Going from Harry's sister to Unpronounceable

Growing up I always liked my name. Grace Potter. It was short, simple, and easily pronounced. If someone misspelled my name name it was because they were an idiot (I'm looking at you, American Red Cross. Pottere? Really?). Especially after J.K. Rowling released her book series of awesome and Harry Potter became a household name. All of a sudden whenever I introduced myself I was asked,

 "Are you related to Harry?"
"Are you Harry's sister?"
"Do you have any relatives named Harry?"
 "Heh, I bet you're related to Harry Potter! And I'm the first person to ever think of it!"

Now in all honesty, I really didn't mind. My whole family loves the Harry Potter series, so we found it amusing. But anything can get old after it is repeated 274 times. I started to get a little huffy with my replies, and would say, "Yeah, Harry's my brother. He's dead." Yeah, that's harsh.

 Once, however, when I was setting up a utility in my name I told the operator my last name was Potter, like Harry. And he replied, "Oh, I was thinking more like Colonel Potter." Thankfully I had watched many a M.A.S.H. rerun, so I totally knew who he was talking about. Talk about a generation gap, though.

I always told myself as a kid that I wouldn't take my husband's name. My last name was waaay too cool to give up for any mere mortal. Famous last words, because I met my husband.

Totally worth it.

His last name is long, a whole 13 letters (which happens to be half the length of the alphabet) and it more than twice as long as my maiden name. It takes four syllables to say it, which is intimidating in and of itself, and it also has a "ch" that sounds like a "k," so people mess it up all the time. My favorite story my husband has told me about our last name happened when we moved to Georgia. He walked into a local Walmart wearing an old football shirt from his high school days that had his name and number on the back. It stretched from shoulder to shoulder. A man walked up to Jer and asked, "Son, is that your last name?"
"Yes sir, it is."
The man paused, like he was trying to pronounce it in his head, gave up, and said, "God bless you," and walked away.

Here's a few variations I have heard since marrying my amazing husband:

Reddenbacher (which when i was substitute teaching turned into Mrs. Popcorn)
Rizzenbacher
Rindlishbaker
Rindlesbee
And Rrrrr.......*pause* R. Grace R.