# Are You Happy With Your Name **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 15, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108 "2010-02-15T20:06:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/81 "2010-02-18T16:12:06Z")
I hated my middle name when I was younger, and wouldn’t tell people what it was. That was before I started doing genealogy research and found out that it’s a family surname. Wasn’t crazy about my first name, either, as there weren’t many people by that name around. It seems like it’s gaining some popularity recently, although I can’t imagine why. Last name: it’s my stepfather’s last name and I really wish my mother had not legally changed it from the original. My brother still has the original surname, but for me to change it back at this late date would be a real PITA. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/82 "2010-02-18T16:35:29Z")
Hated it: changed it. Love it now. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/83 "2010-02-19T01:35:20Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Mine is kind of boring and mainstream, but I like it fine. “Bob.” 3 letters, 2 of them the same. Not terribly flashy, no. But you can always trust a Bob, eh? 😃 Aren’t you my uncle? ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/84 "2010-02-20T17:39:07Z")
My last name is very uncommon (but relatively short and sounds like a name) . With my first name it is unique in the world. I like that. It’s kind of cool. Have you ever tried to use google to find a friend named “John Smith”? It just doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/85 "2010-02-21T07:35:54Z")
Never been all that fond of mine. Back when I was in school, it was easy pickings for particularly uninspired jokes based on a certain Bible story, and nowadays, its lack of consonants (and perhaps my own tendency to under-enunciate) means I generally have to repeat it at least once when I introduce myself. On the other hand, if I didn’t know that I was very nearly named Zack, after a great-grandfather, I might be happier with it. The GGF in question was actually named Zachary, but my Dad thought he was just Zack and wanted to name me Zack. Mom wouldn’t go for Zack (though she would’ve gone for Zachary, apparently), so I wound up with the name I have. The hours I would’ve spent on my signature, coming up with remarkably florid Zs…! Maybe it’s all for the best. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/86 "2010-02-21T16:20:57Z")
Younger people always seem to gripe about their names. I gave my daughter an elegant and classic first name (popular in the '80s, so she will have to go through life with everyone knowing the decade of her birth). Her last name is also simple, elegant, and classic. Is she happy? Of course not! We had to go through a short period of “I want to be called \_\_\_\_\_ from now on”. I told her, my first name hasn’t been used since the 1920’s. My maiden name is that of a body organ! (a tiny part of why I got married was to get that simple, elegant, classic last name, JK, lol. Life was hell in middle school with a jacked up last name, let me tell you.) Deaf ears. Well, she’s embraced the ordinary awfulness of her name now, but really - a parent can’t win. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/87 "2010-02-21T22:38:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I haven’t the faintest clue what the etymology of that last name is, but it ain’t Polish. edit: I’m willing to bet that spelling isn’t exactly correct. I can’t find any hit anywhere to that last name. Nothing fruitful on Google except for this site, nothing on the Social Security Death Index. There must be some letters missing. Oh well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/88 "2010-02-21T22:44:08Z")
I go by my middle name, Robert, and I like it. I also like my last name, but sort of wish I’d gotten my mom’s last name – Belline; it’s pronounced like the cocktail – instead. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/89 "2010-02-22T00:00:35Z")
I have one of those old fashioned not-unknown-but-infrequent names usually associated with 50s actresses, small dogs, or porn actresses/bimbos/mistresses of Nazis, along the lines of Bambi or Trixie. Sometimes I wonder how much it’s hurt my career and sent my cv straight to the bin. ---
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/90 "2010-02-22T02:04:46Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > I don’t love my name, but I would like it a lot better if people didn’t automatically shorten it. I mean, seriously, like _nine times out of ten_. I should take a private survey and I bet I’m right. > > I wish my name were Mary. Funny story. My mother’s sister is named Mary and hated her name. She hated it so much, that she made my mom promise to never name her child Mary. My mother thus named me Molly Marie (both derived from the name Mary). I am sure she thought she was being funny. I do love my name, though. The only downside is that when I tell people my name they often say, “I have a (knew a; had a) dog named Molly!” I love my last name as well. I love it so much that when I married, my husband changed his name to mine instead of the other way around. It is a good thing, too, because his last name was Brown and I really didn’t want to be the Unsinkable Molly Brown for the rest of my life. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/91 "2010-02-22T02:47:48Z")
