I had an old friend add me on Facebook this weekend. Not old as in OLD, but old as in “I knew ye back in the day and I miss you”.
This was a nice break from the other Facebook friend requests that have been of the: 1. I HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU ARE or 2. WE DON’T TALK IN REAL LIFE SO WHY ARE YOU ADDING ME? or 3. THERE IS A REASON WE LOST TOUCH 20 YEARS AGO variety.
I sent her a message telling her I had missed her and asking where they were at. She emailed back to tell me that they were good and that they had a “Nate” too.
I bristled involuntarily. It was not her fault or anything, but I do not have a “Nate”. My son’s name is Nathan.
NATHAN.
People in the community will occasionally call him Nate and I just let it roll. No need to pick fights when there are battles to be waged.
It got me thinking about the quirky name issues that I have. I might be (and probably am) completely crazy, but I have “Rules” when it comes to my name and the names of my family members.
My name is Angella. If you want to get technical, the correct pronunciation has the emphasis on the last part of my name: Angella.
You can thank the extra “L” for that. I was only called Angella when I was in trouble. I never introduce myself as such because, well, it sounds a bit pretentious.
“Hello, my name is Angella. Would you like some tea and crumpets?”
(Not to mock any English folks. It’s just the stereotype, you know?)
Here are my rules:
1. I need to be introduced as Angella. Anything short of that seems too familiar.
2. Ange is completely acceptable if you are a friend of mine. To introduce me as Ange to someone new is completely unacceptable. See point #1.
3. To call me Angie is punishable by death. Seriously. Unless you are my Mom or my sister Melanie. They both call me Angie and I do not blink an eye. Melanie prefers to be called “Mel” so I guess we are even.
4. I cannot remember he last time Matthew called me by my first name. He will say, “Angella” when talking to others, but only ever calls me “Honey”. The boys thought that was my real name until only recently. Emily is young enough that she thinks that Honey is my name.
When I first met my Honey, he was known as “Matt”. When we got to chatting about my irrational name issues, he told me that he actually preferred the name Matthew. It is what his family members call him.
I have called him Matthew ever since, in the rare instance that I do not call him Honey.
It usually goes like this:
“Honey? Hon! Honey?!? HONEY!!! MATTHEW!!!!!!!”
Some friends and work folks call him Matt, and I roll with it.
Graham is a pretty hard name to shorten, which makes me kind of giddy.
The occasional person calls him “Gram” which I also let roll.
If they have a hard time with two syllables then who am I to judge?
Then we have Emily.
I love her name because of the fact that is both traditional and feminine.
Some folks have taken to calling her “Em”. I try not to let my blood boil. There is nothing wrong with “Em”, per se, but I named her “Emily”.
EMILY.
I may call her Em when she is older, but I may not. I haven’t had the urge to call her that so far.
I guess I am of the kind of person who prefers the traditional. The classic. The given name.
How about you? What are your name preferences?
Names are a bit of a minefield aren’t they? I’m a stickler for being careful to call people what they have introduced themselves as – I wouldn’t call you anything other than Angella! I think it stems from working as a nurse….if I’m going to do pretty personal things to you then I’m going to do you the courtesy of calling you the right name! The only time I really struggle with this is with a friend’s girlfriend. Her name is Sharon but she wants me to call her “Shazz” – I just can’t do it. Don’t know why but I now avoid using her name at all, lol!
With the kids I really don’t mind. Emily gets Em, Emmy, Emmymoo, Millymoo etc, and Rebecca typically gets Becca or Bec. I personally don’t like “Becky” very much but there are only a handful of people who call her that so I can live with it. Somewhat bizarrely my MIL calls Paul “Paulie” as an affectionate term which I think sounds very strange but he doesn’t hate it so it doesn’t really matter.
Personally I like it when people feel comfortable enough to give me a nickname. I only ever call myself “Robyn” but I like other people calling me Rob or Robby etc. One guy tried “Rozza” which I wasn’t so crazy about though
That was a somewhat convoluted answer to your question – sorry! BTW Gram???? That’s just weird!
Robyn’s last blog post..Saturday’s Watoto Walk
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My name is Bethany. It’s not Beth. The only people who are allowed to call me Beth are my dad, my brother, and a few other people who’ve known me my whole life. If I have just met you and you call me Beth, expect me to politely correct you. (Though honestly, I’m not as anal about that as I used to be.)
