Name issues: Does this happen to your kids?

[bobbeym]

I love reading all these name stories.

 

Being a Bobbie, people tend to assume my name is short for Roberta (which it's not) or that I'm named after my dad Rob (which I'm not, and he goes by his own middle name as it is.

 

It's made worse by the fact that I thought my name was boring as a young teen and changed the spelling of it. I'm so used to it being misspelled or assumed to be male, that I just tell people I don't really care how it's spelled. As long as it's not rude or crude, I'll probably respond anyway.

 

My oldest DS has 2 middle names but we've always only used the first middle name, as the second one is a family name. He prefers to use them both though. When he was a baby, several of DH's family called him Alejandro, which I hated with a passion. I finally went off on them one day, yelling that his name was Alexander and they could call him Alexander, or Alex (like we do) or Zander or even Jake/Jacob (his middle name) but he was NOT to be called Alejandro. I'm happy to report that they never called him that again, and it was never a problem with DS#2. :lol:

[A.J. at J.A.]

No, but my children have names with no diminutives. On purpose. I find it irksome when I introduce myself (and, if I'm at work, wearing a name tag) and people decide to call me Angie. :glare: (though my co-workers usually call me "Ang" and that doesn't bother me at all.)

 

So, yes, people have a very odd habit of changing other people's names. No idea why, but it's presumptuous.

 

Us too! Our sons are Noah and Ian. DH is Philip (family says it out as Philip which IMO is a much lovelier name than Phil - which is what he uses for work) - I go by Angela everywhere except with family and close friends - who call me Ange (I'm assuming it is the same as your Ang - I just spell it with an "e" - no Angie for me either!). However, it is strange for me when someone non-family calls me Ange - it feels presumptuous to me as if they are implying a relationship that isn't established. Crazy - I know. But it totally drives me nuts when someone calls me "Angie" - it definitely shows that they don't know me at all.

 

Names are such a funny thing! I love the name AnnaClaire!

 

Blessings,

Angela

[Karen in CO]

My daughter's name is Alexa, and even people who have known her for years call her "Alexis" all the time!

My daughter has the exact opposite problem. :D

[Catwoman]

My oldest DS has 2 middle names but we've always only used the first middle name, as the second one is a family name. He prefers to use them both though. When he was a baby, several of DH's family called him Alejandro, which I hated with a passion. I finally went off on them one day, yelling that his name was Alexander and they could call him Alexander, or Alex (like we do) or Zander or even Jake/Jacob (his middle name) but he was NOT to be called Alejandro. I'm happy to report that they never called him that again, and it was never a problem with DS#2. :lol:

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Sometimes being a raving lunatic has its advantages... ;)

[Annie G]

Our granddaughter's name is Anna Grace. She's always gone by that. But then people who meet her for the first time call her Anna. I just want to ask them- do you introduce your kids using their first and middle names? No! You introduce them using the name they want to be called- or else use the full name but mention that the child goes by a nickname. So when dear granddaughter says her name is Anna Grace, that is the name she goes by.

 

I hear some really weird names- I decorate cakes for a living and I get some doozies. Nevaeh is getting pretty popular- and last week I heard a new one- Mo'tif. She was going to name the little girl Shania but at her baby shower someone asked what motif she was using for her baby's room and she couldn't stop thinking about that word. She just loved hearing it so she added a random apostrophe and made it a name.

[gardenmom5]

reality is, most people with two names put together, are two names put together as far as legal documents are concerned. (yes, I agree people should call you what you introduce yourself as - some people are clueless). when giving the name for a record, it would be appropriate to state - for the record - yes, it's all one name, no space, no hyphen, no etc.

 

I understand the frustration, as every record I ever had has my correct given name, but many times I was called "krissy/kristie". did I mention I HATE that name? I did look one teacher in the face after he wanted to know why I didn't answer him and stated "I didn't know you were talking to me. I thought you were talking to someone else since you didn't use my name." (I wasn't being sassy, I really thought he was talking to another student.)

 

I now routinely spell my first name (I know of at least four common spellings) and last name when booking an appointment, or anything else where someone is spelling my name on a computer screen. I have a fairly simple last name - you'd think people would have an easy time spelling. uh, apparently not. I *always* spell it. plus, people are lazy and just glance instead of actually reading. My daughter has what I thought was a beautiful and simple name, the 'y' and the 's' are often transposed and ends up with a name that make me think of a cow.

