I am totally with you on the fact that there is a short window of time where you can correct someone for using an incorrect name.  

    Before I became a SAHM, I worked at a Mortgage Company who's office building featured an awesome deli which was owned by a wonderful Korean family.  They knew I was pregnant, used to live in CA, used to be in the Navy and so on... I knew that the business owner was the wife and that the husband was a retired chemical engineer who helped out making sandwiches.  

   They called me 'Stephanie' for about 6 months - until I left my job to stay at home with my newborn son.  My coworkers quizzed me as to why I didn't correct the deli employees, but I told them that it was too late and that it was more funny that way anyway.  Who doesn't want an alternate identity?

My name is unique and most people can't even say it right, much less remember it, so I answer to pretty much anything, except "hey you."

That'll teach you to give your pets people names LOL.  Somehow I doubt the neighbor would get confused if the dog's name was Fluffy.

BTW, love the pants!

To this day, a friend of our family still thinks my brother's name is Harlan. It's not. It's Martin. I have no idea where she got Harlan from since we didn't even have a dog. And fortunately we never really saw her often enough for it to become an issue, so I guess that's not really all that helpful for you, other than to say he's not too terribly scarred by being incorrectly saddled with the name of a Texas rancher from time to time. Maybe Archer can start carrying around a cute little bow and arrow and shoot the neighbor everytime she calls him Cooper to remind her what his name really is ;-)

They DO still make puffy paint. And, yes, it sure does rock. You could always make the dog a t-shirt...

God, is that a real disorder? I totally have it. I'll talk to you after therapy....

Next time she comes around, drop the dogs leash so he'll wander then call him back right in front of her.  "COOPER!  HERE COOPER!  Good boy!..    Anyway ARCHER is getting quite big, isn't he?"

Haha  just a thought.

I think there's a window of time only if you box yourself in.  Something I do most of the time.  I actually find it helpful to write about what I would do to other people in situations like that...like I'm doing now.  I'm psyching myself out to confront my nanny about breaking the news that I'm NOT Chinese. She keeps saying that and I could have sworn that I told her I was Korean in the beginning... I can do this.  I can.   I don't think it's too late, two years?  Uh, you go first.

As a teacher, I've had one or two times of mispronouncing students' names at the beginning of the year, only to go on uncorrected because the kid was too embarrassed/shy to say anything about it, and I've been mortified when I discovered my mistake. Unless she's a crazy bitch, if you go up to her and explain the mistake and let her know that you didn't mention it sooner because it seemed awkward, she'll understand. If you let her know that you can totally understand how she made the mistake in the first place (even if you can't because she's self-involved or can't own up to her hearing loss or is just dumb or whatever) she won't feel like an idiot for making the mistake, and all will be well.

A mom came up to us at my daughter's soccer game recently and asked our names again because she had genuinely forgotten them. The fact that she admitted it and expressed interest in avoiding the awkwardness of her NOT knowing who we were made us feel a whole lot better about being...forgettable.

Just be gracious and empathetic, and, unless she's insane, it should be OK.

or you could just switch the names, you know...get the dog a new birth certificate and such. :)

personally, I think someone that you see with any frequency not being able to remember your child's name or your dog's name or your own name is a big load of BS.  I think it is rude, inconsiderate, and lazy.  I would have to say something. It doesn't have to rude or hateful, just simply "I'm sorry, his name is Archer, you must have him confused with my dog "Cooper" should suffice.  She'll probably appologize and give a little laugh and its over with.  If she does it again after then she's a confirmed stupid b**ch.    

i'm with the other poster who said to yell their names in a really loud and obvious manner. omg-imagine if you put Archer on the leash you were talking about a few weeks ago, you'd REALLY confuse your neighbor! LOL!

The moms at my daughter's school somehow spread the word that my son's name is Brody.    So when I take toddling-baby to her school functions, I am greeted with "Oh! Brody is getting so big!"  It's just one letter off from his actual name, so I just pretend they said it correctly; then, when he squirms or wiggles or fusses or breathes, I say, "Oh,  look at Bodhi breathe! Isn't  Bodhi cute when he breathes? Babies are so funny, especially my baby BO-dhi."

I am teh queen of passive agressive correctedness.

Same goes for me...in my nanny circle some of the moms call my son Cozy, his name is Koji ~these parents are people I see with some frequency but I missed my window so Cozy it is!

Loooooved 'Puffy Paint' BTW!!!

I've been called Kendall by an old high school substitute teacher. I still run into him and it's still, "Hi Kendall!" I wave and smile and think to myself - I graduated in '97 - how long can this go on. Just let it go and your son or a move will help it all work out.

Ditto what Mom2Two said. My fifth grade teacher grossly mispronounced my name for the entire school year. I corrected her like twice and then got tired of it, It kind of made me cringe when she heard my classmates call me by my correct name and she would "correct" them with the incorrect pronunciation. But I was still too conflict-avoidant to set her straight.

(BTW, Nancy T, I don't think you were my teacher. Hehe.)

OK.  I'd like to think I have balls, but really I don't.  Well, if I did, I'd be a man.  Anywhooo, my middle son's name is Nathaniel.  We call him Nate so people tend to assume his name is Nathan.  This drives me nuts.  His preschool teacher called him Nathan all the time.  He learned how to spell Nathan and answers to Nathan.  What's so hard about Nathaniel???  I never corrected her, maybe I should have, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.  

And some people aren't good with names.  I'm lucky if I remember what we ate for breakfast and I cooked it.  I don't have the brains left in my head to remember names.  I'm not trying to be a bitch.  It is just something I lack.  Really.

You're hilarious.