On a walk to school last week one of our children made it clear they do NOT like their name. This is the first time I’ve heard they disapprove of our choice. I happen to think both kids have perfectly lovely names that will set them up to do just about anything their hearts desire in life.
(I’ll give you one guess which child suddenly thinks we have made yet another horrible decision that impacts their life.)
But it got me thinking about names. The result? Here are some “name” questions for your Monday morning.
- 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 once 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, to her I was – and likely still am – Anne. 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 on 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! Why parents? Why did you do this to your children?
- Do you have a middle name?
Yes! Any guesses? I’ll give you a hint – my middle initial is H. Whoever guesses it correctly (first) will receive a postcard from me…
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 who’s 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 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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Kristin W
1. Do you like your name? Yes, I do! It is common enough for most people to be familiar with but unique enough that I don’t encounter it often.
2. Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Yes! The more common spelling is “en” and people often spell it that way. I’ve also noticed, especially older people, pronounce it “Christine”. Maybe it’s unusual for them? I often don’t have the heart to correct them.
3. If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I have no desire to change but if I did, I always wanted a name that had a nickname. Elizabeth is FULL of possibilities! Plus Elizabeth from pride and prejudice! ❤️
4. Do you go by your first name? Yes! At work (very male environment) people are often referred to by their last names though I rarely am. Is it because my name is unique (we do have a lot of Joe/John/Chris) or because I am a woman?
5. Do you have a middle name? My middle name is the name of my Grandmother, who passed away before I was born. I love it and chose to keep it instead of taking my maiden name as my middle name (as my mom did)
5. Do you have a nickname? No, though at our college church, my best friend and I were known by our initials, KO and OK! Now married, we are KW and OC, not nearly as fun.
Elisabeth
I love initial nicknames. I think they’re so fun and catchy.
My college labmates called me Liztown (which does include Liz, I guess). I’m not sure where the “town” bit came in, but that one made me smile.
Using someone’s last name sounds so formal! It’s interesting the overlap of names, though – you mention lots of Joe’s and John’s etc. In my daughter’s class she has a lot of overlap of names and they call them first name, first letter of last name. So Owen A and Owen N. Or Sarah N and Sarah H. It gets complicated when people in the same space have the same name!
Suzanne
I’m sorry your kiddo is having name drama. It can feel especially painful because usually we choose our kids’ names with such love and intention. I have a relative who did NOT like her name growing up — it was something like Mary Jo. And so as soon as she turned eighteen, she changed it to something that fits her much better — think Kris. I wonder how her mom felt about the change? It’s kind of weird that parents have to choose a name for a tiny baby that is supposed to fit them their whole lives! So much pressure!
I am not a huge fan of my name — I think it sounds kind of harsh and people misspell and mispronounce it ALL the time. But I don’t think any other name suits me better! My legal middle name is my maiden name; I had it changed when I got married. I don’t think my parents realized I dropped my middle name and when I mentioned it casually a few years ago, my mom seemed a little shocked. I know SHE loved the name she gave me!
Most of my college friends, my sibling and siblings-in-law, my husband, and my mom all refer to me as Suz.
Elisabeth
The drama is minimal – and she mostly doesn’t like her full name, not her nickname (which is what she goes by almost exclusively).
That’s so interesting you kept your maiden name as your middle name. That never occurred to me; though my brother hasn’t had any children and all my sisters and I have taken our husband’s last names…so my maiden name is dying out!
Jenny
I’m going to guess that your middle name is Hannah.
Yes, I do like my name! Growing up, I didn’t exactly dislike the name “Jenny” but I didn’t like that it was a VERY popular name, so there were tons of other Jennys out there. Now I don’t meet a lot of Jennys, which confuses me- where did they all go???
My real name is actually Jennifer, which I never liked. Everyone called me Jenny right away, so “Jennifer” always sounded weird and formal to me.
Yes, I agree on the first/middle name confusion. Why name your kid, intending to always call them by their middle name??? I have a cousin who did that. WHY?
I guess at this point I’m pretty attached to my name- but when I was a kid I wished my name were “Jamie” for a while.
AND, if it helps at all- Angie HATED her name for years, and let me know about it at every opportunity. But now she likes it… phew.
Elisabeth
Great guess (it’s wrong, though).
I don’t think I know any other Jenny, but I do know quite a few Jennifer’s!
Is Angie short for Angela?
Nicole MacPherson
I’m going to just go wild on this and say it’s Hagar.
Do you like your name? I do!
