# 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:** 5
**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 15, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/81 "2011-12-15T17:11:33Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I was talking to a friend about middle names not long ago. We came to the conclusion that, except for a few instances, the only reason they exist is to scold. If your parent is using your middle name, you did something wrong. I’m fairly sure that my mother choose the middle names she did because they were the names she actually intended to use to address us. She brought out the _first_ names for scolding. ---
**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 15, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/82 "2011-12-15T17:20:50Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Erin > Arron > Aron > Airen > Aerin… > The list goes on. I think it’s reasonable to assume that the spelling of a name is the traditional, common one and that people with uncommon spellings will correct. (I realize that some names have no single common spelling) (I know, common sense is not common…) You really shouldn’t need to ask ‘how do you spell that?’ for every single name, but here we are anyway. :rolleyes: > [@tdn](#): > > I was talking to a friend about middle names not long ago. We came to the conclusion that, except for a few instances, the only reason they exist is to scold. If your parent is using your middle name, you did something wrong. I’ve always heard that a middle name was there to give the child more names to play with as they come into their identity. Maybe I read to much Ann Landers as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/83 "2011-12-15T17:22:13Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I love the name David, FTR. Thanks. Interestingly, women often do like the name David. I don’t know why, but I’m not complaining. Every little bit helps. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/84 "2011-12-15T17:29:11Z")
I used to hate my firstname when I was a child: it lends itself to a very juvenile pun that I’m still encountering in my 40s… sometimes from people who are closer to retirement than to college. Then we spent a summer vacation in a town where it’s the most common name for women (my patron saint is that town’s patron saint) and I got reconciled with it. It’s still a PITA when I’m dealing with foreigners though: no, the -z is not pronounced; no, my name is not Maria; no, I don’t have four firstnames; no, that’s not my second name, I don’t have a second name… Combine it with a three-word first lastname and we’re in for a world of fun. Let’s say that my name was María de las Nieves Sáenz de Brihuega Garcés (which it’s not, but the amount of words in each part matches); depending on what credit cards said or on how people have managed to mangle things, I’ve been called or gotten plane tickets assigned to “Ms. De”, “Ms. Las”, “Ms. Noriega”, “Ms. Garces”, “Ms. Drega”… The three-word-lastname often leads to people assuming I’m from an uppity, rich family - neither applies. Some of them have decided to “take revenge”: in the most egregious instance, one of my college professors flunked me several times because he didn’t like my lastname (how do I know? Because he was so surprised to discover I was that granddaughter my grandfather had been asking him to spy on for years that he blurted it out) I don’t hate my name, but I’m royally sick of the troubles it causes. Based on how many people misspell my firstname when answering to emails where it’s written at the bottom, slightly over half of humanity can’t read for shite. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/85 "2011-12-15T17:36:13Z")
Something else on misspellings and mistakes: the US government has a list of over 20 “aliases” for me which are caused by mistakes, or leaving out part of the name, or the abreviation (plus one which I never used myself, but someone once called me asking whether I was her - it’s the female Hispanic equivalent of Mary Jones); I find it kind of scary that someone has bothered compile that, and that someone else who isn’t familiar with Hispanic names may think I’m a threat based on having such a long list of aliases. The Spanish government wouldn’t consider any of those 20sh an alias, since they’re either “evident mistakes” or an “evident abreviation”. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/86 "2011-12-15T17:53:42Z")
Hi, folks, my name is April. April is a pretty name, and it was kinda-sorta popular in the mid and late '60s, so I’m not the only April out there, but it’s a name for girls who play acoustic guitar and write sad poems. About unicorns. …Let’s just say I don’t fit that description. My mother’s family came from Belarus and I look more like an Olga than an April. I like dark action movies and film noir and _Jane Eyre_. Darkness plus strength, in other words. “April” is just the opposite of that, so every time I say my name I feel like I have to apologize for misrepresenting myself. But it _is_ a pretty name. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/87 "2011-12-15T18:17:59Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Doug. > > Well, Douglas actually, but I haven’t been called that in any serious manner since I was like 8. Well it’s not just the stalking it’s the teasing. I have a bit of a sense of humour failure about it. My original name just doesn’t suit me, I jettisoned it as soon as some mates came up with a decent nickname, which is now my legal (and so far as I’m concerned real) name. The original makes up a pair with my older brother’s name. The overall effect is twee, the fictional character concerned doesn’t suit me either and it makes me feel like an appendage. (No, big bro isn’t called Batman. His name is perfectly ordinary.) ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/88 "2011-12-15T18:26:53Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Thanks. Interestingly, women often do like the name David. I don’t know why, but I’m not complaining. Every little bit helps. I was told David means “Beloved”. Maybe that’s it. We called one of my friends Beloved for 3 years of college. Got some funny looks. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/89 "2011-12-15T18:30:12Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > I was told David means “Beloved”. Maybe that’s it. We called one of my friends Beloved for 3 years of college. Got some funny looks. My son is David Paul…“beloved little one”. I just picked the names because I liked them, but it worked out very nicely! ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/90 "2011-12-15T18:52:20Z")
