I mentioned this topic tangentially as part of my blog “birthday” celebration, but one of my all-time favourite posts remains a fascinating discussion about names. (Here’s the original, posted back in April of 2024)
I rarely (this may, in fact, be the first time) repost something verbatim, but the comment section on a post like this is GOLDEN, and I realize I have some new readers, with their own name stories.
One other note: I always reference my children as Belle and Indy. Those are not actually their real names. For a while I referred them by the first letter of their actual names, but it was cumbersome and annoying and I found it easier to create distinct online names for them.
All these years after becoming their Mom, I truly love their legal names. Not for a single second do I wish John and I had chosen anything different. But, for a variety of reasons, I keep their actual names off the internet. So I won’t be pontificating about “Belle” and “Indy” since those are not actually the names they travel through life using 😉
- Do you like your name?
I do like my name! I can’t recall ever wishing for another name.
- Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name?
Yes! Elisabeth with an “s” is unusual in North America. Having it misspelled doesn’t particularly bother me. Thankfully, when people see my name spelled with an “s” they are unlikely to mispronounce it. But, I have been called the wrong name. Years ago, at our children’s preschool, a woman very enthusiastically saw me, waved, smiled, and yelled out Hi, Anne! I was so surprised, I simply waved back. From that day forward, I was—and likely still am—Anne to her. She called me Anne for years and I never had the heart to correct it.
- If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose?
I’m happy with my name!
- Do you go by your first name?
Yes, and I have to admit it is a bit of a pet peeve of mine when people name their children—never intending to use their first name—and then call them by their middle name. Why not put the names in the order you intend to use them? It’s confusing for everyone and a nuisance for the child in terms of official documents, etc. Dear friends have a daughter who, in 20+ years of knowing them, I had only ever heard referred to her by her middle name. Except I had no idea it wasn’t her first name until I watched a video of her high school graduation and the dean called out Emma, and our friend’s daughter walked across the stage and I was like WHO’S EMMA?! My father-in-law is named after his father, but has never gone by his first name, using his middle name exclusively his whole life. But then he gets frustrated when people call him by his first name—say, at the airport, since that’s what’s on his ticket—BUT THAT IS HIS NAME. But it’s also NOT his name because he never uses it. See? Confusing!
- Do you have a middle name?
Yes! Any guesses? I’ll give you a hint… my middle initial is H. (You could cheat by going back and looking at the comment section in the original post, but that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.)
Fun fact. Friends of my parents liked my name so much they reversed the order of the names and gave it to their first daughter. So she’s H_______ Elisabeth.
- Do you have a nickname?
Well, I don’t, but that doesn’t stop people from giving me a nickname. My father was adamant he did NOT want me called Beth (even though, ironically enough, he goes exclusively by his nickname). I have a dear friend whose name is Elizabeth and goes by Beth and it suits her. I have had a few people call me Beth. I have a cousin whose name is actually Beth—it’s not shortened from Elizabeth. But the strange one is Liz. Liz does not suit me, and yet there are a handful of people who call me Liz so confidently I feel obliged to roll with it. My husband’s previous boss, the secretary at my doctor’s office, several people at church. I have never once IN MY LIFE referred to myself as Liz, but these people must think it fits. I have a niece named Elizabeth and she goes by B and I LOVE it (we sometimes call her Queen B which also very much suits).
Your turn.
- Do you like your name?
- Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name?
- If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose?
- Do you go by your first name?
- Do you have a middle name?
- Do you have a nickname?
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So fun! You have a great name! I will not out your middle name before people have a chance to guess.
Do you like your name? I do!
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Not exactly. I used to get called Joyce a lot as a kid, which is more of a mishearing or misreading.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I don’t want to so haven’t thought about it, but after seeing The Little Mermaid as a child I wanted to be named Ariel for a while!
Do you go by your first name? Indeed I do, and am so thankful I was not given one of those middle/first names!
Do you have a middle name? Yes, it’s Hannah and I’ve always liked it.
Do you have a nickname? Not in general but I’ve gotten quite a lot of variations: Joyous, Happy Happy Joy Joy, Joyseph (my best friend in High School was named Mary so…), Joy joy down in my heart…you get the point!
I really like my name! I liked my maiden last name, I love my married last name. I feel very fortunate because I know some people don’t like either!
JOYCE. I feel like that should be my new nickname for you. Joyce. Can you hear me laughing from across town??
Awww. Ariel. I can 1000% see a little girl wanting that name after watching the movie.
Hannah is such a nice middle name. And I love your first name. You live up to in every way.
1- my name is fine, nothing exciting..