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Not often, but sometimes I will get Nichole.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? Hmmm…I wouldn’t. But any time someone makes a mistake on my name, it’s to call me Michelle. My next door neighbour called me Michelle for like 13 years, even after being corrected (I gave up after a while). My whole life, if it’s a mistake, it’s Michelle.
Do you go by your first name? Yes
Do you have a middle name? Yes, it’s Dawn
Do you have a nickname? Sometimes I will be called Nic, which I like, but never ever ever Nicki!
Elisabeth
Hahaha! I didn’t see Hagar coming and, can I admit quite thankfully?, that is not my middle name. No shade to Hagar, of course.
Michelle and Nicole seem so far apart?
You are clearly NOT a Nicki!
Karen A.
1. Do you like your name? –Well, I always did. I loved Karen Carpenter as a little kid and liked that we had the same name. I was the only Karen in my entire elementary school, middle school, and my high school class. I liked having a name that wasn’t the usual Jennifer/Stephanie/Heather of my generation. Then the whole Karen meme started and for a while I was upset and now I’m mostly over it.
2. Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name?–Usually people ask if it’s spelled with a K, since there are different iterations, but the only people who’ve mispronounced my name are a French family I stayed with when I was a kid; for some reason, they could not pronounce my name.
3. If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose?–I did briefly go by Catherine when I was a member of the Orthodox Church, as it’s traditional to take a saint’s name when chrismated, and Karen is just a Dutch nickname for Catherine anyway. But I didn’t legally change it.
4. Do you go by your first name?–Yep. My middle name is my mom’s middle name as well.
5. Do you have a middle name?–Yes, Ann, sadly not with an E. I like it though, and if my last (married) name were not just one syllable I might go by it.
6. Do you have a nickname?–My husband calls me Hon. But my parents used to call me “Kare” which I didn’t like at all. My dad’s nickname for my mom was “Bear”, short for “Honey Bear” and he’d call “BEAR!” when looking for her in the house and I used to think he was calling “KARE” and looking for me. They tried calling me “Kare Bear” but I shut that down by not responding. My best friend from college decided, back in college, to call me “Patchie” and that has stuck, she only calls me Patchie for whatever reason!
Elisabeth
I love that you have one friend that has such a unique nickname for you.
Bear and Kare. That’s hilarious (and I can see why you didn’t respond to Kare Bear!)
Birchie
Yiss!!! I can’t wait to see everyone’s answers to the questions.
First of all, I love Elisabeth with an S. There’s nothing wrong with “Beth” but Elisabeth is a much better name.
1. Eh, I’m OK with my name. It’s grown on me over my lifetime.
2. My name has two very common pronunciations, so there is a 50% chance that I’ll get the right one. It doesn’t bother me and I don’t notice when I get the other one. But I hate the nickname version of my name and it irks me if someone calls me that.
3, 4, & 5: I’m Team Middle Name. Except when I got married I changed my name to to [Middle name] [Maiden Name] [Married Name] so now my middle name IS my first name. My “real” first name is unusual for the US, and I got teased a lot in school for it. I started going by my middle name in grade school which resulted in me getting teased for everything except my name.
6: My nickname at home is “Kat”. When the boys were young they had trouble pronouncing my name, we all love cats, and they had just gotten a dog, so somehow we came up with “Kat” for me.
So anyway what I would tell the kiddo is that if they still don’t like their name when they grow up, and if they feel that strongly about it, it’s easy enough to do a legal name change. But our opinions on a lot of things change as we get older.
Elisabeth
Elisabeth – with an “s” – feels like something Anne – with an “e” – would approve of!
Kat is adorable 🙂
I suspect the name will stick. It’s common and popular but has room for options (nicknames, full name if in a big official role etc).
Maria
Do you like your name?
I do!
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name?
Not usually but people sometimes think it’s Marie. Or sometimes non-English speakers think I’ve translated my name to their language and then back translate it and call me Mary.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose?
No idea! I really like my name.
Do you go by your first name?
Yes
Do you have a middle name?
I do. Two actually. When I got married I kept my original middle name and added my maiden name as a second middle name.
Do you have a nickname? Several but none related to my name!
So why did your parents chose Elisabeth instead of Elizabeth? I’m going to guess your middle name is Hanna or Hannah. Fun fact that our oldest wishes we’d named our youngest Hannah.
Elisabeth
Hannah is such a great guess…but it’s incorrect!
