What's in a name? 

Imagine learning your name has been deemed offensive by New Zealand's largest company. That's what happened to a Nelson woman who got an unexpected email from Telecom's internet provider, Xtra.

Gay Hamilton emailed Xtra enquiring if she could get broadband, and the response left her a little miffed.

The problem was Xtra found the word gay offensive. They said her email contained inappropriate language for business.

"I laughed, laughed my head off. I thought how silly. It seemed a bit silly, childish, a bit schoolyardish," Hamilton says.

No offence was taken and she says it was all somewhat bizarre.

However, she is now wondering about others who could be thought to have offensive names.

"Do Dick's in New Zealand get slapped on the wrist by Telecom? It seemed a bit odd to me," she says.

Telecom says it has been an embarrassing mistake, that Gay Hamilton's enquiry was initially treated as an internal company email in which words like "gay" or "heterosexual" are always noted.

They have apologised and say the problem has been rectified.

That's good enough for Gay. But she is still waiting to hear if she can get that broadband connection.