My daughter’s name is Annalie. It’s not Annalie. Say Emily or Natalie or even Leslie…that’s not so hard, is it? We didn’t name her Anna Lee, nor even Annalee. But that doesn’t stop half my extended family and even my dad from pronouncing it that way, despite the exaggerated emphasis I put on the first two syllables when I am around them. *sigh*
I tend to lengthen people’s names. I don’t know why I do this. But I have a number of friends who, when I met them, were commonly known by a shortened version of their given names: Joe, Trina, Gabby. For years I’ve routinely called those people Joseph, Katrina, and Gabriella. I always ask to make sure it doesn’t bug them, and if it does, I try to stop. I have one friend I knew as Rebekah for a year before she told me she actually prefers to be called Bekah by her close friends (it’s sort of an honor to be asked to call her by her nickname, if you follow), and it was hard for me to switch to the nickname.
My brother prefers to be called Ben. I call him that about half the time. The other half I call him Benjamin, Benj, or B-Jo (his middle name is Joseph). I may or may not be doing so to annoy him.
bethany actually’s last blog post..Halloween masks and peanut butter cookies
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Oh! I wanted to mention the Graham/Gram thing. I think that might just be a regional difference in pronunciation. To me, the name “Graham” is just pronounced with one syllable. Stretching it out to two syllables feels weird to me. Though of course I will do so with your Graham, now that I know that is how his name is pronounced! Or maybe I could just call him G?
bethany actually’s last blog post..Halloween masks and peanut butter cookies
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Older family members call me by my first and middle names, but only one sister shortens my first name to one syllable.
witchypoo’s last blog post..Babies and Hurricanes
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My given name is actually Kimberly with a middle name of Lynn. That is a little hard to say together and most of the time people refer to me as Kim, and I don’t really have a problem with that, but I do prefer Kimber. My grandmother gave me that nickname as a little girl and it just kind of stuck with me.
My oldest is named Cory and you can’t do much with that one so there are no quirks there.
My youngest is Caden, but we named him knowing we would shorten it to Cade. His middle name is Elijah and Cade Elijah just doesn’t flow as well as Caden Elijah.
My hubby is Christopher and if I don’t call him honey, I prefer to call him Christopher. He frankly doesn’t care what he’s called, his friends lovingly refer to him as “Tubbs”.
Kimber’s last blog post..Another HCO Photo Shoot
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Given my real name, I’d kill for your problems lady! The ways my name is butchered, oh LORD. But yeah, I agree with you.
And just have to say it- I get Facebook requests from people who I guess read my blog BUT DON’T COMMENT. I’m not adding you if I have NO IDEA who you are. Sorry. Except not really.
slynnro’s last blog post..My Birthday Boys.
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you are friggen hilarious! i loved this post…because i too am a little crazy when it come to names. i have never been a fan of nicknames. it was hard naming hudson because there were so many names i liked, but didn’t like when shortened (and thought inevitably they would be). i hope no one ever calls him “hud”. ever. it’s revolting.
and i too only accept being called “joycie” by good friends.
joyce’s last blog post..Wood
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Graham is really pronounced with 2 syllables? I’d have to agree with Bethany that I’ve always only ever heard it pronounced with one.
K’s last blog post..Oh my
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There is no verbal way of shorting Lynne ( smiles smuggly).
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I have a friend whose name is Angela and you are allowed to call her Ang if you’ve known her a while…otherwise, do not shorten her name ANY OTHER WAY. For the love of all that is holy, do not call her ANGIE. My husband did that once (he’s a name shortener…is that a word?) and I quickly jumped in because I thought Angela’s head was going to start spinning off her shoulders.
My name is short for Elizabeth…but I am NOT an Elizabeth. I like my name shortened. I tried Liz for a while…and it didn’t fit me. I also get called Bethie a lot. There was a period during my teenage years where I hated being called Bethie. Now it’s back to being comfortable.
I guess I’m in the middle of the road on names. If there is a way for it to be shortened and MAKE SENSE and not sound idiotic, I’m ok with it. My son’s name is Dalton. There’s not really a way to shorten that. I’m ok with that. We’ll see about any names we pick out for future children.
