I recognize that my last name is hard to spell.  And, it is true that at my previous institution “make sure Czarnezki is spelled correctly” was on the law school mailout checklist.  But what continues to amaze me is that in the face of direct evidence–forms filled out by me, emails from me, phones calls requesting correction–people still spell my name wrong because ‘it just doesn’t look right.’  Well now they’re going after my kids.  Yes, my one daughter has an unusual spelling to her first name, and, yes, my partner’s last name is their middle name and Czarnezki is still hard to spell, but nowhere did we spell them wrong, nowhere did we change their first name, and nowhere did we give them a hyphenated last name.  Trust me, we can spell our names correctly.  How many times do we have to request changes?…in my experience at least three times.

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