[NatashainDFW]

My son prefers to go by both his first and middle name outside of family. Don't ask me why but he does the only issue is he forgets how to spell his middle name and it is a funky spelling of a common name lol. I don't get upset because yea that is my fault since I can't remember how to spell the correct spelling. My daughter on the other hand some people will shorten it to Mady and others call her by her full name. She answers either way. The only time I get annoyed is when I say it is Madyson with a y and people still insist on using an i.

[AndyJoy]

No, but my children have names with no diminutives. On purpose. I find it irksome when I introduce myself (and, if I'm at work, wearing a name tag) and people decide to call me Angie. :glare: (though my co-workers usually call me "Ang" and that doesn't bother me at all.)

 

So, yes, people have a very odd habit of changing other people's names. No idea why, but it's presumptuous.

 

DH hates people automatically nicknaming kids by "corrupting" their given names, so he picked Keaton which has no easy, common nickname. We even made sure his initials didn't make an easy go-to nickname! DH nicknames people all the time based on personality, shared experiences, etc., but the names never involve the person's given name.

 

He had one persistent coworker who kept calling him by a diminutive rather than his common, 2-syllable name after repeated requests. Finally, dh just stopped answering while the guy chased him down yelling it over and over. Finally, the guy took the hint and used his name and dh responded immediately. Now the guy addresses him properly:lol:

 

I get call Angela or Amanda instead of Andrea a lot. I just laugh and say, "You mean Andrea." My poor 1st grade teacher had 8 girls with A names in her class--she got our names mixed up all the time but we thought it was funny.

[NASDAQ]

I think that tends to happen with double names.

 

My children have names that are achingly common in the context of our community.

[tomandlorih]

Yes! Most folks add an -a to the end of my dd's name.

[Laura Corin]

.. when I was a child, including my middle name. It's sometimes hard for adults to work out what a child is saying and how to interpret it.

 

We chose very traditional names for our boys, specifically choosing easy-to-spell names that would work in all the European languages we could think of plus Chinese. Both are saints' names. As it is, the boys use their Chinese names when they spend time in China.

 

Laura

[Excelsior! Academy]

My name sounds like a boy's name when you do not say it phonetically. It does not have an unusual spelling. It irks me to no end when someone says it incorrectly. It is a great way to screen telemarketers, though!

[angela in ohio]

Hmm. It's an unusual name. I think I'd expect people to mess it up, and get your child used to politely saying " I prefer to be referred to by my full name, AnnaClaire".

 

Yep.

 

I know several people who refer to their dc by their first and middle name regularly, so it would be hard to tell if that was the case.

 

I spent my whole life with my mother making sure people called me AngELA, not Angie. I hated it. I just wanted it not to be such a big deal, especially as I became a teen. We named our girls with easy names, but then we decided to name ds after dh and call him by his middle name, so I doomed my poor boy to the same fate. ;)

[DusksAngel]

People still mispronounce my name. Or will call me Jennifer or Jen?

Gabriel either has people trying to shorten his name to Gabe or lengthen it to Gabrielle. He just tells them "Call me Gabriel".

Mackenzie goes by Kenzie.

And London is at times changed to Londey or people will think she's a boy (Landen).

 

And yes, it does annoy me when you correct someone and they still insist on saying/spelling it their way. I think it's rude. So when I was a teacher I would ask the child how to say their name and/or nickname so that I could learn it correctly. I also had a rule that only the person whose name was in question could correct how I pronounced it (I had too many "helpers" mispronounce it as well).

[elegantlion]

I always call someone by the name they introduce themselves. I often double check, because I forget names easily.

 

As an aside, I hated my name because it DIDN'T have a nickname. I still feel that way. My ds has 3 names he could use, he used to tell his Kindergarten teacher (not me)a different name each name. She would start asking who he was that day. :lol:

 

I used to get a lot of mail for Paul - that was nice.

[Greenmama2]

As an aside, I hated my name because it DIDN'T have a nickname. I still feel that way.

 

Me too. So I would get called something it rhymes with instead :glare:

 

My daughter gets called a more common name frequently because apparently nobody can hear the difference between an "e" and an "a".

My son has a common name with an unusual spelling, one of those spellings that make people roll their eyes. It's actually the original old Norse version of the name but people assume we made it up. The irony is that we don't actually care if people spell it the common way unless it's official. His swimming class swipe card has the incorrect spelling & I see no reason to correct them.

[J-rap]

I wouldn't take it personally. I have two children whose names are tricky. They will probably spend their entire lives correcting people! Oh well. It is what it is. I don't think people mean to be unkind or disinterested. Names really are difficult for some people, because each name can be so unique -- very similar to another yet not exactly the same.

 

My husband's name when spoken is very common, but when you read it, it can be confusing. We always know when it's a salesperson on the phone because they mispronounce it. :)