The only negative I can say about my name is that it was the most common name given to boys the year I was born.
I’ve always gone by my middle name, I guess because my first name is the same as my mother’s (and very old fashioned, btw). My middle name is a longish one, but I will not acknowledge any nickname at all, and there are literally tons of nicknames for my given name. As an adult, I pretty much dropped my first name and use my “middle”, maiden, and last name.
I hate my given name. Hate is not even a strong enough word for it.
I can’t go by my middle name because I hate it even more.
I’ve thought about changing my given name, but it’s so awkward to have to go to people you already know or work with and say “Oh, by the way, my name is something completely different now.” If I ever get around to moving across the country, I’ll do it then. Plus, I shudder at the inevitable credit record or similar snafu.
Hate hate hate my given name, hate hate hate the nickname for it that I got stuck with. Pissed off that the reason I was not named Sarah, which suits me immensely, was because my mother really wanted the middle name Leigh.
I’m a Julia and I prefer Julie. But since I was always called “Julie” growing up, I consider that my given name.
And people around here butcher the pronunciation. If I lived somewhere else, I might not have formed such a strong preference for Julie.
There’s more than one way to pronounce “Julie?”
I can’t stand my given name; neither can my baby sister. We both abandoned them after high school, using our last names or variations thereof instead. This is sometimes confusing when we meet one another’s acquaintances. (We address one another using our first initials, though sometimes she calls me “Mr. Rhymer,” or “Big Brother.”)
Male.
Used to hate my given name. Now, rather proud of it.
It’s a name that hurtful people can easily twist, but adults tend to keep that kinda crap inside their own heads, where I don’t have to hear it, hence my change in attitude.
The only people I’ve met who disliked their name didn’t dislike the name, so much, as the diminutives people choose to use - generally against their will.
Using the wrong diminutive once? Not a big deal?
Constantly getting it, even after ‘that’s not my name’? A big deal.
Sadly, yes. If you have the local accent, you pronounce “Julia” as “Joal-ya.”
Julie becomes “Joalie,” which is also ugly but not quite as ugly.
I’m ambivalent. It’s a really really old-fashioned and obscure Indian name but can be shortened to the more modern and generic “Anu.” I’m always amused that my mom and dad basically came up with the Indian version fo Brunhilda, though.
You mean as opposed to Robert, Theodore, Frederick?
Male, I like my name especially my middle name becuase it ends in “-el”. I like all names that end in that convention both male and female.
My name is okay. It does get very tiresome correcting people’s misspelling and mispronunciation of it, but it’s not an ugly name or anything.
I am Rebecca, and I have always liked it. It suits me. I don’t like the nicknames though and especially dislike Becky. I’ll let Bec and Becca slide, but I actively discourage Becky.
[QUOTE=chizzuk]
I’m one of a billion Jennifers born in the 1980s. I like my name just fine. I am a boring person and having a boring, common name that’s easy to spell and pronounce suits me just fine.
I hate being called Jen, though. Hate it.
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I’m one of two billion Jennifers born in the early '70s, and I also like my name just fine – but I love my nickname, Jenny, which my parents started using right off the bat. In fact, I was named after the movie Portrait of Jennie – not Love Story, as so many others my age were – but they didn’t want to put a nickname on my birth certificate (or spell it that way).
I don’t mind being called Jen, but it hardly ever happens. Come to think of it, my brother is the only person who regularly calls me Jen.
I used to think that “Jenny” wasn’t very grownup-sounding, so when I finally stopped temping after college and got my first professional job I used “Jennifer” for a while, but it just didn’t suit me. Too formal. So now I’m 39 years old and “Jenny” all over the place. It’s me. 
[QUOTE=Not a Platypus]
I hated my name until I was in my teens, but that’s because everyone had a joke that they just had to let out, sometimes in song! I started to like it more once I spent most of my time around people that had grown the fuck up. It’s an uncommon name (for people, anyway) that frequently gets comments or questions when I meet new people, but no more jokes.
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That’s how I feel about my last name, which is uncommon and lends itself to one particular obvious joke. Life is better now that I’m out of school, but I still run across adults who are compelled to make the same stupid joke upon learning my last name. They always think they’re terribly clever and original, too. It’s probably the biggest reason I’m for the idea of taking my husband’s last name should I ever get married.
I’m pretty much indifferent about it. It’s Samantha, though (as you can see) I use Sam. It’s neither beautiful nor ugly, can be working-class or upper-class, and, while it only really started being used in the sixties, it’s had a fairly consistent level of popularity since then, so it doesn’t date me much. A very middle-of-the-road name really.
My daughter loathes her name and I do sometimes wish I hadn’t been pressured into naming her so quickly.
Yup. I really like my given name - even though it was the most popular boy’s name the year I was born, and there are a blue million of us - and I think it suits me very well.
I despise the most common diminutive, and strangers will inevitiably use that - which I find very disrespectful. This is especially common in the Midwest - no one ever called me by my full name when I lived in Chicago - so at work, I started going by my surname. Which is short, Anglo/Scottish (hence pronouncible to most Americans) and easy to spell.
I’ve always liked my name. As I grew older I really learned to appreciate its androgyny. I think these days most people see it as a female name, but I still personally know more men with the name than women. (I’m a Shannon, and I always use my middle name, which is also a bit ambiguous, Lee.)
My name is “Michael” and I’m pretty neutral towards my name. It’s fine, but it doesn’t blow people away.
Also, this:
I absolutely hate my name, both the long and short versions. I hate the sound of my name, I cringe a little everytime someone says it.
I don’t really know why. I was teased a lot with a stupid nickname as a child, maybe that’s it.
My middle name is a long surname so it isn’t something I can use instead.