Does your name shape how people treat you? Do you think it fits you?

For example, my father wanted to name me Phaedra -- which I think would drastically affect my life. I can't imagine being anyone other than "Leigh Anne." My best friend's name is Cricket and it has certainly shaped how people approach her and joke with her.

How does your name affect you and the people around you?

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Answers

My name is Alexis Catherine.

Alexis after my mom's youngest sister, who was named after my great grandfather, Alexander. Catherine is my mom's first name and my grandmother's middle name.

As it usually happens when babies are named after a close family member, I got a nickname. My family started calling me Alli. No one can remember who came up with Alli or why. No one in my family calls me Alexis....and most family friends don't, either. It's weird for family members to introduce me to people as Alexis, since they don't call me that....but when I meet knew people, I always introduce myself as Alexis.

I always ALWAYS get "Alexis, like from Dynasty, right?".....uhhhhh yeah...just like that. Or "are you a bitch like that lady on Dynasty?".....yeah, so fuck off.

For some reason, people think because of my name, I'm a snob. What? Dumb, but I get that a lot. A girl in college told me that she didn't like me just because of my name. But once she got to know me, she did. Gee, ok.

I was the only Alexis throughout school. Sometimes I thought it was weird, but I like it now.

It's much more common now, and it's funny to hear someone in a store saying "Alexis, where are you?"....and I'm like...I'm right here, why? and they aren't talking to me, but to their kid.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Phaedra would be so cool! If I have a daughter someday, that's what I'm naming her. Or something else out of Greek mythology. Not that "Leigh Anne" isn't cool as well, of course.

I'm Mike. Always been a Mike, not a Michael and certainly not a Mikey (I spent most of elementary school wishing great evil to whoever was responsible for that Life cereal ad). And I think that does shape how people treat me. A "Mike" is more down-to-earth, less a student of formality than a "Michael." A "Mike" is your friend. A "Michael" is your boss.

Which is fine by me. I've always been pretty laid-back anyway. If anyone calls me "Michael" at this point, I know that it's either a telemarketer or someone who's really angry with me.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Bahhh! Another Cricket! Woohoo!
People expect me to be cheerful, Irish, ditsy, and childish. They also think they're funny when they make puns using the word "bug" (for example "Cricket, stop bugging me. Hahahaha!! I am soooo clever."). They aren't. For the most part though, I like my name. It could be worse I suppose.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

cricket, i sympathize. my poor friend gets it so much, that it lands on me too - even when she's not around, people will ask ME, "does she rub her legs together"? bwaah haa. except that it's NOT FUNNY after the five millionth time. i don't know if you've seen the new jack in the box ad, but it's very disturbing to me that jack's wife's name is cricket. but what's most disturbing is that she doesn't have a jack head.

i digress. sometimes, mike, i think phaedra would've been cool, but i just don't see me as one. my dad named the doberman phaedra instead, so it's always going to be associated with a big, spazzy dog to me.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

i have found, depending on how people are introduced to me, they have a vastly different impression of my age.

if the person introducing me calls me elizabeth, people assume i am older than i am and generally ladylike and proper. very wrong.

if i am introduced as liz, people get a bit closer to my age and think i am less smart than i am.

most of my friends from school call me lizm and most of my family call me elizabeth. and, since i go by either name, this leads to great confusion. i worked in an office one summer where everyone knew me as liz, and only liz. my dad called and asked to speak to elizabeth and was transferred to a different department. no one made the connection, because they said i didn't "seem like an elizabeth."

my roommate's name is also elizabeth, but she tends to go by lizzie and people say she is more like a lizzie than i could ever be.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

My parents were going to name me Malibu Harley. I can see that, actually, being called Malibu. But maybe that's only because my name always sounds weird when I introduce myself, using the whole name. Malibu's become a nickname around the friends, and I think some people believe it fits me.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Being a Katherine means that everyone wants to know why you don't go by a nickname. Or, they assume you do and take it upon themselves to call you a (choose one) Kathy, Katie, Kate, Kit, Kitty, or Kat. This doesn't even take into consideration all the conversations I've had regarding the spelling of my name, either.

Most of the time, I feel like Katherine fits me. It's what I grew up with, you know? Those who assume I have a nickname and actually take the time to ask me about it, will then go off on me how Katherine is way too formal. Uh. How are you supposed to respond to that?

A couple people call me Kat, and that's probably the only one I can tolerate. Well, aside from my brother, who calls me Kaf. Then again, I call him Buzz, so I suppose it allowable. However, I always introduce myself as a Katherine.

My parents told me that if I'd been a boy they were going to name me Craig. Craig Carlson. Suffice it to say, I'm glad I wasn't born male.

Sidenote: The day I start going by "Kathy Carlson" you all have my permission to gun me down. I will never become the quintessential Avon Lady and/or PTA mom. Ever.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Remind me in the future not to post when I'm stressed out and whiny. Good Lord. Sorry about the bitchiness of the previous post.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

When I started this job, there was already someone here with my name so they dubbed me (before they met me) Tiffany. Now everyone at the office calls me "Tiffy" and I don't even respond to my own name anymore. I am SO not a Tiffy. Not even remotely. But it works.


I have a friend who is Kathryn. Not Kat, not Kath, not Kathy, not Katherine. Kathryn. It's a very "old" sounding name, I think -- someone earlier said formal. I agree. But she couldn't be ANYthing but Kathryn.


Then again, I went to college with a girl named Dusty Rhodes. And she seemed to be A-OK with that.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

My sister's name is Phaedra. I should tell her to come here an post how she feels about the name. She and I have only ever known one other Phaedra, and we haven't seen her since the late 80's.

I know I used to be jealous because I thought she got the cooler name. (I'm Pamela, and I arrived 5 years before she did.)

I've hated my name most of my life, and my mom has stories of me as a toddler insisting my name was Nancy, or something like that. I used to secretly hope my friends would bestow upon me some cool nickname like "Cricket." I was pretty happy when a coworker at an old job called me Riley (my last name at the time).

I've finally come to accept my name. It doesn't help that one of my favorite comic/actor/writer/web designer/anime-voice-actor/anime-dub-scripters/journaler happens to have the same name. Though it's not likely anyone will ever confuse the two of us.

I don't think how people treat me has anything to do with my name. I might be treated differently if I insisted on being called "Cricket" at 26 yrs old. I have no idea if my name fits me, but I seem to be stuck with it. Would I be a different person if I'd had a different name? I really don't know. How does my name affect me and the people around me? Well, I get a lot of hits on my site from people looking for Pamela Anderson. I don't think it affects people around me at all.

One thing I find odd, though. Growing up, I didn't know any other Pamelas. The only others I knew of were Pam Dawber(?) from Mork & Mindy, and the Pamela character on Dallas. When I started college at UT, I was put into a temporary 'dorm' of about a dozen girls. There were TWO other Pamelas, the first I've met. After marrying my husband, I became the third Pamela in his family. And then I met Pamie at SxSW.

Must be a Texas thing.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

My parents were OH so original in the 70s and decided to name me "Jennifer."

In grade six, there were 5 Jennifers in my classroom of 30 kids. FIVE.

I thought for a second that I'd use my middle name, but it is the other most common name ever: "Elizabeth." Thanks mom.

I think having a really common name affected how I saw myself as a kid. I felt as though I wasn't really an individual, but just another girl named Jennifer.

