A favorite family story is how my mother’s youngest sister Betty, fifth after Joe, Dorothy, Ruth, and Bob, came home from school sobbing. She said, “The teacher called me Dorothy and I didn’t mind. She called me Ruth and I didn’t mind. But today she called me JOE!”
I get called my sister’s name and both my daughter’s and my niece’s name before my mom gets to my name. And this has been going on for many years. And I’ve called Papa Tiger by my first husband’s name, and he’s been dead for over ten years. He doesn’t mind, fortunately!
One of the signs that Dad’s sickness was advancing was that he stopped calling me “Theo, at least, Matthew” (Theo is my brother) and started calling me just “Rob” (his brother) instead.
Further reassurance (?) for you: I am 37, and my auntie has never, ever called me the correct name!
I’m the youngest, and when my mum is particularly angry with me, she calls me by my second name, but if she’s angry AND flustered, my name becomes Deb-Sla-Ka-errrrrrrgggggggghhhh, etc.
My oldest brother, from childhood onwards, always signs his full names on cards he sends her, just in case, I think!
The reverse is true…I’ve accidently called teachers, ‘Mum’ before! Understandable when in Grade One, but in graduate school…er…
My SOs dad is a widower (wifes name was D.) and he remarried to A, divorced her, had a long-term relationship with M, broke up, and is now dating another woman, also named D (same name). Throw in the fact that he’d occasionally slip up and name people by his mother’s name, it could get pretty confusing! His usual slip-up, though, was to refer to D, especially if my SO is around,as D is his mother. So I guess with the new D it isn’t really a problem!
Though I can imagine him saying something like “Hey D, I mean A, no…M…no, D!” a lot!
My brother has been known to call me by his wife’s name, and his wife by mine. Of course, he usually only does this when my family is visiting his house, but he gets so flustered he blushes.
I have four kids, and always call roll when I speak a name. It’s irritating, to say the least…to myself, as well as them.
I am also very, very bad to call my daughter by my sister’s name, and vice-versa. They look nothing alike, and thank God, don’t act alike. I have no idea why I do it. I told my daughter the other day just to answer me because I’m tired of rephrasing with the correct name.
I don’t worry about calling my husband by my ex’s name…they both have the same name!
My mom would frequently start out with calling me by the pets names, then go through their species, my brothers names, and then get my name. She’s gotten better about it as she’s gotten older, so I suppose that’s something.
Hell, I’m 19 and I always mess up people’s names. So do my mom, aunt, and grandmother. If my dad constantly referred to his fiance by his ex-wife’s name, I’d be more worried he was still stuck on her than about the possibility of Alzheimer’s. However, I’d be willing to bet it’s just habit.
My grandmother, at 56, could never keep us kids straight. I was always called by my brothers’, dad’s or cousins’ names.
We assumed she was crazy. Now that I’m that age I find it perfectly normal and tell the little 'uns they do the same to me (they don’t but why let them think they are the only sane ones?)
I have five children and do the role call thing. Then it gets down to “hey you” and “you know who you are”.
I’m thinking about just getting them nametags. Not that this will help much if they stand too far away and I don’t have my eyes in.
My mother’s parents often call me ‘Charmian’ (my mother’s name). Not terribly surprising, considering that I strongly resemble her. What’s weird is that my father’s parents would often call me ‘Norah’, one of his sisters’ names, whom I don’t resemble in the slightest. I live with one step-sister, but she has the same first name as me, so our parents got off easy there.
I guess that’s my real concern. When he and my mom got divorced, he never called ‘D’ by my mom’s name. Now that he and ‘D’ have split up and he’s on to ‘J’, I wonder why he’s doing it now.
I suppose it’s not my problem, as he’s 56 and can make his own decisions. It’s just weird, you know?
