name you were born with

WOAH! I've not heard THAT one! That IS strange????

Or "Bobby" out of Robert...

Yep!!!

Tir_Na_Nog, not strange, very common. But I don't get WHY EITHER!

edited for a typo

This message was edited Jun 2, 2006 5:50 PM

I've always wondered 'bout Peggy, too.
There's a guy at work who insists that you put Josh as his legal name, too....even though it's not.

There was a family round here whose last name was Moneypenny....guess what they named their daughter.......?

Why do folks give their child a "formal" name and then always call them by a shortened name?

I'll tell you why I did it. :) I did it to give my kids the choice.

I grew up with two friends named Libby and a Liz. When Liz became a judge she went by her given name, Elizabeth, at work and remained Liz to her friends. Judges are pretty "boys club" and, sad to say, a woman has to go an extra mile to hold their own.

Libby, on the other hand was simply named Libby and had to go downtown, pay the fees, deal with the paperwork in order to officially change her name to Elizabeth so that she could pull off a "CEO image." We still call her Libby but I don't think anyone at her work knows that was ever her name!

So far my kids prefer their nicknames but if the mood ever strikes them that they want to be more dignified than "Nick" and "Merry" then they have control of that.

For me, it's kind of a pain when the kid's nickname has no relationship to their given name. A nickname ought to be nicked off the real name, I tell ya. I had a girl in class one year who was given a female version of her father's name. Once the mom left the dad, she called her daughter Betty... because she like Betty Bop. *sigh* The poor girl didn't even know her given name.

Oh - I once stumbled across this poem for the Peggys of the world:
In search from A to Z they passed,
And "Marguerita" chose at last;
But thought it sound far more sweet
To call the baby "Marguerite."
When grandma saw the little pet,
She called her "darling Margaret."
Next uncle Jack and cousin Aggie
Sent cup and spoon to "little Maggie."
And grandpapa the right must beg
To call the lassie "bonnie Meg."
From "Marguerita" down to "Meg,"
And now she's simply "little Peg."

Penelope Moneypenny? Say it ain't so!

Well, I seem to be the only one so far to have been named after 2 states. Apparently, when I was born, my parents couldn't come up with a name, so I'm told they put a bunch of names in a hat and let my little hand pick one out. I picked out Norma Faye.

I was born at home, so my father, upon taking the information to the post office to mail, decided he didn't like the name and changed it to Virginia Carolina. I've never been thrilled with the name, but don't think I'd have liked Norma Faye either. Ginny

TucsonJen,

Absolutely wonderful, thank you..I did not give my son a middle name for all these reasons, wanted him to be able to choose a name he liked in case he didn't like his given name. Wish I had thought of the 2 middle names idea. We always called him J.P....well,early on he was called "Sugar Bear", but grew out of that pretty quickly....He's 33 now and I personally think he still gets a giggle out of Sugar Bear (as long as I call him that when nobody else is around), but doubt that he'd admit it. So, he threw another initial in there and now is known by many of his friends as Jup....go figure.

Sherry

Ginny, I would not have liked Virginia Carolina... and no doubt would have hated Norma Faye. I like Ginny just fine!

Given name is Barbara Lark, family name.. I've always been pleased.. Larkie was what my Aunt Lark was called and it worked for me also.. She died 3 months before I was born..so it's been kind of special..

Larkie

Then there are the 2 first names. Lisa Marie (Presley). I have a neice with 2 first names Kelly-Marie. Some call her the whole name others shorten to Kelly.

oh darius, you're lucky they didn't throw in Florida also. Was there a significance to the states in there? I like Ginny also. I guess I'm lucky that my Dad did the name on the certificate, my Mom would have done Cherie, she must have just seen or read something French and thought it tres chic! There I go again, I don't mean to offend the Cheries of the world. I just wouldn't have wanted it for myself!
Sherry

Just the spelling of it Sherry? Or is the other pronounced like the berry?

larkie, I love that! I know someone whose sister is named Larkie, and I always thougt it so pretty. Makes me think of the violin piece, "Lark Ascending"
Tir-Na-Nog,
I worked with someone named Carol Ann and I liked the use of both names there also, though I didn't care much for her.

Sherry

Tir-Na-Nog,
Long "e", accent on the last syllable, and roll that "r'' just a bit!
Sherry

Names are indeed funny things, and lots of people are sensitive about them. As you might guess my front name is Bob. You can call me Robert too, but if you call me Bobby, you're in big trouble. Some parents give their children ridiculous names. I know a couple who named their first son "Chesapeake" to honor the fun they had growing up on the bay of the same name. How silly (IMHO). That's a name for a dog, not a boy.

