The song by Michael Nesmith is called “Joanne.” I didn’t want you to be disappointed if you couldn’t find it looking for “Joanna.”
Yes, do it. Go to youtube and search for “michael nesmith” and then locate the “Joanne” that does a collage of Paul Newman and his wife, Joanne. (I say that particular one because, I think, the song’s sound is better than the others, though I didn’t try them all.) 
Oops! :smack: Thanks for pointing out my mistake! :smack:
Heh, this thread is so frustrating when people don’t actually give their name.
My name is Jennifer, I would definitely have preferred something less trendy/common (particularly for my age group). Elizabeth, Charlotte, Lauren, Sabrina, Chloe, Isabelle - anything pretty and classic would be preferable!
No. I’ve always liked my first name (Cynthia) although I grew out of my nickname/derivative-of (Cyndi) very quickly. Transitioning from Jr high to highschool, I vehemently insisted on You Shall Only Address Me As Cynthia. It’s easy to trace who met me when by what they call me. My family never got the hang of the Jr high mandate and have trained all they spawned to know me as Aunt Cyndi.
Shortening my name to Cyn seems natural to some, I don’t know why 
Incredibly rich bastard might suit me ,or perhaps I have an stupendously large penis.
But then my parents would have been labelled as out of control liars.
My name, which peaked in the 1930’s and has never been in the top 100 since, was assigned to torture me for the rest of my pathetic life in the 1960’s.
It is now a name that will one day be extinct.
When I die, so will the last of the Joan’s.
Frankly, good riddence.
However, had I been a Kathy, Lisa, Sue or Michelle’s an any variation of the Tsunami’s of Mary/Katherine in my Catholic Upbringing , I probably would have ended up less sarcastic, perky and living in McMansionville.
So, thanks Mom!
I still need therapy, though.
I loathe my name, especially paired with my middle name. It always makes me think of Ellie May. Coulda just tattooed “hick” on my forehead and gotten the same effect.
I’d really like a name that doesn’t make people think of Peter Pan or surfer girls.
Edited to add that I’m Wendy Kay. The Kay is kind of our dirty little secret. I should have been the next Katherina in my mom’s family tradition, but my other (very touchy) grandmother was Wilma Alice, and the ‘rents didn’t want to stick me with one of those as a middle name. Kay is a nod to Katherina. I was either going to be Wendy or Sarah, and the original claim is that I "looked’ more like a Wendy than a Sarah. I think they just came to their senses and realized that Sarah didn’t work with the SH sound of our last name. And I guess since I’m stuck with it, I’m glad that my mom won and they spelled it right, and not a goofy Wyndy or Wendi or somthing.
I’ve always liked the name John, even though it’s common. I have a rare last name so I think it would have gone well. John is a strong solid name that doesn’t need to be shortened.
My actual name James is just as common, but sometimes I feel more comfortable using “Jim”, so there’s always a moment of indecision there. And, phonetically, it doesn’t go so well with my last name.
My first name I have no problems with.
My middle name, on the other hand, has become one of the trendy ones to give girls in the last thirty years, which I do not particularly approve of, and my last name is a Germanic one that is not common in this country (unless you follow baseball labor talks), resulting in tons of mispronunciations by those who read it and misspellings by those who hear it.
I wouldn’t give either of them up, but it still can be annoying at times.
Actually, my guess was going to be Eileen.
My first name is Rachel. I don’t like it. It doesn’t feel like mine, and every attempt I’ve ever had to get people to call me something else has failed. It’s a very common name. In fact, out of the four people at my bachelorette party, three of us were named Rachel. There were six of us in my honors college class of 70 people. And, half the time, people spell it Rachael, including family members who have had 24 years to learn how to spell it.
As for chosen names. . .I’ve gone by Sanji, Rhys, and Gabe at various points in my life. Sanji and Rhys were net handles that stuck. Gabriel was a nickname given to me in high school, and got shortened to Gabe. That’s pretty much ended up being my chosen name.
I love my name, but I keep it secret. My mother was one of Four "Jackie"s in her class at school so she vowed all her children would have unsual names. I got the more most unusual one out of seven children. However I almost never use it. Only my driving licence and passport have a record of it. Everything else; bills, the bank all of it, is in my abreviated name.
My real name is known to some who knew me before I adopted my assumed name, almost no one can pronounce it right, the few people who do know my real name now almost always spell it wrong. Even my wife uses my shortened version.
My Job entails working with the public and getting their details and in my 10 years of retail I’ve met one other person with my name. That’s why I love it. The name is mine and (almost) no one else’s. The idea of being compared to a famous person or being branded with a stereotype based on my name is something I’ll never have to deal with.
I also like it because it’s a name thats been running through my family tree for generations. Which is a good feeling but I’m not sure why.
i’ve always hated my first name. :rolleyes:
my mother’s middle name was joanne, but whatever Mother Wisdom was in force at the time caused her to name me anne, and drop the jo.
i’d have ***loved ** * to be just jo. i was a major tomboy growing up, and that would have been seriously cool. ::sigh::
ah, well. wasn’t to be. 
and, my sister didn’t get a much better deal. her first name is alice (after mom). within a couple years of being able to talk, she banished alice and demanded to be called fran (her middle name) and fran she remains to this day.
Again, the song is older than any of the posters on the SDMB, so I doubt anyone will make the connexion – especially since the song is not about a person. My first name is…a woman’s name, but comes from another word. Kind of like the OP’s name being Troy is a place name that is also a man’s name.
Georgia on my mind? OK, I’ll stop guessing now.
I HATED my name until I was halfway through my teens, just because of all of the stupid jokes and comments I’d get. Everyone always thought they were so original, too. It’s not a very common name for people, though I have heard “hey that’s my dog’s/cat’s/ferret’s name!” more than once :rolleyes:
Now it’s okay, I guess. I like having a name that isn’t common, but I wouldn’t say I really like the name itself.
My favorite name is Evelyn. I’d planned on naming a daughter that, but since I’m not having children… hm. Nah, it doesn’t fit me. I’m still working on getting friends to call me Jules (which isn’t even close to my real name).
Shenandoah? No, I guess that songs not likely to be made vulgar.
Sorry, can’t help guessing. I realize you won’t tell us if we’re right anyway. I wouldn’t if someone guessed mine.
So much name hate!
I like mine a lot (enough that I try to use it as my username everywhere I go on the internet, including here 
). Roughly 75% of the time when telling someone my name for the first time, I get some variation of “Wow, that’s so pretty!”. Of course, no one ever spells it correctly without seeing it first (and even then it’s spotty - I get a lot of cards for “Reisha” from extended family).
I quite like my brother’s first name, “Damon”, and have considered naming some future son that. There’s no chance of confusion because my brother goes by one of his middle names, “Ra”.
My mother used to tell the story that before I was born, my parents decided if I was a girl my name would be Patricia, and if I was a boy, it would be Patrick… and I ended up with neither! :eek: