Different

There's a guy I've been working with for 6 years. His 'name' is R. English is not his first language. He calls me "Laura."

At first it seemed to me that it was probably some sort of language barrier. Perhaps his culture doesn't have "en" names. Perhaps they just pronounce "en" as "a". Perhaps he did know that my name is Lauren, but just thought I prefered a shortened version. Of the 6 people in my department (himself included) I am the only person who doesn't shorten their name; so maybe he thought I did.

My nametag says Lauren, my work email address is Lauren.E.McKinney@, my emails are signed Lauren, but maybe he thought Lauren was my professional name but I prefer friends/associates to call me Laura. Perhaps he thought all the people calling me Lauren were just out of the loop. Perhaps he thought he and I were close enough to qualify for nickname status. A lot of possibilities come to mind. But whatever the case may have been, he's always called me Laura, and I've always responded without question. Then this happened today:

R: Laura, what is this link you emailed me? Do I need to open the link?
Me: Huh?
R: This link you emailed me. What is this?

I didn't email him anything, so I went over to his desk to check it out. It was spam from LinkedIn titled, "Laura from Planet is trying to contact you!"

Me: Oh, that's just spam. That's not from me.
R: So I should delete it?
Me: Yeah.
R: Oh okay. I just wanted to make sure because I thought maybe you were trying to email me a link to something.
Me: No. That's spam. It has nothing to do with me.
R: Well I thought maybe though, cause it's from Laura.
Me: Right, so it has nothing to do with me.
R: *blank stare*

Coworker: Her name is Lauren.
R: Laur.....en?
Coworker: Yeah, Lauren.
R: Not Laura?
Coworker: No. It's Lauren.
R: Laura and Lauren are different?!
Coworker: Yes!
R: Laura. Lauren. Laura. Laur.....en?
Coworker: Yeah. Lauren. E-N.

R: But I've been calling you Laura for years and years!
Me: I know.
R: Even back when we were on another floor on that other project.
Me: Yes, I remember.
R (looking at the nametag on my cubicle wall): l-a-u-r-E-N. Not A. E-N. Like, Laur-EN.
Me: Yep.
R: So it's not Laura then?
Me: Nope.
R: Oh boy.

R: It's Laur-EN?!?!
Coworker: Yeah. E-N. Not A.
R: But Laura is easier to say.
Coworker: Well that's not really her name though.

Me: If it's easier for you to call me Laura, that's fine.
R (pulls a business card from his wallet and puts on my desk): See my doctor's name.....Laura. That's a real name!
Me: I know it's a real name.
Coworker: It's just not her name.
R: I see that. But it's a real name. Laura. Like my doctor's name. The first 4 letters are the same!

Me: You can call me whatever you want. It's fine.
R: Laur-EN. Oh boy......