I practiced saying a name correctly and then used the practice version out loud

Before a community meeting, I checked the attendee list and noticed a name I wanted to pronounce correctly.

I looked it up, listened to an audio example and repeated it quietly in the car. The pronunciation had three clear parts. I said them slowly, then at normal speed. By the time I entered the building, I felt prepared.

The person arrived and introduced himself.

I replied, “Great to meet you, Sha—vee—er.”

I used the slow practice version, complete with pauses between syllables, as if I were teaching his own name to a room of beginners.

He said, “You can just say Xavier.”

I said, “Right. Xavier.”

That attempt was too fast and came out differently. Now I had demonstrated two pronunciations, neither matching the one he had used three seconds earlier.

I apologized. He smiled and repeated it once. I repeated it correctly. The conversation moved on.

My brain did not move on.

For the rest of the meeting, I avoided using his name because I was afraid the correct pronunciation had been displaced by the first two. This produced awkward sentences such as, “That point connects with what was just said over there,” while looking directly at him.

At the end, he shook my hand and said my name perfectly. This felt less like revenge than evidence that names can, in fact, be learned during one conversation.

The whole mistake came from trying to be respectful. I did the research but treated pronunciation like a line to perform instead of listening to the person standing in front of me. The audio example also may not have matched his own preference, which is the version that matters.

What is the clean recovery after getting someone’s name wrong despite preparing? Is one apology and one careful repeat enough? And if you are unsure later, is it better to ask again or avoid the name until it disappears from the conversation naturally?