My name is Steven Schäufele. Upon emigrating from Southern Germany to the U.S> in the mid-19th century, my ancestors lost the umlaut that belongs over the `a' in our surname. Largely at a suggestion of the woman i eventually married, i have restored it for professional purposes. What this ultimately means is that sometimes i use the umlaut, sometimes i don't; otherwise, the spelling of my name is not subject to change -- for the present!

As to how it's pronounced, well, when i use it with the umlaut, as i normally do in linguistics circles, i expect it to be pronounced according to `proper' German pronunciation: with three syllables, the first one rhyming with `boy' and the other two with schwas. The American branch of the family has been used, during the past ca. century and a half, to pronouncing it with either 2 or 3 syllables (optional loss of vowell in middle syllable), the whole rhyming with `awfully' (I was once introduced at a semi-formal function with the statement, `he says his name rhymes with `awfully', but we won't dwell on that'). This is the pronunciation i grew up with, and will answer to it in most circumstan- ces, though especially in an academic environment i prefer the German pronunciation.

My CV mentions my middle name, `William', in parenthesis. I never use my middle name, but if i'm only using my initials i like to include the middle initial, given its symmetry which balances nicely the (somewhat different) symmetry of the two S's on either side.