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That’s hilarious because I am the complete opposite. While chosing names for my girls, I ONLY considered names that could be shortened into a nickname. Abigail – Abby. Josephine – Josie/Jo/Joey. I like the shortened names. For me I think they have a fun, cutsie name for while they are children but if they enter the business world, they can have a name that sounds adult and sophisticated.
I always wondered why you called Matthew by his full name all the time. Now I know.
Jen’s last blog post..Party Picks
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I have to admit I had no idea that Graham had 2 syllables either. When you wrote that some people call him gram I was completely baffled. I wish I could hear you say it so I would really know how it’s pronounced.
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Phonetically, it kind of sounds like “GRAY-um”
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I am the same way. I am Jennifer yet somehow I always end up as Jen. Even people I don’t know that well end up calling me Jen. It drives me crazy…. but it’s not worth correcting them because it happens too often.
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Can’t relate. Althought I have friends who insist on full names. My name is Bridget. I prefer Bridge. I don’t call any of my siblings (and there are a dozen of them) by their full given names on any kind of a regular basis. I call Erin E. We call Meghan Megs. We call James Jaybo. We call Samuel Sam or Bewo. We call Deborah either Debo or Pookie (well, I call her Pookie, no one else does). Benjamin is Benny. Ezekiel is Zeke or ZB. Zechariah is Zak (because that’s how he wants it spelled). Joshua is Josh or Joshie. Jonathan is Jono. Jacob is Jake or Jakey. The best one, though, is my brother Nathanael. Everyone calls him Tater, except me. I call him Potato.
Bridge’s last blog post..After Dinner at Erin’s
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We named our oldest Benjamin with every intention of calling him “Ben.” And it fits him SO well. Now we have Gavin which I thought I would be ok with “Gav” and well, I’m not. So he’s Gavin. I think you kind of have to just know the kid to know what they should be called.
Elaine’s last blog post..I’m Feeling All Domestic Like
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My legal name is Michelle, but back in elementary there were three Michelle’s in my class, and to make life simpler, I became Shelly. Everytime I tell someone this, they are always like, “Why would change your name? Michelle is such a pretty name.” Personally, I think Shelly fits MUCH better. I have a bit of a spunky attitude, and Michelle seems too dainty for me. (Don’t get me wrong, I do like the name Michelle, but for me, Shelly is better).
I hear alot of shell, shells, shellbell, shellster, shelita (that one started when I went to Mexico and was fitted with a dorky version of my so called “mexican” name).
I agree with you that given names should be kept the way they are in alot of instances, but I guess it all depends! (Especially if you have silly friends who lovingly refer to you as shelly belly….I always hated that one….are you calling me FAT?!)
Shelly’s last blog post..Free Hangbag?! Yes Please!!
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I have mixed feelings on this issue too. My daughter’s name is Kennedy. My husband has called her Ken from the get go. I said that I would NEVER call her that … I didn’t like it AT.ALL. Little did I know … I would be calling her Ken right along with him!
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As, Elizabeth, I have heard all the nicknames in the book – trust me. I don’t seem to like nicknames that others pick out for my kids, but I like the ones I use… strange, eh? It’s funny, though, once people have heard me use a nickname for my kids they will use it, too, which is cool, but nicknames are an earned privilege, I think. Unless I introduce my child as something shorter, their name is what I have said it is, ya know? Anyhow, Susannah was a bad choice when it comes to nicknames as there are about a billion. I like the ones that I call her, but we’ll see what she gets in school, I guess… I’ll try to help that one out, probably. Though, it sounds a lot like my Mom’s perspective… she hates/d Liz and it’s all I got in my school years.
ELizabeth’s last blog post..She watches closely
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I wanted to name Zacharie, Sebastien. Tough to shorten.
We introduce him as Zacharie on the playground and the moms immediately do the “say hi to Zac” thing to their kids.
If he wants to shorten it, fine. But his name is Zacharie. Dammit!
buzz’s last blog post..Rave Runs: Lynn Creek in North Vancouver
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You would not believe how many people try to shorten Elizabeth, even after being told that is my name. The presumption of that drives me crazy.
