When applying for jobs, on resumes and forms and such, I always use my full name, to appear more formal, professional, etc. As a result, I am almost always called “Jessica” by everyone in my office. It’s not that I mind it so much, but some deep, dark recess of my mind still equates hearing my full name with being in big trouble.
In less formal settings, I almost always introduce myself as Jessie, and most of my friends, family and non-work acquaintances call me that. I don’t think Jessie is terribly unprofessional, but I like having that … duality of personality, I guess you would call it. I am normally very outspoken, agressive, talkative, and other somewhat obnoxious qualities that don’t usually go down well in Corporate America. Jessie can do whatever the hell she wants, but Jessica is more reserved and quiet, efficient and professional (except when she’s posting to the boards from her desk, of course). Many of the people who know Jessie would be baffled by Jessica, and the people who work with Jessica would be downright frightened of Jessie.
So, in my case, it’s not that I think I’ll be considered less professional using my nickname, but that I consider myself to be. It keeps me from mouthing off if I already think I’m in trouble.
I think their are various levels of respectability for different -y names. Some -y names work with grown men others just don’t. They fall into three catagories
1- Somewhat respectable names for men that are common: Jimmy (I know more Jimmys than Jims), Jerry, Tony (I don’t think this one counts since no one is named Tone), Johnny, Bobby (maybe in catagory 2), Tommy, Joey, Vinny, Charlie
2- Ok names for men especially if your are either really tough, old or a teen idol: Sammy, Paulie (a good name if your a gangster), Franky, Willy (good for pirates), Billy, Eddy, Donny, Freddy, Stevie, Davy, Jacky (this one is slowly heading towards category 3), Ricky, Jamie, Richie, Lenny
3- Names that no grown man should ever call himself: Marky, Teddy, Stewie, Chucky, Nicky, and lastly the worst -y name for a grown man -Timmy (my first name)
In college one of my professors explained to a group of us that proper memo-style declares that one address the recipient with the same degree of formality that one signs one’s name. In other words, If we addressed the memo to Dr. Professor, we should sign it Ms. Student or Mr. Student. However, memos are usually informal and Dr. Professor was unneccessarily formal for memos.
This lead to my group wanting to know if it was acceptable to address our next memo to “Scotty” The answer was yes- so long as the memo came from Glenny, Jenny, and Eureka-y.
Needless to say, we opted for a slightly more formal form of address.
And no, my real name is not Eureka. However, it is similar enough (and goes badly enough with -y endings) for the purposes of this thread.
I just know that this is going to cause me trouble in future years- I go by Andy, which is short for Anderson, which most people just don’t want to address a girl as.
I work with a grown, as in old enough to be my dad, man who goes by the name of Kenny. And after 5 months, I still can’t call him Kenny. Instead, I call him either Mr M----- or Kenneth.
The few times that I have called him Kenny is when I am irritated with him.
Coincidentally I seem to have started a new inside joke with the formal Mr and Ms. Now no one thinks it odd that I call him Mr. M----- and half the time the people in my little pod now refer to each other Mr or Ms. in good fun.
Luckily the diminutive of my name (Natasha) is “Tasha/Tasche,” and follows a different cultural form for diminutives. (This works better because it follows the cultural norm for my Icelandic mother. Note: diminutives for boys end in -i a great deal of the time, while diminutives for girls generally end with -a in Icelandic.) I, of course, have gotten several friends who do call me “Tashi” though, so I know the childlike aspect of the -i/-y diminutive form. Oddly enough, I embrace it as an expression of my inner child amongst friends. I would balk at being called “Tashi” at work, though… but for some reason, I’m okay with being called “Tasha” by whomever’s comfortable with that over “Natasha.”
In Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five, the main character is named Billy Pilgrim. He changed it to Billy from William because when he was about to go into business someone advised him that others would be more inclined to give him business if he went by Billy instead of William. But he wasn’t a Southerner; IIRC he lived in New York State.
Jimmy Carter is the reason I call my son James. Not Jim, not Jimmy…James. It just seemed so inappropriate for the leader of the free world to be Jimmy that we didn’t want to saddle our son with a childish name for his whole life. We decided to let him choose, and while he doesn’t mind if people call him Jim or Jimmy, he calls himself James. Just can’t even think of him as a Jim or Jimmy now.
One interesting exception to the OP’s point: black men seem, in general, to do just the opposite!
Disclaimer: yes, I KNOW there are famous exceptions to what I’m about to say. I can think of them just like you can. But I think this observation is valid.
A black man may go by James or he may go by Jimmy, but you almost never see a black man who goes by the name Jim.
In the same way, there are black men who go by William or Billy, but not all that many who go by Bill.
Black Edgars and Eddies? Plenty! Blacks Eds? Not many.
Black Thomases and Tommies? Yep. Black Toms? Not many.
Er … I could think of a reason why there aren’t many black Toms. :eek:
The dimunitive of my name ends in an “i”, so I could be a stripper but not a C.E.O.?
Thank god for preview. I had an Elton John joke all typed up and ready to go and that would have been so anti-climactic since one has already been made (mine was better phrased, though).
I could make a George Michael joke instead I suppose…
Former WI governor and current HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson hasn’t had any problems advancing politically with a diminutive name. I have no idea if his given name is Tommy or Thomas or what; I’ve never heard, in over 11 years of living here, anyone refer to him by any other first name but “Tommy” (and usually no last name is needed; no one ever confuses him with the pinball wizard).
This makes me really concerned about my name…Would ‘Jeremy’ be considered a diminutive form of ‘Jeremiah’? Because I really don’t want to change my name to the latter just to take my name seriously; it is a bit too religious sounding for my tastes (not that its a bad thing, just that I’m not interested).
I’d be really pissed off to find my name doesn’t get taken seriously just because it ends in a friggin ‘y’. :mad: Everyone calls me ‘Jeremy’, except two people- my mom’s boyfriend and my friend’s roomate, who occasionally refer to me as ‘Jer’ but other than them I wouldn’t respond to someone referring to me by that abbreviation.
I’m planning on getting into a managerial position in a business where coworkers/customers are rather close and informal about titles- everyone calls each other by their first name- sixteen year old coaches will adress parents by their first name, adress managers by their first name, heck, even a four year old member will use the manager’s first name rather than Mrs. ______. People could argue about it one way or another, but in our case, it actually works out well because it breaks down some walls built by formalities, and kind of allows everyone to be frank with each other without having to seem dominant/submissive over the other person.
Carly Fiorina, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, seems to do okay not being called Carleton. But then, if I were a woman stuck with a name like Carleton, I’d definitely head straight for the diminutive.
My name sounds like a diminutive, and while it isn’t, I have to admit it’s always sounded a bit unprofessional to my ears.
I think that may be because of the sound of his name. Tommy Thompson is easy to say quickly and flows together well, and the repetition emphasizes the non-diminutive part. Besides, try saying “Tom Thompson” or “Thomas Thompson” - they just don’t sound as good.