So my parents had agreed on the name but not the spelling. My mom had all my birth announcements written out (before computers, so written by hand!) when my Dad looked over her shoulder and said: Oh, I spelled it with an “s” on her birth certificate application. My dad was a Baptist pastor and it’s spelled with an “s” in the KJV of the Bible…so that’s the spelling he had assumed they would go with! So I have been Elisabeth with an “s” ever since. It’s a bit funny to think my mom just assumed it was a “z” and my dad had thought all along they were agreed on the “s.”
My niece is Elizabeth with a “z” though; but there is a girl in my kids youth group at church that is Elisabeth with an “s” which thrilled me to no end!
NGS
I immediately assumed your middle name was Heather because it was such a popular name when I was in school, but you’re younger than me, so maybe it’s Hilde. LOL.
I have a nephew whose name is John Henry and he goes by Jack, which kills me every single time. Of the 11 nieces and nephews we have a William who goes by Will and Jack and the rest are nickname resistant so far. I feel like that’s unusual and most people have nicknames. My husband and each of his siblings go by a nickname, so it’s sort of weird that their children do not.
Do you like your name? I love my name. It’s classic, but somewhat unusual for a woman of my generation (later on it became a lot more popular, so there are a fair number of girls about 15 years younger than me thanks to the Magnificent Seven U.S. gymnastics team).
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Yes. All the time. I get called the male version of my name a lot.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I would not change my name.
Do you go by your first name? I do. The full thing.
Do you have a middle name? I do. It’s actually boring. Ann. I would change it to Angelica if I had more gumption.
Do you have a nickname? Hmm…there is a nickname I used until I was about seven or eight, so people who knew me when I was little call me by that name. My best friend has a nickname only she uses. But everyone else (including my husband) calls me by my full first name.
This is such a great topic!!
Elisabeth
I have so much trouble writing out your real name because you are ENGIE to me and so I’m so used to that it feels so weird to write our your full name.
I have an older sister with the middle name Heather (and an aunt who has the first name Heather)…but it’s not my name!
My father goes by a nickname, but his nephew shares the same name and is NEVER, EVER called anything but his full name. John and I both have brother’s named Timothy. One exclusively goes by Timothy and the other goes by Tim, so we always can easily differentiate. It gets even weirder as both our brothers SHARE THE SAME MIDDLE NAME, as well!!! How coincidental is that?!
I wonder how Suzanne feels about using a pseudonym for her daughter? I feel like if I had alternative names for my kids on the blog I would be forever calling them by THOSE names in real life? As it is, I am constantly calling my son John these days. It’s very ironic since my own father used to go through the list of all the daughters before he’d get to my name and, occasionally, he’d call me my brothers name which was peak horrible!
Jenny in WV
Fun questions!
I’m going to guess Hailey for your middle name.
Do you like your name? Nope. It is too common. I’d prefer something not unfamiliar but also not the most popular name of the decade!
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Never! It’s perhaps the one benefit of being named Jennifer.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I’m Catholic, so it would be nice to have a saint’s name. I’d also say maybe a family name, but my great-great-grandmother was named “Jennie” so I guess I have one.
Do you go by your first name? Yes.
Do you have a middle name? Lynn. Perhaps the only name more common than Jennifer! Sometimes this does get misspelled as “Lynne”.
Do you have a nickname? A few people do call me Jenny. I don’t like to be called “Jen”.
Elisabeth
Great guess. But…nope.
Anne, Lynn – these seem to be very, very common middle names!!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lynn spelled with an “e”?
Kyria @ Travel Spot
I worked with an Elizabeth (Canadian, but her Mom was American and she wanted to not confuse people, hence the Z) and people called her Liz and Lizzie all the time and she said that she never asked for that, but she also rolled with it.
Do you like your name? Yes, but not when I was a kid as nobody could remember or pronounce it.
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? See above and YES! At Starbucks when they used to write your name on the cup, I was commonly Karen, Kara, Cara, Curia, Taryn…etc.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? My parent’s actually wanted to name me Elizabeth! I think I would just keep my name though.
Do you go by your first name? Yup.
Do you have a middle name? I have two, which always used to annoy me because as if I was not already different enough with a first name like mine, my parents had to also give me extra names!?!? WTH parents.
Do you have a nickname? My name doesn’t tend towards shortening, but one friend calls me Kyr and sometimes I used to get K or kdub, but those are not really used much.
Elisabeth
Wow – we were almost name buddies.
Taryn? How did they get that from Kyria??!!!
I’m curious how your parents chose your name and where it comes from. You are the only Kyria I know! I guess I should confirm: is it keer-a? Or kie-ra? I always assumed it was Keer-a…!
