Dear Someone Else’s Dad, My name is James Arnold. When someone receives an email from me, the FROM line says, “Arnold, James,” which causes a lot of people who don’t know me to respond, “Hi Arnold,…” I always write, “Thanks, James” at the end of my emails, and my signature has large block text saying, “JAMES ARNOLD.” I still get called Arnold. Any tips? Thanks, JAMES Dear Arnold, James, Ah, the curse of having first and last names that can be both first and last names.
Some choices:
You could write offending emailers a friendly, “By the way please call me James; everyone does!” The recipients may finally realize that they got it wrong before, or think that you’re just a wacky guy who likes to go by his last name.
You could write, “Didn’t you notice that I wrote my name as James, and that my signature says James????” I said it was a choice.
You can pick your battles and just live with it, especially if you’re corresponding to someone you’ll never correspond with again.
You can change your name to Arnold James, and hope that people finally call you James.
Best,
Dad, Someone Else's