name you were born with

Okay, maybe this has come up before ( long past), but I haven't checked way back....how many of you like the name you were born with, and if not, what name would you rather have been given? How do you see yourself?
wc gypsy

Ahhh, it may be a bit too sensitive of a subject for some .. and/or .. too private, for many others ...

The nine of us kids were each given those old OLD names; such as Dixie, Myrtle, Eugene, Harvey, Yvonne, etc. ..

Over time I've finally accepted my first name as a beautiful name .. but I will continue to use an abbreviation(?) of my middle name. But, I'll stick with Magpye here (seems that a few folks, including the ol Coot .. seem to feel it 'fits' me purtee well)! .. LOL ..

* A bit late .. but wanta relay a big 'hearty' welcome to DG .. to ya, Sherry!

- Magpye

Thank You much Magpye, I'm quite addicted
Sherry

I have never used my birth name except for legal reasons. In fact I joined the military under my nickname.

My brothers could pronouce my name with out a serious demolishing of it and my mom picked up the nick name Casey from them and it has stuck with me through life. Kinda helps out when I get phone calls asking for the birthname. I know its a telemarketer or I am in big trouble.

I like the name it just doesn't fit me and I would feel strange answering to it after so many years.

And I double the welcome to DG Sherry. It is a wonderful place to come and relax with some real down to earth real people....

Well, 3 out of 3 so far apparently don't like our names. I always thought it would be too much of a problem to just change my name unless I moved again and no one there knew me. I have a friend whose aunt died and she said she took her aunt's name to honor her, but I have a hunch she just didn't like her own name. I did however make a point of remembering to call her by her "new" name ( I thought it was prettier also). I always wondered about the name thing. When I was working we knew people by their driver's license name, since we used that for I.D. to register them, so I'd go along for a long time calling people by the name that showed on their record and would always feel foolish after learning much later that that was not the name they go by. I'd call someone Ruth for a year and they'd finally say please call me Betty. Now, see, I personally would get rid of "Sherry" and go by Sumana. Don't ask me why, I just heard it once and thought it sounded much more intriguing than "Sherry". The person named Sumana probably had changed hers from Joan or something! I do NOT mean to be insulting any "Joan"s out there, either!
Sherry/Sumana

This message was edited Jun 1, 2006 7:45 AM

I've never really had any problem with my name. Well, not really. I was often called Michael in Sunday school until I stood up with my blonde curls and cute little dress. And I so hated it when my very large, very mean, very monotone school teacher would say "Michele my belle" in her screeching, nails on the chalk board voice. LOL Other than that, I've really never loved nor hated my name. My birth name was Michele Renee and I considered going by Renee since my elders often called me that. They usually called me Chele (pronounced Shell) but they called me Renee too. The only thing I have ever hated being called was Shelly. I don't know why. Someone I didn't like probably called me that. LOL So I was born and still go by Michele Renee (but I never get to hear them together anymore with no one left to scold me). My closest friends call me Chele. Oh, my name ended up Michele because my mother was a serious Beatles fan, born in 1950. :) She said she also considered Rachelle and Nichelle and I think maybe even Nicole. Those discussions were so long ago....


It's very nice to meet you!

badseed,
But, see, Michele Renee is a prettyname....you have no problems there. I don't think I'd want it shortened, either, Michele Renee has dignity.....I think the best I could do would be to go by my middle name, Lee. I could live with that; unless my cousins, Wendy Lee and Vickie Lee decided to do the same thing...do you see a pattern here? It was probably a generational thing. How many of us have Lee as a middle name? Nice to meet you, Michele Renee.
Sherry

I've almost always liked my name. I thought, briefly in middle school, the "what if" question on names but after some thought I just thought that the name I was given suits me. If I were to have it changed I would feel like I gave up something of myself...weird I know. So basically while I wouldn't say I have a stupendous name or anything, it's me.

I notice more and more people chosing less traditional names for their children, a trend I might favor with mine, although "less traditional" here in the states would just be names reverting back to the traditional names of where our ancestors hailed. I thought that might be nice.

I like my name cuz my mom and dad picked it for me!!!!! Its part of their names!
I go by my nick cuz its shorter but i wouldnt change it for anything! I would love my maiden name back for my last name again -but dont think my DH would like that to much.

