My last name is Richard. My father and his mom pronounced it Ree-shard (it's of French origin, I think?). My parents divorced when I was just a baby, and I grew up pronouncing it like the male first name.
I asked my mom once why we pronounced it differently and she told me that nearly every time she had to give her name for something, the person would ask her, "Wait, how is that spelled?" and after she'd spell it, they'd reply, "Ohhhh, Richard[said like the first name]." After a couple years of this she just gave up and started giving her name that way up-front because it was faster.
I asked my mom once why we pronounced it differently and she told me that nearly every time she had to give her name for something, the person would ask her, "Wait, how is that spelled?" and after she'd spell it, they'd reply, "Ohhhh, Richard[said like the first name]." After a couple years of this she just gave up and started giving her name that way up-front because it was faster.