Nicknames...inspired by legally chaning your name

[disneyatl]

I purposely picked a name for my daughter that couldn't be shortened (or at least I thought so). Her name is Ansley and we call her Anz all the time as well as a lot of her friends.

Also, my inlaws insist on calling her Wendy, which drives me crazy. The reason they do this is because he middle name is Mariah and apparently there is a song something like "They call the wind Mariah".

 

[Kitty 34]

To the OP.....I know how you feel. I named my middle son Michael after his Dad. Everyone calls my DH Mike so from the day Michael was born he was to be called Michael, not Mike.

We didn't have a problem 'til he got into high school sports. Michael's coaches always call him Mike which drives me nuts. He's so not a Mike!!! It's like calling a Suzanne, Sue or a Jennifer, Jenna. It drives me crazy!!

Of course how I got Kitty out of Elizabeth I'll never know but that's a whole 'nother story!!

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Mine is Steph...my dad used to call me Charlie Brown. I wish I had a cooler nickname.

 

[nkjzmom]

My family is full of nicknames. DH is Richard Junior, so his family/friends call him Junior, Richard, or Richie....I will ALWAYS call him Rich. As far as our kids we always introduce them by full names and I do expect people to use them unless otherwise directed!!

Nicholas will always be Nicholas to me but now that he's getting "older" (4th grade) he wants people at school to call him Nick. That's ok for them....not me. We sometimes use Nikus or Nicky at home. We sometimes do the Nick.............olas also.

Katelyn gets called that most of the time. Sometimes its Kate...Rich calls her Kately-coo. Never Katie.

Jennifer is named after my best friend who has always gone by Jenny. I cannot call my Jennifer "Jenny". They look completely different so it feels strange to think of her as Jenny. Lots of times we do shorten it to Jenn....the next is Jenny-benny.

Zachary does get called Zach quite often. I will admit that Zach is a more mature name for when he gets older and I will probably call him that if he wants.

Samantha is usuallly called that....sometimes Sammi or baby Mantha....Zachary couldn't say the whole thing at first. My grandpa keeps calling her Sammi Sue. He's allowed special privileges.

 

[SC Minnie]

I had a great uncle on my Dad's side that gave everybody a nickname. My grandparents didn't want by dad to have e nickname so they just named him Mac. Not much you can do with that.

My brother was always called Timmy growing up-- our family still calls him that. He started going by Tim when we graduated from HS. His wife has only known him as Tim and it is strange to her that when he is home we call him Timmy, btw he 39 yo

I have a friend from from when we were about 3 years old. She has always been Susan. About 6 years ago she decided she wanted to go by Sue. All of her old friends still call her Susan. She has never corrected us or asked us to call her Sue.

 

[Jolie C]

My family is so into nicknames, I don't think any of us know our real names anymore.

 

[Az Pirates]

Originally posted by Jolie C
My family is so into nicknames, I don't think any of us know our real names anymore.

Us too - all my kids have some type of nickname or shortened version of their names that we use.

When my DD went to her kindergarten testing I heard her tell the teacher "my mom said she had to write my real name on the papers - but that's not me... I'm really just Cammi"

I saw the post from someone who chose Adam because it couldn't be shortened - my son has a friend Adam, everyone calls him Ad. His family started that though so guess it must be OK.

I've found especially in team sports most all the kids get called by some type of shortened name or nickname. If it's a name that doesn't lend itself to shortening - they'll just use the first letter.
My DD was just "A" to her gymnastics team and my DS was "T-man" on his little league team.

 

[remyandhollandsmommy]

I have two DDs Remy and Holland. Holland is an easy one: Holly. But NEVER call her that if her sister is around because she will have a fit and tell you "her" baby's name is Holland, Hol-land (she actually sounds it out for you). Remy,on the other hand, you just can't really shorten. Most little kids we know call her Mimmy. I guess R's are hard to say if you are a toddler.
I like Angela, only a few of the "chosen" are allowed to call me Ang.

 

[kidzmom3]

As your kids get older you will run into a few things with their names. In school some teachers will only call them by their legal given name. So if you named your child Kathleen and you call her Katie, that teacher will insisit on Kathleen. This happened to my neice Anna Kate who always went by Kate. Teachers insisted that she use Anna on all her papers etc... Can be confusing for the poor kid.

Coaches and extracurricular people usually seem to use a nick name. And if you think their name is short and cannot be changed. Think again. My daughter Holly has been call Hol, all the time. And if you have a non-y ending name, people will find a way to add it to the end.

Then there are the just plain weird nicknames they pick up. My middle child is called Cricket by most of her friends. One of her friends mothers said she is always happy and chirping like a cricket. Somehow it stuck, and Cricket she is. My younger daughter sometimes called "Hol" is also sometimes called Berry by her friends. Go figure

 

[Otto's Doll]

People usually add an I to my name, calling me Jeannie instead of Jeanne. That drives me crazy, but at least now I will answer to it. (As a teen/young adult, I just wouldn't respond). I much prefer it without the I sound. No nickname, really. Except my little sister who calls me beaner.
My sister Joanne has always been called Jo or JoJo (I call her Joey), my brother Lawrence is Larry and my oldest brother is John, NEVER Johnny.
My DD is Karen, but much prefers Kari, so that is what we call her.
DS is Otto, not much you can do with that one, so he is safe!

