fans)

Oh well, I was close.

Happy Birthday Jon!

Sarah said...

I know theres already a few Sarah's that have responded, but let me add.

90% of the population understands what you mean when you say "Sarah with an H" (which, if you know someone is gonna write your name down I think most would agree that you either say "Sarah with an H" or "Sara without an H") but every once and a while I will say that to someone and I will see their brain function hault and their eyes roll to the back of their head in confusion as they are trying to comprehend what I just said to them. Thats when you know the H will end up anywhere but where it's suposed to be.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday JHON!

Great post. :)

Stella said...

Hope you have a Happy Day John...I got sausages too on the Susannah/Savannah cake and the last one was just a doozy...now I'm hungry for pigs in a blanket right now....

Cakey Goodness said...

Happy Birthday John!!

November birthdays are the BEST!

Sarah Strauss said...

You have no idea how many people butcher "sarah".

You would think it would be pretty easy....but NO.

Especially when I say "Sarah with an H", because if you ask any Sarah, the most important thing is that H. We are not Saras.

Anyways, it will become Shara. Sarha. Sahra. They put the H everywhere but at the end.

Luckily it hasn't happened on my birthday cake yet. But hell hath no fury like a Sarah without an H.

(haha...get it...i used hath...)

Layla said...

I love on the Susanna cake it looks like there was more on the name, but is was erased.

jackie31337 said...

Happy birthday Jhon!

WV: phanqu, phanqu very much.

Andygirl said...

Let's be nice. Hath, Sauanna, and Shrah are very nice names. That's what I'd name my kids if I was a wreckorator.

Kelly said...

If the "H" is silent, does it really matter where you put it?

(Happy Birthday, John!)

WV: Blessn If your name on your cake has the correct letters in any order, consider it a blessn.

Pahz said...

Those were priceless!

My kids all have traditional spellings of their names- but when I had my third child (Army hospital, Fort Stewart, Georgia), they asked me her name and I said, "Christine, just like its supposed to be spelled."

The receptionist in the clinic just looked at me and said, "Last week we had one- C-R-Y-S-S-T-Y-N-E... there is no "just like" anymore."

That was 16 years ago.

Now I wish I had named my son "Hath" instead of Jason.

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday, John! (Jon? Jonh? Juan? LOL)

Misspelled names. Love them!
~Amy B-H

Anonymous said...

Ouch! I failed the name quiz.

I got Sarah for #1, but I was sure #2 was going to be Savanna (or some variation).

#3 made me tilt my head, squint, and give up to scroll down for the answer. I would not have ever gotten Seth out of that!

As someone who has always had to spell my name (common name, MANY spelling variations, uncommon but classic spelling) it blows my mind that people still get simple basic names like Sara/h or Jenny wrong. It certainly explains some of the more frustrating customer "service" experiences I have had though.

Verification: Multiono
These birthday cakes caused not merely one "Oh no!" but multionos.

Sarah said...

I'm a Sarah... that's Sarah with an H. I have gotten all kinds of mispellings, including the one seen here. I never knew it was that uncommon of a name!

Mad in Crafts said...

Geawn. IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY.

JenMcG said...

Happy Birthday John!

Love the post as I am planning my own birthday cake for next week - maybe I will design my own personal wreck! as a CCC no doubt!

Danielle said...

I didn't even get to Seth because I was still trying to figure out who got Sauron a purple butterfly birthday cake. You'd expect something in red, with a big eye on it maybe.

drgns4vr said...

Spelling names is always a challenge. When I used to enroll children for our library story time we were lucky when parents spelled the names for us. But then we would get hit with the slightly unusual--Jonh (sic), Bbob (sic), Stasci (sic). Come on, people, give your kids a break. There are enough weird legimately spelled names out there.
(stepping gently off the soap box and going to look for cake to eat)

Happy Birthday, John. I'd sing, but it would be a wreck of different kind.

WV dangre You could be in dangre if you misspell my name.

Lauren said...

I feel like Susanna's "name" (Sauanna?) would be pronounced something like "Sauna." What parent would name their child "Sauna"?

WV: "Pabansul." How the wreckerators spell "Hannah."

SimsKatie said...

Happy Birthday Math! Or is it Hath...?

Oh well, congratulations on your own birthday, John!

Melissa (& Billy) said...

It's too bad the Hello Kitty cake was misspelled. It's adorable!

The rest? Oops.

Melanie Withrow said...

"Que Shrah, Shrah, whatever will be, will be...."

