A friend of mine has a daughter they named “Dondra” but they call her “Cassie”. When she told me they were going to do that I asked her “Why don’t you name her Cassie then?” She just shrugged her shoulders.
MaryAnn
I’m sorry you didn’t win, mom, but I’ll give you a constellation prize! -Greg
I have told you folks about my name woes umpteen times already, so I’ll spare you the recitation. If you must know, look for the thread on middle names.
Signed,
Christienne
An infinite number of rednecks in an infinite number of pickup trucks shooting an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs will eventually produce all the world’s great works of literature in Braille.
Sunbear, that is a good question, how long or what is the longest a family name has been carried on? I know the Busch family ( as in Budweiser) is up to something like August Busch the VII, but I wonder if there is a family with a X or even a XX.
Mullinator: how the heck do you pronounce that one?
We are, each of us angels with only one wing,and we can only fly by embracing one another
Try telling someone your name is Banks. It really is my given name. I never have to tell anyone less than twice. My first name is Randal…but they couldn’t call me Randy. Too easy I guess.
The most Invisible poster in the history of the boards. Posting invisibly since sept 1999.
My brother named his son Daniel Lawrence, but he’s always been called D.L. In this case, I think it’s just something that developed. I don’t think they ever intended to call him by his initials right from the start. It just happened. But, IMO, it’s better than calling him Danny, especially as he’s now 19 years old and about 6’5". It’s a little demeaning.
My own son is named Hal. This is how it appears on his birth certificate. It’s a cool name, and can’t be made diminutive (although some people call him Hally, but it sounds so positively stupid, I can’t see it catching on).
Why people would name their kid something stupid is beyond me. We took great pains to name our children so they wouldn’t hate us for it when they grew older.
I heard a story about a school worker who discovered a child named Shithead (pronounced shy-THEED). A radio personality found out about it. He knew a guy who produces those lullaby tapes with children’s names written into the songs, and asked the guy to write a song with this child’s name in it. Of course, he couldn’t ever play it on the air, but he said the guy wrote a beautiful dreamy lullaby along the lines of “Go to bed, little Shithead.” Using the popular pronunciation, of course. He said it was a panic.
The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx
My father’s name is William Jay. Everyone calls him John. When he was born, his mother wanted to call him John. His father overruled her, and put William Jay on the birth certificate. She said “I don’t care” and started calling him John. Everyone who met him was told his name was John, and it stuck.
My SO’s name is William Douglas, after his father. Everyone calls him Doug. Everyone calls his father Doug. I have no idea how this came about.
I pretty much feel like this is the universe telling me something. If I ever have a son, he’ll be named William. Depending on how I feel, I’ll either carry on family tradition and call him “Benny” or some such thing, or I’ll attempt to correct two family’s worth of weird naming conventions and call him “William” and hurt anyone who calls him anything else.
My grandmother was groggy right after my father was born. When the doctor asked the name of the baby, my grandmother (intending to name him after my grandfather) said, “Bobby Jr.”
(Can you see it coming?) The doctor wrote “Bobby Junior” on the birth certificate. My father, using his intended name “Robert Newton”, said he went through his whole life under an assumed identity! Hahaha!
Manny people get the ‘Jr. thing’ wrong. Except among royalty, numbering is limited to people who are alive. IE: John Smith has a son named John Smith, a grandson named John Smith and a great-grandson named John Smith – they are called John Smith; John Smith, Jr.; John Smith III and John Smith IV. When Great-Grandpa dies all of the other John Smiths move up a notch – John Smith, Jr. becomes John Smith; John Smith III becomes John Smith, Jr. and John Smith IV becomes John Smith III. So, Sunbear, you’ll never meet William J. Reynolds XIII – unless you hang out with royalty (unlikely) or people to whom proper usage is unknown or unimportant.
