I need to leverage my name.

I think about this on a pretty regular basis. Today, this thought once again made its way into my balding head. I have a fairly unique and unusual name. It almost always generates one form of comment or another when heard by someone for the first time. There are few people in the world that share my name. In fact, as far as I know, around 1/4 of the people with my name live in my house. Even more interesting to me is the fact my chosen career path has taken me into the technology field.

I assume if anyone who bothers to take the time to read this already knows my name, but it's Teche. Now that's the confusing part. Like I said, you likely already know me, and therefore, probably know how to pronounce said name. And really, it's just 5 letters. How hard could it be to pronounce? It's TEE-chee, right? No? TE-chee? TEECH, TEK-ee, TE-shee, TEE-shee, te-SHAY, TEESH, TESH, TETCH? Ok, mystery over, it's pronouned TEK. Much like Tech School, or Technology. I would imagine that you can see my dilemma though. I feel like if I do get off my ass and put a little effort into cashing in my name, it'd flop because most people would rather use some of what they learned in english class to pronounce the name. It's that damn E on the end that causes the issues. It's the way it's pronounced that draws the most interest, and anyone who tries to pronounce it the first time from print has a better chance of pronouncing it wrong than right, therefore confusing the draw of the name.

I need ideas here. I suppose I've never really asked anyone else what they think abotu this, but I'm not ready to give up on the thought that my name could help me if I chose to use it to gain recognition in my field. And by this I mean putting the name on a business of some sort. (Yes, I understand that motivation would be an issue here for starting a business. I think I posted something to that effect just a couple days ago, nevermind that for the sake of this topic)

Of course, another problem that I run into here, is that most combinations of my name are taken in some form or another in registered web domains. Makes a web presence mor difficult doesn't it? Another wierdness is that at least in Louisanna, Teche is not unknown as a name. There is a river or bayou in the middle of Louisianna that shares my name. Of course, the origins are different. The Teche of louisianna is of French Canadian (cajun) origin and means "snake". My ancestry as far as I know it, is German, Czech, Bohemian, and Polish. No French there.... I unfortunately know very little of the origins of my name. Perhaps I should know more before I use it this way.

OK, I'm now bored of this train of thought. Let's de-rail it.

Monkeys!

Monkeys are cool. Wouldn't a monkey make a great pet? Monkeys throw poo. Monkeys are very proficient at playing with themselves... in public...