Destination Success: What's in a name? A lot, if it belongs to you

Sinara Stull O'Donnell is a professional speaker and writer through Springfield-based SinaraSpeaks. She is the author of "Be The Star Of Your Life: Are You Ready For Your Close-Up?"

OK, I am still on the name kick. I wrote about mispronunciation of names a few months ago and the hits keep coming.

A few weeks ago I was in a major video rental emporium. I had forgotten my membership card. The conversation went like this:

"My last name is O'Donnell. My phone number is"

"Is that with the hyphen or not?"

"There's no hyphen. It is an apostrophe."

The sales associate shrugged her shoulders and gave me the "who cares, I would rather be at the mall" look.

She then called the other location where my card originated and asked that associate, "Do you have an O'Donnell? I am not sure whether it has a hyphen or not."

My first blind date was with a boy at Pomona College whose name was Gifford Boyce-Smith (probably still is). When I got home, I remember saying to my mother, "He has a hyphenated name!" Somehow, that bespoke of years of breeding, country clubs and the like. That was a hyphen!

However, I digress. My helper rang up the sale and brightly told me when the tapes were due back.

I never learn. I actually said, "A hyphen is that little dash between words. Our name has an apostrophe. It looks like a comma. You know, like Rosie O'Donnell."

"Whatever." Another shrug of the shoulders!

I slunk out although I wanted to stay and fight for the honor of the O'Donnells. I married my Irishman in 1990 and proudly took on this ancient Irish name meaning "son of Donnell." The O'Donnells are from Donegal and one of their famous numbers was Red Hugh O'Donnell who fought the English.

Did she care? No. Whatever.

The whatever attitude often goes with mispronunciation of names, misspelling, lack of interest in the customer as a human being, treating people like numbers and other insults too numerous to enumerate.

With a maiden name of Sinara Stull, I thought O'Donnell would be a piece of cake. Instead, I hear "O'Donald," "McDonald," "Donald" and our personal favorite, "Odonnelle" which has a French flair to it.

Our name tells the world who we are. It touts our nation of origin. It is mixed up in our identity in ways a stranger can never imagine.

Our first name is our verbal fingerprint. The magic of the choice is about who we are. "You were named for my mother's best friend." "We thought we were having a boy and the nurse came up with your name." "I combined my name and your dad's."

Our last name links us to the past. "The Randalls settled in Virginia. Your great-great grandfather came west just before the Civil War." "It was an Italian name to begin with, but it was changed to this at Ellis Island." "Bosshard is a Swiss name. Our people came from near Zurich."

Our middle name gives gravitas. Middle names are serious. They are either ones you would rather forget or ones that give your name flair. My ninth-grade boyfriend lived in fear that our friends would find out that his middle name was his mother's maiden name, "Tattersall." Yet, his full name was Benjamin Tattersall Elliott. I assume he became a judge. Another friend, Eileen D'Arcy Tunney, decided she liked her middle name better than her first and became D'Arcy when she went away to college. I am in the unique position of being the fourth generation of women in my family with no middle name. I am not sure why, but we are traditional.

Names are so significant in business and in our lives. How we are named often affects who we become. Certain names are ones we have to jump over to get ahead. I used to know a man whose last name was Cripe. A fine name, but he wanted to become an actor. He was told by many agents that he should change his name. His response: "That is my name. Take it or leave it."

When we, or one of our staff, mispronounces or misspells a name, they are denigrating our customers.

Shakespeare said, "What's in a name? A rose by any other name should smell as sweet." He happened to be wrong when it came to people. If the flower's name is rose,' call it rose,' for heaven's sake.

Not McRose, Rose O'Sharon. Rosie. Just plain Rose.

Your customers will keep coming back if you do. If you don't give me the apostrophe, the ghost of Red Hugh O'Donnell will haunt you!