I have never found another Dorlene out there. In school they would say DArlene no mater how big i made the O DOrlene
im Dorlene Paula (day)Feinauer-Dori
mom was DORothy
and dads middle name-Paul

I hate being called Martha-LOL
my childrens names are different-5 boys

gary michael paul lll
teig ryan(teague)
rory allen
kegan dalton duane(kaygan)
daymein kiah(ki)

I Luv different names
my sisters-were DARLA and DERINDA

I would not have chosen my name for myself. The main problem with it is that people reading my name assume I am a man, and too many spell it as a man's name. I was under the understanding that the female version is spelled "Marian" and the male: "Marion". I see that that has never been the case. I don't know of any man with his name spelled the "female" way, but many women have the "male" spelling.
When mine is spelled with an "o" I do not feel as if it is I that they are talking to. My middle name is "Melva". Maybe that is better, but I never use it.

Interesting thread here. When I was born my name was Crissy. When I was adopted my father changed my name to Cindy Lou. Not Cynthia, just Cindy. In school teachers would call out for Cynthia and I would not respond and they would sometimes mark me absent. Growing up I lived in Ohio and people made fun of my name - Cindy Lou - so I only used my middle initial. Since I have been living in Georgia for the last 20+ years, it seems to be a very good name. My friends and family usually call me Cindy Lou, and I have always gotten letters and voice mail messages saying "How are things in Whoville", so when I finally bought my small farm I just named it Whoville !!! It works for me. :-)

For women unhappy with their given name, I'd like to share a thought on womens names during the time of the Roman Republic.

A daughter of a Roman man was given the female form of her father's name. This is not entirely unusual, many women today have been too but this was true for all his daughters. For example Claudius would be the father of Claudia and often given the title of Claudia daughter of (insert her fathers full name here). If Claudius had two daughters they would be Claudia maior (major, no j in the Latin alphabet) and Claudia minor followed by fathers full name. If Claudius had more than two daughters they would be numbered e.g. Claudia tertiana (the third daughter of Claudius) followed by fathers full name. Such was the position of women in Roman society.

Practically no one uses my given name except me, I use it for formalities so it hasn't really had a chance to be liked or disliked.

I like mine fine - Vicki - nope, NOT Victoria - except on baptisimal certificate. Of course, I somehow assumed otherwise - so even my school teaching contract and my income tax records are "Victoria". When I was getting a passport and had to get my birth certificate, I finally learned I really was Vicki, not Victoria. Biggest problem? The various ways folks spell it!!!!

I was given the name of Karen, which isn't so bad, but I've
always thought it was one of those plain names.

Certainly not to offend anyone who loves their name, I consider 'Karen'
to be one of those ordinary names like Brenda, Kathy, Nancy,
Barbara, Lucy, Wanda, Debra, Vicky, Becky, Sherry, Sharon, etc. Not always, but
many times you can guess a woman's approximate age based on her name.
There are not many women in their 40's with names like Ashley, Brooke,
Taylor and so forth. (seems a soap trend here)

There seemed to be a standard trend of four, five and six
letter names for a while, then finally the names began branching out.

I don't mind my name, but always wanted something different. My middle name
is Marie, which I like better, it sounds Italian or something. LOL

Here is a good site where you can find out how popular your name is / was:

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/index.html

Very fun site with many search options.

hmstyl - my sil is named cindy lou, I don't know why other than something about yogi bears girlfriend. It is not cynthia, I always loved her name and call her cindy lou some.

My mom named me Sharon Nell and my twin Karen Gail. ok with it except the occasionnally woo nellie, or my twin used to call me hammer and nail. I do go by both names of Sharon Nell, my dil and bil call me Nellie, some call me Sharon Nellie.

I guess Sharon Nell and Karen Gail were ok compared to Dorita Kaye and Anita Faye which was the alternate. No offensence to any Dorita Kayes or Anita Fays out there.

I pick out the name Caleb for my oldest son and we added Anthony after my hubby. His name was Anthony Caleb, however he has and will always be called Caleb Wayne as my late mother called him that. My hubbys middle name is Wayne as is dil. Up until about two years ago my dil thought Caleb was named after him as Caleb Wayne.

