My name is Darran, not Darren. It is the less popular of the 2 and a very rare first name in Singapore. It is supposedly pronounced as DAE-ahN but don’t bother trying, just pronounce it the way you would with Darren. This given name is on my IC as well as on my birth certificate.
This rarely seen name is given to me by my parents and I should be proud of it, which I am but it has also given me a spurt of frustration at times.
I always get people referring me as Darren. I could understand it if they are meeting me for the first time and do not yet know how to spell my name. However when documents with the exact spelling is presented, it is somehow ignored and their responses are directed to Darren instead.
Usually, I would not be so particular about the mere spelling of my name. I would just let it pass but when it starts to appear incorrectly on formal documents, I think I have to start to make a stand and do away with this slack approach.
I would greatly appreciate it if people take the time to spell my name correctly. A mere letter makes a whole lot of a difference. If it isn’t how my name is spelt, I will make sure it is correctly amended.
If it helps, please take the above note and print it so that you will always remember my name is spelt with 2 ‘A’s.
22 year old fitness enthusiast currently pursuing a Bachelor in Computer Science at the University of Adelaide and aspiring to become a Web Developer in the near future. 
Hur.. reminds me of my own problem.. My name is Sylvia not Slyvia. People usually pronounce it correctly, but when it comes to writing it effs up. For some reason, people tend to type l first not y first. And you know what, it even occurs in handwriting when you can’t give an excuse of typing error! (i’m serious, my friend did that)
Then in Indonesia they confuse the y with i or the v with f. I mean, in English-speaking country it’s obvious that Sylvia is pronounced like Sylvia, the combination of the y and i. But ppl in Indonesia write my name in a lot of funny way like Silvia, Silfia, Sylvya, and any other probabilities you can think of.
I’m so gonna name my kid a very easy name.
I must admit, in the beginning I always spelled your name wrongly, until it finally kicked in and I started putting the ‘y’ in front of the ‘l’.
Those combinations are very canny in pronunciation, it is almost impossible to tell the difference if you are hearing it for the very first time.
i still can remember spelling ur name incorrectly a couple of times in secondary school. You just need to remind people more often if possible =)
Actually I remember you (and your blog, plurk etc) because of your special name. Darran is unusual, hence it is easy to remember. The same way how people remember me because of my Chinese face but Malay name
DAAAAAAAAA REEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!