Here's some interesting bit of American history I recently learned.
Vice President Elbridge Gerry was the governor of Massachusetts for a period before becoming VP. While in office, he was responsible for the redrawing of the state's senatorial district. The redistricting was done to be more advantageous to Gerry's Democratic-Republican party against the opposing Federalist party in the upcoming elections.
A political cartoon depicting the unreasonable new district as a salamander referred to the new "monster" as a Gerry-mander. The despicable practice of redrawing political boundaries to benefit your own party (robbing your constituents of their political voice) is so named after Mr. Gerry and his Gerry-mander: gerrymandering.
However, he pronounced his name with a hard G, like the name Gary. But the practice of gerrymandering is usually pronounced with a soft g, like gelato.
It turns out his descendents are so annoyed at people mispronouncing their name, that they asked the Supreme Court to pronounce gerrymander the proper way.
If it were me, I would be much more embarrassed that my name had become used as a slur for dirty politics that I'd probably encourage the mispronunciation to distance myself from my corrupt ancestor.
