What Name Do You Go By?

90% of the time it’s my first name. A few people (namely, some friends at church and my wife’s aunt) have chosen to do as I ask and call me by my nickname (Homie).

A shortened version of my first name.

With family, a diminutive of my name. With co-workers, either my full first name or Ms. Lastname. With my students, Ms. Lastname, Lastname, or shortened form of Lastname.

With my SO, family and co-workers I go by first name, with friends there are a bunch of us with the same first name so we go by last name.

I usually go by the short version of my first name, but my Wife and my Brother both call me by the diminutive of my first name.

My brother, since he’s known me since I was a baby, and my wife because she and I used to hang out with my brother a lot.

I’ll take Tom, my first name’s short form. I have a few professors who call me Thomas. My grandmother was allowed to call me Tommy, as is my aunt (married to my mother’s brother, Tom). Very few others can get away with it.

My middle name is my mother’s maiden name which coincidentally is also an elderly-man name, so I only use my middle initial.

I have a few tenants that I’m uncomfortable enough around that I still remain, to them, ‘Mrs. W’, but pretty much I go by my first name. I’ve never had a nick name I liked.

Shortened form of my first name.
The temple and other Hindu casual acquaintances are given the full first name.

And besides my family, there are only a handful of people that even know I have a middle name, and less than that who know what it is.

I’ve totally droped the five last names I’ve used at various times in my lifetime, and go solely by my very common first and middle names.

“Your last name is Anne?”
“It is now”

You didn’t give context. The name I usually give as my first name is a variation of my last name; if, say, my last name were Michaelson, I’d be introducing myself as Micky Michaelson. My wife calls me simply Michaelson, though. Occasionally people call me Mick, but I don’t like that: either of the long forms, please.

My first name is Neil, so there’s not much chance of diminution. My middle name, like 'mika’s, is Indian and virtually impossible for Westerners to pronounce correctly (and two of the three more common mispronunciations are kind of profane) so I don’t tell anyone about it.

I go by Spiff.

Really, I do. It’s my stage name.

(But in the office, and other IRL situations, I go by “Tim” – my first name.)

Short form of my first name. For some reason, people who insist on the long form of their first name really annoy me.

“Excuse me, Tim is it?” Me
“No, it’s Timothymapopolous” Him
“It’s actually ‘dick’ now” -my inner voice

The short form of my first name in a foreign language.

My first name is Michael. I introduce myself to new people as “Michael.” I prefer to be addressed as “Michael.” Mostly, people comply. Exceptions include some of my family members who were used to calling me “Mike” for the first fifteen years or so of my life. I don’t make an issue of it.

I also don’t make an issue of it with a certain individual at work who’s a bit of a bully and an asshole. I simply try to avoid being addressed by him.

Middle name, sometimes, on the boards, given name [long version] in the real world.

I hate being called by my last name. When I first entered high school, I didn’t even get that dignity. My older brother was already called that, so I was therefore, “Little Lastname.” Fucking-A I hated that.

I managed to get a nickname sophomore year, but that only lasted until I moved to another state.

Why? I think people should, in general, be called what they wish to be called. It’s a very basic courtesy, and not at all unreasonable to request.

I don’t insist that my close relatives – i.e., the people who knew me before 18 – eschew my legal given name, even though I hate it; it seems silly for the other Rhymers to address me by surname. But the siblings and cousins whom I consider friends have all taken to using the nickname, without being asked.

I use the shortened version of my first name. So if I were Daniel, I would use Dan.

I hate, and have ever hated, the use of the diminutive of my name. So if I were Daniel, Danny is right out. I don’t know why, it has been like that since my earliest memories.

You can request it and as a courtesy I always politely comply. (Except in the case of my sister who claims that she always went by her full name and seems to forget that we grew up in the same house).

I can’t put my finger on why it bugs me, except part of it (not all of it, and not for all people of course) just seems pompous and put on.