John?
Years ago I worked in a pottery factory and I met a delightful bloke called John. Every day John and I would bump into each other and I'd say, "Hi, John how's things?" and he'd reply, "Not bad Simon," or words to that effect. Quite often we'd have lunch together in the canteen. If we'd been gay, we'd have probably ended up shagging. It was that kind of man/bloke thing. Anyhow eight years went by and me and John saw each other every day, had lunch, never quite had sex until the day the axe man cometh and made us all redundant. The factory closed down and John and I parted company. "See you, John," says I. "See you, Sime," says John. "Good luck, John" says I. "Good luck, Sime," says John.

A couple of years later I'm talking to my sister and John pops up into conversation. My sister had worked for the same factory as me and John and knew us both...so I thought.

"You know, John, slightly balding, got a big nose and big teeth. Looked a bit like Freddie Mercury on an off day?"
"You mean, Richard?" sayeth the sibling.
"No, John." After all, had I not been his bestest buddy, his man mate, his "almost if only"?
"His name's Richard, Sime," my sister assured me. "We'd always wondered why you insisted on calling him John all those years."

A couple of months ago I saw "John" again. "Hello, Richard," I said. "Hi, Sime," came his reply, with not a blink. "Doing all right?"
(grubbymitts, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 8:06, 18 replies)

our neighbour calls me Adam
We used to correct her but to no effect so we gave up. She did get my name right for a couple of days last year, but has gone back to 'hi Adam' since.
(minlan no longer barks at bancleys, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 8:39, closed)

I did the same
thing with a friend, only I called him Dave and his name was Dan. I found that out three years ago or so, after calling him the wrong name for another three. I still call him Dave out of habit. He still responds for some reason.
( Ithyphallophobia, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 8:39, closed)

Colleague confessed to the same thing the other day
He'd thought that Vinod (obviously Indian) was Rafik (Lebanese) for years and was baffled when Vinod turned up for work on following the weekend Rafik had died suddenly. They were on different floors of a 14 floor building though.
(Redemption blamed it on the Bossa Nova since, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 9:03, closed)

hehe
you twat *click*
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 9:14, closed)

Although this kind of thing happens alot
as evidenced in the replies (it even happened to me at the place I work), I really like this post. Just something about the nonchalant nature of the events.

*click*
(ConanTroutman thought we would free the vulture, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 10:16, closed)

I like this
lots and lots
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Sat 17 Jul 2010, 10:50, closed)

Done
the same myself, called this lad Mike for the 5 years we were at school.
His name was Dan.
(FootOfTim, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 10:56, closed)

Similarly, one of my best mates/old bandmates is called Richard.
Everyone called him "Rick", which he hates & kept correcting, to no effect. Until a few years ago we all made a collected effort: He's now known by the nickname "Chesty Popshot", or "Chesty" for short.
Poor old Rick.
( Tab Hunter Make this useless process end and so, begin again, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 11:29, closed)

For some reason
I once managed to convince myself that a guy called Ben Smith and a guy called Benedict Smith were totally different people. It was only when I asked Ben whether he ever got confused with Benedict that he told me 'Well, yeah, I am Benedict', that it clicked.
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 11:43, closed)

Hey Grubbytits,
I like!
I click.
( Blind Meach Cautiously optimistic, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 11:55, closed)

I get called 'Steve'
by a surprisingly large number of people who have never met each other including my next door neighbour (for two years until I finally corrected her) and people (staff and the general public on seperate occasions) at work (this has happened in the last weekm though I've also been called 'Andy' for some reason).
( Funkenschlag still likes dogs more than cats, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 12:17, closed)

i've got a neighbour
who's been calling me bev for 20 years. it's not as if my name even sounds similar.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 14:45, closed)

My boss's name is Chris
...yet for the life of me, I can't stop calling him 'that useless over-promoted Masonic twat'.
How daft am I?
(Billy The Fish wants to gargle with Lucy Pinder's bath water, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 15:02, closed)

I like this more than I should
*clicks*
( Jeccius Steam Borderlands 2 junkie, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 15:16, closed)

I had to introduce the new lad at work this week.
I thought his name was David.

It wasn't David.
( Slippery Mick ‏, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 15:46, closed)

Dave/Chris
Theres a guy I am on nodding aquantence with, and for the life of me I can never remember if his name is Dave or Chris; its one of the two.
(kitescreech still here, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 19:16, closed)

Did he have a kid called Rodney?
Named after his brother, Dave.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Mon 19 Jul 2010, 9:17, closed)

Not so uncommon...
When I firsty met Mrs Bof, I thought she said her name was Elena... After 3 months, I discovered that she had said her name wase Elaine. The story doesn't end there tho'...

Her real name is Eileen...
and her family call her Edith...

So depending upon whom I am talking to, I have to remember which name to use.
(bof, Mon 19 Jul 2010, 11:16, closed)