I like my name: Dan. Officially, it’s Daniel, and some family members still call me Danny. It’s nothing that’s misspelled; it’s easy to say; and it’s common, but not like John, Joe, Mike, or Rob. Every now and then, people might think it’s Don because of my penmanship or if I answer the phone at work, “This is Dan,” they might think I said Stan. But other than those minor problems, it’s good for me. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/91 "2011-12-16T00:56:41Z")
I like my name: Michael. I’ve always liked it. It has never been the most popular name, but it has also never gone out of style, which means it is not looked on as a little kid’s name nor an old fart’s. However, since I moved to Canada I discovered a second spelling: Micheal. That looks really weird to me. And of course Quebecois want to drop the “a”. Although this thread hasn’t said much about middle names. I have none, neither of parents did (although my younger brother and sister did). I once had the following conversation with a mathematician. “Mike, what’s your middle name?” “I don’t have one.” “Come on, you can tell me, I promise I won’t tell anyone.” (I might say that if I really wanted to keep it secret, I certainly wouldn’t have told her, but I would have said that that’s my secret and a secret shared is no longer a secret.) This conversation repeated a couple more times before I simply walked off. I guess it’s true that nearly every American has a middle name, but I don’t. All those Jennifers reminds of a New Yorker from, IIRC, sometime in the early 80s that showed an elementary teacher calling role: Scott, Jennifer, Jennifer, Scott, Jennifer… ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/92 "2011-12-16T01:50:46Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I like my name: Michael. I’ve always liked it. It has never been the most popular name, but it has also never gone out of style, which means it is not looked on as a little kid’s name nor an old fart’s. Michael was the number one most popular boys name in the US for 40-50 years until my name, Jacob, overtook it in the mid to late nineties. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/93 "2011-12-16T04:35:20Z")
My first name is James, and I almost always go by Jim. It’s common, but it is what it is 🙂 and I’m happy with it. Personally, I think parents who come up with “creative” names are pretentious. When I was in college, I had a couple of other friends named Jim. When we’d meet, each of us would always say “Hi, Jim!” to each of the other two, making 6 identical greetings. And we’d laugh. Simple humor, but we liked it. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/94 "2011-12-16T04:53:37Z")
I’m a Laura, I don’t hate it but I only think it’s okay (there are a lot of us). I really hated it when I was a kid, I thought it was really stuck up sounding (not helped out by a namesake in HS who really WAS stuck up). But I LOVE my sister’s name (she hates hers and likes mine…heh!). Hers is Trudi which I think is really cute. Not a derivative of Gertrude either, her given name is just plain Trudi. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/95 "2011-12-16T05:09:38Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I love the name David, FTR. Me too. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/96 "2011-12-16T10:28:24Z")
I’m kinda divided about my name, Wayne. On the cool side of the spectrum, there’s the association with John Wayne and Bruce Wayne. And Wayne Gretzky. But on the other hand, more people tend to associate it with Wayne Newton. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/97 "2011-12-16T20:57:29Z")
I loathe my first name. Always have. Anne. What kind of a first name is that?? I deeply don’t care that it means ‘grace.’ I hate it. Mother took it from her middle name, which was Joanne. Now, THAT I would’ve loved. Coulda shortened it to ‘Jo’ and been a happy camper. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/98 "2011-12-16T21:07:33Z")
> [@Scubaqueen](#): > > I loathe my first name. Always have. Anne. What kind of a first name is that?? I deeply don’t care that it means ‘grace.’ I hate it. “But if you call me Anne, please call me Anne with an ‘e’.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/99 "2011-12-16T22:24:04Z")
Nobody mispronounces or spells Cynthia wrong. I just think the name makes me sound like a bitch. I go by Cyndi but I get cracks about spelling it wrong. I think it’s silly to spell it the other way. It makes more sense with the first three letters matching. Plus people are likely to call me Sydney. Still better than feeling like a bitch. ---
**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 16, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216/100 "2011-12-16T22:35:18Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > Nobody mispronounces or spells Cynthia wrong. I just think the name makes me sound like a bitch. [Athena-worshipper] :mad: I am sure you did not intend to inadvertently insult God’s younger sister, **Rushgeekgirl**. Nonetheless I will need you to take that back. [/athena-worshipper] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hate-your-real-name/606216.md?page=6)