I claimed "Jen" (not Jenn) as my own in high school in an effort to carve out my own identity. It's just as common, but somehow it felt more like my own. I'm finding as an adult that people think it's wierd that I introduce myself using the "familiar" version of my name. How come "Mike" is okay, but you get flack when you try and call yourself "Jen"? Oh well.

But I keep on. To me, "Jennifer" is what people I don't like call me...

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

I go by Courtney with most people, and Court with close friends and family. I can't even say my name correctly - I always trip up over the transition between syllabuls. I could have gone by my middle name, but that would have just been bad pronounciations waiting to happen (it's Danelle Hall.) My parents almost named me "Music," though, so I guess I got off lucky. Music Hall. I can just imagine.

My boyfriend's name is Thom, shortened from Thomas. No one calls him by his full name, but EVERYONE spells "Thom" wrong. The "h" somehow gives him a spurt of individuality, the way I see it. I like "Thom," but not "Tom."

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Pamela--

It must be an Austin thing. I only knew the "Dawber" girl and the "Pammy" Shirt Tail growing up. Remember that one Toto song? "Pamela! Don't break this heart of mine! Just remember, it may not heal this time!"

No one remembers it.

And I start work at this new company last year and there are three of us. Three Pams. It's freaky. And we're all, "I've never met another Pam."

But you go by "Pamela," don't you? Whenever someone calls me that I'm either talking to a stranger, someone is being cheeky, or my ass is in big trouble.

I think that "Pam" is the most boring name on the planet. Really. But it's my name, so whaddaya gonnado.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

jen, my middle name is "elizabeth," too, and i don't find it common at all. i've known very few elizabeths in my life (OK, one was a little kooky), but it's an older name that can be shortened into all kinds of nicknames ... people can just pick one they like. my husband loves the name and wants to name our first child (which he *knows* will be a girl) beth.

these days, i get tired of the courtneys, baileys, brittanys, etc. even megan is a little too popular for my taste. i was the only megan until high school and, after that, there was one around every corner! i really like the name megan and wish it wasn't on the top 10 of every popular baby name list. my parents knew not a single megan when i was born and they thought they were doing me a favor! the name fits me, but it fits about a 1,000 other women these days, too!

after seeing "the virgin suicides" i want to change my name to lux. love it! maybe that will be the first-born girl's name...

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

My name is actually Malinda, which is actually my middle name, but I don't go by my first. The fact i cheerily go by Milla online says it all. I get tired of it being spelled wrong. I get tired of being called Melinda, Melissa, Melanie, Monique, Minerva, Millicent, Mallory, Mona, Miriam, etc. (The worst spelling of my name ever: Maunaa. I'm not kidding.)

My paternal grandmother is also a Malinda. My maternal grandmother and I have the same first name. My mother is Linda Ann. My brother's common name is the same as my mom's maiden name, but his legal name is the same as my father's and his father's. There's constant confusion around the household, mail has been opened that wasn't supposed to be, phone conversations (particularly with my deaf grandfather before he passed on) have been surreal. My fave was when he called up my mother, got me, and launched into a monologue about "kids today", citing, erm, me. I can't remember what I'd done or not done, and it was unusual for me to upset my family with bad behavior, but I'd done something. Maybe I had had a smart mouth that day and lipped off to my sainted grandmother in his presence. The shame. Anyway, I protested that I was me for a while and then figured out this was a bonus from God and just said 'uh huh' and "I'll talk to her about that" for the rest of the conversation. We DO sound alike.

When I see my name in print, I freak out. It's a rare occurence. I'm sure Johns and Mikes and Amys don't know what it's like. It's even freakier when they spell it correctly.

There is a song with "Melinda" in it, but I couldn't tell you what it was. 'Malinda's in print are usually seen as either glamorpuss babes (snark) or countrified troublemakers (double snark), but there's no in-between. (I'm not the least bit country...but I'm a whole lotta rock 'n roll, baby.)

I've met four people (including myself) who spell their name with two 'a's. Three of us are related. The name appears on both sides of the family, oddly enough.

I've met Melindas and generally speaking, we don't bond. I remember there was a Melinda in my grade at school and she was primarily evil to me and to other people. That sucked. There was also a pair of sisters at my school where one girl was a Malinda and the other sister had my first name.

I also know a Milinda.

I went by Lorelei when I got online in 1991, and there were *none* out there anywhere except for me. Then again, there weren't that many *women* out there! Now I can't sneeze without hitting one, and they all get indignant to find out they aren't original. I chose the nickname at random by picking up a pile of 45s next to my computer chair. "Lorelei" is the B-side instrumental to "Genius of Love" by the Tom Tom Club. It's also a type of siren that lures sailors to their doom, the name of a music festival (makes sense), a Styx song (!) and the name of a Marilyn Monroe character (Lorelei Lee).

Friends dubbed me Milla and it stuck and I'm satisfied with the nickname because everyone spells it right and most people pronounce it correctly, too (Me-lah), and it's not bad having the same name as 'LeeLu Dallas Multi-pass'. I used to have a promotional button that said "Can you say Milla?' when her album came out...it predated me getting dubbed Milla online.

I don't like "Malinda" much, but I haven't found anything I like better.

BTW, Jen, you could always be Jenibeth. ;) A friend of mine in college went by that. We had six Elizabeths and five Jennifers in our class (college) so we had Liz, Beth, Lisbet, Lizbuff, Elizabeth and Bets, plus Niffer, Jenny, Jen, Jenibeth and Jenifer.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

I've always been a bit defensive about my name, because apparently most of the population doesn't understand the difference between the female "Erin" and the male "Aaron" or "Aron". If I get one more piece of mail for Mr. Erin Hoover or Ms. Aaron Hoover, I'll scream.

On top of that, my middle name (Kirsten) is somewhat unusual, and so I get Kristen a lot - at my high school graduation, my principal still said Erin Kristen instead of Erin Kirsten even after checking with me on the pronounciation. I know I don't have it as bad as a lot of people when it comes to hard to spell names, but it's pretty damn annoying anyway.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Erin, I had two friends in college with that name who got married - and she changed her name when they did. Aaron and Erin M---- We used to tease them that we'd never call their house because there was no simple way of explaining which one of them we wanted to talk to.

I heartily agree with all the Jennifers and Elizabeths who complain about being one of five in a class. In my high school, the school dog was named Sarah - and 75% of the times I turned around because someone called my name, it was the dog they were talking to. The real problem with Sarah is that it doesn't have a nickname - no Jen/Jenny/Jennifer or Liz/Beth/Elizabeth options. So when you have 5 Sarahs, you really have 5 Sarahs (or Saras)! I'm currently working very closely with another woman who also happens to be Sarah with the same last initial. Our students have taken to calling us Sarah Squared when they mean both of us, but still can't figure out a good way to distinguish us. I do like the name - I like the history and meaning of it - but I can't help wishing my parents had been a bit more creative.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

I've always thought my name 'Megan' was a bit blah. It seemed that every claassroom had at least one Nicole, one Kirsty, one Rebecca and one Megan. Even worse my middle name is Ann. ugh! Maybe that's the reason everyone called me Mog from the age 6 up (and just for the record, I'm not an obsessed, crazy cat woman).

I always wondered how my sister 'Dani' got such a cool name (middle name: Joy). That is until I found out yesterday a long list of rapunzel-like names my mum had planned for me until my dad intervened. Man..... I have never been so relieved to have the name 'Megan' in my life.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Hey Pamie-

Actually, I've never even heard of that song! I do know some group (Tangerine Dream?) has a song called Phaedra....