2-nope, familiar and easy to pronounce.
3- when I was younger I would have loved a more lyrical name, like Felicity or Tatiana.
4- at work I go by my first part of my name. With my family and before moving to my current location, it was my full first name. I have a double first name as I am a twin, and she and I share the first part of our names. But as she lives 2000 miles away now. , it’s easier to just go by the first part..
5-nicknames growing up- lots. Twin, MB, sis, my full first name, mbmcd from college,. I’m making MB my grandmother name, and my son in law decided to call me that too, to make life easier for my granddaughter.
I named my kids so they wouldn’t use short version of the name. Most go by their first name, only one shortened it for convenience.
In some cultures/families, using the second name is traditional. Why, I do not know, but everyone has their preferences.
Sometimes nothing exciting can be a good thing!
Tatiana. Now that is an lyrical name!!
I had no idea you were a twin. Fascinating. And crazy that you share the first part of your name! That’s taking things next level!
I love talking about names! Though I feel like a delinquent friend, I do not remember your middle name! I am going to guess Hannah, or possibly Helene… but I really want it to be Hildegarde!!!!
I don’t love my name. It sounds harsh to my ears and I don’t care for the Z; again, harsh. But it was a meaningful name for my mom and I could never choose a name I liked better.
These days I never go by a nickname unless it’s with a few close friends from college or my family – they call me Suz. For a while in high school, a cute guy I adored called me Suzie Q, which I loved… but that does NOT fit me.
Fun topic to revisit, Elisabeth! I think one of my top posts of all time is also about names, mainly about me whining over how so many people call me Susan.
HILDEGARDE. Can you even imagine me with that name. Elisabeth Hildegarde. WHAT A MOUTHFUL!
It’s so interesting how names can be assigned because our parents love them OR because they have deep meaning and not always both things are once.
Suzie Q is adorable.
I’ve been a reader for a bit, but not yet a commenter. The fun of this post was irresistible!
I like my name! It’s unique, but it’s not completely unheard of.
It gets misspelled all of the time, as you would expect. Most people spell it with an “e.” The “y” is also pronounced as a short i sound, so it’s kin-dra, not ken-dra.
I would’t change it, it’s quite attached to me!
I have a middle name (Doreen, after my grandmother), but I’ve always gone by my first name.
I had a variety of nicknames, especially during my school days, most notably Chic-kyn. my best friend’s name starts with Jo, so we were Chic-kyn and Jojo (jojos being a name for fried potato wedges).
I have never heard the name Kyndra before, or the pronunciation Kin-dra. I love it!
(Ahead of Kyria coming to visit me, I had to ask a mutual friend how to say it properly.) Keer-ee-ah
Those nicknames are adorable <3
My answers haven’t changed either. Caroline is my middle name, or at least it used to be until I got married and then I changed it from [First name] Caroline [Maiden name] to Caroline [Maiden Name] [Married Name]. Back in the old days there was no problem filling in Caroline as my first name, so that was the name on all of my school and employment records and my driver’s license, but later on things changed so I was forced to use the first name that I hate. Parents, please take note of what Elisabeth said – it’s one thing if your child chooses to use their middle name, it’s another if you make that choice for them.
It’s a 50/50 chance whether people call me Caroline or Carolyn, and it’s not a big deal if they get it wrong. What I HATE is when someone jumps in and calls me Carol. Blechhhh!!! Also, I finally met a Carolyn! I love it when we’re hanging out and we introduce ourselves and people’s heads explode when they hear the name combo.
I’m a huge fan of blog names. I went with using the person’s relationship to me so that anyone new to the blog doesn’t have to keep track of who Steve and Bob are.
I completely forgot Caroline wasn’t your first name. Now I remember that and I know you told me your first name when you came to visit and it has completely flown from my brain. To be fair, 90% of the time I call your Birchie 🙂
You are SO smart in your nomenclature on the blog. And I have to stop and think about Doggo’s real name because, to me, she is Doggo first and foremost 🙂
Do you like your name?
Do I like my name? –Well, I have some feelings about it, especially after it became an Internet meme for an unpleasant person…but I have always liked that it’s rather unusual for somebody my age to have my name. I was the only Karen in my elementary school, junior high school, and high school class. By the time I was born its popularity (that peaked in the 1950s) was giving way to Heathers, Jennifers and Courtneys, so I liked being a little unusual. I
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? — Not really, sometimes people ask how to spell it, as there are variants, but the only people who ever mispronounced it were the French when I was living there. They had a hard time pronouncing it!
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? –Maybe Anne. Or Catherine, but I would not like to go by Cathy.