Terry Lee said...

it never ceases to amaze me (though it shouldn't) how these mistakes keep happening.

most of us are prudent consumers who spell things out (literally) to bakery employees (or any other place where spelling matters).

with a name like mine, i get all manner of spelling variations if i don't spell it out completely.

worse, i get called mr. terry lee ... until they see me. heh heh

happy birthday to john!!!!

Hyacinth said...

Oh. I thought it was supposed to be Savanna. Then I read the comments and everyone kept talking about Susanne and I couldn't figure out what they were talking about! Even though I read the blog, it didn't stick, I guess. And yes... Seth? Really? I also thought it was a Star Wars reference.

J said...

Is that a flash drive on Sauanna's cake?!

Confessions of a Mother, Lawyer & Crazy Woman said...

As a now-Jenny who was called Jennifer as a kid, I recall a year where my cake read, "Happy Birthday Juniper!"

My mom brought it home because it needed to be shared. Hence was born a new nickname.

Thanks for the laugh.

Jenny/Juniper (common spelling)

Laura P. said...

I had to go back and do a double take when you said that was supposed to be Seth. Really? Wow. Just wow.

Major blessings and happiness for your birthday, John!! Wish the signing tonight was a little closer to Sioux Falls, SD!

Jeni P. said...

Happy birthday to John AND to ME! 1984 baby!

Unknown said...

Perhaps she was soused as she decorated?

Having seen myriad misspellings of my own names, I wanted classic spellings for my children's. I still have to spell them out. Laura, Caleb, Bethany; people seem to not be sure of what classic spellings are anymore, and are afraid to offend.

Anonymous said...

Icing + person in the wrong line of work = "Hey, birthday cake! Who's Fenny?"

lisadh said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN!!

I'm going with son of a Star Wars fan for "Hoth".

Seriously.

Ha!

Anonymous said...

I love that you're asking people to bring spankings for John tonight. Happy Birthday, John! May it be spanking free. :)

Unknown said...

I Hath no idea what it Seth?

Trying saying that while holding your tongue!

Happy Birthday to the Hubby of Jen!

LJ said...

Happy Birthday Jonh with an H!

And now I know why my mom never had my name on my birthday cake unless she put it there! (Non-traditional spelling of something close to "Laura"). I mean, until she realized I like pie and it's just goofy to put frosting on pie. Especially since I don't like frosting.

Anonymous said...

I was having such an awful day until I realized why: I hadn't gotten my daily dose of this site! Much better....

Sarah J said...

As someone named Sarah I have seen that misspelling and other similar ones many times. Some people don't know where to put the 'H' but I have received several cards that are addressed to Shara, Sharh, or Shra.

Lauren said...

Well, I got Sarah and Susanna. Totally couldn't get Seth out of that mess. Ah well. I am 2/3 competent in Wreckorator-ese.

Jessica said...

Happy Birthday John!

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday John and me (1954). My first name is spelled differently and my last ends with two er.

Dayle

Jenifer said...

It's not my fault! My mother didn't know how to spell "Jennifer" when I was born and spelled it the way it sounded to her.

LeftWingLock said...

Happy Birthday John!!

To Lauren @ 12:24: When I was a kid I lived down the street from a girl whose name was Sauna, so I guess there's at least one parent who would do that!

When going thru my mom's papers I found a receipt for one of my birthday cakes that said "Caroline with a Y" on it...I guess that made sense to the decorator since every cake I remember said "Carolyn" on it.

Stephanie said...

I never would have guessed the last one was Seth. I would very much like to know how Seth turned into Hath...

Happy birthday, John! :)

Katie said...

Okay that last Happy Birthday one I would not have guessed Seth. I actually saw "Happy Birthday Math" I did get the other two though.

Liz Gates said...

It's kind of depressing to realize that there are lots of fairly common names that people can't spell! I've been spelling my name for people my whole life--not because of the "Elizabeth" vs "Elisabeth" thing, but because apparently the vowels are just too tricky. There's no "u" in "Elizabeth", thanks.

Jen, I got your book this weekend and now my ribs hurt from laughing so much! It's HYSTERICAL! I loaned it to my mom & sisters, with the caveat that they can't have anything in their mouths while they read it (I don't want diet coke spittle all over the pages).

Happy birthday, John! Hope it's great!

WV: rexon--what wreckerators do with regularity

Lucia said...

wow i was the 2nd comment! that never happens to me!

Lucille Ball Jr. said...

happy b-day john!

Real Life, Except Not Real said...