After we had Caleb and was pregnant again so fast we figured we might as well have the other spy that went into the Cannan land to spy on Gaints, Joshua, and we went round and round on middle name, a man my hubby worked with was called JD as a nick name and he thougth we should name Josh after him and call him JD, so we chose Dillon and call him Joshy D when smaller, now most of the time it is Josh. JD never stuck.

notmartha,
Hmmmm, and I assumed it was for NOTMARTHA!, as in I'm no Martha Stewart.....I do like Dorlene. I can see the advantage of having a name that is uncommon, because we don't have any acquired preconceived ideas of what that person may be like. Certain names seem to typecast one. Aimee is one of the names that will never go out of style, seems to connotate a sweet and gentle disposition. Marian has grace, and speaking of Grace, that is one of those names also I wouldn't have thought "cute" as a girl, and now does have such well, grace. Maybe a backlash to being a "cutesy" name. Wish I had been given a name that could be shortened as a child, but then allowed to grow into my mature, dignified name...you know, when I'm senator or something. Don't know that I've ever heard of a Marion, other than John Wayne. I have a Cindy Lou in my family, like that, too. Baa, that's interesting, I'm always interested in the derivation of words and names. Did not know that. And yes, good way of phrasing, I would like a version of my name to use for formalities. Yes, WUVIE, of a certain time, and I think also of a certain mindset. I wonder how many of our mothers gave us the name they did because that's the name they would have liked for themselves. And I like the "other" pronunciation of Karen also...as in "car"en. I guess I pay more attention to this now that I'm getting, well, OLDER. Believe I mentioned somewere earlier that I've always seen my name as portraying this gal with white go-go boots, and, boy, I sure hope I haven't offended any aging go-go boot wearers out there!

Sherry

So ok - gotta jump in here on the name game. I've got a story that'll make you scratch your head... You see I have the same problem with spelling for male/female on both of my given names. Marian - I can relate - because I'm a Marian too.. My mother gave me Frances Marian at birth - and my nickname of Suzy at the same time. Frances was to honor close friends who were a couple and both named Frances as their first names. Marian for my father who is Marion. I was born low birth weight and small - so the nick Suzy. Now I was called Suzy at home - but went to school to be called Frances. To make matter worse - when I married - my MIL was named the same! I only use my given name for legal purposes and my personality suits my nickname. I don't like any of the nicks that come from Frances either. As a matter of fact - I have to prepare myself to listen for the name if I'm in a situation where I might be called by it. Someday when I sit down to write that novel I've been swearing to do all these years - I'll have the perfect pen name!

I was named at birth "Donna Marie". It was supposed to be Doña Maria, after a movie they had seen but they couldn't agree on the spelling. (And I don't look Spanish anyway except for a few true redheads in some provinces of Spain.) I liked it, still do, but changed it legally when I entered a man's field in 1984.

darius,
Does it help to have a non-gendered (hmmm, ambiguous, goes-both-ways name) so they don't know what's comin' at them when you apply? Kinda sneak in on them? Have we gotten past that yet?
Sherry

Well here's another middle name Lee. It is one of my middle names. I am the only person I know with 2 middle names. What was my mother thinking?

Sherry, I certainly hope we have matured (society) overall in the past 20 years. Still antiquated in some areas though.

Jim, TWO middle names? Which one is in the MIDDLE, LOL.

I might be the only one here so far that has no issues at all with their name! lol Been Angela Marie forever and ever, most times Angie, brother calls me Ang. No issue with any of them.

This message was edited Jun 1, 2006 3:15 PM

I have a friend named Ray who named BOTH of his sons Ray! At least they have different mothers and didn't have to grow up in the same house all the time as kids!

Wow, Larry Daryl and Daryl eh? lol

Hee hee - his daughter Sue always figured she was the lucky one!

I think Ray has some issues....2 middle names....cool. All the more to choose from, really like that idea
Sherry

This message was edited Jun 1, 2006 1:18 PM

Interesting are the families that follow a pattern.

My mother was one of four sisters - Ina, Iva, Irma and Ilene. I'm certain had
there been another, she would have been Imogene.

Mom sort of followed the pattern with Kenny, Karen and Keith, with my
brother being Kenneth Floyd the third. He chose not to name his son the
fourth. LOL.