When I was a little girl my mom taught me a speech to give! “If my mother had wanted me to be called Liz, she would have named me Liz!” It worked quite well, and I still use it to this day!
Elizabeth’s last blog post..Welcome to a World Record Amount of Totally Unneccesary Capitalization and other Hackneyed Writerly Devices: Population You
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I am a firm believer that everyone deserves the respect of being called what they prefer to be called. I might stumble a bit though trying to change the syllable emphasis of your name! I have heard every possible permutation and stupid joke possible about my name, but everyone who does it thinks they are being so creative and funny!
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I totally understand the crazy. Even though my crazy is more about the spelling of my name
hills’s last blog post..ABC 123 Baby You And Me Girl – Part 8
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Often, when my parents tell others about our names (Janssen, Merrick, Landen, Crawford), they ask “but what do you call them?” And my parents are like “THEIR NAMES!”
I don’t understand either the idea of naming your kid something you don’t intend to call them. I like nicknames that aren’t just shortening the name, but rather some other kind of nickname, like ‘Honey’ is for you and Matthew.
Janssen’s last blog post..Probably the Worst Pictures I’ve Ever Taken
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I completely understand what you mean. For me I have always been asked if my name was really Elizabeth, it isn’t. What makes me more upset is when people assume it is on documents and put that down without asking. Sorry, my motto is never assume. If anyone calls me Bethy aside from my family members my blood BOILS. One of the OBs in my old practice did it and I thought it was so condescending since he did not know me. The nurses and I joked about it since my BP would react on days I would see him. I think they may have said something to him before a procedure once. I noticed he called me honey instead (yes my eyes rolled majorly that day).
My oldest son’s name is something I did not think you could shorten. Little did I know, I was able to
The little guy I tend to use his full name, but people have already asked if I have selected a nickname for him and we have, the one that my grandfather used.
I never use nicknames with people unless I know them for a long time, and am sure it is something they accept. Names are tricky things and people definitely have opinions about them.
TheAngelForever’s last blog post..Days of fun for next summer
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I am married to Eric – no shortening possibilities there!
However, I am Katherin formally (only bills and legal documents), Katie to my family (and old friends) and this year have made the change to Kate. I always felt about 2 years old when anyone called me “Katie” and Katherin seemed SOO pretentious (Queen of England, anyone?), so Kate it is. But I absolutely draw the line at Kathy – which has never have been, and never will be anything I will every answer to – EVER!
Kate’s last blog post..We are Busy, oh so Busy…
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I actually quite like most nicknames. My name is Laura which can’t really be shortened, and nobody has ever given me a nickname. I was always jealous of the kids that had cool nicknames! My sister Kelsey always gets called Kels, and my brother Andrew always gets Drew.
However I do try to use the names for people that they were introduced to me as or that they asked me to call them. I only give nicknames to very close friends or family members!
I think if I had kids of my own I might be kind of picky about nicknames though. If I have two sons I want to name them Miles and Jacob. NOT Miley and Jake! I really, really hate the name Jake but I love Jacob. Weird eh? And a daughter would be Chailyn, (pronounced Kay-lin) and I’m hoping that’s unusual enough that there are no built in nicknames for that one. I love the name so much I would just hate to see it changed to something else.
Laura’s last blog post..I Didn’t Mean To Become An Authority On Relationships
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Interesting post. My name is Tamara and, throughout my school years, pronunciation was more of a problem than nicknames. I’d get Tam-Er-Ah or Tam-Are-Ah but my name is pronounced Tam-Air-Ah – I once told a college prof who struggled with my name just to think of me as an air-head so that she’d never forget how to pronounce it – she’s never got it wrong since then
I hate being called Tammy – luckily I don’t get that too often, but if I do, I make sure to correct them. When my husband and I were dating, he shortened my name to Tams..which I didn’t mind coming from him. Then others at work started to call me that and it made my blood boil. Now I’m okay with close friends calling me Tams but otherwise my name is Tamara.
Being 7 months pregnant, the name game is a bit of a struggle. When hubby and I discuss names, the first thing I say is what will it get shortened to? (because people always seem to want to shorten names).
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My name is Vicki. Vicki Ann if you want to get technical. I have the opposite problem with my name. People want to call me Victoria – which would be okay – only it’s not my name. Seriously. Check my birth certificate.