Rachel
I love this post and I love guessing names!
My first guess was Hannah too but I can see that’s wrong. My second choice is Harriet. My third guess is Helen. Dont count that third guess though, I’m not trying to cheat the system 😅
I’ve spent So much time thinking of names recently that I like how all those sound together .
I am so curious for the big middle name reveal now 😂
Elisabeth
Well, no need to count any of the guesses because…they’re all wrong. Whomp, whomp. Great tries, though 🙂
Names are endlessly fascinating to me. What they mean. Why people choose them. What they often signify about opportunities in life. I think I could have a full-time job just thinking about names and be very content for a long time.
Hks
I don’t like my name but it is the name that my mother always dreamed she would name a daughter, so I have never told my family that I don’t like it. I’m in my 40s now so I’m not going to change it.
My guess for your middle name is Helen!
Elisabeth
That’s sweet that it was so special to your mother, but it is a silent burden – in a way – to not like your name.
Great guess, even if it is incorrect 😉
Jan Coates
I’m actually Janet, and for the first 25 years of my life everyone outside my family called me Janet (my family called me Jan). Once I got married, I purposefully became known as “Jan,” – a name that suits me more than Janet, I think. And when my sister and I were young(er), we were both very skinny – she was “Tooth” (for toothpick) and I was Mini-Tooth – only the neighborhood kids called us this, but I think we liked it.
Elisabeth
I did not know this!!!
Those nicknames are hilarious; I happen to have a very slender 9-year-old and he would NOT appreciate this nickname, I can assure you, but for the era/time, it seems to suit.
I agree that Jan is a perfect name for you and I love that you really made it “official” in adulthood.
Christa Lamb
Helen?
Elisabeth
Great guess. Alas, it’s wrong…
SHU
1. Do you like your name? Not particularly. I think it’s kind of boring!
2. Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? I mean “Sara” instead of Sarah, sure. But that doesn’t bother me. I would have preferred a more interesting name even if harder to spell . . .
3. If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? Well, that’s too much pressure. LOL. When I was growing up, I coveted the name Melissa (or Marissa). Now I’d probably say something like . . . Vivienne? Penelope? Though those are more names I wanted to name babies I never had . . .
4. Do you go by your first name? Yes or SHU, my initials.
5. Do you have a middle name? My middle name is Rachel which I am not really into, so I dropped it when I added my husband’s name to mine and hyphenated.
5. Do you have a nickname? SHU. (At work I am always hearing “Dr SHU?” as everyone here has embraced it, I guess it’s easier to say!)
Elisabeth
Okay, you writing “coveted” made me laugh so hard. I’m picturing tween Sarah wishing so desperately to be Melissa!
I did not know your middle name was Rachel – or that you dropped it to accommodate two “last” names. I really like the name Rachel!
SHU is perfect. I love it and you’ve made the most of it on your digital platforms!
Diane
Is it Hope?
Even if it isn’t Hope Elisabeth sounds lovely to my ear.
I don’t have a middle name- I don’t think my parents knew middle names were a thing because there aren’t middle names in Taiwan. Actually the name on my birth certificate is my Mandarin name. Diane came much later.
I have a friend whose Husband is from the Dominican Republic and there it is very common for people to go by middle names because the first name is often an honor name, so her kids go by their middle names as well.
– I don’t have any nicknames now, but when I was growing up I was called a diminutive of my Mandarin name. Now only my grandfather calls me that, though.
– I guess I like my name okay. It’s not terribly popular or stylish or cool- the only time I meet other Dianes are other people parents/aunts/grandmothers.
Elisabeth
GREAT guess…but, nope!
My kids have a lot of international students in their class and basically none of them have middle names (my daughter would know because she is obsessed with people’s names and literally knows the middle name of every single one of her classmates…if they have one).
In Portugal – where my husband is from – all men are named John or Joseph and all women are named Maria! So people go by their middle names.
I like the name Diane! I think it’s classic!
Joy
Do you like your name? For the most part, yes, but it took me many years to appreciate it. I did not like it when growing up. I felt a bit like Anne of Green Gables felt about hers.
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Yes, usually I hear Julie and occasionally Jo.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I’d choose a family name like Louisa or Margaret or I’d choose an old-fashioned girl’s name Elizabeth or Deborah.
Do you go by your first name? Yes
Do you have a middle name? Yes, but never use it (except when my mother used it when I was in trouble).
Do you have a nickname? No, which was always one of my gripes about my name.