Perhaps a simple "Happy Birthday!" with NO name if you are not sure would be called for.......

Chris + Tina said...

Happy Brithday Jhon! It's my brithday today too! See ya'll in Boston! :)

Thanks for a great site!
-Tina or is that Teena....hmmmm.

Erin said...

Happy Birthday John! Hope you have a wonderful year!!

lizzzie said...

Happy Birfthdy Ghoauhn!!!

Once again, I am flabbergasted that these wreckerators are professionals. They get PAID for this! The may even have gotten TRAINED to do this!

In wonder,
Liz

Anonymous said...

on the last cake i saw happy crappy birthday. lol.

Unknown said...

As a Sarah I know exactly what happened. It turns out you can't just say "Sarah with an H" and expect people to know where to put it. (You SHOULD be able to but that doesn't mean that you CAN.) I've had my H all over the place. Sheesh.

Twirly McSwirl said...

Yay, happy birthday, John!

I got all the names besides Hath... Seth... whatever.

WV: patcheis (Sounds like a painful disease... did John catch that one, too?)

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, John!

I received my Cake Wrecks book today and love it! My favorite part is the Oscar reference! I thought my family and I were the only ones who knew about that movie - we quote it all the time and got my husbaned hooked, too :)

anaceofkidneys said...

I'm thinking "Crissyie" might actually be legit. In the 1920s it was popular to put an E at the end of any girl's name ending in Y: Marye, Bessye, etc., and I've seen a few modern examples from parents who are either trying to be retro or just plain can't spell.

Sexy Sadie said...

Happy Birthday Honj!

cyn said...

The best *worst* name misspelling I've had to encounter in real life was on an anniversary cake I ordered for my parents......

Happy 30th Anniversary
Bob and Dad

Too bad I didn't get a pic of THAT disaster!

Bree said...

Happy Birthday J'hawn! (No doubt there is a man out there with that name). My mom's birthday is the 14th, so you're in good company. :-)

I got Sarah from Shrah, and I thought Saunana might be Susanna. But I would have never guessed that Hath was supposed to be Seth. Maybe that cake was ordered in the South again.

kadyb said...

I'm with Kimberly - other people are always trying to correct how I spell my name. People, I've lived with it all my life; I should know how it's spelled.

And, worse, it doesn't matter if it's my given name or my nickname - someone's always out to straighten me out.

Oh, well. Enough. Happy birthday, John. Jon. Jean. Jonh?

There was a Halloween CCC at the hairdressers' Saturday. I found it incomprehensible, but the ladies who work there seemed to enjoy it.

Unknown said...

I had no trouble reading these. I guess years of deciphering my dyslexic father's creative spelling finally came in handy.

Suzi said...

Awww, John - thanks for sharing your birthday with me! And I'm unusually spelled both for my nickname and full name, so this is a great birthday post. Many are the times I've cursed my mother for spelling it "creatively", but now it's stuck.

Suzi / Suzannah

wv: ammin - It's our birthday! Can I get an ammin?

Unknown said...

are you sure that is not Savanna... clearly the decorator doesn't know cursive

Scott said...

I'm pretty sure that Sauanna(h) is supposed to be Savanna, which is normally spelled with an h at the end, which they erased.

NYCGirl said...

Happy birthday, John!

I actually interpreted the Sarah and Susanna cakes correctly. But the Seth cake? Uh-uh.

AlisonH said...

Happy birthday, John! (Raising a slice of cake high.) To your good health!

Unknown said...

I read Shrahs, Sauanna (which I took to mean Savannah, but apparently not o.O) and Hath.

Thank you, Cakewrecks, for providing my future children's names!

Cake for Breakfast said...

Ha! My name is Sarah and you would be shocked at how many people spell it Shara. Glad to see it in icing.

Happy Birthday John!!

Anonymous said...

We've heard from several ppl who have 'popular' names and get them spelled wrong...how about those of us with uncommon names? Lenore seems like it is pretty straight-forward but I've gotten everything from 'Lenoir' (which is the 18th century spelling) to Leynor and even Leonard. My sister has it worse...her name is Michaeline. You can only imagine what people do that that!

Kachine said...

Yikes! I never would have gotten "Seth" out of "Hath!" I'm with everyone else, it really says "Hoth" and the wreckerator still misspelled it!

I can completely relate to all the strangly spelled names! I have a very common name with a different spelling. Try explaining Jessika to the rest of the world!

And of course, Happy Birthday Jon with a H!

WV: dingov - Dingov all the misspelled cakes out there!