Donovan is Donovan, or Dono. Don’t ask me why, but don’t call him Don. Or Johnathan (which most people mistake his name for when he says he is Donovan). You would be better off calling him Fred.
Megan gets called Meg or Meggie or Meggers. If she’s okay with it, I’m okay with it. I think that’s why I put so much effort into choosing the names for the girls (well. maybe not Kayla) – Dono and I knew that they would probably get shortened names, and I happen to think Meg is cute. For instance, our Boy name has always been Benjamin. Great long or short…
Kayla was named for her great-grndmothers Kathleen (my grandma Kay), Katherine (dono’s mat. grandmother) and Ursula (dono’s pat. grandmother). It could be shortened to Kay and it just reminds me of my nanny (that’s what I call her). Lauren calls her KayKay, and I’m okay with that. For Lauren. For now.
What was my point here? Oh yeah…I’m totally with you.
I really think that before you shorten a name (or make it longer in my case), you need to know that you can. If you’re not sure…ASK!
Vicki’s last blog post..Lauren
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Oops. I have been calling Matthew “Matt” for years. Forgive me? C’mon, Angie.
Amanda Brown’s last blog post..Fine. Some Pictures.
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my mom is the same as you. ONLY calls us by our full names, Leah, Philip and Angela (moi). My sister and I call our brother Phil. My husband Travis ( I call him Trav, Travi ) calls me Ang. Close friends also call me Ang, and like you, it makes my blood BOIL when people who are aquaintances or new people call me Ang. I usually state firmly ” My name is Angela”. In school/ first job at Mcdonalds, when there were multiple Angela’s, I would go by Angie, so there are only a handful of people who call me that and get away with it. Travis’ mother, our nieces and nephews and his siblings call him Travi. But no one else. Recently, a friend of mine called him Travi and I threw up a little in my mouth. After swallowing it, I said ” His name is Travis. You can call him Trav, but only his mother and I call him Travi”. I felt a little bitchy but it had to be done. On the other hand, I do like to think of names for our future blue eyed, blonde babies. I like the names to be full but with options for shortening ( family specific). I would give some examples, but I like to keep these names to myself.
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I too get “bothered” when people call Brooklyn “Brooke”. If I wanted a Brooke that would be her name. I do occaisionally call her that but I am her mom and I have that right! She also gets Doodles or doodlebug, also by me. Delaney almost never gets shortened other than by little kids who usually say Laney. Avery, well I do call her Ave sometimes but my kids where given names and they also like to be called by them appropriatly. I certainly wouldn’t want to be called Hide! (I have gotten that too.)
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oh and on the facebook thing. my husband’s brother’s old girlfriend from highschool tried to add me 4 times. On the 4th ‘ignore’ i sent a message that said… i don’t actually know you. you might be getting me confused with someone else. i know you dated my brother in law 10 years ago. Thats as far as my connection to you goes. Augh. some people are retarded.
in grade 9, i decided that i wanted to change my name. none of the teachers would call me my new name my mom wrote a note to the principal, asking them to ‘humour me by changing my name on the attendance’. even in grade 12 when the phase had come and gone, my one teacher continued to call me ‘Mahinder Ghandi” and i run into classmates from time to time who call me that.
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I hate, hate, hate it when people introduce me as Rhi – especially when I haven’t deemed them “Rhi Worthy”
ALSO – I had a voicemail from a former coworker last week in which he said, “Hey, Rhi! This is BRI!”
Nobody at work is allowed to call me Rhi. SO, THIS ANNOYED ME.
I could go on, and on about this. I’ll spare you
Rhi’s last blog post..Why dual climate control is the BEST INVENTION EVER
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What a hilarious discusson! When I was a child, my parents told everyone not to call me Mel, as that was a boys name. Now who calls me Mel the most is them, and everyone else! Sometimes someone says Melanie, and Im all like who’s that, oh yeah…..he hee he.
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I am Charlotte. I introduce myself as Charlotte. To my family and very good friends I am Char. To my brother I am Lottie. No one else has dared to call me Lottie and nor should they. I had a boss that called me Char – big, big NO NO. We aren’t family (or friends for that matter), and I am pretty sure he doesn’t love me so there is no right to the “Char”.