Anyway, it's definately a Texas thing. There are at least 3 Pamelas at my company, though I've never met the others. (I don't think we work at the same place!)

Back before I got out of my 'hate my name' phase, I insisted on being called Pamela, and only friends and family could get away with Pam. No one called me Pammie/Pammy/Pamie until Dale (who'd spell it like you do), and now our friends her sometimes call me that.

I don't really care anymore if folks shorten my name.* I go by Pamela here and in other online journaling forums just to differentiate from you. Though I think there's little chance people would mix up our sites. ;)

*I do still get ticked off if strangers (i.e. sales people) start referring to me as Pam. It makes me feel like I'm being talked down to, as if I'm not someone to be taken seriously. Hmmm, I think I might start a new forum thread.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Judging from the number of personalized coffee mugs, plaques and other oddities around my house, I guess I'm pretty fond of my first name. (It was a little weird for a while though when I was briefly seeing a girl named Leigh; I kept thinking "How confusing will this be if this works out and we end up married? Except for the spelling her name will be exactly the same as mine, even down to the same middle initial.")

My mother's name is Carole. She Likes her name, but she can't stand it when people leave off the "e." But it could have been a lot worse: My grandmother once told me someone in the family wanted her to name my mom Captolia.

I think your name does shape who you are. I'm not a terribly masculine person, and I suppose that could be related to having a unisex name.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

All this discussion on Pamelas... That's my mom's name. She hates when people call her Pam or Pamie, though, and she usually goes by Pamela, PJ or Peegh.

As for my name, it's Kylee Eliza. Hmmm. When I was younger, I hated it. I wanted to be Renee or Tiffany or whatever. I thought people thought I was a boy (and they did, teachers would always call, "Kyle? Is Kyle here?" and I would raise my hand and have to correct them). Plus, the pronunciation is always butchered. I get Kyle, Kaylie, Keely, Klee... the list goes on and on and on. Now I really like my name, and even though it's different, I kind of wish I had one that was even more odd-ball. And there aren't many nicknames you can really go by... I always know when people are my good friends, because they start calling me Ky. I have gotten some interesting nicknames that have nothing to do with Kylee, however, such as EB (I like that one a lot) and Jack.

And, yes, I do think that my name influenced who I am today. I am an original person and I think that my name helps to a.)contribute to that image and b.)shape that image itself.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Yeah, I think your name defines you to a point. MY name is Kathryn, but I can't remember anyone ever calling me that. (Unless my mom is really pissed, and then it's the full "KATHryn TAYlor MARgarET WIKER!!!") No one ever calls me Kathy. (Mainly becasue I've time and again threatened to strangle anyone who tries.) I am however Katie until I die. I've tried introducing myself as Kate to people who had never seen me before, in a place where they could not possibly know me as anything else, and within two hours I was Katie to all of them. The only exceptions to the KAtie rule is my best friend calls me Kit (her name is Amber and I call her Bert), and two senior guys started this trend of calling me Frances, which actually lasted for a few months. But then they graduated and it's back to Katie. Sigh. I guess I should be thankful, however. I hear I was thisclose to being named Tammy.

(As an aside, my main squeeze disclosed to me today that his first-born child will be named Allister, regardless of gender; the next kid, if a girl, Chiquita Banana; if a boy, Batman. Wonder how that will affect the poor little darlings? ;)

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

Pamela, I actually visited your website's wedding page (from the link in the other forum), and that's what got me going on this Phaedra thing. My dad was big into that song by Tangerine Dream, although I have never heard it to this day. He wanted my middle name to be Morhiah, after that 70s song, "They Call the Wind Morhiah." My dad loved the 70s. But I am glad my mother named me, I just wished she'd given me an additional middle name. I remember coming home from preschool and asking my mom what my middle name was, as everyone had been bragging about theirs on the playground. (I was so embarrassed not to know my own middle name!) I cried when I found out it was Anne and I'd been going by it all along. Tremendous let down not to be Leigh Anne Olivia, like I'd told everybody at school. Ha!

All through high school, my best friend (Cricket) called me Pam -- it happened because I called her house once and left a message with her nearly deaf grandmother. Who was convinced that "Pam" called. It stuck for quite a while, and I always thought it was sooo much cooler than Leigh Anne.

Now the only nicknames I still have are L.A. (my personal favorite), La La (because of my resemblance to the Teletubbie??), and Lu Lu.

And Mike, I forgot to say thanks for saying my name is cool. Thanks! I've learned to love it as I've gotten older. As long as that LeAnn Rimes fades into obscurity, I'll be happy....

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2000

It seems so odd to me to see so many entries about the name "Pamela" and only one other "Jennifer" so far. (Well, I guess it makes sense, considering whose site this is...) I have never known a real life Pamela. Jennifers, though, are a dime a dozen. It sucks.

In elementary school, I was always "Jenny H." to distinguish me from "Jenny W." "Jenny S." and "Jenny A." I suffered a minor identity crisis in 6th grade, when there were suddenly three "Jenny H"'s in my grade.

Somewhere in college, I started hanging out with a "Jen Z." and transformed into "Jen H." I've been a Jen ever since. Jennifer means you're mad at me, and Jenny means you don't know I much I hated that name as a kid.

I'm a waitress, and I always start out with the "Hi, my name is Jennifer" spiel. ("Jen" and "Jenny" were both already taken) The other night, this woman interrupts me. "You must have been born in the 70's," she says. "Huh?" "Everyone born in the 70's is named Jennifer." I couldn't argue.

One more thing, then I swear I'll shut up. (I've got a lot of pent up rage about my name, and I'm inclined to go on about it for hours whenever the subject comes up.) I'm probably not doing this right at all, but this is an amusing website that I found once. If your name is Jennifer, or even if it isn't, check it out:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7731

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

My real name is Susan-Jane Dolores Pietras Smith. I quit using Susan as soon as I met my husband. I couldn't imagine being stuck with Susan Smith, because of the murderer.

Susan-Jane sounds like a hick name to me. I like it though. It's a little different but not to far out there.

Defined me? Not really. It's something that has just always been there. Suzyramble~The Mutterings of A Fool

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

Donna's not a popular name, until when its around xmas time, and then everyone realises that one of the "reindeers" is called Donna, but my middle name is that worst, Lenore. yeh, its a family name, its my nanna's first name, my aunts middle name, and my middle name. I've never met another person called Lenore (apart from family) But i guess i could have been called something worse. I used to go out with a guy who's name was Rain, and he had a twin sister called Ghani, lol the thing was he loved his name, and even called his kitten Oceania, his name just suits him. When i was primary school there was 5 rebeccas, then when we went to high school, there ended up being 7. Three of them were in my group of friends, it just gets too confusing after a while

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

I was named after a Star Wars character, Princess Leia to be exact. But my mother didn't like the spelling, so she changed it so suit her. All of my life, I have gotten the Star Wars jokes, and when Friends did the episode with Princes Leia and the Gold Bikini, I was pretty much teased for weeks on end.

It is a good name, though...unique like me. I have never met anyone else who has the same name as me, and when people are trying to remember my name, all they have to do is remember Star Wars. It's a memory trick for them.

I just wish I could have gotten a license plate for my bike with my name on it. My sister (Lynn)always got little personalized things like that...I could never find them.

Darn it.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

Thanks, Jen, for the funny web site. And yes, I do pity our children. At least everyone knows how to spell and pronounce my name.

