# What's your chosen name?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-chosen-name/325322>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 8, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-chosen-name/325322 "2005-10-08T17:30:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-chosen-name/325322/61 "2005-10-18T21:10:23Z")

</div>

I go by my given name which is Catrin and I have enough trouble getting people to pronounce and spell that right :rolleyes:

I hate it when Brits Anglicize my name but funnily I was happy enough to go with Kasia, Kazka & (by twisted logic) Kate when living in Poland; Catarina or the imposing La Catrin in northern Italy (they have a habit of using la’ before girl’s names) - my new boss is busy calling me Catherine and frankly it doesn’t help my impression of her.

A few people call me Cat, (and BTW, no actual offense intended to **AFG** or others but I always sort of thought Catherines who use Cat were kinda cheating but I guess that’s just a reaction to forever having an ‘h’ inserted into my name.) my Dad calls me ‘CJ’ (Hi **Seige**!) from time to time that’s about it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-chosen-name/325322/62 "2005-10-19T13:31:06Z")

</div>

An old friend of mine has a new girlfriend. She’s half Scottish and half Vietnamese and her name is “Catriona,” which, I know is pronounced more or less like “Katrina” in Gaelic. But I was corrected. “Actually it’s Cat-Ree-Oh-Na. It’s okay. That’s a very common mistake.” I’ve resolved not to say her name at all.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [October 20, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-chosen-name/325322/63 "2005-10-20T01:59:29Z")

</div>

My given name is Julia, which I always thought sounded stiff and elderly. I’ve gone most of my life being called Julie, which sounds like a perky blonde cheerleader, although personality-wise I’m more of an Eeyore.

A few years ago, I came to work at a place where there already was a Julie, so I went back to being Julia. Fortunately, I am now stiff and elderly, and it fits much better.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-chosen-name/325322.md?page=3)