I have a niece named Lilah (she’s only 24 days old), my brother has already corrected someone, no ‘Lee lee’. Call her Lilah. We are fierce in our family about names!
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My name is Laura. LAURA. Not Lori. Ask my mom. I’ve been this way since I was little.
My eldest daughters name is Margie (on birth certificate this way). Not Margaret. Not Maggie. Some can call her Marge…but she is adament most of the time that her name is Margie.
My youngest is Amelia. Not Amy. She has not fear of getting in your face and telling you this. Her dad and I, as well as Margie may call her Meelie. She is affectionately known as Meelie-No in family circles.
I could go on but this is not my post.
This was great. I now realize I’m not the only one. 
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Where you’re particular (and you have every right to be!) about the pronunciations and shortening of names, I was always particular about the spelling of mine. I can’t tell you how many times my name has been spelled “Carrie,” “Keri,” “Kerrie,” “Kerry,” “Cari,” or even “Carry,” as in the verb, “to carry.”
My name is K-E-R-R-I, Kerri, and I love that, because it’s MY name, spelled a unique and individual way, and it’s the way my dad wanted to spell it, and I love it even more for that.
I go by Kerri Anne online, because I love my middle name and my first name strung together as one, the way my grandmother always addressed me, and the way Chris and my closest of all friends would, too.
(Also: I LOVE the name Nathan, elongated, and never shortened to “Nate,” amen.)
Kerri Anne’s last blog post..This Year’s Love, Part One of Two
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Well we do have a Nate — and we actually chose that with the nickname in mind. His full name is Nathaniel, after my husband’s great-great-grandfather.
Neither my husband, nor I had names that had good nicknames, so we chose both our kids’ names with nicknames in mind.
Our beef is more with pronunciation. My husband’s name is Jan (with a Norwegian J=Y) and people are forever calling him Jan with a hard J (like Jan Brady) or John. For me, I mostly get NAY-deen instead of Nah-DEEN. (I prefer the French version I was named for to the skanky sounding Southern one.) So we picked names that were easy to pronounce as well.
Funny, I guess you always want what you don’t have. I would have killed for Angie when I was 7!
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Hmmmm. I think we all have some kind of name quirks. My husband’s name is James, but he prefers “Jay” as his biological father (who he’s named after) was an abusive alcoholic, and doesn’t like the connotation. However, he was more than happy to have Our youngest’s middle name to be James after him. My name is Michele. one L. Which I always have to spell for people because my work email address is my full name – so if I don’t spell it, it will go to a Michelle somewhere. Only she is not me. And while I KNOW the assumption is the two L’s – once you’ve worked with me for 3 1/2 years you should know that, since my email signature at work is my full name and contact info. Sigh. Joseph, my oldest is Joseph or JOJO (family only), not Joe. Logan, my youngest is Logan or Logie or Logie-Butt or Logie-bear. Logan to anyone else. The nicknames they have are because when they were babies, it just… Slipped out and stuck. Pretty much reserved for parents and grandparents only. An aside… When Logan was in Kindergarten, there was another Logan. So, they were Logan W. and Logan B. So – Logan ended up thinking he was Logan W. middle name last name.
Michele’s last blog post..Consequences of Change in a Family
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Wow, seems many people feel strongly about this, according to this post and these replies! Me? I’m fairly easy-going when it comes to this sort of thing.
We call Tyler “Ty” a lot of the time. When we chose his name, we made sure we were happy with the obvious shortening of it, too. Just so there wouldn’t be any issues or boiling of blood
Ethan is harder to shorten, but he has friends who call him “Eth”. I don’t mind. My Dad sometimes calls him EJ (his middle name is Jakob) and I’m happy with that too. Rob and I have always called him “Little Guy” or “Matey” so those nicknames are pretty distinct from his actual name.
Rob’s real name is Robert, but he was known as Robbie from birth. As an adult, he decided that he preferred Rob. So he is always introduced that way now.
Lots of people call me “Han” which doesn’t really bother me. I always get a bit of a surprise the first time somebody does it who hasn’t done it before (i.e. a new-ish friend/acquaintance) but of course all my good friends and family have been doing it most of my life, so it’s natural.