Elisabeth
My bestie’s name is Joy, so I’m very partial to it. Though you’re right that it’s pretty hard to shorten!
Kate
I looooove names! Such fun to think about. I love both of your kids’ names and hopefully they come back around to liking them, too. I always try to think about how well a name will suit both a baby and an adult (and eventually an octogenarian!). In naming our own kids we also incorporate a saint’s name to either their first or middle names.
I’m going to guess that your middle name is Hope!
1. Do you like your name? –Yes! My full name is Katharine and I love that it has so many variations.
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? –My full name commonly gets misspelled as Katherine. No one ever really mispronounces it, but years ago I did have *several* instances of telling a Starbucks barista that my name was “Kate” when they looked very confused and asked “Pete?!” Come to think of it, that was around the time I spent a year in Canada and maybe the hint of a Canadian accent I acquired was throwing them off!
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? –I truly wouldn’t change it, but I do love the name Meg. It has always sounded friendly, spunky, smart and down-to-earth to me.
Do you go by your first name? –Yes.
Do you have a middle name? –Yes, Rachel. After I got married I legally changed my name to incorporate my maiden name as a second middle name, too.
Do you have a nickname? –Usually just Kate; I went by Katie as a kid. My mom used to call me Katie-Ray (first + middle) and my grandma called me Katrink.
Elisabeth
Yes! We thought about how our names would age (John and Elisabeth feel better suited to adults, to my mind, but I never thought of such things as a kid!)…both our kids have names that I feel they could use for any profession – doctor, lawyer, artist, teacher – they’re kinda names you could dress “up” or “down” if that makes sense? Like they could be formal, but also very laid-back.
Hope is such a great guess. Alas, it’s wrong.
I don’t know if I’ve met a Katharine with two “a’s”! My instinct is always to spell Kathryn with a K (my cousin has this name and spelling) and Catherine with a “C” for that spelling.
Kate and Pete – haha!
Meg is cute. It sounds like a very versatile time!
I love the name Rachel! Very classic.
mbmom11
I sort of like my name. I have a twin sister, and we were named “M.A. and M.B” .Confusing at times, and in grad school the registrar almost messed up our registrations so we became “M.Alice and M.Beth” – and one of my profs would pronounces it embeth. Our siblings call us “twin” or just our initials to make it easier.
My husband’s last name is always mispronounced, even though it’s short. My poor kids are cursed with it!
As an adult, I am mostly called “M.” first name, because I was filling out paperwork for my job and they started calling me M. and it was a busy time so I just left it. I only have 3 people other than my husband or family who call me my “M.B.” name. And it turns out the same thing happened to my twin in her career path.
When I named my kids, I was strongly against nicknames. But with names like Christopher and Catherine, it’s hard to fight society’s efforts to pick something shorter. But others have very short names to defeat society’s dictates. I only allowed a shortened version for my youngest daughter, but she was a special case -my husband asked that we got for it. (She was so tiny when she was born, her big name seemed out of place! She needed something smaller and snugly.)
Elisabeth
I’m chuckling that your siblings called you “twin.” It’s descriptive if not overly personal!
I know someone who refused to take her husband’s last name – or assign it to her kids – because it is so hard to spell and pronounce!
I have a nephew William who ONLY GOES BY WILLIAM, but I suspect he will let that slide as he gets older. (Sometimes we call him Big Willy, but I don’t think my sister likes that!). Names – and how we use them and make them our own – are endlessly fascinating.
Leslie
I like my name, but I didn’t always- maybe it’s one of those “becoming more comfortable with who you are as you age” things! Elisabeth Helen?
Elisabeth
Great guess…but nope.
And my daughter has a Leslie in her grade. I think it’s the first Leslie I’ve met that’s a teenager? I think it’s coming back!
I loved Parks and Rec, so I’m partial to the name Leslie <3
Sara
Do you like your name? I hate it. It’s so generic and boring. My mom insisted on naming all of us 4 letter first names because her name is Victoria and she HATES when people shorten it—which they’ve done her whole life.
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Ugh. Yes. See above. Sara no h is literally like a tic I have when introducing myself, giving a coffee order, on the phone, etc.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? Oh! I love this. I love very feminine names with man’s nicknames. One of my favorite humans is Elizabeth but goes by Eli. I like Josephine (Joey), Frances (Frankie).
Do you go by your first name? Yes! I sat behind a kid in 6th grade, and the teacher said: Salvatore Potestivo and he raised his hand and said, “I go by Joey.” 😳
Do you have a middle name? Katherine blah blah like every girl in the 80s.
