A man has been left gobsmacked after discovering he's been spelling his own name wrong for his entire life.
The 29 year old explained how he only realised his mistake after seeing his grandad's name written down for the very first time at his funeral.
Asking his father about it, he then accidentally exposed a 50 year old secret to his grieving family.
Taking to Reddit, he said: "I was at my grandfather's wake. He had wished that all of his grandkids, eight in total, would serve as the pallbearers. My uncle through marriage asked me to check the list of the names that he was going to give to the funeral organiser."
When checking over the list, he commented on how his surname was spelt 'incorrectly', having been written down as Delucio rather than DeLucio.
"The names looked fine, except for the fact that our last name is actually spelt with a capital L," he said.
"I gave a lighthearted, 'Well, I mean it's way off, they forgot the capital L!'
"My uncle gave a lighthearted laugh back, but then paused and looked confused."
They went back and forth about the spelling until the man insisted, "I'm pretty sure I know how to spell my last name".
Now equally as confused, the uncle called over other family members to try to get some clarification.
He said: "It was at this point my uncle swore up and down that my grandfather spelt it with a lowercase 'l'.
"We went to my grandmother, standing by my father, and asked her which it was.
"She looked confused, but stated that it was indeed a lowercase 'l'.
"But my father suddenly started acting strange. It was then that my dad confessed to a 50 year old secret.
"He said that our name was actually Delucio, but that when he was in third or fourth grade he decided he wanted to look cool, and capitalised the 'l' on his own.
"He never got caught, legal agencies apparently didn't notice/care, and the name stuck."
Taken back by the realisation, the man has shared his story on Reddit to see whether anybody else has found themselves in a similar situation.
In response, one user said: "I had a friend who shared my name, Joseph.
"One day I was watching him write his name, we were like 12, and I was like 'Oh, you spell yours Joesph and not Joseph like me'.
"He says 'Yup, our spellings are different'.
"His mum was sitting in a lazy boy and she says 'Uh nope. Your name is spelled Joseph'.
"I will never forget that sad look on his face."
Another user added: "My grandmother changed the spelling of her name from Sarah to Sayra for some reason, like there were too many Sarahs in her bridge club in the 50s.
"It stuck and everyone was supposed to spell her name that way. I am not sure if it was legally changed though."
A third user said: "I have a friend who's cousin is a pro athlete. When ever the announcers say his last name, I always thought they were saying it wrong since I knew this girl for 10+ years.
"Turns out both sides of her family pronounce their names differently. Her graduation party was very confusing."
Do you have a story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
