# Let's talk names **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 16, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666 "2011-04-16T23:14:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [April 18, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/21 "2011-04-18T14:01:08Z")
My mom wanted to name my brother James Michael, and name me Julia Michelle. Her plan was to then call us… _Mike and Mickey_. Yes, I was going to go around being called after a jolly fucking cartoon mouse! Thank Jebus Dad put his foot down. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/22 "2011-04-18T14:28:06Z")
> [@Lisa\_Ann](#): > > Inspired by the thread "\*\* the importance of middle names … (is there any?) \*\*"[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=589516](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=589516) > > My father has always called me by my first and middle names, thus Lisa Ann has always been more of my given name than my first and middle names. Interesting. You have the same first and middle names as our daughter (though she hasn’t used the “Ann” since grade school). I use “Chuck” because “Charles” is too formal, and “Charlie” is just plain wrong for me. I also like its etymology – it’s not, strictly speaking, a variation on “Charles,” but rather a separate word meaning “dear one” (Shakespeare used it this way). It applied to anyone but eventually became a nickname for “Charles.” I don’t use my middle name. I don’t care for it. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/23 "2011-04-18T15:29:26Z")
When I had been divorced longer than I had been married, I took back my family surname. Mostly because it was annoying having two names that everyone misspelled. Now I’m back to only one. > [@CitizenPained](#): > > My dad wanted to name me Sarah Ann. > My mom wanted to name me Molly Ann. > My dad said that was a hooker’s name. :o > My mom said everyone’s name was Sarah. > They kept arguing. > My mother, who was so zoinked on the morphine they gave her from the c-section finally busted, out, “FUCK IT! Let’s call her JOY! I’m so happy!” Then she fell asleep. > > So my name is JoyAnn. 😃 That is a cool family story. I like having that in my head. In 1955, my parents went on a search for the perfect name. Mom had strong views on what a boy should be named. She believed that a boy got a lot out of being named after his father. So Dad got the priority choice for the girls name. They found The Name while visiting an old friend of the family who had babysat him when he was a kid. She had only had sons, but still remembered the name she had picked for a daughter. Not as cool a story, but it feels good to have a story about how they got the name. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Why\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@The\_Why\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Why_Bird)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/24 "2011-04-18T18:02:52Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I use “Chuck” because “Charles” is too formal, and “Charlie” is just plain wrong for me. I also like its etymology – it’s not, strictly speaking, a variation on “Charles,” but rather a separate word meaning “dear one” (Shakespeare used it this way). It’s still used this way quite commonly where I come from (Northern England). I often hear people referring to each other fondly as ‘chuck’. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who used it as a name before. Hi Chuck! ---
**Author:** ![Lorski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Lorski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorski)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/25 "2011-04-18T18:20:07Z")
My mom wanted to name me April Marie. :eek: The one and only thing my bio father ever did for me was to tell her hell no!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/26 "2011-04-18T18:24:43Z")
My parents had decided before I was born that I would be a boy with curly (from my dad) red (from my mom) hair, and that my name would be Sebastian (Seb for short). I surprised the hell out of them by being a girl, and though bald at the time my hair grew in straight and blonde. Sucks to your expectations! Anyway, the point is that they were so convinced I would be a boy that they hadn’t picked out a girls’ name. I was “Baby Girl X” for several days, until each of my parents heard a song with a girls’ name that they liked on the radio. They discussed it, and my mom’s song won. My middle name is the same as my grandmother’s and aunt’s, so it’s a family name. ---
**Author:** ![Soliloquy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Soliloquy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soliloquy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/27 "2011-04-18T20:45:38Z")
My mother says that her second name choice for me, behind what she actually named me (Melissa) was Kitty. I’m endlessly more pleased with my actual name. Melissa is Greek for honeybee, and i have a cute little honeybee tattooed on my left wrist. There’s a little mythology behind the name that I enjoy, a well, so while I used to rather dislike my name as a kid (who doesn’t?), I really like it now. I also love that my mother chose a middle name for me that was not Anne or Lee or Marie or any of the common middle names I’m accustomed to hearing. I’m pretty sure my life would have been a little different, had I grown up as a “Kitty”. It’s an infinitely more redneck name than Melissa, and far easier to poke fun at, as well. I’ve recently come to terms with the fact that my father wasn’t the best dad in the world. I’m returning to my maiden name soon, thanks to a divorce, primarily because I no longer wish to be associated with my ex-husband, who has a unique last name (and we work together), but when I marry again, I’ll gladly give up my father’s surname. I take little pride in it; it is just a name that I have been and will be know by for a short time. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/28 "2011-04-18T23:40:02Z")
No effect that I could see. My name is very normal (and I have no middle name.) We named our kids normal, but not trendy, names - no Jennifers. My eldest had a name very common the generation before, but so rare then that there were usually no keychains for it. My second also had a name fairly common in the last generation - in fact two nurses who assisted in her delivery had it. Now my wife has a name which as far as we can tell is shared by only one other person in the entire country. Aside from slight annoyance about people getting her nickname wrong, no impact I can see. Except that when she uses her full name as a user id, she never has a collision with any other. BTW she is the only one of us who uses a nickname - my second has a name that can be shortened, but we never do. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/29 "2011-04-18T23:45:37Z")