Do you go by your first name?– Yep!
Do you have a middle name? –Yes, Ann (sadly without an E), the same as my mom’s. I guess there was a tradition in our family to give your daughter the same middle name as your own.
Do you have a nickname? — In high school a few people tried to give me the nickname “Carrie”, but I refused to answer to it. My parents used to try to call me “Kar-Bear” (like Care Bear) but I hated it. Fun fact: “Karen” is actually the Dutch nickname for Catherine, so I suppose I already DO have a nickname. But I also have a very dear friend who decided to give me an odd nickname in college, and she continues to call me by it to this day!
Ha, yes, Karen does have a very distinct cultural touchpoint these days!
The first thing I thought of when you said Carrie was Stephen King’s book. EEKS.
PS. I feel like dear friends are the only people fully qualified to give nicknames 🙂
I feel like your middle name must be biblical, and if it starts with H, let me see. Hagar? That feels wrong. Hannah? Maybe I’m off the scent here. Harmony? Hildabrande? Hazel? Harriet? I don’t know. I am going to go with Hannah.
Do you like your name? I do like my name!
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? No, it’s rare. The most common misspelling is Nichole.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I wouldn’t change my name BUT throughout my life if anyone has messed up my name, they’ve called me Michelle. I have gotten “Michelle” more than any other name.
Do you go by your first name? Yes
Do you have a middle name? Yes, it’s Dawn
Do you have a nickname? Sometimes people will call me Nic, and I love that. A guy I used to work with called me Nic Mac, as in paddy whack, give a dog a bone. I thought that was pretty cute.
Oh also, I love my last name, and it never once occurred to me to change it when I got married. So Nic Mac forever!
Ha ha… Hagar.
CAN YOU IMAGINE. No offence to anyone reading with that middle name, but with Elisabeth (spelled that way because it’s with an “s” in the King James version), Hagar would be… a Biblical step too far.
It is not Biblical AND CAN YOU IMAGINE IF IT WAS HAGAR. That would be next-level Biblical…
As Birchie would say, I was today days old when I learned you go by your maiden name. I had NO idea.
I love the name Suzanne! It sounds so chic and elegant – almost Parisienne! The Z gives it panache. Suzanna was always on my list for girls’ name. With my name, very pedestrian and common, I could never match the style of a Suzanne!
I agree that it does feel very sophisticated.
That was supposed to be a reply to Suzanne. My phone hates me.
Such a fun topic! I’m enjoying everyone’s answers.
Do you like your name? – No really, It’s too common. Jennifer was the most popular girl’s name for several years in the 70s and 80s. Almost 10% of the girls in my grade in elementary school were named Jennifer although I think the national rate was only 1%.
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? – Generally no. Although my grandparents gave me a Bible for my 9th birthday and misspelled my middle name in the inscription! (My middle name is “Lynn” and my aunt’s middle name is “Lynne” so I can see how the mix-up happened!)
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? – When I was a kid I wanted to change my name to “Emily”. I’m Catholic but I don’t have a confirmation name, so I guess I would like to have a Saint’s name. Or just a name where that is uncommon enough to likely be the only one in the school/workplace but familiar enough to find on a key chain.
Do you go by your first name? – Generally, yes, although there are a few people who call me by a nickname.
Do you have a middle name? – Yes, it’s also very common. I actually sat next to another “Jennifer Lynn” in 10th grade math! (We did not go to elementary school together tho.)
Do you have a nickname? – A few. Some people call me “Jenny”. I don’t like to be called “Jen” but just a couple people do frequently. A very small group of people call my by an old youth group nickname that I also used to use as a screen name.
I just looked at my answers from last time and I guess my opinions haven’t changed!
New guess for your middle name: Harper. (Maybe Harper Valley P.T.A. was playing in the hospital waiting room and became and ear worm when filling out the paperwork?)
I LOVE HOW YOU CAME TO THIS GUESS.
It’s incorrect.
Up until the night before Indy was born (we didn’t know the gender) our “girl name” was Harper. Out on a pre-bedtime stroll we changed the name to something else, but Harper was a front-runner for a while. Though his real name (so, not Indy) was the main boy name I wanted and I have always been secretly glad I got to use it. I suspect if we’d had a second girl we wouldn’t have anymore kiddos so there was something trivially satisfying about getting to use two names we truly loved when naming our kids.
I’m not Catholic and have no idea what a confirmation name is??? Going to look that up now.
Wow. Name twins in school. Sounds like a coincidence, but I’m sure in certain eras, it’s common with the most popular names. I have a family member with Lynn as a middle name. I feel like it was a very common middle name for a while?!
