s/o have you/your children wanted to change your/their name?

[Pamela H in Texas]

So I thought I'd do it up as a poll. I'm gonna make it where you can pick multiple options to cover you and multiple children.

 

Just some clarification. This is for first/middle names, not last names. And it's about a minor making the decision to do it and following through.

 

ETA another clarification: This is regarding legally changing the name, not just taking a nickname, middle name, etc. It is for Jeffery Michael deciding he would like his name to be Benjamin Caleb.

Edited February 21, 2009 by 2J5M9K

[Pamela H in Texas]

I played around with changing my name, but never seriously. It was just fun to see if I'd like being a Jennifer or Candice or Sandra or....

 

My child seriously considered changing her name. We considered it also since she was getting her last name changed anyway. In the end, we decided she needed to wait til she was 18. She NEVER discusses the name she considered for so long anymore. Her college information comes in with another name (neither her given name or the name she was so sure of earlier in life).

[elegantlion]

I disliked my name as a child, still do, but it's part of my identity now. No one uses it unless I'm in trouble anway. :glare: I'm Mom, Honey, etc.

 

Now I have thought seriously about changing my middle name to my maiden name. I have no brothers and my family name will be lost. I love genealogy and I hate to think of it being gone forever. My sister and I are done having children so that option is gone.

 

I haven't looked into my state requirements to do this yet.

[Snickerdoodle]

I think that if they persisted over a long period time and felt really called to it I might be open to helping them change their name. I think it would really hurt my feelings though as I really like their very ordinary, normal names. So I voted I would allow them to change, but I don't know that I actually would. I don't know.

 

 

On the other hand, I don't think my kids know their actual names the way they seem not hear me when I am calling them. :tongue_smilie::smash:

[TeacherZee]

I wanted to as a child. I have a name that is very common in some parts of the world but not where I grew up. People were always having problems pronouncing it and spelling it. I hated being different. Now it is me. There are various nicknames associated with it and I only allow one version and even then only to people I know well. :glare:

[Stacey in MA]

I considered it for a while - a few years. But I think I've dropped it. DD has an unusual name, and the way we spelled it, it gets mispronounced often. But since it's been 7yrs, I think we won't. But if she made a big deal about it at some point, I would reconsider. I don't think I would allow under 18 changing her name completely though. I wouldn't mind if after 18 she (or any of them) decided to change. I hope it would be something long-lasting though! The decisions we make in our late teens/early 20's can sometimes be very unenduring! Ah well...

 

:-)

[GreenKitty]

I would allow my child to change their middle names at 18. They all like their firsts:)

[TCoppock]

DS recently requested to be called by his middle name; so that is what we call him. It isn't really a name change I guess. If he really wanted to change his name I would allow for it unoffically until he was 18. Then if he chose to change it legally it would be his choice.

[dragons in the flower bed]

My eight-year-old wants to do it. I'm waiting for puberty. If there's still a strong desire to change it after the first wave of hormones changes my child's personality (as I fear it may), maybe at 13, 14 or 15, we will.

[littlebug42]

I am one of the many thousand Jennifer's out there and when I was in middle school, there were 4 of us that were in pretty much all the same classes together. I had always been called Jenny but I changed the spelling to Jenni when I was in 8th grade. It still sticks around to this day.

My oldest daughter (age 7) wanted to change her name to Celia after watching "The Apple Dumpling Gang" but that has not stuck. That is the only discussion we have had about it so far.

[fivetails]

I despised my first name as a child. Nobody was ever able to remember it, spell it, pronounce it, etc - and it really isn't all that strange...just uncommon. Maybe a bit more common now, I'm not sure. But I *hated* it - and even more so because my family members all had "normal" names and we had a plain ordinary last name, about as plain as you can get without being Smith. I got stuck being named after a city in a different country.

 

When I was a teenager, I changed it for a while...went by my middle name & original last at one point, by my middle and randomly picked last at another time, by an entirely different name (first middle and last) at another...my folks had no say in that as I was in foster care at the time. Annoyed my social workers to no end though, because I insisted on signing papers with the different names at different times and it got everyone confused. Hah, I remember being at an event where there were staff from a few diff group homes and everyone was confuzzled because they knew me by different names. Some had never realized that the names I used weren't really mine. :tongue_smilie:

 

Never did get it changed legally - well, until I got married and my last changed to dh's....it actually doesn't sound as bad to me now, because although my married last name is common where we're from, it's just...better sounding with my first.

 

Dh - he goes by his middle name (as does almost everyone in his family)..this was not his choice, it was his parents' decision to use the middle...he doesn't really mind it now, but he did as a kid because his middle name is used for both men and women and at the time, there was a well known female tv show character with his name and he got teased because of it.

 

Our kids - ds10 doesn't consider these things...dd12 has, on occasion, said that she wanted to be called a different name (my actual middle name at one point!) but it's not really serious...she plays with it, but she does like her name.