A friend of mine just had a baby girl who she named KAZL (sounds like Hazel, but with a 'K'). That child is going to grow up with "What was that, dear? Could you spell that for me?" and "Kazl, what an interesting name, what kind of a name is that?" To the latter question, I'm sure she'll have made up a better answer than the truth by the time she's about 6 when she gets tired of saying: "My mom made it up when I was born"

I don't like my name, but at least my parents were firmly planted in the seventies when I was born, and didn't give me a sixties hippie name. I went to high school with a girl whose name was: "Moonbeam Dawn Sundance" (to simplify things, her mother started calling her "Layla" (but spelled Leila) after the Eric Clapton song.

And I also went to high school with a girl who everyone called "Muffy". Muffy, can you believe it? As much as I'm sure she hated her real name "Mary-Ellen" you'd think she'd have ditched "Muffy" by the time she was 10 or so...

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

My name is "Susan", but I just don't feel comfortable with it. I'm not sure what I'd change to if I had a chance, but Susan doesn't feel like the name I'm supposed to have. Maybe it's because there were 13 Susans in my junior high gym class---it was just so overwhelmingly common that there never was any personality attached to it. I think it's one of those names like Gladys or Mabel---it was so popular that noone wants to name their kid Susan, so the name will just die out.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

For some reason, I'm obsessed with this forum. Two more things...as bad as it may seem, it could be worse:

1) One of my closest friends from high school goes by Bitsy. Her actual name is Elizabeth Taylor.

2) A girl I used to work with decided she'd be creative and named her daughter Jenisis Danyelle. Nope. Not kidding.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

Being named "Heith" means never getting through an introduction, interview, or application without having to explain one or more of the following:

- how to pronounce it - how to spell it - how my folks came by it - and what do you MEAN it's not German?!

I don't want to make a science out of coincidence, but I don't doubt that my name has affected who I've become. It's a name you're not likely to ever see again, and believe me when I say that The Man is as odd and unusual as The Name. You like 'em or you don't, but you can't ever say they're not unique.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

Leigha, sometimes people think my name is exactly the same as yours. because "A" is my middle initial, they run it all together when they see "Leigh A". It doesn't happen very often, but I don't mind that misspelled version too much. I think it's kind of cool. Do you pronounce it like "Leah" or like "Lay-a"?

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

This is an addictive thread. Anyway, here's a link swiped from Beth's forum about naming babies. My mind just boggles at what some of these people are considering doing to their kids.

I have a friend who refers to this behaviour as The Rule of Y, meaning you replace other vowels with 'y' to make a 'common' name 'different' or 'trendy.' Nevermind the fact that Myllysa still sounds like Melissa and Typhany is still Tiffany. It just means no one will ever know how to spell these kids' names.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

my parents named me jessica thinking they were being terribly original - which was fine when i was living in the UK, but in australia it's a very popular name, and in one of my classes in high school there were 4 jessicas in a class of 20. oddly, it meant i was instantly nicknamed jess because all the other jessicas went by jess and it was easier for people to remember. you'd think one of us would have gone by jess, one by jessie, one by jessica, etc - but that would have been too simple. now i'm living back in the UK (most of the time) there aren't so many other jesses about, but a year ago i was working for a couple of months in sydney - my predecessor in the job was jess, and when i went away for a couple of days and they had to get a temp, she was also jess.

now the vast majority of people call me jess (some aren't even aware that i'm a jessica). i actually really like jessica as a name, but like a lot of people with shortened names, i always associate being called jessica with people not knowing me well or being angry with me - occasionally some of my very close friends call me jessica, which works for some reason. my family all call me jessie (or jessie clare, which is my middle name) which stems from when i was little and jessie-like - i don't mind it (or even notice it) coming from them, but one of my aunts always introduces me to other people as jessie, which i hate. my dad calls me jesso, which my boyfriend has adopted (still not wholly comfortable with that, especially as some of his housemates have started using it too). and a couple of people call me jessovski, which i think is the funkiest nickname ever.

i don't think i could get used to being called anything else (though i toyed with changing my name to yiskah when i was in oz), and i think i'm definitely lucky considering the other names considered for me - my father wanted to call me gwyneth, which really doesn't work with my last name (try saying 'gwyneth gregson' 5 times fast).

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

My name is Ashley and though I would never name a child that now (every other kid is named Ashley,) it was not that popular when I was born (I am 25.) Regardless, of how popular it is now, I still get compimented on it all the time, people spell it wrong all the time, and I still think it make me original.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

That would be compLimented. ;)

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

Heith, I like your name.

I go by my middle name also, and I think it does shape how people perceive me. I think they automatically think I'm going to happy and outgoing. I like my name, but it's a pain going by your middle name, and ya'll that do that know what I'm talking about. There were never any other Joy's in school, but I have two best friends named Michele and Michelle.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

I like my name, Ilike it alot, I know the occasional EliZabeth, but I barely meet other EliSabeths. The S is a bit frustrating, but it is unique. And I always know that I will like people if they take care to spell my name correctly.

I like being called Elisabeth, as I find Liz to be the bane of my youthful existence. It's too short and familiar. I kind of hate that.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

My sister-in-law is a Phaedra, and I think that is the coolest ever. My parents actually knew this guy named Larry Derry Berry. No lie, he married a lady named Mary. And they were Larry and Mary Derry Berry.

I am just a Bob. Bob Roberts. The Bob is actually Bob, and not just an abbreviated Robert. But, I am often called Robert. Robert Roberts. Ack! Puke! And there was a movie "Bob Roberts", but I am not the same one.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

Let's just say that my boyfriend, Steve looks exactly like Ian Ziering, who played Steve on Beverly Hills 90210 (thank GOD that's over!). They look very, very similar. He even had the blond 'fro/mullet! It's totally crazy insane.

Of course it annoys the hell out of him, but it always makes me giggle.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

I'm a Dawn Rachelle. I love my middle name and would even put my middle initial on my papers when I was in school. I still use it when I sign my checks, just in the hopes that people will ask what it is, haha! My parents named both me and my brother so that we would not have nicknames (he's Brandon). Unfortunately, my red hair of COURSE subjected me to "Red Dawn" jokes... and it was SO tiring when everyone who said that thought they were soooo original. I feel like I got off pretty lucky, though, considering I went to school with a Snow White and a Crystal Shanda Leer. No joke.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

I have pretty much always been the only Caroline around, and it seems to be impossible not to get called Carolyn, which isn't the biggest deal in the world, but it gets old. So, Carolyn, and occasionally lazy people just drop it down to Carol or Carrie, which is when I really start getting irked. I had a teacher one year who couldn't find it in his heart not to call me Catherine.

Mega-sympathy to the Jennifers complaining about the difficulty of distinguishing themselves from others. I had five Jennifers in my sixth grade class, and today at least four of my close friends are named Jennifer (and ALL go by Jen or Jenn). One of them got her last name tacked onto her first name - Jenperl, one word. The others just get prefixes (Celt-Jen and Oh-Jen for instance). There have also always been at least two or three Sarahs around, and an overabundance of Katies. So I am kind of glad I have a fairly unique name, even though I don't think it suits me very well.

Hell, I prefer Luna. But I can live with either one.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

When I was in grade school, every single year when the teacher called roll for the first time, when she came to my name, she'd say "You must be a combination of Rosemary Clooney and Elizabeth Taylor." Every single year. I'd smile weakly but politely and think, jesus, adults sure are lame.