Do you have a nickname? Turbo and SK
Elisabeth
I LOVE the name Victoria, but I bet she got Vic and Vicki a lot which is not the same at all!
Sara with no “h” is a tough one, and I’m sure it gets misspelled often. In some cultures it would be the norm, but most of the Sarah’s I know in North America have the “h.”
I had a great aunt who was Georgina but went by Georgie and it was so sweet!
I go by Joey…hahah.
Gigi
I don’t mind my real name now; but when I was a tween, I did not care for it at all. Yes, I do have a nickname – which I use for most informal settings. My real name used to get misused all the time at one job; where a client INSISTED on calling me Nancy (my real name does not resemble Nancy in any way shape or form). My middle name is a derivative of my grandmother’s name. Speaking of middle names, I’m going to guess Hillary?
Elisabeth
It’s funny how names can suit more as we get older (or, I guess, suit less).
Good guess. I think you’re the first vote for Hillary! But…incorrect.
mbmom11
I forgot to guess a middle name! Hester? Honor? Hosanna?
Elisabeth
Wow! Those are some good guesses. Three strikes, though.
Lindsay
I love this topic!
Do you like your name? I’ve come to like it a lot more than I did as a child.
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Yes. All the time. I’m trying to be less bothered by it.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I used to dream of being a Natalie or a Cassandra as a kid.
Do you go by your first name? I do!
Do you have a middle name? I do! Bonus: it’s pretty non-traditional.
Do you have a nickname? I was called Lucy or Lou for most of my childhood. Nowadays, my work bestie calls me Linds when I’m getting too spicy in meetings, haha!
Elisabeth
Lindsay is definitely a name with plenty of spelling iterations!
Awww. I love the name Lucy!! And I know someone else that goes by Linds!
Shelly
Do I like my name? For a long time I didn’t. It is often misspelled with the extra “e”. Shelley. That bothers me less now. I would have loved Abigail, or for awhile I really loved the name Gillian. I had wanted that for my daughter but in the end we went with Emma as that had more family significance.
Both my kids have names that start with E and I wish I hadn’t because we can’t just use first initials.
For nickname some call me shel which I don’t mind. Smelly Shelly is out though. 😉
I’m going to guess Holly for your middle name.
Elisabeth
Shelly (and Stacy) are hard ones. I have a good friend named Stacy and I can never remember if she has an “e” in her name or not. Her husband is Glen, but only with one “n” and I struggle with their kids names, too!
I really like the name Holly. But that’s not it!
PE
1. Do you like your name? I have a very Greek name which is on all my documents. However , I have gone by a shortened version of my name (kind of like Beth from Elizabeth) my entire life . So to answer the question, yes now as an adult, I do like my full name. As a child, I did not mainly because it was difficult for most people (teachers) to pronounce, so I would have to tell them the name I went by in English at the start of every school year.
2. Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Partially answered above and yes to this day it still gets mispronounced. I do have to say some people do ask me how to say it which is nice and I don’t mind.
3. If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I’m ok with it and wouldn’t change it.
4. Do you go by your first name?
English nickname version, yes
5. Do you have a middle name?
No, fun fact most Greeks don’t have middle names. It’s your first name even if it’s two names. For example, say you have a child named Anna Maria — technically that is the child’s first name as they were baptized that name and should be called by both. All this to say, I gave my children both two names and we call them most of the time by their first. I would love to use their second name as well but both names are difficult to pronounce in English.
5. Do you have a nickname? No
Elisabeth
It must be both frustrating – and a bit embarrassing as a kid – to have a name that is difficult to pronounce. You survived that ordeal and I’m glad you embrace the name at this stage in your life.
I should be more bold about asking people how to pronounce their name correctly. Well…I do ask, but then I forget and feel too embarrassed to ask again 🙁
KV
I have gone by my nickname my entire life–Katie, which is short for Kathleen. I like my real first name in theory, but it has never felt like it fits me. It can be weird, though, because I always put my full first name on any forms, resumes, ID badges etc and then have to explain that I actually use my nickname when I meet someone in person OR people who have only known me by my nickname are confused to see my full name show up somewhere–usually if anything they thought that my full name is Katherine, since that’s more common.
I don’t mind confusion between Katie/Katy/Kate/Cate, or even Kathleen and Katherine but absolutely DO NOT EVER call me Kathy. Ugh! I can’t stand Kathy.
Sort of like Nicole, I think I have a doppelganger somewhere: everyone who gets my name wrong calls me Megan.
