Seph Bentos

When people persistently get your name wrong.

My name is Seph Bentos.

It’s pronounced Sehf Ben-toe-ss. You’d think that that would be pretty easy to grasp, alas this is not the case.

It is the second half of Joseph and Bentos as in Fray Bentos pies(which by the way I have never tried).

They look so appetising, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

I kind of feel bad moaning about this as I don’t consider myself important enough for this to matter to anyone but me, although I do feel the need to vent a little and hey this is my blog so shush.

Most of the time people say ‘Seth’, which would be understandable if they had only heard my name and never read it. This again, is not the case. I was once on the radio performing (I am a working musician) and after being interviewed about where my name comes from, they told their listeners to search for Seth Bents. I said nothing, because I didn’t want to seem like a dick on the air, plus I assume if the listeners have just sat through an interview about my name they probably know it. Also I feel I should mention the DJ had my name written down on a piece of paper in front of him which just adds to his ignorance.

As I mentioned I’m a working musician and as a result, I have my name read out a fair bit. I don’t really care too much when people get my name wrong, although it’s kind of frustrating. Imagine if you’re name was Katheryn but everyone kept calling you Caitlyn. You feel rude correcting people but DAMMIT THAT ISN’T YOUR NAME.

‘Oh, hey Brian!’ - Some douche.

The thing that confuses me the most is when people call me Steph. This has happened at least four times that I can remember and all of the people continued to refer to me as Steph even after being corrected. The best part? They all found me online through my music which has SEPH BENTOS printed all over it. This means they have never heard my name being read out loud and have only ever read my name on a monitor. What’s more, Steph is more often than not a girl’s name. I am a guy. Has this ever happened to anyone else?