The other Jenny chiming in here! I do like my name, but it was VERY common in the 70s and 80s. And technically it is my nickname, because my real name is Jennifer. As a kid, I wished my name were Jamie. One of those weird kid things! Now I’m perfectly happy with my name, and I think it’s time for “Jenny” to have a resurgence in popularity.
I like the guesses for your middle name. Hildegarde… Hagar… maybe Hermione? I’m pretty sure if it were on of those, we’d all remember it!
I do have a middle name- Laurel.
I really like the name Jenny! And I think it suits you. I think I have warm associations with it from Forrest Gump?
Laurel! That is NOT a common middle name and I love it. It sounds lyrical and floral.
My answers haven’t changed much.
Do you like your name? Yes, I like it very much. My parents named my sister a Very Boring Name and my name is so much better.
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Yes. There is a masculine version of my name that I get a lot. There’s also a different in how you say the first vowel in my name and sometimes people try to fancify my name with that vowel. Whatever. I basically answer to anything close to my name.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? Okay. Here’s where I have something new to say. When I got married, I did not change my last name for very real, very important political and professional reasons. I still think that was the right thing to do. But as my relationship with my family of origin crumbles and crumbles, I sometimes consider if I should change my last name. My husband is fabulous and his family is wonderful. Why wouldn’t I want to share their name? But the political (and professional) reality is that I’m going to keep my maiden name.
Do you go by your first name? Yes, the whole thing.
Do you have a middle name? I do. It’s Ann, which is spectacularly boring, especially in relation to my first name. However, it does sound good with my first name, so I’ll allow it. I like that it doesn’t have an e at the end because, unlike Anne Shirley, I think extraneous letters are dumb.
Do you have a nickname? I had a childhood nickname, so people who knew me before I was in third grade sometimes call me by that. My best friend calls me by the first three letters of my first name, which I don’t LOVE, but will accept from her. Obviously, people in the blogging world call me Engie, but that has not caught on IRL.
“Do you like your name? Yes, I like it very much. My parents named my sister a Very Boring Name and my name is so much better.” Bwhahahaha. HILARIOUS, Engie.
I’m also laughing at this “I basically answer to anything close to my name.” Though I shouldn’t be laughing since I ANSWERED TO ANNE for years.
A fascinating (and admittedly complicated) thing to consider in marriage in terms of taking your spouse’s last name. I know some people were very glad to “rid” themselves of a maiden name and others preferred it. In Quebec and lots of European countries it’s very hard to change your last name and by default you keep your maiden name.
I will admit I LOVE Anne with the “e”… I wonder if that is at all aesthetic or fully implanted in my brain as a preferred spelling because of the book.
Can I admit that I really struggle to write your actual name when I send you mail. Like with Birchie, you are firmly settled in my brain as Engie!
Names are such fun to discuss! Lots of thoughts, none in response to your prompt questions.
1. How did you come up with the weird (sorry, but true) name “Indy”?
2. My birth middle name was Lynne, along with Cathy, Kelly, Diane, Nancy, Stacy, Jodi, Jenny. . . many many little girls of my age (born in 1959). I was the only one who spelled it properly, because as an older woman named Lynne once explained to me, “Lynn is the man’s spelling; women spell theirs with an e”. Oh yeah? Stacy’s is Lyn, so there.
3. Many of the little girls without “Lynne” got “Anne” instead. Only my sister had hers spelled with an e. (No one can say that “Ann” is a man’s name.)
4. Because my middle name was so common, I dumped it and put my maiden name in when I got married.
5. I cheated and looked at the old post for your middle name; I was thinking Hazel, but nope.
6. I thought that Elisabeth was the British spelling, along the lines of “colour”. But wait, isn’t British spelling “organise” instead of “organize”? Obviously, I thought wrong.
7. “Jana” rhymes with “Banana”, except when I meet someone who calls themselves “Jay-na” in spite of spelling it like I do.
8. There was only one other girl with my name growing up, but she lived in the town where I now live, 35 miles from where I grew up. I heard about her because she got bitten by a rattlesnake and almost lost the use of her hand. Four years ago she moved back to town, and we have become very close friends. Her middle name is Lynn. And in case you are curious, she learned to play all sports using her non-dominant hand and currently wins pickleball tournaments. Her right arm is kind of smallish and her hand is missing the index finger.
1. I sent you an e-mail with the explanation!
2. I have a family member with Lynn as a middle name, but it’s spelled without an “e”
3. I do love Anne, but prefer it with an “e” by a country mile; no doubt this is mostly because of Anne of Green Gables
4. Interesting!
6. With an “s” is a very common European spelling, but my dad latched on to it because of how it was spelled in the KJV. Modern Bible translations use a “z”. I don’t always adhere to British spelling. I like the look of organize better with a “z” and so that’s what I use, but have no idea of that’s British or American.