I’m going to guess that your middle name is Hilary!
Elisabeth
I have an aunt Kathleen who only ever goes by Kathy.
I think Katie is a great name – and very, very versatile.
How do people get Megan from Katie/Kathleen???!!!
Kyria @ Travel Spot
Hermione
Hobbes
Halifax
Holmes 🙂
Elisabeth
You’re throwing everything you’ve got at this, Kyria 🙂
Coree
I’ve got banana pants spelling – my generation is all Corey or Corrie but my parents went Coree. My school bestie was Corey so people would call us Core-e and Core-
I live in Scotland and Scottish/English people cannot cope… I was at an event yesterday and hosting so people would refer to me by name and the variety of frenchified versions of my name… At one point, I didn’t even process it as me? I’m not sure who Careeeeee is?
My English husband just calls me a pet name – and every once in awhile, I’ll hear him talking about me and realised I married someone who can’t say my name…
My son is a Theodore, nicknamed Teddy (which horrified my in laws, so American…). I assume at some point, he’ll want Theo but we live in a small town and I assume he’s stuck with Teddy til uni.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be named Sam, which felt so spunky.
Elisabeth
You are the first Coree I’ve encountered who spells it that way!
I laughed out loud that your husband can’t pronounce your name…haha.
I LOVE Teddy. I think that is such an awesome nickname. I’m meeting more and more Theo’s – that name is coming back!
Coree
I assume middle name is Helen(e), mostly because Helene Elisabeth sounds like a great name.
Elisabeth
Great guess…but wrong.
Sophie
I’m going to guess your middle name is Heidi? Only by process of elimination haha! Did you think it would be so hard to guess?
I like my name, don’t LOVE it but I do like it with my middle name: Claire
In person people generally spell and pronounce it fine, but over the phone people often mistake it for Stacey- to the point where it’s sometimes ridiculous. It will go:
“My name is Sophie.”
“Stacey?”
“Sophie”
“Tracey?”
“SOOOPHIE”
My nickname is Soph, pretty simple. But only friends call me that.
Elisabeth
Ding, ding, ding – we have a winner! Process of elimination does help 🙂
Claire is a beautiful name. And I love the nickname Soph. LOVE. IT.
Sophie to Stacey feels like…a stretch. I’m not sure how people are making some of these leaps? Maybe poor phone connections…?
Doris
1. Do you like your name? I really like my name now Doris, but I didn’t like it very much growing up. Growing up it sounded older than I was, but now I’m older, it fits me. I also enjoy that it’s not that common, but everyone knows the name and even if English isn’t your first language, it’s very accessible and familiar.
2. Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Sometimes people spell it Dorris which is very weird because I don’t know any people who spell it that way. I vastly prefer my name pronounced Door-ess and not Dar-ess, but I respond to both without correcting.
3. If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I like Marion.
4. Do you go by your first name? Yes.
5. Do you have a middle name? A chinese one – Liu
6. Do you have a nickname? No! I’m envious of people who can have nicknames. Maybe I’d like my name to be Margaret because of how many nicknames you can get from it. Marnie, Meg, Peggy, Daisy, Maisey, Margo, Greta, Pearl. lol.
Elisabeth
I’ve never heard anyone pronounce it Dar-ess! Wow! That is so different from Door-ess!
Lisa’s Yarns
My guess for your middle name is Hillary. But I am probably not right!
Do you like your name? Meh. It’s fine. As you know from my guest post, I haven’t liked my name and I am sure that hurt my parents feelings to some extent. It’s just not something I ever really love or identified with I guess? Especially Lisa Anne. Boring!
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? I have had a handful of people call me Liz when emailing me. I don’t get it. How do you get Liz from Lisa. It’s just lazy/lack of attention to detail!
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? If I could pick anything I would probably pick Claire. That was the girl name we had picked out. It’s still a classic name, but prettier than Lisa IMO!
Do you go by your first name? Yes.
Do you have a middle name? Yes it’s Anne.
Do you have a nickname? Nothing that is commonly used. People used to call me ‘D rod’ which is a shortening of my maiden name. But that’s kind of it!
All that said, we named our kids Paul and William with the intent to call them that, but Paul went by Pablo or Pablito for the first 5 years of his life since he went to a Spanish immersion daycare and that is what he was called there. And William has gone by Taco since birth since that is the nickname Paul gave him and it stuck. I imagine that when he goes to elementary school, he will switch to Will or William. But maybe not!! Time will tell!!
