H-E-I, N-D-L

So, the title of this blog is Heindl Haven. Heindl is my last name. And, no one knows how to spell it. I may have made a mistake in choosing a blog title that no one can spell. Please take a moment to bookmark this site, or you can subscribe via email so you never have to try and find it on your own again. Don't we all need a little helping hand from time to time?

I know with all certainty that people have a hard time spelling the name Heindl because for several years now I have been keeping a list of all the various spellings I've seen. That's about the nerdiest thing I've ever typed, right there. Actually, its a cute little thing my mother-in-law and I started doing years ago. She sends me any new ones she sees and I add it to the list.

Every time I have to give my last name I spell it out... H-E-I, N-D-L. Inevitably, the person I'm spelling it for will add an "E" somewhere at the end. D-E-L or D-L-E and then I have to correct them that its just D-L. I've had a couple of people question whether or not I was sure it was correct with just D-L. Ummmm... yes. I'm sure I know how to spell my last name.

So, for your viewing pleasure, here is the comprehensive list of all the wrong ways to spell Heindl.

1. Heindel (SEE! The aforementioned D-E-L!)
2. Jeindl (Fancy with a "J"!! After this one I started telling people to call me JJ - Jennifer Jeindl. I do love me some alliteration!)
3. Hyndel (ooooooooh a "Y" AND the D-E-L.)
4. Hiendl (So close with the ei reversal.)
5. Heindle (There's that D-L-E.)
6. Hiendel (we're getting further and further away here.)
7. Hindyl (Drop the E and add a stray Y.)
8. Hindle (Move the E to a new spot!)
9. Hengel (The "G" in this one was a new twist.)
10. Hyndyl (Two Ys feels very exotic.)
11. Engle (I feel like this person wasn't even trying.)
12. Linda Kurniawan (This one wasn't actually a misspelling of my name, but I put it on the list because it made me laugh. The local ice cream place, Graeter's, has a rewards card and when you get 100 points on your card you get a coupon for $5 off your next purchase. Well, we went to the drive thru one day to get ice cream for the family and we reached 100 points so they gave us a receipt with our $5 coupon on it. Except that the name on the reward account on the receipt was Linda Kurniawan and not Jennifer Heindl. I didn't notice it until we had driven away and it made me laugh and laugh to think that they messed my name up so badly that it wasn't even close. Maybe what made it so funny to me was that for a long time I would get my receipt from them and it would say Jem Heindl. Which made me think of Jem and the Holograms and how truly outrageous she was. And I loved that cartoon when I was younger and always wanted to be her. And here I was being called Jem. And then I logged onto my rewards account and fixed it one day because I worried I might be denied my ice cream due to my account being titled Jem and not Jen. This probably isn't funny to anyone but me. I'm so sorry. But, the person I really need to apologize to is Linda Kurniawan because I used her $5 coupon. I'm so sorry Ms. Kurniawan. Your next scoop is on me! Moving on...)
13. Handhl (This feels like I should be a composer.)
14. Heildl (An extra L. Interesting.)
15. Heindi (Makes me think of Heidi.)
16. Heinvil (We could be anvil salespeople.)
17. Heind (This feels like a kick in the pants. Or at the very least a kick in the heind end. This post is really going south. Oh my gosh, I can't stop myself.)
18. Klausing
19. Hamilton
20. Gillespie (these last three probably aren't true misspellings of Heindl, but we have received mail at our home address with the correct first name and correct address, but the last name was one of these. So random. It always brings a smile to my face when I think of my husband as Jim Gillespie. So, so random.)

As I was typing up this post I thought, "I wish I had a piece of mail to take a photo of that showed our name misspelled to prove that it really does happen." There was a stack of mail from the day before sitting on the desk next to me, so I decided to check it. Sure enough. There was a misspelling.