Rob and I call each other “Honey” 99.9% of the time, so much so that if we use our actual names, it sounds weird!
Hannah’s last blog post..Party time!
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What an interesting discussion you’ve sparked!
My name is not really shorten-able, which I’m thankful for. I love my name, and am not really huge on nicknames. I have a few, but they’re not really related to my name at all, and only certain friends call me by those.
My frustration is how often my name gets misspelled. It’s not like my name is uncommon or unpronounceable, but you would not BELIEVE how often people misspell it. Very frustrating. The most common is Sharron. The weirdest one? Cherrin. Um, okay, then!
I totally understand the frustration on being called a name that isn’t yours. If you introduce yourself as “So-and-so,” they should call you that name, not something else.
Sharon’s last blog post..Win a cute handbag!
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I don’t understand this habit people have to shorten names. If a name is long, maybe. But Nathan? Emily? Come on. Those are short names. Graham too. Though I don’t know if I can pull off pronouncing Graham properly – but I’m Italian, so I have a good excuse, right?
Elisa’s last blog post..Here Comes the Sun!
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I completely agree with you. Nicknames drive me crazy. My husband is Robert as is my son. Not Rob, not Bob, Robert. And my other son is Xander (although shortened from Alexander), not Alex! And I’m Lori, shortened from Lorraine. I tried to name my kids things that wouldn’t get changed by other people, but it doesn’t matter, they always do it. I have a Carissa and a Jocelyn and they seem to leave them alone.
Lori’s last blog post..These damn blocks!
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To Buzz’s comment on wanting to call his son Zacharie, Sebastion-I’ve always loved Seb, and Bastion
I’m Megan, but I prefer to go by Meg now. All my friends have their own names for me though: Meggie, MeggY, Meggs, Meggers, Megnut, Ducky, Megamuffin, Mmmdog, Mmmbop, Moo, it goes on and on!
I prefer Nathan to Nate though!
Meg’s last blog post..Bedtime
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I feel like Em is a nickname you use for an older girl, teenager or grown woman, not a tot, you know? And I am VERY defensive of my name–it’s KristIn, never under any circumstances KristEN, or Christen, or Krysten, or heck idiots at restaurants even spell it Chrysten. What??? I know it’s silly but I get PO’d when a hostess can’t even write it down correctly when I spell it for her, because hello! Not an uncommon spelling! Actually the most common way to spell the name, which is, in fact, a quite common name in all children born 1980s and beyond.
Funny enough, I just had lunch with a tourism rep and we were discussing names we don’t like (mine are Jessica and Courtney, namely because I have known quite a few Jessicas and Courtneys in my life who I have disliked or who were big ole bullies) and pondering how differently our lives would have turned out if our parents had given us alternative first names. Funny to think about, no?
Camels & Chocolate’s last blog post..On Roommates and Fecal Matter
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You are a girl after my own heart. I have a Nathaniel, not a Nathan, not a Nate, a Nathaniel. Every once in a while he’ll be a Nate, but mostly he’s a Nathaniel
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I’m not quite sure which way I go. My name is Michelle, NEVER Shelly. It does not fit me at all. I had some cousins who called me Shelly, but never immediate family. “Chelle (Shell)” but not Shelly.
On the other hand, my husband is Nathaniel. No one in his family ever called him “Nate”. I’m not sure if he gave himself that nickname in school or if kids just started calling him that, but that is what he refers to himself as even today. I call him Nathaniel around his family because that is what they know him as, but Nate with others. Hmm. Tough one.
We are hoping to have a family soon and I think of both names that I would shorten and names that I would not. So I guess its safe to say I’m 50/50.
I LOVE NAMES – great post!
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Oh, and I’m from Minnesota and I’ve been trying to say Graham with 2 syllables for the last 15 minutes. I really have not mastered it yet. It always comes out “Gram” (although its one of my favorite names!)
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My name is Tiera, not a crown but like a tear in your eye (tear-ah), but you and I have met so you might have known that. I can get a little crazy about my name I will usually pronounce it and correct someone once if they mess it up after that I assume that they are just too ignorant to care and there is no point in trying. No one ever gets it right by reading it though and I often wonder how they would spell my name. I really can’t think of another way to spell it.
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