# If you could change your name.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 27, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522 "2004-02-27T21:03:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/41 "2004-02-29T01:34:07Z")
I really like the names Lillian and Lilith, but I am a Sarah through and through. That’s what my parents named me and I will always be Sarah. But should I ever have the need to totally divorce myself from the identity I have carefully accumulated over the years, I suppose I’d choose Lillian. Or if I was feeling really crazy, Andromeda or even Lillian Andromeda. Whoa. It’d be like being a Victorian and a hippy all at once. ---
**Author:** ![Willander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Willander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Willander)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/42 "2004-02-29T01:43:01Z")
I would probably keep it simple, one name only. [SIZE=6\*]“No”[/\*SIZE] would be my name, cause then I could park pretty much anywhere… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/43 "2004-02-29T04:00:35Z")
I love my given name, which is Alexander. It’s too common, though; in my English class, there are four Alex’s (3 M, 1 F). I wish more people would call me by the full verison of my name though; only my dad and a couple random adults do. If I were to change it, I would pick “Aleksandyr” just because I like the way it looks–but I bet it’d be a pain in the butt. And anyway I’m part Greek, and not at all Russian :rolleyes: . ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/44 "2004-02-29T04:27:56Z")
“Caine, Jim Caine. Pleased to meet you” I’ve always liked the sound of that one. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/45 "2004-02-29T04:51:12Z")
Living in SE Ohio with the name Julie is a tragedy. People rhyme my name with goalie. If I had a puck… So, if I could, I’d just make people pronounce my name right rather than changing my name to something else they’d slaughter. Julie ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/46 "2004-02-29T05:23:32Z")
A guy round here changed his name by deed poll to _Canturbury Draught_ in a promotion for a brewery. (IIRC he won the name in a competition.) He plans to keep it at least until he has finished his degree. He figures it looks quite good on official documentation. Me? I like my own name. No intention of changing it. Even if it is impossible to find “Smith” in the phone book. ---
**Author:** ![presidebt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c37758/32.png) [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/47 "2004-02-29T05:51:26Z")
> [@Obsidian Flutterby](#): > > The thing is, it’s tough to change that. If people know you and know your name it’s hard to get them to change the name you want to be called by unless you beat it into them. That wasn’t my experience at all. My experience was that most people went out of their way to respect my choice and took pains to correct themselves when they slipped, which I naturally understood. Generally an apology of some sort was offered, to which I responded, “Oh, it’s okay. You’ve known me as Joanna for years, so it can’t be easy to change. I don’t mind.” There was the occassional person who insisted on calling me Joanna for a while longer, on purpose, because they held the narrow-minded view that what I did made me “fake,” but those people generally had pre-existing issues with me (like being a dumped ex-boyfriend), and none of them do it now. And that is so wierd **rinni**! It makes me wonder, with 6+ billion people on the planet, how many are reading it _right now._ ---
**Author:** ![presidebt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c37758/32.png) [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/48 "2004-02-29T06:05:30Z")
And btw, OP author (whose name I ironically forget), I just want to thank you for getting “If you could read my mind” By Gordon Lightfoot in my head. Your title could perfectly parody that song, and in that spirit, I’ve written a partial (and possibly lame) partial parody of the song… If you could change your name, love, What kind of name would you pick? An old fashioned sort like Jane, Or a ghosts name, like Edith?. In a book of names, or a book of songs, with names like Mohammed, or any name from Psalms. It could always set you free As long as you can pay the fee. If I could change my name, love, What a name I’d pick for myself. Not a stuffy name like Chadwick (apologies to any Chadwicks) but more like a Yusef. What can I say? I shoulda changed my name to “Dork.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/49 "2004-02-29T06:40:46Z")
presidebt, some may have it easier than others. I can see some of my family refusing to use my new name, others just forgetting altogether (my Mom for one) So for me it’d be easier overall. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/50 "2004-02-29T14:29:18Z")
> [@PictsiePat](#): > > I hated my name when I was growing up. I was supposed to be Patrick but turned out to be a girl. Then all thru grammar school (Catholic of course) there were not one, not two, but three Patricia Anns in my class and one Patrick. And who were the nuns talking to when they called on Patty, not me or the other girls she was calling on ‘him’. To this day I refuse to answer to the name Patricia. > > And don’t even get me off on Patsy Ann thank you very much ☹ OMG! Are you me? I was named after my grandfather Patrick, I have an uncle and a cousin named Patrick, I’m Patricia. It was a common name when I was growing up, and I didn’t even go to a Catholic school. I feel like I got a recycled name. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/51 "2004-03-14T22:41:48Z")
My real name is Doris Hello Doris. I am Joan. I feel your pain. I hate my first and last name, and have told my husband that should he ever slip from this mortal coil, I am changing all our names. I have no idea what it would be, but something humorous, like: Fartknockle. \*Ohh, look, it’s the Fartknockle’s Christmas Card. \* ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522/52 "2004-03-14T23:00:41Z")
I think I’ve answered this one before (in a thread about what you wish your parents had named you), but my answer is just so damn entertaining I just have to share it again. My maiden name was Scherbart (pronounced like the ice cream). Now my last name is Quist. I want to be Rainbow Scherbart or Ventrilo Quist [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-your-name/231522.md?page=2)