In my family, it's the initials that are fun. My dad's spell WET, my mom's spell FAT (if you add her confirmation name, it's FART). So you'd think they'd have avoided giving me the initials RAT, wouldn't you?

Also, I have an uncle Tim who married a woman named Tim (her dad wanted a boy) -- they named their son Wayne, which I thought showed no sense of fun or adventure at all

When I was in high school, I dated a guy one time whose last name was DeRose, and when I realized that if we got married I'd be Rose DeRose, I never dated him again. (This was before we knew about keeping our own names, and no I did not tell him why I wouldn't go out with him again.)

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

i knew a guy in high school named eftihi (meant happiness in greek i think) and his nickname used to be left titty

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

i actually have a double first name, but i'm not one of the lucky ones like Leigh Anne who has a double first name that's actually two first names. My first name is Mary Smedes and i've found that it's just way too difficult for anyone who's not a family member. There's no hyphen and Smedes is pronounced Smeeds. But when i was a wee tot my sister had trouble saying Mary Smedes so she called me MeSme and that turned into Mimi and it stuck. It is kind of nice to have a fairly original easy to pronounce nickname and i've gotten used to it.

My sister's first name is Miller which is one of those names that sets you up for the horrible jokes. She's started answering "Miller? Like the beer?" with "Yeah, my parents were really drunk the night i was conceived so they just..."

And my brother's first name is Shirreff, pronounced like Deputy Sheriff. Poor thing.

My brother Wesley really won the normal name award in my family.

Oh, and everyone thinks Miller is a boy's name, and she just married a guy named Lee and she says people have already started getting their names wrong upon introduction. Everyone assumes that Lee is the girl and Miller is the boy. Ooops!

i had five Sarah's on my field hockey team in high school, and that was a pain. We ended up calling them all by their last names only, so it was okay.

The only Pam i know is my aunt who always trys to get people to introduce her as Pamela, but it just doesn't work. She's totally a Pam.

The only problem i have with Mimi is that it kind of makes me sound like i'm five years old. That and for some reason people really like to name their cats Mimi. And lots of people call their grandmother Mimi. And they all feel compelled to tell me about it. Which can be a pain.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

I am Monica Gayle. I like my name I guess it flows well with my last name so thats cool..I've only ever met 4 other monicas in my life (one of which is my cousin)..so I supose I got off pretty easy...I could have been named Denise (denise Donelle, how aweful!!) What i really wish they did though was name me emma. I so wanted to be named emma..my mother loved it but my dad didn't..(even though it would have been after his grandmother) to this day I swear thats what my first girls name will be..Dad said he took one look at me (they had decided on monique) and said..nope shes more of a monica..so I guess thats what I am :)

My mother named me Monica so that I wouldn't be nicknamed..but shes the one that nicknamed me...monky is a big one..and mony..my dad calls me monica gayle toenail (how i got that one i have NO clue).my friends call me moca, mon, nicki, nemonica, Mo and mouse...so much for no nicknames eh......although this is a woman who named my brother stephen and expected people to not call him Steve.

I went to camp once with a girl whose name was Treasure Island Keddy...can u believe it..and my female cousins name is michael...but yeah I like my name..Just sucks when people spell it wrong..it is NOT monique.its not Monika..and my middle name is not GAIL. its GAYLE.my last name, now thats something totally different all together!! :) I'm just glad im not one of those poor jennifers..I had 8 jennifers in my class one year...it was aweful..and matthew...in grade 7 there were 3 matts..and all of them were Matt B..so we just called them bowman, boyd adn burns instead *L*...

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

It is actually supposed to be pronounced Laya, but most people say it wrong, lee-a, and I just quit correcting people a long time ago. My mother even says it lee-a now. There's just no winning.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2000

I had a friend whose first name I think was Nishe (Japanese meaning "sunshine" or something). She thought this was awful and felt fortunate her mother had the presence of mind to give her the middle name Elizabeth, so she always called herself Lizzi. She wasn't Japanese. She was really crazy. Now I expect everybody named Lizzi to be crazy.

I think it works the same way with all names: when people first meet you, they associate you with the first or most important (to them) person of that name they met. I'm at a slight advantage here for having a somewhat uncommon name, Emma, but then I get a lot of "Like the Jane Austen novel?" or just plain "what a lovely name" or "what an uncommon name" or something. Plus then you take my full name, Emma Wedgwood Darwin Littleton, and everybody is surprised when I don't wear glasses and speak with a Chicago accent and don't have any money. So man, don't even ask me. I don't know.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2000

I'm another Caroline who was always called Carolyn. That's why when a friend shortened my name to Cara I adopted it. Now only my parents call me Caroline. After all this time I really do think of myself as Cara. It always takes me aback when I realize I have a whole other name that is technically mine.

My daughter's name is Fiona Caroline and I hope she never changes it!

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2000

Hey Kate...I think you've READ my mind. My name is Katherine and I sometimes try to go by Kayt (pronounced kate but spelled cool, I came up with it in like 7th grade and thought I was SO damn cool) nut to anyone and EVERYONE I will always be Katy. Unless I too am in trouble at which point I am KATHERINE LELIA NEWTON BENNETT.

But, most people have trouble SPELLING Katy. I guess that -y- is just WAY too much trouble so I usually get Katie, which just isn't me, or Kathy NOT ME!

And a WHOLE lotta people get the middle name wrong. See, they KNOW I have a very long name. They just can't get a handle on what those names are. My girl scout leader always called me Katy Lou McGgillicutty when she wanted my attention, and one time a kid at school asked me if my name REALLY was Katherine Olivial Newton John Bennett. Retard.

But my siblings and I were for real JUST discussing our names LAST NIGHT and we decided we all so very much FIT our given names. We were all slated to get unusual family names and each and every one of us got normal everyday names and those family names became middle. Therefore Elizabeth, Plamer and Lelia became Sarah Adam Katy

this has been a hideos rambling thing I apologize for byebye Katy

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2000

well, my name is Amber Joelle [I won't even mention my last name. most people mispronounce it too]. anyway, most people think my middle name is creative considering. it makes me think of christmas [noel..heh]. it came about because my grandpa's name is joe and since I didn't turn out being a boy, they just added the -lle to the end. it was either that or joette [that's my aunt's first name], so I guess this is okay.

when I went through my country phase in 7th grade, I insisted on being called Omber Jo!!! I have NO idea why I wanted to be called this. I thought it was soo cool and would sign my name like that. I still have some old papers where I wrote that. hideous!

then in 8th grade, I wished my name was lisa, no matter that there were 3 lisas I knew at our school. I just thought of it as a respectful name and well, I used to dislike my name ever since a little kid called me hamburger and his mom thought he was talking about being hungry but he pointed at me. ick.

now, my name is okay I guess. I mean, I could see myself as other names, but I know I would forget if a person was talking to me if they called me by something different, so yes, it's fine. some of my nicknames have been, am [unoriginal], ambito, and ambromoto [after hunchback of notre dame], so I guess ya can't say my name is tooo boring.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2000

I used to really hate my name. Kira is rather unusual and no one ever could pronounce it correctly. Since I was an extremely shy child, the thought of correcting people who insisted on mispronouncing my name was just traumatic. I really like my name now. Kira Jennifer Bye - the only thing I ever wanted to change was the spelling of Jennifer so if I ever got something with a monogram my initials would be KGB. Someone once told me that Kira Bye would be a good name for a stripper. I have no clue where I was going with that, but I feel rather weirded out by the idea.