Just thought to add–my name certainly could’ve been worse. I could’ve been named after my grandfather: Cupid. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/92 "2010-02-22T02:48:35Z")
My full name is okay. I like my nickname, which I created myself. I don’t mind it. Wouldn’t bother to change it. I like that my name has many options for nicknames, so I could find my own “name.” I’d want to make sure my kids have similar names. Full, formal names, but I want them to be able to find their own name. ---
**Author:** ![maisoui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@maisoui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maisoui)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/93 "2010-02-22T03:24:33Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > My given name is my middle name, which is a royal pain in the ass. I’ve bitched about it many, many times. So yeah, I’d change it. Me too! I am named after both grandmothers. My parents decided that Janet Marie, as a whole, sounded better than Marie Janet, but there was a cousin on one side the name Janet already, so I am called Marie. Pain in the hind end to go into a bank or a lawyer or deal with the government, or insurance, or just about anyone… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/94 "2010-03-04T22:03:05Z")
Seems there are more unusual baby names than ever: [http://www.gnn.com/article/trend-of-unusual-baby-names-continues/931181](http://www.gnn.com/article/trend-of-unusual-baby-names-continues/931181) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/95 "2010-03-04T22:21:28Z")
I very much dislike my name, and I can’t stand my middle name to the point where I won’t even voluntarily tell people what it is unless it’s needed for a legal document. The initial is okay, though, and I usually use it. Part of why I don’t like my first name is that it doesn’t go well with my last name, and partly because of the way it’s spelled. It’s a semi-androgynous name (although it’s much more common for women than men) and my version is spelled the female way despite the fact that many women who have it spell it the male way. Oddly, the male spelling is on my birth certificate, but my parents spelled it the female way and that’s what I learned, so that’s what’s on all my other documents and whatnot. I’d swap to the male spelling except that it looks/sounds even _worse_ with my last name. And being married didn’t help–if I’d liked the combo with his last name I would have changed, but I didn’t so I just kept my own last name. If it were easy and there wasn’t a lot of hassle associated with it, I’d change my name. I just don’t want to go through the effort of trying to explain to everybody that I changed it, _why_ I changed it, why I changed it to _that_, etc. Too much hassle. That, and I’m not sure what I’d change it _to_. So I go by a nickname with my friends, and put up with it at work. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/96 "2010-03-05T14:07:15Z")
Another Jennifer checking in. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it. In third grade there were three of us in a class of 26 students, and that got old _really_ fast. I go by Jen, mostly. When people try “Jenny” on me, I get stabby inside. I don’t know what other name I’d pick for myself, though. My mother told me they considered Amber and Yvonne, neither of which fit me at all. My last name will change in a couple of months when I get married - I’m looking at that with mixed feelings. I have no sentimental attachment to my current name, it’s just that I’ve been using it for nearly 30 years now. The switch will take some getting used to. I’m happy to be sharing my husband’s name, I’m just wondering how much I’ll miss the old one. I’m keeping the old one, officially, by becoming Jennifer middlename maiden lastname, but I need to start thinking of myself as Mrs. Lastname. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/97 "2010-03-05T14:52:55Z")
I would change it. Most people think it’s a girl’s name even though it works for either gender, and it’s almost invariably spelled wrong. On the other hand, I have a very common name, which makes me hard to Google 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108/98 "2010-03-05T20:50:13Z")
My parents gave me a big long beautiful old-fashioned name… which I hate. You can’t shorten it without sounding like a moron - any of the derivatives are the sort of things you might hear brayed across Sloane Square. So when I left school, I just started introducing myself to new people by a different, shorter, catchier, more manageable name. Now hardly any of the people in my everyday life (work, friends etc) even know that the name they call me isn’t my real name. I probably wouldn’t change it legally though. My family all still call me by the old one, and that’s fine. I do have a certain attachment to it, and I appreciate that my parents wanted to give me a nice name. It IS a nice name; it’s just really hard to live with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-name/529108.md?page=4)