I am guilty of this. Apparently it irritates my husband too, but he didn’t bother telling me that until 10 years into our marriage. His name is (not really but similar to) Matt, and I have always, since our first meeting called him “Mathew”. My son, “Kenny” (also not his real name) has always been “Kenneth”, my acquaintances have always been Johnathon, Michael, etc…despite what shortened forms they use. I will stop if asked, though. I do know one Michael who hates it, so I call him “Mike”.
Why do I do it? I am not sure. It isn’t a pretension nor is it anything I consciously think about or do on purpose at any level. For women’s names I frequently add the middle name also without thinking…My friend Deana, I always call “Deana Louise” even though I am the only one who does so. I never really gave it much thought at all, but I will now.
I have four children. The three males (ages 32, 30 and 24) all go by shortened versions of their names. The female (aged 28) has a one-syllable given name, so it can’t be shortened.
That said, meh, whatever works for folks. I’m just glad people are still called Stephen, as opposed to ridiculous names like “Cooper” and “Easton,” the two kids I heard called by their names in the Hockey Hall of Fame a few years ago. No joke.
Oh, and since the issue of work e-mail has come up, what do you folks that prefer the diminutive of your names think when addressed by your full name? At my office your e-mail system is set up by IT and contains your full, legal first name. Same with the name ID on the phones . Some people set up separate signatures which would obviously reflect what they prefer but just as many only have their e-mail address. Just this morning I had to call “Cynthia” who answered her phone “this is Cindy”. I took it to mean that’s what she prefers to be called but what if I was replying to her via e-mail? Should I address her as Cynthia until otherwise instructed? If no one ever calls her by her full name, do I then sound like a dork? If you prefer a nickname do you invite people to use it?
Heh…I know a kid named Cooper. Everyone but me calls him “Coop”. One of my kids’ best friends at the moment is “Ashton”, but I only ever hear him called “Ash”.
I know a few who have gotten into the habit of using their full name to distinguish themselves from other people who already “own” the short version where they work (or in their class). For instance, we have three Joshes in our department, so one is Josh (first hired), one is Joshua (second hired), and when the third one was hired he was dubbed Schwa (though only in our dept). My boss goes by his full name at work but apparently a short name everywhere else. Sometimes it’s the option that makes the most sense if they’re one of many people with the same name.
This would have made an interesting poll, broken up into categories including gender.
To Taomist: (cool username BTW) As far as using Outlook goes, since the user generally gets to set their own signature, its exactly what they want it to be. It doesn’t (at least not at any company I have worked) automatically come from your full name. People may use their full names to be professional (as do I) but I have not seen it be done or dictated by the company.
In business situations, I use my full name. I consider any work emails to be like written correspondence, and sign them off as such. In person and in casual correspondence I usually use the shortened version. Most people don’t even ask, they just jump straight to using the shortened version.
However, I do understand why some people would prefer their full name. It’s just a personal preference. I’ve know Andrews who only liked being called Andy, and some who would give you a death stare if you didn’t say Andrew. The same with Steven/Steve, etc.
Something that has confused me in the past has been people in a business setting (clients, venders, etc.) who call me “sweetie”, “hon”, “kiddo” and even a few times “babe” or “baby”. Am I the only one who finds this unusual? I’ve gotten it from both females and males (and I am female).
For me, I just use the name of the person as they introduced themselves. If someone introduces themselves as Steve, I wouldn’t call them Steven, and vise versa.
For me the shortened version was due to not feeling happy with myself and wanting to separate me from me, so to speak. Now knowing who I really am, and liking that, and really understanding the meaning of names, I desire to be called by the full given name, and it is the one I put out. Some people I know know my name as the shorter version, I’m OK with that, and just go on using my given name.
I don’t really have a dog in this fight, since my name (Trepa) is pretty much unshortenable, but if some guy is referred to as Mike half the time, and Michael the other half, it’ll take me a while before I connect the two. My opinion, pick one and be consistent.
Chuy Baca? Really? Was he tall and hairy?
My folks named us kids names that didn’t have shortened versions. (Though mine can be shortened to “Al”, which I don’t mind.)
(slight highjack)
My family has a history of naming jiggery pokery. My father shares the same first name with his father- neither of them use(d) it. My father’s mother used her middle name. My uncle was named O.B. It didn’t stand for anything, but in our geneology there was an ancestor named something like Ogliothus Bonaparte, so I think he was named after him.