I think my last name was the worst though I have been subjected to endless Bye Bye jokes. I still get them constantly.

I think if I had been named something differant I wouldn't have realized that people are idiots at such a young age.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2000

My parents named me Cynthia Jeanne because they thought "CJ" sounded like a nickname for a high-powered female executive. At least so they told me when I was a kid, but now that they've started making "when are you going to have a family" eyes at me I doubt they'd "remember" that. No one has ever, ever called me CJ and they will not start.

I introduce myself to people as Cynthia (because I'm old now) but they start calling me Cindy after a while because if I'm not paying attention that's what I call myself. I'm pretty neutral about the whole Cindy/Cynthia question, except when people spell it Cyndi. I have a big grudge against Cyndi Lauper on that count.

It could be much worse. I could have been named Mary Alice after my two grandmothers. The other option was Jessica; when I was I kid I kind of wished they'd picked that instead of Cynthia, but now I don't particularly care.

It's my last name that's always been the problem.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2000

my name isn't claire but i'm still fat. (remember breakfast club?)

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2000

What are you talking about? I TOTALLY remember the Toto song "Pamela"! It was my favorite! Anyway, good song.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2000

I used to hate my first name. Heather wasn't very common when I was in elementary school, and I was the only one, but I hated the fact that there are SO many things that rhyme with Heather! Plys, I was a really small kid, so I got Heather Feather. People would tell me not to blow away in the wind.

When I hit high school, there was another Heather in my homeroom, and my teacher didn't want to cal us Heather A and Heather C, and asked if one of us would like to use our middle name. Heather A didn't have one, so I beame Elaine. Except my teacher couldn't pronounce Elaine so I got Helen. I am NOT a Helen! After a while I stopped paying attention to her if she called me that.

I don't know what my parents were thinking, naming me Heather when we lived in Quebec. Not one single Francophone I ever met could pronounce my name. There is no TH sound in French, so Francophones would say D instead, and French Quebecers tend to drop H's from the beginning of words. I was Eder for most of my life. I even started getting mail for Eder Croff (Oh, yeah, it's hard to pronounce Croft in French, too. I don't know why).

However, now I can't imagine not being Heather. It's a part of me, and it *has* shaped who I am. My parents really liked the name, and I've grown to like it, too.

But when I was a kid I wanted to be named Megan.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2000

You'd think a three-letter name would be easy to remember. Mee-uh. Like the actress. Missing In Action. Mia. Not hard.

I have gotten Mya my whole life. I have long ago accepted and it and now answer to it. This one guy I dated for a couple of weeks went through the whole time thinking that was my name, and I didn't have the heart to keep correcting him.

Other common names I get: Misty, Marissa, Mariah, Maria, Melanie, Meredith... I don't know how they can change such a short little name into something with 5 syllables, but whatever.

I have a friend named Tiffany who I always introduce people to as Tootie. Her parents and brother have called her this since she was little, and it stuck. I can't imagine calling her Tiffany now, but I do have to let people know her actual name when they start making "Facts of Life" jokes.

My friend Alayna's middle name was Christine, but her dad kept calling her Alayna Jayne, so when she was 6 months old, they had it legally changed, so she now suffers people calling her "Layna Jayna," "Laynie Mae," and other variations of such.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2000

My full name is, of course, Jeffrey. What's strange about it is that it seems to be the only name that people feel absolutely comfortable shortening(Pamela's probably a close second). It's annoying to introduce yourself as Jeffrey and 9 times out of 10 have someone say,"It's nice to meet you, Jeff." Otherwise, the name doesn't seem to have much personality. It only reminds me of 70's middle class ex- hippies.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2000

I'm a Caroline too! And people always call me Carolyn. ARUG! It's INE as in Carol-INE! (And my boyfriend's grandfather refers to me as Carrie. I find it hard to respond to.. "Carrie?" (long silence) (in my head- hey stupid that's you!) "uh, yeah?")

To make matters worse my last name, Fedoruk is supposed to be pronounced FED-ER-ICK and people say FE-DOR-UK, but that doesn't really get to me, until I correct them a million times and they still don't get it right!

And I spent my whole childhood being called Canary-lion Fe-dork.

I grew up to be a big mood-swingy dork. Talk about shaping a child's future based on mispronounciation.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

My name is Susanne. Middle name is Rae.

No I am not Southern. It sounds Southern. I'm a born and bred Bostonian. Go figure.

My parents thought it would be reeeealy interesting to spell Susanne with an 's' instead of with a 'z'. SO, needless to say, no one ever spells my name correctly, and if they are reading it they pronounce it 'Susan'. huh?

So my name has made me a bit proud and prickly. I love that it is spelled differently, despite all the crap I have to get from people about it. It makes me one of very few Susanne's with an 's'.

I always wanted to be an Isabella---so exotic and romantic.

My mother once told me that I was almost a Kayla or a Robin. I am definately a Susanne though.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

My name is Stephanie which wasn't that common a name when I was born - 1968. I thought it too long and pretentious when I was young so I insisted on being call Steph. NEVER EVER Steffie! To me Steffie is a cute bunny rabbit or a dense cheerleader with big breasts and fuzzy pink sweaters. No thank you - not for me. Now that I'm older I like to use Stephanie but unfortunately there are those Steffie lovers out there. They are quickly corrected.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

My name is Corey. My father told me that he didn't mind the name Corey, but he didn't think it sounded distinguished enough. "In case you turn out to be a senator or something, boy." So he went with Garrett as the middle name so that if I ever achieved some office or high ranking corporate position, I could go by "C. Garrett". My dad's kind of strange like that.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

Jacquelyn Anne. I hated getting 'Jackie' until the age of 16, when I became first resigned and then accustomed to it. Now, if anybody calls me Jacquelyn I look around for my family, because they're the only ones that do it.

Tristan and my family always shorten it to Jacq, not Jackie. Really good friends tend to go for Jacq as well. If my mother calls me Jackie it sounds really odd.

Of course, when I gave up and accepted Jackie as my name, I never dreamed I'd end up with Collins as a surname. It's a bit of a comedy name and always gets a response, but if I mention it at the beginning of a conversation everybody always remembers it, which is quite useful.

I really like traditional names for children, so mine will be Harriet, Madeline, Emily, William, or something along those lines.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

I like my name, Brianna Privett, though there are far too many people under the age of 15 with that first name. Right now it's 3rd most popular name for baby girls in the US. I've never met an adult with my name, though. My mother actually thought she had made it up, taking the names Rhiannon and Bree and combining them (she hated the name Briannon, so it became Brianna).

I was supposed to be named Sasha, but my mom changed her mind when she read the book with the name Rhiannon in it a few days before I was born. I've often wondered if it would have changed how I see myself if I'd been named Sasha. It's a very sensual name.

I don't like my middle name, Lee, however. It takes my almost elegant sounding name and turns it into something plain. Any suggestions on what I should change it to? I plan on changing it legally, or getting rid of it altogether.

I got a lot of "Bianca"s and "Brittany"s when I was growing up, and I'm very particular about nicknames. A lot of my friends in junior high and high school called me "Yanna" which evolved into "Anna" when I graduated (pronounced "Onna"), but I refuse to answer to "BriOnna" or "Anna" with a flat "a" like "cat" (though I've gotten less crotchety about it as I get older.) I also will not respond to "Bree". I am not a cheese.

