This runs rampant on the Southern side of my family. Only with the males though. I have no idea why, and I have asked.
Sorry. That came out snarkier than it sounded in my head when I was typing it.
No probs. Already forgotten.
also nell is a common nick for ellen. they may have thought daphne was to hoity-toity for every day use. or there may have been another daphne in the family.
we have lots of doubles and triples in my family. thankfully some of the women in the family got their points across during labour. the theory being hubby would agree to whatever name they wanted while they crushed which ever body part was available during a contraction.
I’m a middle name too. Two of my great-grandmother passed right before I was born, so I got a name from each of them. Except my parents really dislike Firstname (I’m not a fan of it either) so I’ve always been Middlename. I asked them why they didn’t just switch the order, so the name they actually liked was my first name, and they said that Middlename Firstname Lastname didn’t sound as nice as Firstname Middlename Lastname. :rolleyes: I’ve never had too much of a problem with it, I just tell teachers and other official-type peoples that I go by my middle name, and it’s pretty much a non-issue. I’m slowly switching over to F. Middlename Lastname, but it’s taking a little time.
The only person who has a serious problem with it is this one ancient cashier at my campus bookstore. She simply cannot believe that F. Middlename Lastname on my debit card is the same person as Firstname Middlename Lastname on my driver’s license. Even though the signatures are identical. Three times this semester I’ve had to explain it to her, slowly and using small words, while the line behind me backed up into the aisle.
I was baptised Hieronymous Q. Cheezburger, which is why I go by my middle name Terrence. (But everyone knows me as Cholmondeley-Farquhar, or The Rt. Hon. Fortestcue-Smythe for short.)
My brother has always gone by his middle name. Neither of my parents will confess to why they decided to do this.
My dad and my brother have the same first name, but my dad has always gone by a nickname, so it’s not to distinguish one from the other.
And we’re not southern.
I’m John Robert and none of the issues any of you are posting about has ever been a problem with me. The only time it’s ever been a problem was when my aunt and cousins lived with my family when I was a kid and she insisted on calling me John because her husband’s name was Bob and her only son was Bobby. I never did understand why the hell she wouldn’t call me by my preferred name when her husband and son went by diminutives thereof but she’s the only idiot to ever make an issue of my name. Everyone else has *always *called me Robert.
Yes, I go by my middle name on all discussion boards. Including this one.
My wife and her brother are called by their middle names, and they’re southern. However, my wife started asking to be called hers while still in her single digits because she hated her first name, and when we married, she dropped it altogether. It’s been almost ten years, and we still cannot get the utility company to send our bills addressed to the woman who lives here. They insist on calling her a name by which she is unknown everywhere else in the universe. My brother in law has reverted to his first name. So his family calls him one thing, but everybody else in the world calls him something else. Pretty weird, if you ask me!
There are (were) several in our family who go by their middle names. I go by my middle name, and it’s often a hassle, but one I’m used to by now. All my credit cards and official IDs are under my first name, so reservations and etc. sometimes get mixed up, but I’ve never run into a situation that wasn’t resolved within a minute or two (knock wood). In professional situations, I go by P. Animal No.9 (F. Middle Last).
My father was called by his middle name by family and friends until he set out on his own, after which everyone called him by his first name. You could always tell who knew him way back when. I’ve known a couple of other people who were the same way and would answer to either name (I usually look around when people speak to me using my first name).
My niece goes by her middle name. My sister named her in honor of our deceased mother, but liked the middle name better, so always called my niece by her middle name. I have a cousin who was called by her middle name until she was about 16, when she decided she wanted to go by her first name. That was a little confusing for a while, but now everyone uses her first name.
Both my brothers go by their middle name, even though there is no one else in the family with either of their first names (or middle names for that matter). I go by my first name as do my sisters.
I went by my middle name until the 1st or 2nd grade. Due to three other kids with that name in my homeroom, they asked if Firstname was ok. I said yeah and switched seemlessly over to that. You can tell if someone has known me a long, long time, if they call me by my middle name.
My sister went by her first name until she went off to college, then switched to her middle name. I’m the only one who calls her by her first name anymore. I like it that way since it’s like calling her by a secret, tribal name.
My brother is known to the family by his middle name, and to the world at large by his first name.
In school, I’d say something about my brother Joe. My classmates knew I had a brother Mark who was two years older than I, so they thought I had both a brother Joe and a brother Mark.
When I told Joe that, he thought it was hilarious, so he decided to be his own twin brother. He’d randomly introduce himself to people twice, once as Mark and once as Joe.
My brother is really weird.
I have gone by middle name since birth. My middle name is ultra-rare and it is the only name that I identify with. My first name is the most common boy’s name (James) and it makes me very uncomfortable when people call me that out of the blue. OTOH, I use James in situations where I want to remain semi-anonymous like in doctors offices and store lines. My middle name that I go by (Maverick) starts up too many conversations and I don’t always want that although I love it overall. The name James actually originates from the first colony at Jamestown and all first born sons are named that in my family but most don’t go by it and most go by their middle name like I do. I would be obligated to name my son the same but I don’t think I will be having a son at this point.
I doesn’t cause me that many problems but I do have to correct people that I might meet again right off the back. I also have to arrange for the correct e-mail addresses and phone book listings wherever I work. I could be worse. My youngest brother has both an honorary first name and middle name as well as an unofficial nickname that he has gone by since birth. My mother knew that he would be the last so she used up his real names with the honorary ones and the gave him a designated nickname that she wanted to to be known by.
My father hates his first name, goes by his middle name, really disliked being called first name in the Army.
Parents named all three kids by a first name that was never intended for use. Have no family meanings. The three first names have no special meanings. Nor are they related in any way except all three are made up of only 3 letters. Better yet, my first name in this day and age is usually feminine. so, I get lots of stuff address to Ms firstname lastname. That shit all goes straight into the garbage or deleted.
None of my brothers nor I use our first name. I do use the first initial on my business cards or for something formal.
Its much worse in the internet age as far as first name middle initial last name goes. It is the very rare exception you can register for anything that is related to a computer, where you can specify the name to use. Sometimes for events you can specify the name for your name card. However, I can’t remember a site or official form that allows for what you want to be called. It’s always a default. Heck, many forms are first name middle initial only.
It’s a pain. My current company, I am known as middlename lastname. Yet, for social security, options, etc it’s first name middleinitial lastname. right pain in the ass.
There is an unofficial “law” or “regulation” that you have to go by your legal first name.
Parents, for your kids sake, if you want to get “Kr8iv” with naming, do it with the middle name and not the first.
I dislike my first name, but it’s also part of me so I don’t want to officially change it. But a giant FUCK YOU to any asshole out there that insists I have to use my first name.
Yep. The next door neighbor had a kid called “Firstname.”
Some people used to call me “Stewie”. Until I killed them all.
My step-dad and my father-in-law both go by their middle names. FIL uses J. Middle as his professional name (he is a doctor), Dad just uses Middle, but signs things as H. Middle Last.
My uncle is known by his middle name. His parents wanted to call him Stephen, and also name him after his father (whose name began with E). Stephen E. W____ has the initials SEW, and they wanted to avoid initials that spelt a word so they named him E. Stephen W____ and called him Steve.
I have no idea why four of the six children in my grandmother’s family are known by their middle names. My Nan didn’t even know she was using her names in the wrong order until she was nearly 60 and finally got a copy of her birth certificate. As their initials are FER, KDR, FJR and EFR, they don’t even have the “justification” of avoiding initials that spelt a word. There’s also no explanation for why the other two children (JGR and LIR) weren’t called by their middle names like the rest of them.