 

[Talking Hands]

Originally posted by Lisa96
I'm another Elisabeth with an "S" and would love to be called Elisabeth but everyone always says "Liz" which I hate. (It's not so much the name; I just hate it for myself since I've struggled for years to convince people my name is spelled correctly with an "s" , not a "z" - do you know how hard it is to go through 12 years of parochial school arguing with nuns that THEY are spelling your name wrong ) My family has always called me Lisa, and my parents and 2 aunts all had different nicknames for me, so I don't mind the nicknames at all. I just hate when people call me Liz and I say "I prefer Elisabeth" and they still continue to call me Liz.

I hate Liz or Lizzy as well. Lis is ok but I prefer Lisa. Or you can call me Gabry or Gaby. Like those as well. I still have a hard time convincing people my name is spelled with an s and not a z.

 

[coliebird]

When I named my daughter Nicole, I knew I risked her being called Nikki, which I so didn't want so I started calling her Cole or Colie, now everyone calls her that. If you ask her what her name is she will say Colie. I know that when she gets older (she is 2) her friends might call her Nikki and if she is ok with it, then fine, but I will never call her that.

As for me, my name is Annmarie (all one word). If you called me Ann growing up, I did not answer. Now I don't mind it so much, but nobody calls me Ann, they call me Am. My cousin is Annmarie also and she is 6 years older than me so growing up she was Big Am and I was Little Am. I'm 33 and still get called Little Am by some family members.

 

[cats7494]

I have that happen to me all the time. My name is Stefanie - so lots of people call me Stef after I introduce myself as Stefanie... drives me nuts! I hate the way Stef sounds..I do not say anything...but inside I kinda cringe....
My family (ONLY!) calls me Stefie
Shh...do not tell anyone! haha

 

[WeirdEyes]

Have to say, I never really understood the fuss over nicknames. My nephew's name is Nicholas, and I call him Nik. He's not quite 2, so he doesn't care. But my brother pitches a fit when I do this. So now my nephew is usually "Nik...*glare from brother*...olas". I keep trying to tell my brother that once Nik...olas gets into school, everyone will call him Nik, and he should get used to it now.

My son's name is Nicholas and he likes to be called Nick. I actually like the name Nick also so it doesn't bother me. We call him Nicholas or Nick at home, as well as the family. However, he makes his friends and teachers call him Nick. BTW, my DH doesn't really like my name so he calls me just about anything else ("Dear," "Chick," etc.) LOL My Daddy still calls me Doodlebug.

 

[Disney Doll]

I don't much care what I get called. Real name is Patricia...no one calls me that. I am usually Patty or Pat. I spell Patty with a "Y". Sometimes people will spell it with an "I", like if I am wearing a name badge at a conference or something. I don't get all caught up in my name.

I do know that my mother would have strangled me if I ignored someone who I knew was talking to me because they weren't calling me the name I preferred!

 

[coliebird]

Originally posted by Disney Doll
I don't much care what I get called. Real name is Patricia...no one calls me that. I am usually Patty or Pat. I spell Patty with a "Y". Sometimes people will spell it with an "I", like if I am wearing a name badge at a conference or something. I don't get all caught up in my name.

I do know that my mother would have strangled me if I ignored someone who I knew was talking to me because they weren't calling me the name I preferred!

My mom totally understood b/c her name is Maryann and she refused to answer to Mary (Mary is her mother) b/c Mary was not her name. Just like Ann isn't my name - it's Annmarie.

 

[maryssasmom]

my dd name is Maryssa - she has nicknames from Rys, Ryssa Roo, Ryssie Roo, and then my dad gave her slick. or slicky chick. he still calls her that and she will be 8 next month. her middle name is Gabrielle and we did not use that as her first name as I did not want her called Gabby so she got that as the middle name. All of her friends, however, call her Missy. Missy is not short for Maryssa and I am not fond of it. Oh well.

my name is Tracy. my uncle used to call me Tracy Lacy and that bugged me. my dad still calls me muffin. and if you happen to call me Tray and my cousin hears (the one with the dad who called me Tracy Lacy) she will beat you up. no lie. she said you can only call me that if you know me well. how nice of her to make that decision for me!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

No one but my dad was allowed to call my sister, "Susie". She's Sue to everyone.

I hate when people call me "Debbie". Reminds me of that old episode on The Bob Newhart Show when Carol was out for the week and they got a temp. Her name was "Debbie" and she was about 80 yrs old. I just can't imagine being called "Debbie" when I am 80.

Just call me......

 

[WendyWhiner]

Everyone calls me Whiny. I don't know why.

 

[tinatark]

I am just all about naming your child the name you want him to be called!

Our Bradley is 10 now, is still Bradley to everyone. Evan is 9, Evan to everyone, too. When B was born, MIL asked if we were going to call him Brad. Ummm, no, or else we would have named him Brad!

B/Sil had a son, the whole time she was pregnant, she patted her tummy, calling him "Lil Neal" (his father is Neal)... they named him Neal Joseph, he's 11, still "Lil Neal" to most everyone. His mother has finally seen the light and has been calling him "Neal Joseph" lateley. Oops too late!

I was at a baby shower in FL for my cousin's wife, he was also a "Lil *** " name, I hadn't heard him called that in forever, until his mother was referring to him as "Lil ***" at the shower! He's 30 something now!