My wife's name is Caperton (pronounced Kayperton). She's quite happy with it. It Means Cape Breton (France). It's a unisex, first, middle or last name.

Here's one for you. Can you pronounce Talliaferro in Virginianese? That's our home state.

I just about always liked my name - Nancy Lorraine. I went through a brief period when I wanted to be "Lorry" - that lasted about 1 week. Then I went through an "ie" and an "I" period - Nancie or Nanci. That lasted longer - 2 weeks. The main problem was that *I* would always forget & spell it with a "y".
My mother chose Nancy because it was classic without being too old fashioned. She also liked the Sinatra song, "Nancy, with the Laughing Face". Lorraine is her 1st name. My sister, Anita Christine, was named after two of my father's sisters. Aunt Anita called my sister "Anita". My Aunt Christine called her "Anita Christine".

When I was born the name Linda was popular. All through school there were at least 2 Lindas in my class. In 4th grade there were 3.
In high school, there was a Linda in every one of my classes - they were all different Lindas! I referred to them as "Math Linda", "French Linda", "Gym Linda", etc. That worked for all the classes except Social Studies, where there were 2 Lindas. I called one "Social Linda". The other was kind of snooty & not very friendly. I called her - you got it... "ANTI-Social Linda"!
ROFL!

Nancy (with a "Y")
:o)

I love my first name Audra. It means "noble strength". My dad was a Big Valley fan...you know that TV western show. But most people call me Audrey YUK. As a young girl, I had one teacher that refused to say or spell my name right. She said "Audrey, Audra, what's the difference." I decided not to answer her in class. She sent me to the principal's office and they called my parents in. My mom couldn't come because she was a nurse and of course was busy. So my dad came. The teacher, the principal and my dad sat around the table. My dad asked what the problem was and the teacher said "she won't respond to her name". My dad looked at me and asked "why?". I said ask her. The teacher turned all red and said "well, she's adamant about being called AuDRA, and I just don't see the difference...Audrey, Audra". My dad stood up and said "one is on her birth certificate, the other is not...don't waste my time for something like this anymore. Call my daughter by her given name or you'll have an issue with me".

So I REALLY don't like Audrey after that. Yet, when I introduce myself, people don't listen and say "nice to meet you Audrey" :roll eyes:. My middle name is Theresa to honor my Italian heritage.

I named my daughter Adrianna Carmela. They are both Italian names. I spelled her first name with two 'n's instead of one because my mother's name is Anna. So Adrianna looks like a combination of my name and my mom's. Carmela was my Italian grandmother's name.

My youngest son is Aaron David. We gave him the middle name to match my oldest son's middle name, so to speak. My oldest son's name is Edgar Solomon. Thus David and Solomon in the Bible. Wrong order agewise with my kids, but you get the idea.

Wanted my children to have nice sounding names that they would be proud of. Not these ghetto-fabulous horrid names like Shenequa or Jamal. Sorry if there are any Shenequa's or Jamals out there.

ghetto fabulous. too funny! i told my brother i would be picking "strange" names for my kids...strange to American's...thinking to use traditional Irish names (no not shannon, etc) and he said, "strange? not shanequa or something like that are you?" LOL.

Noobie (Audra) ... love both your names - LOL. Kudos to your father for the stand-off w/ the teacher. As a retired teacher, I remember all too well the necessary parent conferences. Never would I have put myself on the firing line for such a situation. She must not have thought this one through very well - how in the Sam Hill could she have ever expected to come out on the right side of that one? Sadly - in teaching, as in other professions, there are some dim bulbs.

Noobie, I know how you feel about people not listening when you say your name. My given name is Melinda, but my nickname is Mendy. I have been Mendy to everyone except my doctor, dentist, and the government. LOL When I say my name, people always repeat back to me Mindy. Even when I spell my name to people they write it Mindy.....or they get really confused and write it Minde. My mom told me she chose to spell my nickname with an e instead of an i because Melinda is spelled with an e. It makes sense to me!

