I Love the Name, but Hate the Nickname

Hooray for you! 'Tis true that I permit my loving wife to call me any darned thing she wants (I love the sound of her voice) but since childhood I have never quite grasped why folks think they are being "chummy" by wanting to call me Bob! I invariably say that 'bob' is something you do for apples; my name is Robert. I soon discovered that those who take offense are not someone with whom I would become friends anyway; they had other motives to pretend to me friends.

I also feel sad about this recent trend to invent cutesy spellings or intricate made-up names. Parents bestowing such titles do not realize they have condemned their children to a life wherein they will forever have to spell it out to every new acquaintance or business. Not I nor my Alicia nor our daughter Natalie or Erika.

I've gone by 'Greg' instead of Gregory for as long as I can remember, but that was expected when I was born. As others have mentioned, I've only allowed myself to be called Gregory by my grandmother, and one girlfriend. It seemed weird whenever anyone else said it. My sister was named Erika because my mother thought people might take to calling her 'Rikki', which she tought was cute. My sister shut that down herself when she was 2. To this day it's 'Erika' and nothing else. Now my grandfather, on the other hand, loved his Irish name 'Caroll' which is seen as being feminine in this country. His typical reaction to anyone who dared to make fun of it garnered him the nickname 'KO' while in the Navy, and was the only thing anybody called him (including his wife and children) until the day he died. Nicknames have a way of just happening, and often it has little basis on what parents' wishes are.

I have to laugh when I read this article and then the responses.
You see I have two boys, Robert and Nathan, and we my Ex and I adopted Robert, my Ex made up a song about his name: that it is Robert not Bobby, or Bob, and that he was to be called Robert.
I told him over and over again he should have recorded his song: it was that good!!

Just because the parents might love the name they give their child does not mean that the child will love it too once they realize what you did to them! My parents named me "Corliss". I am a white Jewish woman with this name. I was teased relentlessly about this name. I was told that I was an apple with no core. They sang songs with these words at recess. Some people were teased about being too thin or too fat, me? I was teased about my name. When I was 11 I became "Cori", Drop the "L" and two "S"s and there ya have it. I never changed this legally cause I could never figure out how to do it easily. Everything except my driver's license and some other legal documents have the name of Cori.
PLEASE people, THINK about what you're doing to your kids before you damn them with a horrible name!

Clarissa, I think you nailed this one.

Just curious--what are you called?

My husband's name is Edmund, as was his grandfather's. When our son was born, my husband insisted on naming our son Edmund, Jr. I agreed with the condition that our son would never be called "little Eddie" or anything else except "Edmund." Even as a little fellow, Edmund would always correct anyone, including teachers, who called him by any name other than Edmund. When my son became a teenager, some of his friends began calling him Ed. It was a natural evolution. He will always be "Edmund" to my husband and me and most of his family. To the outside world, however, (and now his wife!) he is Ed--everyone, including Edmund, is perfectly happy with this natural evolution. You are wasting your energy obsessing about a nickname. Just enjoy your little guy.

My oldest daughter is Katelyn Mary. She only gets Katelyn when she is in trouble and then it is usually "Katelyn Mary get your homework done". She prefers Katie, Kate is OK but please don't call her Katelyn like some of her teachers do.

This is too funny. My name is Katherine and my family has always called me Katie. Around 6th grade I tried to drop Katie and get everyone to call me Katherine. It eventually worked with teachers and such, but not for friends, which was fine.

In the working world, I am Katherine, but everyone insists to try to call me Kathy and I CANNOT stand that name. I am always asked if I'm called anything other than Katherine and I try to offer alternatives. My sister calls me Kate, the rest of my family and in-laws call me Katie, a few people call me Kat, and everyone else who doesn't know still slip Kathy in there. Oh if only I could eliminate Kathy!

You chose to be Sue, which means someday Edmund may choose to be Ed/Eddie. Outside of your family you can not control what people will call him nor can you control what he may want to be called.

This is a rather LAME subject!! People can do ALOT more rotten things to you than calling you a nickname that you don't like!!! When I was young, other kids used to call me UGLY, STUPID, or any other name they could come up with to HURT MY FEELINGS!! That's what you people SHOULD be worried about!! Kids as a rule, are cruel and to get attention from other kids, will be MEAN!! I would have rather been called a NICKNAME any day of the week!! Some of you need to get your priorities straight!!

So you have actually spent most of your life whining about not being called Susan by everyone you come into contact with? Is there any room in your current place of residence for anything other then your pompous behind?

When I was growing up, there were hundreds of Susans. I was called Susie, Sue, Susie-Q, Soupy...none were offensive and all were names of friendship. Then I met a girl like you in my sorority and she hated the nick name Sue. That was my name and she kept telling me how she hated it. It obviously didn't occur to her that she was offending me when she said she hated my name! I could not fathom then and I cannot fathom now how people can get so worked up over a name. People need to lighten up! Due to her extreme defensivness regarding the nickname, she came across as uppidy and unapproachable. I felt sorry for her...and we had the same name!!! People assume you would go by the nickname Sue because its not offensive and a common usage....you really need to get over this! If you have spent most of your life trying to correct others and are now still workng on converting your old high school friends, maybe the issue isn't your name...the issue is you!

You chose to LET them call you Sue in Jr high and High School. I NEVER let anyone call me Sue EVER! I can't stand it. I hate it. If people are offended when I correct them too bad. It's my name. It's what I choose to be called. I did consider nick names before I named each of my sons. Michael, Jeffrey and Sam. I call each of them by their given names. Of course the first 2 have been nicknamed by their friends, but if I were to even think of calling them Mike or Jeff, it would sound strange to all of us.

My name is Suzanne, but I go by Sue 99% of the time. What bothers me is when I tell people my name is Sue and they assume my real name is Susan..... and they call me Susan. Susan and Suzanne are two completely different names. I usually don't say anything, but it is annoying. Some people will even read my name written as Suzanne and still call me Susan......