I had one grandmother named Tennie, there you go. What I really loved was finding letters from and to my maternal grandmother (I never knew her) and my grandfather. Her name was Amanda and his was Bill (William), but I never knew until my Mother died (and I brought everything of hers home with me), that to most they were known as "Toots" and "Bowlegged Willy". That's how I think of them now. My son is Jerod, yes, born during the "J" names period , don't know why we don't see the pattern we're playing into when we do it.
Sherry

I've always liked my name - Marylyn Kathleen. I even always liked that Marylyn is spelled differently than most people's. :-) My older sister doesn't have a middle name. Her name is Dianalee.

My little sister's husband's family always gives their sons two middle names, so she followed the tradition with their son. When they had a daughter they decided she shouldn't be left out, so they gave her two middle names, too.

Hmm, I don't mind my name, but my mother picked an unusual spelling of it..Angelic, not Angelique, and due to the confusion and mispronounciation I just go by Angel. Hate, hate, hate to be called "Angie"..no offense, but there was a girl in grade school who picked on me named Angie...
I have cousins whose father's name is Donald, the son is named Don Jr. ("Little Donnie") and the daughter Dawn Marie...so I guess it could have been worse...=)

Eco, had to laugh at your Larry, Daryl and Daryl. I have a family at school that the fathers name is Larry, his son is Daryll and his wife Bobbi has a daugher named Larri and a son named Dearl from a previous marriage.

Well, I don't have an issue with my name. I am a twin, and I am Bonnie Lou my sister Connie Sue. Have an older brother Ronald Reed, and an older sister Glenna Mae. Of course Ronald got shortened to Ronnie, so the odd man er woman out is Glenna. So it it Ronnie, Connie, Bonnie and Glenna. She is the odd one too.

My mother swears up and down that there was not a single Jennifer until after she chose that name. So I guess that means I'm the oldest living Jennifer out of the billions walking around now. Great.

Then I went and picked Nicholas for my son - it wasn't anywhere near the top 100 most popular names... the day before he was born, anyway. Now there's three on every soccer team. Drat. You'd think a Jennifer would know better.

Jennifer's alright, just a little girly. It doesn't sound like someone who likes to put bugs under microscopes, catch wayward rattlesnakes, and transplant cactus so I tend to use the nickname Jen. I'm am Jen, hear me roar!

As a teacher I get to see lots of interesting names. I find it pretty funny when the kiddos don't quite match their parents' dreams. For my students' sake I won't get specific here so I'll make up some examples - a girl named Joy who never smiles and a boy named Tiger who's too shy to speak in class. Those are *not* actual names of kids I've had but I've had "descriptive" names that were quite the opposite of the child!

Fun thread!

When my daughter was young she had a friend at school named Crystal Waters - meanest little girl I ever met!

I really hated my name as a child (not sure why?) but I really love it now.
Nanette. Now if only I had an exotic sounding last name....maybe something French? lol!

My youngest daughter has two middle names.
I wanted to name her after both of her grandmothers, so her middle name is a hyphenated Mary-Irene.

Lots of interesting stories and names, here!

When my oldest son was born, I thought I would
give him a unique name - Tyson. Then the boxing
idiot; Mike Tyson had to go and act like a fruit loop and ruin it all.

If he isn't teased about being a chicken drumstick
(his last name is Drumm) , people
used to say "Ooh, are you going to bite my ear?" when
he gave his name.

(insert rolling eye icon)

That's interesting you picked that name with Drumm for a last name! I've heard of another family, last name Cash and they named all their kids something to do WITH money for their first name as well.

My name is Kay and My husband is Jeff. We both got stuck with nicknames for our legal names. It's ok with us, we get a good laugh when a wedding invitation arrives to Jeffrey and Kathryn. We figure we don't have to go because they obviously aren't close friends!

As a result we gave our sons formal names: the elder is Samuel, the younger is Harris. They were both immediately shortened to Sam and Harry, but at least they have the choice to go formal or informal.

My parents both have unusual names: Cirila Eugenia (named after her father Cyril Eugene) and Ancil Roosevelt (named for Teddy).

I've often wondered about parents who do that Kay...name their child one thing but call them a shortened name.

Why is it people do this? I once met a JOSH who was adament his name was NOT Joshua. So I just wonder why people don't just name their babies what they plan to call them.

And how do you get Bill out of William? It's all very interesting.

Tir-Na-Nog,

I've never been able to figure out how they get "Peggy" out of Margaret. I'm sure someone can come along and tell us.

Sherry