8. EEKS. That poor girl, though kudos to her for bouncing back and excelling at sports. And what are the odds you had the same name (minus the “e” bit and I guess now minus the Lynn since you dropped it when getting married).
I like my name, but I was often called Shelley growing up, which I hated. When I was out of high school, I finally stood up for myself and insisted that people stop calling me that, including my parents. And then I regretted it because it put a strain on my relationships for awhile. But everything worked out just fine, and I’m very happy to be called Michelle by everyone! In the end, I’m glad I didn’t just suffer through that nickname. There was a lady in town who everyone called Peg. When her husband died at 87 years old, she announced that her name was Margaret and she wouldn’t answer to Peg any more. It was what her husband called her, and she hated it! Can you imagine going for your whole adult llfe being called something you hate? So she had a couple of years to be called Margaret before she passed away.
I am SO glad you stood up for yourself, Michelle.
Poor Margaret. Peg does sound… like a female pirate or something. Or a witch? I watched a show growing up and the creepy lady in the woods everyone was scared of was named Peg. I’m so sorry she endured so many years of answering to a name she hated. There has to be some deep relational advice hidden in this (or perhaps not hidden!).
Ah names. They are so fascinating, aren’t they? We put so much thought into the names of our boys so I hope they love their names, but I also know that even if you were thoughtful about the name (surely my parents were), they still might not like it. I know that Paul likes his name so far. By his age I already tried to change my name so at least he likes his name more than I like mine! And barely anyone calls Will by his name. 95% of the people in his life call him Taco and I now see that he’s been writing Taco on his work at school. Previously he only knew how to write Will but I guess he’s learned how to write Taco now! It does not bother me at all, though. It fits his personality and Will/William will be waiting for him if/when he decides to go by his legal name and not the name given to him by his 2.5 year brother when I was pregnant with him…
Do you like your name? No, not at all. But I won’t change it. I think it is so boring. But one upside is that there are so few people named Lisa that are my age. There are several Lisas at Orange Theory Fitness and they are all 20+ years older than me. I think it would have been annoying to have multiple people in your class with the same name. But at least I don’t have to worry about that.
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Oddly, people will sometimes call me Liz or write Liz in an email which makes NO SENSE.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I love the name Lydia and feel like it would work for me.
Do you go by your first name? Yep!
Do you have a middle name? Anne. Another BORING name. Ha.
Do you have a nickname? My family called me Fritz when I was growing up. Then I was called “The Denominator” in college because of my passion for math. Then I was called D-rod by co-workers when I was in my early 30s as that was a sort of shortening of my maiden name. Now everyone calls me Lisa.
I think that having a “mature” name to fall back on is so helpful, and also fun that he has such a well-established and quirky nickname. I suspect he’ll carry both through life and use them in different contexts!
YOU DO SEEM LIKE A LYDIA. 100%
D-rod seems like a basketball frat nickname, so I’m chuckling it was assigned to you!
I do not like my first name. In 5th grade there were five of us named Linda. And when my friends and I played princesses their real names were Gwendolyn and Victoria. There is nothing you can do with Linda.
People usually spell it correctly but a few people try Lynda instead.
I have a middle name but I do not use it. It is boring as well.
I do not have a nickname although one brother sometimes called me Sis.
I like my married name as it is short so easy to write on forms that have little space.
“There is nothing you can do with Linda.” I laughed out loud at this.
I always feel sorry for people with very complicated or long names (first or last). It can be a true pain in the neck to fill out certain forms!
I grew up being called Sandy instead of Sandra. In middle school I used my full name but to this day family calls me Sandy. My mom, at one point, told me she should’ve named me Alexandra or Cassandra. I’m fine with my name.
My mom was Elizabeth (and it’s my middle name). She was raised Betty and switched to Liz in college. Of course, her family still called her Betty!
Betty was SUCH a common nickname for Elizabeth in a previous generation; I feel like most people I know now with Elizabeth either go by Liz or Beth, but I actually think Betty’s kind of cute!
Do you like your name? Yes!
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? YES! People call me Susan, ten seconds after I say Suzanne.
If you were going to change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I have no idea!
Do you go by your first name? Yes.
Do you have a middle name? Yes, Leigh
Do you have a nickname? Suz
This is a fun post. I wasn’t here for the original, but went back through and read all the comments. HOW FUN!! And now I know your middle name. 😉