Jess
Full of 'satiable curtiosity
my name is melanie, and i call myself melanie, but my husband and some close friends insist on calling me “mel”.
it doesn’t irritate me too much, but i don’t think it fits me.
my son is daniel. we call him danny but that seems to be evolving into “dan” as he gets older.
my husband wants to be called andy. it seems strange that a 30 year old man wants to use a child’s name. but, it really is HIS preference. i don’t get a vote.
if i insist on calling him by a name he doesn’t like to use, that is just disrespectful and rude
I’m pink therefore I’m Spam
This is a great post. My friends are having a child and naming it Grayson (first name). Can you imagine a 2 year old named Grayson ?? The kid will either be a butler or the next Robin (Batman reference). Either way, I am thinking he is gonna get his butt kicked when he starts school.
“Solos Dios basta” . . . but a little pizza won’t hurt.
A friend of mine recently became an uncle. The baby’s name is Lawrence Jake C_____.
I’m expecting him to be “LJ” when he gets older.
– Sylence
I don’t have an evil side. Just a really, really apathetic one.
Other name stories…
I know a Trey. That’s French for three. He went out of his way to concoct a nickname that means four for his son - came up with Reyth. In this case, they are definitely set on the permanance of the number-clature.
I have an uncle named Ollie. He goes by the nickname Jim. Got that from his dad, named after a mule. Why does he go by the mule’s name? The alternative is Ollie.
I’ve heard some people get nicknames off their last names in the military. A guy named Ted James might be called Jim by his army buddies. That’s because last names are on the uniforms, and get corrupted from there. (Corruption in the military? Nah.)
Surfin’ one day on the internet I came across a lady who described coming up with a new name for herself. She had an odd name, and grew up with the nickname “Ducky”. When she got ready to enter the business world, she figured she needed a professional name. She wanted to be named Kate. However, she didn’t want to be Katherine because she didn’t like Kathy, or Kat. Then she heard Caitlin, and adopted it as Katlin. I was half tempted to email her and ask why she didn’t just name herself Kate? She assumed she needed a “real” name for the “nickname”.
My cousins are using Irish names for their kids. First son is Connor, second is … (Damn, can’t remember). This is in Texas.
I knew a Johnette - her folks wanted a boy.
I don’t think all diminutives are childish. Bobby and Billy and Ricky certainly do, but Bob and Bill and Rick aren’t necessarily. Jim and Jon (for Jonathan) and Andy and Jeff (for Jeffrey) even Danny aren’t bad.
I try to call people what they tell me they want to be called. If I know a James, I’ll ask if he prefers James or Jim. Etc. Don’t always remember (takes a while sometimes to learn names at all), but I make the effort. If a 25 yr old chooses to go by Dickie, I’m not going to argue with him.
Folks, I had no idea…
To digress briefly:
The British army still issues a General Service Medal, with the individual’s name impressed on the rim.
The most interesting names I have personally seen on these medals are:
to a “Seaman Fish”, and best of all:
“Trooper Fagg, Queen’s Regiment”.
I examined these medals myself, and the naming appeared legitimate. I still wish I’d bought the second one.
Launcher may train without warning.
My friend Terrance George IV insists that he will name any child of his Biff. He himself is the first of the line to go by Terry.
We purposely named my son something that could not be easily cutified. We figure you get called what you’re named in mt family.
All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people.
Well, each of my kids has two names. We call them by both all the time, with the expectation that somehow (e.g., in school by friends, or by the kid when he/she learns to talk) it will get naturally shortened, and then we’ll use that.
Why did we give them two names at all? Each name has its specific significance. Unless someone here insists, I won’t bother with the specifics.
Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@kozmo.com
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
We call our son by initials because that’s the “name” we chose for him. However, he has a full given name on his birth certificate because we thought that someday he might need it. Some professions just don’t lend themselves to the initial thing.
I hasn’t been confusing, except for people who don’t pay attention. And it actually has been helpful sometimes to sort out phone calls and mail. When people ask for him by his given first name (or worse, a shortened form of it) we know they don’t know him. That’s a sales call, folks.
I think there’s a lot of this going on. Of course Darrin gave in and named her that.
I’ve always found having a diminutive form of my name helpful. If someone phones for “Amanda”, I know it’s work-related or a telemarketer. If it’s for “Mandy”, I can assume it’s a friend or relative.
Prairie Rose
If you’re not part of the solution you’re just scumming up the bottom of the beaker.