[ChristusG]

I voted that I wanted to change my name as a child. I was a bigtime tomboy.....had nothing but guys as friends, played sports, played with "boy" toys, etc. I wanted to change my name to Scott. Thank goodness I never went through with that one LOL!

 

If my children ever seriously wanted to change their name, I think I would be a little hurt. I know that kids go through phases of wanting to change their names, and I would be fine with that. But if I ever knew they were completely serious about it, I would be hurt. I pondered and pondered the names I chose for my two girls and chose something unique that would set them apart from others. So they would definitely need to wait till they were 18 to legally change it.

[Retired]

My name is April and I still hate all the April Fool, April shower may flower etc., all the junk people have to say.

 

I also had the wonderful initial ARF, which for kids turned into barf.

 

I hated my name as a kid and sometimes as a adult

[Pamela H in Texas]

I love the name April.

[HRAAB]

I said at 18 although I wanted desperately to change my middle name well into my 20's. For whatever reason I never followed through on it, most likely because it would have hurt my mother. It was her middle name as well as my grandmother's. Anyway, when I was 36 my 3rd dd was born, and it just seemed right to pass on this name to her. She is the 4th generation with the name. My grandmother was 36 when mom was born, mom was 36 when I was born, and here I was, 36 and giving birth to a dd. I think I finally grew up and appreciated that generational connection.

 

Now my dd is proud of that name, loves it and intends to continue the tradition. She's smarter than I was.

 

When older, ideas and feelings can change.

 

Janet

[Whisperlily]

My uncle changed his name as soon as he turned 18. He was named after his grandfather who had an unusual 18th century Dutch name, but he went by a much more common nickname/version of the name while growing up.

 

He regretted changing his name.

 

It wasn't long afterward that he realized that his family name/legacy/heritage was important to him. Since his given name was only used for official reasons, changing his name only served to take away the connection to his namesake. (Which wasn't his intent.)

[newbie]

I would love to change my name, it grates on my nerves, especially when my mother calls me.

 

My dd also wants to change her name, but I love her name, I picked it when I was twelve, it would break my heart if she changed it. She constantly gets compliments on it.

 

Maybe she has the same issue w/the mom calling your name like me. We are two peas in a pod.

[amy g.]

I have always been called by my middle name, Genevieve. I liked everything about it, except learning how to spell it.

 

Three of my kids have been obsessed with being called by different names. Ds was Kydom and Ivanhoe for years. We called them by any name they wanted, and let them use their fake names on school papers and such.

 

My 10 year old was called Dorthy or Joe for many years. She is the only one who really hates her name, Olivia. I told her that when she is a teenager, she can legally change her name to Paige.

 

My 2 year old goes by Sitka or the newest one, "L. O. Safo Dragon".

 

I just pretend that it is a sign of intelligence.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I should have read the post following the poll b/f I answered.

 

When I was a kid I changed my name to Tia (remember Escape to Witch Mountain?) I even drew stars all over a purse I had and refused to answer to my given name. I wrote Tia on all my papers and convinced all my friends to call me by that name. It lasted a good long time but finally wore off.

 

My daughter goes through phases. When she was learning to write her name, she was most adamant about changing it b/c it was too long, too many words. Ppl tend to gush over it and compliment her on it so in fits of shyness she wants it changed. She likes it but feels that it gets too much attention.

 

Alternately, she goes by Leia Skywalker. For a loooooong time I let her write it on her papers but after a while I realized that she wrote Leia far prettier than her real name. I made the rule that she could still write Leia on her papers but would have to write her name neatly at the bottom or on the back or even on a seperate sheet of paper so that she'd write her real name neatly. That put a stop to Leia b/c she hates to handwrite and 4 extra letters is WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY too much.

 

The library even lets her sign up for activities using Leia Skywalker. She has several certificates with that name on them.

 

Actually really, legally, changing a name . . . no, I don't think so.

[Nicole M]

I'll admit to being disappointed when I learned that I was named after Nicole Warren in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. I mean, she's a nutjob. But then, so is my mother. I got over it.

 

When I was growing up, there weren't many Nicoles in the world. My teachers couldn't pronounce it, and they'd call me anything vaguely French, Noelle, Natalie, Michelle. Now, of course, Nicoles everywhere.

 

I was perfectly delighted to dump my last name when I got married, though. I wouldn't have taken my husband's name if it weren't such a great one, one that actually means something, and if I didn't despise my own last name and everything that it stood for. I was very ready to divorce my family of origin. I have no regrets about that.

[Milseain]

I wanted to as a child but I don't. My name is Candy Sue.

I think I finely grew into it. My board name is Milseain,

it means sweets in Irish. The closest thing to Candy that I could fine.

[tibbyl]

My eldest legally changed middle name.