I remember reading that, under Common Law, middle names are (or were) not legally recognized at all, and are irrelevant, and if your “name” is John David McDonald, and legal process is started against “John Victor McDonald”, but otherwise it is clear that you are the one being referred to, it is no defense that the middle name is wrong. I don’t know if this applies in all jurisdictions or not. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/30 "2011-04-18T23:47:48Z")
Among some French and Spanish speaking Catholics, it’s apparently common to give a child a second name or middle name of the opposite gender. So you could meet a Jose Maria (Joseph Mary) Gomez and his sister Maria Jose Gomez. I believe this relates to patron saints and giving a child a second patron saint of the opposite gender. According to family lore, one of my male ancestors had a French styled name and had either Marie or Anne in his name. I’d need to look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/31 "2011-04-18T23:49:29Z")
> [@](#): > > My question to you and your humble opinion is, how much of an influence do you feel names have on a person generally or specifically? My first name is Christina, though I go almost exclusively by Christy. I love my name. I particularly love my full married name, from a purely aesthetic standpoint. My husband has a beautiful Italian surname. Combined with my first name, it sounds both feminine and professional. Here is an extreme example, however, of how names can have a negative effect on you. When I was thirteen, I was legally adopted by my mother’s husband and took his surname. He abused me. Long after I stopped speaking to him, I had to bear that surname name and the burden of it… up until I married at twenty-three. I know this might be hard to understand, but being constantly reminded of my past, what I suffered through, where I came from, was actually pretty tough. I wanted to move on with my life and felt like my very name was dogging me. If it weren’t for that particular situation, I may not have taken my husband’s surname. Every once in a while, I get a piece of mail with my adopted surname on it and it’s like a punch in the gut. I realize that may sound a little extreme but it’s like being rudely reminded that I used to have a father, and that this person is dead to me, and that I was once a very unhappy person. It doesn’t make me fall apart or anything but it might give me pause, a little memory, a little pain. So I think names _can_ have a very powerful effect on people. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/32 "2011-04-19T00:52:33Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > My first name is Christina, though I go almost exclusively by Christy. I love my name. I particularly love my full married name, from a purely aesthetic standpoint. My husband has a beautiful Italian surname. Combined with my first name, it sounds both feminine and professional. If I hyphenate with Asimovian’s last name, it will sound cool. If, on the other hand, I decide just to take his name… let’s just say that the two names together are uncomfortably rhyme-y. Or I may be lazy and just stick with the name I’ve got which is awfully easy to spell. Decisions, decisions! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/33 "2011-04-19T02:26:14Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > I hate threads about names where people say, “I hate my name”, without saying what it is. > > ~ Julia (it’ll do for now) My middle name, which I go by, is Robert. My first name is John. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/34 "2011-04-19T07:14:22Z")
My name is Mary Katherine. Anyone want to make a guess as to what religion I was raised? Anyone want to guess what sort of grade school I attended? My grandmother’s name was Mary Katrina and she went by Mary. I ended up with Kathy by default. As an adult, I’m usually called Mary because of what is on my resume. I answer to both and to my roadname. I also answer to Fela, which is my fav nickname. Felicia means happy and Felix Felix is the latin name for domestic cats, so the guy who tagged me with that became my bestest friend ever. I don’t usually think about it much, but this thread has inspired me to have a new name patch made that says Fela. My road name “AngelAss” was cute 5 years ago, but I’ve outgrown it. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/35 "2011-04-19T11:32:22Z")
As usual _[the Family Circus](http://img807.imageshack.us/img807/5254/399j.jpg)_ has already covered this ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/36 "2011-04-19T11:59:45Z")
I was named, in the Ashkenazic Jewish tradition, after relatives that had died. Since most of my relatives had died in the Holocaust, choosing family members to honor was heavy with meaning. I was named after my paternal grandfather Moshe Jacob (my initials are M and J). I never met my parents parents and my name is my only direct connection I have to my grandparents generation. My Hebrew name is Miriam, which I love. I feel a special connection to Passover and I think my name has influenced that. I always use my middle initial in written documents except when it seems really weird to do so. I think it gives my name a certain cachet, if only to me! I knew I wasn’t going to change my last name from a very young age, and I didn’t when I was married. That choice also, in part, defines who I am. So yeah, I guess my name is pretty influential to me! ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/37 "2011-04-23T02:15:11Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > My 1st name is a name I picked up from the nurses in the hospital as a baby, parents liked. Middle name is paternal grandfather’s 1st name. :smack: MATERNAL grandfather! ---
**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:** [April 23, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/38 "2011-04-23T04:48:44Z")
Well I legally changed my name, so take that as you will. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/39 "2011-04-23T06:31:32Z")
I like my name. I’ve never met a Kevin I didn’t like. I’ve always loved my last name too (very Italian, but not too common). What I can’t perceive is how it sounds and comes across to other people. It’s funny, though, because I find pronouncing my first and last name together to be sort of clumsy. My last name has a hard “K” sound, just like my first name, so it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue very well. My middle name helps to soften it, but I rarely use it. I have wondered if my personality would be any different had I been named Gary, Scott or whatever. Impossible to know. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666/40 "2011-04-23T07:09:27Z")
I am one of tens of thousands of Jennifers born in the 1980s. My parents liked the sound of it and didn’t realize how popular it was, or I’m sure I would have been named something else. Sometimes it’s a little annoying having so many other people with the same name, but on the plus side, it’s a nice name and nobody ever has trouble pronouncing or spelling it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-names/578666.md?page=3)