So yes, I suppose I do think my name suits me. Or I've evolved into the kind of person who would be named "brianna." Either way. To me, my name sounds sort of romantic/classic, rather Victorian. And I definitely have a romantic nature. Part of the reason I designed my personal site the way I did was to reflect my impression of my name, since it's also my domain name.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

I was Elizabeth until I got to college at which point I decided to go by Liz. But my godparents have always called me Beth. Mostly I'm Liz.

And commenting on someone else's post: I have a good friend named Craig Carlson. I laughed when I read your comments.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

Liz,

Is the Craig Carlson you know a realtor? I always felt that it'd be a great name for a realtor. You'd have to say it in a deep voice, though.

"Hi, my name is Craig Carlson. Allow me to show you a brilliant 3- bedroom tudor that just came onto the market."

It's probably just a me thing. Just smile and nod.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

My sister's having a baby real soon, so we've been talking a lot about names. I want her to pick something original, but not too fluffy or strangely-spelled. For instance, I like the boy names Avery and Nathanial...but Rylie for a girl sounds too contrived to me. Anyway, it's not my kid so I guess I don't really have a say, but I try to intervene on the kid's behalf. Because anyone who has to go through life as Tyffani or something is going to have problems.

My sister's name is Tara, which, according to some baby names book, means "a rocky crag." Which I used to tease her about, but the earthyness and solidity of that name really suit her very well.

My own name is Allison Kay. Which flows very nicely. Allison is a Gaelic name that means "little truthful one." I think it's quite appropriate. Kay is the middle name of 2 of my aunts, my dad's sister and my mom's sister, which is I guess why my parents picked it. My mom says that when I was born, all the other names she'd thought about flew right out of her head, and Allison was the only one that would fit. When I was growing up, mom & dad always sang me that Elvis Costello song (which is not an entirely happy song, but I'm happy to have Elvis crooning my name), and there's also the Lemonheads song "Alison's starting to happen" which talks about Alison getting a mohawk, which I like.

I go by Alli a lot too. I guess when I was little I hated Allison (well, really, it's what my dad would yell when he got mad) and insisted on going by Alli. So everyone who knew me in my hometown or during my youth calls me Alli. My roommates now call me Alli too, but no one else here does, so it gets a little confusing when bosses or professors call my house.

I have a friend whose hippie parents gave her the middle name "Ourilove." Like our + love. I think the flower-child-ness of that name definitely affected her life.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

My name is Melissa Anne. I'm surprised there aren't any more of us here. In my high school there were 5 of us and 5 Jennifers. Life was Hell until we sorted it all out.

I've been called Missy, Miss or Mouse for my entire life so I don't even connect with Melissa. It takes awhile for it to kick in that someone is yelling to me not someone else. Also, people seem have a hard time spelling Melissa - even my dad has misspelled it!

I've been told Missy is too cheeky. And, honestly, it reminds me of a blonde cheerleader but I just don't identify with Melissa at all. My friends and family call me Miss most of the time - causes some confusion when we're out (random women think we're trying to get their attention) but it seems to fit a bit better.

And the Anne thing - can it be anymore boring?? Sure, Mom, add an "e" that will make it much more exotic. oy. The other unfortunate thing is that my last name starts with a "C". I used to get in fistfights as a little girl over someone calling me by my initials - Mac.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

I have bitched about my name too many times in Pamie's forum to do it again. But Misty Dawn? I hate it. My parents were obviously hoping for a stripper. Yuck. It's too cute and perky, and that is totally not what I want people to get out of my name. How are you suppose to be elegant as a Misty?

My family and friends call me Mis. I hate. hate. hate. Missy or Mitzy.

My nephew couldn't say Misty, so he called me Aunt Mimmi (it actually came out the first time as Ann Mimmi, I was so thrilled), it stuck and my future nieces and nephews will probably call me that too.

I wish my mom would have named me Charlotte after my grandmother. I love that name and I could so pull off being a Charlotte.

Oh well.

Melissa, I have a good friend with your name and I call her Mel.

-- Anonymous, May 17, 2000

I've got my kids' names picked out already (you can't have Madelaine!! That's my mom's middle name!): Grace, Olive and Flora. I like old-fashioned names that are nice to say. My kookum (grandmother) is named Flora.

My parents are George and Norma, which I think of normal names. The offspring, however, got the named as a result of the 'rents reading habits.

Me - Dulcie Rebecca. Dulcie is from a name book, is of Latin origin and means "sweet" or "sweet one". It amuses Italian, Spanish and other latin-speaking people to no end. GRR. me bitter, not sweet. really. mew. As far as influence what type of person I am... most likely. I like things that are unique, I like being different. I am different. It is constantly mis-spelled and mispronounced. I've been called Darcy, Delsie, Doolcie, Dulka, Elsie, Dulchia (the Italian pronunciation, anyway), and bafflingly, Dulucy.

My younger brothers are Logan Ellsworth (Ack! Ellsworth is a family name, my father and his father's middle names. Gramps was named Roath, btw.) and Ruarri Joshua. I think RJ got the best name, but he gets called Roy all the time.

Now I'm dating a Nels. I like his name, and sometimes I call him Schnell. He very patiently puts up with my rudeness. (It reminds me of that scene from A Bug's Life... you know, with Heimlich. "Anyone want a tasty verm on a schtick?")

The End.

Credits:

...

Sorry for rambling, DM

-- Anonymous, May 17, 2000

My full name is Carol Elaine Cyr and I love it. Absolutely love it. I was named after my two aunts (Joan Carol and Norma Elaine) and Carol Elaine flows so nicely into Cyr (pronounced "sear" - stick an "s" on the end and I'll smack you). Someday, should I marry, I'm hyphenating because I don't want to lose Cyr, but I do want to honor my hubby (whoever that may be).

My baby sister Teresa Lyn was almost named Leslie Ann, but through some hospital mix-up the wrong name ended up on her birth certificate. Mom realized she liked Teresa Lyn better, so it stayed. Teresa's very happy about that, because her initials are TLC. Besides, Teresa fits her so much better than Leslie. Plus my dad's name is Lynden and bro Bob's middle name is also Lyn, so it's become a family name (Teresa's baby's name is Ryan Lynden).

My best friend is Jennifer. She's known as Jenn or Jennifer. The only person who could ever get away with calling her Jenny was her grandfather and her dad (whom Jenn resembles very closely). If anyone else dares to call her Jenny, she'll give them a withering stare, then correct them.

Then there's bro Bob, who's known as Rob by his business associates, but will always be called Bob by the family. Recently he legally changed his last name from Cyr to St. Cyr, to honor the origins of our last name. Several months later we found out that we were never descended from the St. Cyrs at all, but from a guy in Quebec named Pierre Sire. The last name morphed somehow over the last three centuries. So now Bob's stuck with a last name that has no relation to our heritage. But I think he likes it, so he's keeping it.

-- Anonymous, May 17, 2000

I had a friend named Clare in high school, who was overweight with red hair. We were watching The Breakfast Club in class as a treat, and one of the few times everyone actually watched it was "Claire/Clare? That's a fat girl's name", and the snickers weren't hard to miss. Now I can't watch that scene without rolling my eyes.

