What do you think about adults who still use their "kid" names?

I am talking about all the Jimmys, Billys, Bobbys, Rickys, and Johnnys of the world. Do you think it’s weird? If you have a name that gets abbreviated, at what age did you?

I still use my kid name and have thought about changing, but it’s too confusing around my grandfather and father. Grandfather is always adult name, I always get the kid’s name, and for my dad it depends upon who (whom?) is talking to him.

Is there a formal name for this phenomenon?

Nothing…I don’t think any less of them.

No one thought any less of Jimmy Cliff, Billy Bob Thorton, Bobby Sherman, Ricky Martin or Johnny Cash, did they? They may be less formal, but I don’t associate those names with kids.

ETA: Or if they did, it probably wasn’t because of their names.

How do you feel about initials? I know a few A.J.'s, a pair of J.R.'s, and even a G.W. (no, not that G.W.). As long as it’s not something really weird like F.U. or R.Q., I’m fine with it. As for the names in the OP, college kids get a chance to reinvent themselves, and I guess when you move to a new town or take a new job you can tell your new co-workers your new name, but most folks can’t make a clean break from “Jimmy” or “Billy” without some other change in their life.

Yeah, Johnny LA, what’s up with that?

Yes I do a bit. It seems rather childish. I used to have a colleague called Bobby and that caused a few chuckles in the office. He later asked that people call him Bob.

People still call me by my “Kid” name, but it isn’t because I ask them to. I always introduce myself with my “Adult” name, but somehow everyone just calls me by my kidname. When ever people introduce me to other people the introduce me by my kid name. I don’t prefer one over the other, it just seems to be the natural course of the name. :shrug:

My supervisor’s name is Bobby… er, Robert. The only time I ever see “Robert” is on paperwork and his official signature. I don’t think any less of him for using his nickname, and I don’t know of anybody else who does, either.

I am called, variously, by my full name, by the shortened version(Most commonly, and what I go by at school), and by the ly. My youngest niece was named after me. So far I’ve got the short version to myself still. The other two we trade back and forth with abandon.

Why do you and your niece trade names with someone named Abandon?

Some may be in my position - almost all friends and family having decided to call me (name)y instead of just (name), it is easier to just get on board than to swim against the massive tide. It isn’t easy to get people to change the version of your name they choose to use. The only way would be for one to give people the direct instruction. The downside of that approach would no doubt be that you would come across as something of a dick.

Related concept:
I stopped using my real name at work a few years back and over time the number of people who even know my real name has dwindled. So as almost everyone uses my new name even those few people who know my real name don’t bother using it. It confuses everyone else.

So you can change the name people use, it’s only taken me seven years.

Had I moved jobs or towns it might have been faster.

Regarding the OP.
I’ve never thought of those variants as ‘childish’, just the name they’ve chosen to go by.

I blame Jimmy Carter, who (IIRC) had to sue in a couple of states to be listed that way on the ballot.

Then there the "Marti’s, Ricki’s, Mindy’s and such of the world who really have no choice but to use a kid-sounding name.

I don’t think Jimmy, Johnny, Bobby, etc. are all that bad, but men past middle age going by their frat-boy nicknames (or whatever the source) like Scooter, Lovie, etc. are pretty darn unbecoming.

Depends on the name. Charley or Jimmy are OK, but Mikey and Timmy recall Life Cereal and Lassie, respectively.

(from now on, please call me Slithe.)

I’ve got no problem with it as long as it’s what the person prefers to be called. In fact, in an office, it’s a lot easier if you have a John, a Jack, and a Johnny rather than John, John, and John.

I don’t think it’s any big deal. I have friend, Richard, who goes by Ritchie. I just can’t imagine calling him anything but that. I don’t think it makes him sound childish or anything.

I had an uncle whose name was Bobby. Not Robert, Not Bob, but Bobby. It was on his birth certificate. He had a hell of a time in the Marines because they wanted to list him as Robert and he refused to be referred to as such since it was not his name. He finally got his way but after much fighting with his superiors.

My actual name ends in “Y” The diminutive sounds more mature I guess. I really don’t care what people call me.

I am a former FiveyearlurkerY.

It’s impossible to change until you have a change of scene with a majority of new people. I tried dropping the “Y” in high school, but I couldn’t get people to go along with it. It wasn’t until college that I pulled it off. Though I still was friends with one high school guy who continues with the “Y” to this day despite being around everyone in college who didn’t.

Or the former military guys who are still going by their callsigns.

“Call me ‘Maverick’”
Um, Yeah… :rolleyes:

When I was a kid, my parents called me Sally. No one EVER calls me that anymore…once I went to school, it switched to Sarah and that’s what I’ve been ever since. My younger sister never even knew anyone called me Sally until she was an adult, as she is too young to remember it.

All three of my sibs, though, go by their diminutive. My sister’s has a y at the end automatically, so she is basically still called by the same name she always was. My brothers both use shortened versions of their names (like “Bob”), but only family call them the “y” version (like “Bobby.”) I think it’s a little weird when a grown person goes by a kid name like that, but not any weirder than people who insist on their FULL first name (“it’s Robert, not Bob.”)