I went to school from 1st grade through 12th grade with another Melinda. She was not a Mendy though so I was always Mendy and she got shortened to Mel. Secretly I always wanted to be Mel. LOL

I have a similar story with a teacher. He always made fun of my last name. One day I refused to answer him when he called me something other than what my name really was. He called it 3 times and then looked up and asked why I wasn't answering him. I simply said that he wasn't calling me because that wasn't my name. I guess he wanted to avoid confrontation because he never did it again. :o)

Wannadance thanks for the compliments. Let's just say that I went to school in the 70's, and my brother and I were the first two Black children to attend the elementary school we were zoned for. The teacher that I had voiced her opinion many times about my not "belonging" there. I guess that was her way of voicing her disapproval of my presence. But she never did it again, especially after the new principal that came on was Black as well, that and the fact that she didn't want to go toe-to-toe with my dad again. LOL

One grandmother was Virginia Elizabeth...called Betty...other grandmother was Lelah Josephine....thus I was the one that got both grandmothers names.... Betty Jo (when the dr filled out the birth certificate and asked my Mom what the name was...she said "Betty Josephine, after the two grandmothers" He mumbled 'that's a name to hang on a youngun' and so my legal name was written as Betty JO). I always tell everyone that unless they were going to write me a check to just call me JO. I really wanted to be named Judy...after Judy Garland....LOL

I have a DD named Melinda also....her older brother couldn't say Melinda so she ended up being called Mimi...or Mim. When I named her that I only knew one other person named Melinda...DH's Aunt...when she started to school there were 3 of them!!

I have a way of adding LU (Lou) to peoples names...like Amylu....Bettylu......

Just call me Jo

My birth name is Linda Carol, my mother told me once she was thinking about calling me Christina. I wish she had of. But then if she had named me Christina and told me she was planning on calling me Linda Carol I probably would have like it better. Are we ever happy with the name we have been given?
My grandpa use to call me linda lou izzy carol liny, now isn't that a mouth full?

I went to the Brug section and under the forum "User Name, Real Name" there were 5 Linda's and no Christina's, but there was a Chrissy and a Chris. There are a lot of Linda's out there. So I'm not alone.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/534859/

Linda

Roadrunner....

SO interesting you add the Lu to people's names as this has often been done to me! I accepted it as a nickname but don't go announcing it...only some old friends still do it. =)

Yes...I only do it to good friends and special people...like my DGD, Amy....whos middle name is really Michele...but I like Amylu.....although she is in the Navy and about 30 years old. Jo

georgiaredclay said:

All my kids have 2 middle names too Jim. :-) Or, at least I gave them 2 middle names at birth. My oldest son changed his last name and dropped one of his middle names in the process--personal choice for him, but when I'm mad I still call all three names out, and he answers. :-)

I always liked my name, and always said if it wasn't my name, I would have probably given it to one of my kids--My name is a LOT more popular now than it was when I was growing up... I could never find the stationary or personalized keychains like my friends named Angie (4 of them in my class alone) or Beth (4 of them) or Stephanies(3 of them)

I was the only Melissa in my entire school until 4th grade when another Melissa moved in, and we ended up not only in the same grade but the same class. LOL The teacher that year called me Missy, but that is the only time in my life I've been called that. The other Melissa decided in 5th grade she prefered to be called "Lizard" ....... through high school, and to this day, she's "Liz" we dropped the ARD somewhere around puberty. But, we remained the only Melissa's in the school until we graduated. Now, Melissa is a fairly common name. 30 some years ago, it wasn't "that" common.

Lizard???? ROTFLOL!

Yes.... Lizard.

She signed everything Lizard until we were in like the 8th grade, when she shortened it to Liz, as we had. She would tell our teachers when they'd call out her name, "She's Melissa and I'm Lizard"

That's funny because in my school, out of a student body of 3,000 (10th, 1tth and 12th graders) there more Melissas and Lisas than you could shake a stick at....to the point where they had problems with the wrong grades being put on the wrong report cards because of mixups. I guess that shows how times change through the years.... I was the ONLY Audra in elementary, junior high and high school. It seems to be becoming more common now, but I still don't run into too many people with my name.

It seemed like here the explosion of Melissa's came in the 70's. I was born in the (mid) 60's :-/ I think the popularity of names can run regional somewhat too.

I knew one Audra, she was a friend of my parents, she's long since passed on. I know several Audrey's, but only the one Audra. :-)

Lisa.... there was only one of them in my school too. Now, granted, I went to a very small school... but, no Lisa's in my class, she was in the grade ahead of me. :-) There was also a Lisa at my church... but those were the only Lisa's I knew growing up.

There is a family I know that has 3 daughters and one son... the daughters were all named after mom... whose name is Mary. The son named after dad. They call the girls by Mary and their middle names, if you just say "Mary" you get the mom.