# Are you known by your legal name, or a diminuitive?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-known-by-your-legal-name-or-a-diminuitive/1026069>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 26, 2025, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-known-by-your-legal-name-or-a-diminuitive/1026069 "2025-12-26T12:03:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-known-by-your-legal-name-or-a-diminuitive/1026069/121 "2026-01-02T01:33:05Z")

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> [@Al128](#):
>
> Stephanie Knickerbocker

Funny, but not true. It’s Stephanie Lynn Nicks.

Her Wikipedia entry says that “Stevie” came about when she was a toddler, and her attempt to pronounce “Stephanie” came out as “Tee-Dee,” which led to “Stevie.”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-known-by-your-legal-name-or-a-diminuitive/1026069/122 "2026-01-02T01:46:35Z")

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> [@Spoons](#):
>
> Similarly, a high school friend was officially named Ronny.

I had a church leader who was officially a Larry. He was an attorney and really hated that because everyone else had normal formal names.

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