My name is actually my middle name. My First is Susana, which wasn't exactly terrible, but always seemed a bit too clunky of a name for me, so I just went by Ariana. After so long, though, the magic wore off and now I just find it boring as hell. Try pronouncing the names together.. awful. My nickname is ALWAYS Ari (airy). Never Ana, Anna, Aria, Sue, Susan, or Susie, but then even Ari gets nicked to Airhead, Aircase, Fairy, Hairy, and a couple times Oreo. Just don't name your children Ariana. Leave it for the porno stars.

I was going to be named Chloe. Unlike everyone else here, I didn't fall in love with my would-be name. But now I don't mind it. Go fig.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

My name is Kate, not Kathy, Kathryn, Kaitlyn, no, it's just Kate. When I was younger, I went by Katie. Then I realized that just going by the one syllable name "Kate" is much more suave and clever. People will think they are being smart when they refer to me as Kathryn. But being the quick-minded person I am, I tell them that my name is just Kate. My parents were going to name me Lear, or something like that. The night my mom went into labor was when she was at my older brother's baseball game (he was 7 at the time) and a lear jet crashed in the next field. I would have liked the name Lear, but I think Kate is more me.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2000

well, i grew up with "irene karen heine," and i'm sure you can imagine the teasing that went along with that. i hated having a "grandma" first name. i didn't know anyone under 65 named "irene."

now, i'm "irene h. dwyer." damn those social security people, but that's another story. no middle name, just an initial. but, what i can't understand, is why ppl have such a hard time SEEING and PRONOUNCING my "new" last name- like the "w" is silent, or something. whatever.

and, there were always those clever people that sang "goodnight, irene" as i smiled and told them the guy wrote the song while in prison. that usually shuts them up.

i think i'm fitting my name more as i get older. just have to get used to the new last name. it's weird that i'm now irish.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000

Ha! Another Jennifer here!

I've always liked my name actually - even when there were 5 other Jennifer's in my class. We all had a variation on the theme : Jenny D., Jenny H., Jen, Jennifer and then me, Jennifer K. I always felt like we were a special group. It's funny - if I leave something on hold at a store I still insist they put down Jennifer K since you know, there are a bazillion another Jennifer's in the world. Also, if I'm introduced to someone new and they forget my name, I get a kick out of harassing them with the line "What, you've forgotten the most popular girls name in 70's history?". It almost always jogs their memories.

Nowadays, *everyone* calls me Jen. Absolutely *everyone*. And if someone - like saaayyy a guy, calls me Jennifer it *really* catches my attention. Makes me look at them a little more closely. It's so *rare*!!! And I think I like it better too.

Of course, maybe I like my name because it has a story : I was named after a song - the Donovan song 'Jennifer Juniper'. Any other Jennifer's hear the same story from their moms? Also, I was big on medieval stuff as a kid and in highschool, and *loved* the idea that my name was a derivative of "Guinevere". I also thought the meaning of my name was cool 'White Wave' (there are several others I think).

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000

Oh dear. I have always struggled against the second 'l' that people try to put into my name. It's probably just a personal thing, but I get so irritated when people try to call me 'Allison.' whatever. I love the wide assortment of good songs with Alison/Allison in them-- aside from elvis and hte lemonheads, there's the Pixies and Slow DIve, too. As for the definition, I have always been big and deceitful. so, what can you do?

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2000

I like Erika, but I can imagine myself being called all kinds of other things. For some reason, I think of Erika as a name for some tough, amoral television reporter with flaming red hair who doesn't like anyone, and as cool as that might sound, it's not an entirely accurate description of me (except for the amoral part, sometimes).

Still, it kind of suits me, unlike the name I was actually supposed to get - Brigitte (bri-GIT-tay). Originally I didn't like it because I thought it sounded kind of starchy, but now I don't like it because I just know some people would think it was a Brittany spinoff.

What I don't like about Erika is that it's impossible to find a names book where it means something nice, like Divine Goddess of Light and Wisdom, and not just 'heather' or 'female form of Erik'. But, hey. No complaining.

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2000

Well! We certainly like to discuss our names, don't we?:) I am of the opinion that I have more names than anyone else on the planet. I was born Andrea Suzanne Medaris, however my dad wanted me to be named Jackie, so all my life, he's called me that. I have hated Andrea since day 1, so when I turned 13 and became addicted to Sweet Valley High, I tried to make everyone call me Elizabeth, as in Elizabeth Wakefield.(Anyone remember her?) That phase passed, until I found computers. Here was my chance to be something other than Andrea FOR REAL! So I started with the name Jenna (I picked it before the sudden rash of Jenna babies). And, wonder of wonders, it stuck, and I later legally changed it. Side note: Does anyone know how difficult it apparently is to spell "Medaris"? The record-holder for worst misspelling is....(drumroll)....McDavison.

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2000

Ok, seeing as we're talking about names, I can chip in a bit. I haven't met too many Roses who aren't in nursing homes, though my cousin did name her dog "Rose." There was a night I was out with some friends: Dorothy, Jane, and Norah. It sounded like we should be a sewing circle or something. In any event, my maiden name was Curtin, so besides all the standard Rose fare, I got everyone telling me that they had rose curtains in their bedrooms. When I got married, I decided against hypenating. My husband's (and now my) last name is SILPAYAMANANT. You try spelling it out over the phone every time you have to order pizza! And then everyone wants to know how to pronounce it, and you eventually just have to smile and nod and assure them that they've been quite successful, which they never have.

My parents, before I was born, called me Eaglethorpe, because it was gender-neutral and so hideous that they couldn't get attached to calling me by it and would be able to think up something better by the time I was born. My cousin wasn't so lucky. Her dad started calling her Stella Dora Macadamia while she was in the womb. By the time she was born, it seemed natural. Her name's Stella Kate Zwicker- Sklar. They'd thought about calling her Zoe, except that she'd look like Zorro whenever she got anything monogrammed.

That's about it for my stories. I'm Rose Ellen, which is a good name for me, though only my great aunt calls me by both names. Rose works because it's old-fashioned but it doesn't really have negative connotations. It's what you make it.

Also, did anyone ever see a New Yorker cartoon back in the 70s (before I was born, but I have an unhealthy obsession with New Yorker cartoons) where there's a class photo. Under the photo, it says, "Jennifer, Jennifer, Jason, Jennifer, Jason, Jason, Jennifer, Mrs. Kyrczynski, Jason...." The teacher looked decidedly out of place. Ok, so you never saw it, but it was funny anyway. So there!

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2000

Well, Leigh Anne, my name is Phaedra, and I have a friend "Leanne". But wasnt alwasy so, My real name before it was changed(several yrs ago) was Jennifer Dawn. My mother won her way, "Jennifer" being such a popular name when I was born. So popular in fact that in every yr attendiing school there were several "Jennifer's" in every class ( one yr I had 3 other Jennifers) thus relegating me to a form of said name- usually one I hated...to this day nobody refers to me as "Jenny" without getting a harsh glare.To add to my greif my mother happened to forget at the time of my birth that her second cousin had a daughter a year before her and had also named their daughter Jennifer Dawn. so not only was I given a name that everyone and their cat had, I had to share my name with a cousin, trust me that nobody wants to be known as #2. My point and I do have one is that you loose your identity with a popular name. It doesnt single you out or make you important. Aside for that the name looses meaning when it becomes common. when it came to choosing "Phaedra" it was very natural and seemed to suit me, however it does get shortened to "Phae" but I dont mind. I did not do any research when choosing this name so I enjoyed researching it after the fact...seems there more of us than I thought...but I have yet to meet one!

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002