Anonymous said...

Happu Birthday, John! You've had a rough month! Hope you eat lots of yummy cake!

Sarah said...

Any Sarah will have recognised the "Sarah" wreck. We've all had that spelling at some stage!!

Maureen said...

Hmm, I thought the "Susanna" was "Savanna."

Gina said...

Are we sure that Sauanna is not supposed to be Savanna? Still wrong, but not as ridiculously so...they just don't know how to script a "v" It even looks like they scraped the "h" off the end.

bpddjeoomon said...

Ugggh, names!

My first and middle names have been on the top 10 baby names list EVERY YEAR since the year I was born (and my last name is always in the top 100, since it's also a first name), so they're pretty common and popular.

And STILL people spell them wrong all the time.



Happy birthday, John!

Rebecca. said...

Hope your day is wonderful. Happy birthday John@

Unknown said...

The one says "Savanna".. that's a real name. Was it really supposed to be Susanna?

Anonymous said...

'Happy Birthday Shrah'? Who want to give a cake to a bottle of wine?

scrappin{jewlz} said...

Happy birthday John!!!

Nee S. said...

I thought that first cake was a reference to the old Daily Show segment, "Even Stevphen" with Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert.

Amanda Loughlin said...

say hello to my hometown for me! wish i could be there.

Ros said...

Okay, you got me. I was sure that second one was Savanna.

Chrys said...

I thought Seth was Kath, and I was thinking it's not THAT bad.

I don't care if the name is Bob, I always ask them to spell it.

Amber said...

That's why I ALWAYS asked the spelling, even for really common names. I got some funny looks but I explained that people spell even seemingly simple names in complex ways.

Beth said...

Dd and I sooo much regretted missing y'all in KC last night, but she had to start her new job. Fortunately, she'll be working in a place with a bakery on-site...fodder.... Happy Belated Birthday, John!!

little gator said...

The mispelled "Sausagna." which must be lasagna with sausage.


(Homer Simpson voice)

mmmm...Sausagna...

word verif.

"torterac"=what these wrecker should be tortered on.

Anonymous said...

It's supposed to be Susanna? It looks like 'Savanna' which is indeed an actual name so...

Sarah said...

My name's been misspelled as "Shra"... by a school official. So I'm not really surprised by all this. Amused, yes, but not surprised at all.

Anonymous said...

Halarious!

Anonymous said...

What's really sad is that my mom, a former cake maker/decorater,spelled my name wrong on one of my birthday cakes. Me. Her DAUGHTER.
Unfortunately I don't have a picture and it doesn't qualify since it wasn't "purchased" but still- cake lady misspells daughter's name on birthday cake.
Lovely.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU so much for those. I was at the hospital all day with my daughter who had to have surgery, and have been crying all day and sick with worry. This was the first time I laughed all day, and it felt good.

Fenny?!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!

p.s. My daughter is going to be fine :)

Kristina said...

I've never had my name put on a cake before. I'm Kristina with a K, but my mom didn't ever want to go round and round with the bakers.

Fun fact: Her name's Suzan. Like Susan, but with a z. She once had to have my grandmother come to her school with a copy of her birth certificate to prove she knew how to spell her own name.

Of course, nobody ever learns anything from ANY of this; I named my daughter Allyson.

Anonymous said...

lol.. people do that to my name all the time. I say "Sarah with the H" and they throw it in all willy nilly. Makes me wonder if I said "Kris with a K" if they'd spell it Crisk"... -_-

Casey said...

In the interest of protecting true Douglas Adams geekdom, Fenny is a name in the Hitchhiker's Guide Series. Short for Fenchurch, the rail station where she was conceived.

Savanna said...

Cake #2 definitely says Savanna. It's still a wreck in that they scraped off the H after finding out it was wrong for her spelling. But as a Savanna-with-no-H I can't tell you how many times I've seen this... *sigh* Give us H-less Savanna's some credit! :)

SJerZGirl said...

The "Susanna" cake looks more like a Savannah with the "H" removed (notice the smeared purple?) -Wendy

Rachel S. said...

Are you sure the "Susanna" one really says that? It looks like Savanna to me. That's actually an old friend's name.

Anonymous said...

The Susanna one... It looks like Savanna which is a name. Do they have proof it's supposed to be Susanna?

Tish said...

I think the one you dubbed "Susanna" is actually "Savanna" and the wreckerator added an "h" originally, then ceremoniously scraped it off?

Anonymous said...

Does the third one say "Happy Birthday Shrek"?