# Do You Hate Your \[real\] Name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 14, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216 "2011-12-14T20:16:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/21 "2011-12-14T21:44:44Z")
My last name is rare variant spelling of a uncommon name. It is one syllable, 5 letters and apparently enormously difficult to pronounce, because no one every gets it right on the first try, even though I pronounce it the same as the typical usual spelling. Also people have difficulty finding my name in the phone book because of the way its spelled. Otherwise, I like my name, I don’t like my initials, it spells a word that is unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/22 "2011-12-14T21:50:10Z")
I can never recall liking my given name. Oh, everyone else does – it’s fairly fashionable nowadays – but it always bugged me. I started going by a diminuative of my last name as soon as I started high school. Pretty much the only people who use my given name are my family members and their kids, and among those, the ones I actually consider friends use the same nickname as my non-blood acquaintances. ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/23 "2011-12-14T21:51:01Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > This thread would be lots more interesting if people weren’t afraid to give their names. We won’t stalk you, honest. Yes, come on! ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/24 "2011-12-14T21:52:32Z")
I did, then I changed it. Actually I didn’t have much problem with my first name, when people actually said it\*, but I didn’t care for my middle name and hated my last name. Changed it all. Well almost - I kept my parents surname as a second middle name. Now that my mom is no longer saying that my new name is not a real name, it’s fine (I changed to variation of my old name, with a slightly weird spelling - there are very few other people who have my name. But the mispronunciation that generates is less grating that ‘Linda’.) - How do you get Linda from Lydia? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/25 "2011-12-14T21:53:49Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > - How do you get Linda from Lydia? It’s called “not paying attention.” ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/26 "2011-12-14T22:10:01Z")
I don’t hate Carol, but I would have preferred Caroline. My mother says that was never on the table and if they had gone for a longer version “Carolyn” would have been more likely, so I can chalk that one up to a near miss. I definitely would have hated Carolyn. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/27 "2011-12-14T22:15:44Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > It’s called “not paying attention.” When I was buying my car, the salesman did it. Of all the professions that would know the importance of getting some someone’s name right, you would think sales would be right at the top… ---
**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:** [December 14, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/28 "2011-12-14T22:16:43Z")
I don’t like my name at all. It’s an androgynous name (which is cool), but my parents chose to spell it the less common but more female way. This means _everybody_ misspells it. People can be staring right at it on an email and when they reply, they spell it wrong. Pisses me off every time. It happened just today, in fact. I’d change the spelling to the unisex version, but it looks weird with my last name that way. I wish I could just change it to something else, but that seems like a lot of hassle (plus I really don’t know what I’d change it _to_. Definitely something else androgynous. I don’t like people being able to tell what gender I am just by looking at my name.) ETA: Oh, and I absolutely despise my middle name. I won’t even admit to it if I don’t have to. I go by my first name and middle initial. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/29 "2011-12-14T22:21:26Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > When I was buying my car, the salesman did it. Of all the professions that would know the importance of getting some someone’s name right, you would think sales would be right at the top… And you’d be wrong. Or, rather, it’s that good salespeople will always use the customer’s preferred method of address, and marginal or bad sales people may not. I’m thinking in particular of a person in my group who last year insisted on calling a customer named “Chris Harrison” _Christopher_, even though the customer (a) preferred to be addressed formally, and (b) was not named Christopher in the first place: just Chris. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/30 "2011-12-14T22:24:41Z")
I’m Rachel, and I don’t mind my name, just don’t call me “Rach”. That makes me stabby. What annoys me about my name is people who insist that my name must be spelled “Rachael” no matter how many times I correct them. ---
**Author:** ![Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3e96dc/32.png) [@Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dennis_Arthur_PERRETT)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/31 "2011-12-14T22:33:45Z")
Hi Hywel. What a cool original name, you should be happy Mum and Dad gave you something unique … My brother is named Llewellyn and he hates his name too, I guess Welsh names are silly looking with all those “Y’s”. He just goes by the name Tom now. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/32 "2011-12-14T22:41:41Z")
I only object to the diminutive of my name. Always did, dunno why. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/33 "2011-12-14T22:43:25Z")
> [@Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](#): > > Hi Hywel. What a cool original name, you should be happy Mum and Dad gave you something unique … Zeus, but I hate that attitude. **SunSandSuffering** is perfectly entitled to choose the name that s/he prefers. And telling others what should make them happy is just rude–though not quite as rude as deliberately addressing someone by a name you know they dislike. Eight or nine years ago I briefly dated a woman whom I had known in high school. She liked my given name (which, as I wrote upthread, I hate) and insisted on using it, because she wanted to be special among my circle of friends, all of whom address me by some variant of my last name. She either did not or would not understand why that bugged me. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/34 "2011-12-14T23:10:10Z")
All us Jennifers have no problem telling you that’s our name because we know you’ll never be able to sort us out from the 7 million other Jennifers. There’s a reason carlotta is my user name. When I was 15 I was bitching about hating “Jennifer” and how it never felt like “me” and a friend said I was more like a “Carlotta” to him, so that’s always sort of been my alter ego… I can’t quite say why I dislike “Jennifer” so much, but I always have. Certainly part of it is having to share it with so many others (I named my imaginary friend Jenny when I was 3…I don’t think I knew friends could have other names). Bitching about it much later in life (like age 35) another friend asked me what I would name myself if I could. I took a lot of time to think about it and realized the name I gave my daughter was really the one I would pick for myself. It makes sense I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/35 "2011-12-14T23:34:45Z")
My name has been sung to me at least once a week every week of my life. During December, its a daily occurance. You learn to live with it. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/36 "2011-12-14T23:50:01Z")
I love my name: Elizabeth Anne. It’s common enough that everyone can pronounce and spell it, yet not so common that everyone knows someone with my name. It has a myriad of nicknames, but I use none of them. Weirdly, people often congratulate me on that. My sister’s name is equally beautiful: Alexandra Dawn. I think my parents did a great job naming us. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/37 "2011-12-14T23:54:09Z")
I don’t _hate_ my given name (Scott) so much as just preferring my middle name considerably. So, that’s what I go by in many contexts–including here, as you can see in my signature below. (No, my middle name is not ‘Vagina’, goofball. :rolleyes:) ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/38 "2011-12-15T00:11:13Z")
Love my name-- my parents rocked that one. I can dress it up, dress it down, be elected president or be an escort. My poor sis, not so much. You can’t take her name anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/39 "2011-12-15T00:14:05Z")
> [@Noelq](#): > > My name has been sung to me at least once a week every week of my life. > > During December, its a daily occurance. > > You learn to live with it. Your name is Jingle? :Looks up: Oh! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/40 "2011-12-15T00:20:43Z")
I like my name - Laura - fine. There’s a huge number of us around the same age (think of any Laura you know - I’d be there’s a pretty good chance she’s between 34-44 years old). Pronunciation can be an issue: is it LARA, LORA or something else? I pretty much answer to either of them, as well as a couple of nicknames (Lola and ell, if you must know). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216.md?page=3)