Elisabeth
I didn’t know Claire was your “girl” name. And I also feel like I never put two-and-two together that Will’s name is William. Of course! I feel like at that age William is such a big name, so Will (and Taco) really suit 🙂
Anne is a popular middle name!
Joyous Occasion
Elizabeth was one of our choices for our 3rd daughter but we wanted May for the middle name and Elizabeth May is a Canadian political figure so we chose differently in the end! Amazing how many variations there are of your name – Beth, Liz/Lizzie, Libby, Bess, Betty, etc. My sister is Elizabeth but was nicknamed Beth from day one, to avoid getting Betty which my mom was concerned about. Also, I know your middle name so I won’t guess but will give some more hints to other guessers: it’s not Hephzibah, Heloise, Helga or Henrike.
Do you like your name? Yes – positive associations, short, familiar but not super common.
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Occasionally I get Julie, but it’s mostly my last name I have to repeat/spell out (which was also the case for my maiden name, sigh.) In my early teens I had a basketball coach who called me Dawn for an entire season, even with several reminders. I guess I just looked like a Dawn to him?
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I wouldn’t for real but if I had to choose a pen name or alias I think Rosemary would be top of my list.
Do you go by your first name? Yes, always.
Do you have a middle name? I do – also with an H, and a palindrome which I’ve always liked.
Do you have a nickname? I have had a variety over the years: I’ve been Joyous, Joyous Occasion, Alegria – Spanish for Joy, Joyseph – my best friend in high school was Mary, so we were Mary and Joyseph. One friend called me Misery – the opposite of joy.
Elisabeth
Phew – those are some middle name options 🙂
Elizabeth May – haha! I think you know that if L had been a girl, we were going with Mae (spelled with an “e”) for the middle name!
Betty. I hope I never, ever get Betty! It sounds very old!!!
I love your name 🙂 Your last name is definitely tricky! For the record, I do not feel like you resemble a Dawn!
Shall I start calling you Misery?
San
I wonder if most kids go through a phase where they don’t like their names but then maybe come around to them again?
Do you like your name? I don’t dislike my name, but there was a time when I wished I had a different name… mainly because Sandra was a VERY popular name when I was born and there were so many Sandras in my school (three just in my class). I wanted something more unique. My twin sister, who was unexpected and they didn’t have a name picked out in advance, was named Jeannine (yes, including the French spelling), so I was always a little jealous of her unique name (although she’s gone by “Nina” ever since she was little).
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Usually not. It’s so common! LOL
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I wouldn’t change it now. It’s my name, I’ve grown fond of it and it’s not as popular here as it is in Germany (for women my age at least).
Do you go by your first name? Yes.
Do you have a middle name? I don’t.
Do you have a nickname? Well, as you know, I go by “San” online and a few friends now call me that offline too. Other than that, no.
Elisabeth
I know very few Sandra’s – two, to be exact. I don’t think it’s a common name in Canada, at least not for this “generation?” It’s so interesting how different names are much more prevalent in different cultures.
Our daughter’s name is very popular so she often comes across other students with her name. It also shows up in A LOT of pop culture. Books, movies. So many female character’s with A’s name.
I still have a hard time wrapping my name around the fact you are Sandra – just like Engie’s real name, I am so used to your online persona that it’s hard to adjust to the fact that’s not your legal name! You are very much “San” to me <3
Melissa
Do you like your name? Yes
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Not really, apart from my dad who always thinks it’s Malissa. He used us kids initials to make the company name for the family trust and I am included as MA.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I can’t even imagine being called anything else.
Do you go by your first name? Yes
Do you have a middle name? Yes, it’s Gay which caused endless hilarity to my peers in the 80’s.
Do you have a nickname? Mel, or Perc (to my schools friends because my maiden name was Percy)
Elisabeth
Okay, the fact your FATHER spells it wrong is just hilarious. But probably/maybe very frustrating??
My father would cycle through all my siblings names before he’d get to mine. I was the youngest and he tended to go in birth order. I used to roll my eyes but now I do it ALL THE TIME. I will call our son John regularly!
Marcia from OrganisingQueen
Helen? (I hven’t read the 72 comments!)
Do you like your name? I do!
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Yes, they call me Mar-see-a and I correct every single time 🙂
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? Maxine (I use it here and there on anonymous comments ;))
Do you go by your first name? I do
Do you have a middle name? I hve a hyphenated name which is its own special brand of hell.
Do you have a nickname? My husband, ex-boss and one special friend call me Marsh. But for some reason people call me Marc (not the sh sound) and it drives me dilly. I have said so before and the person who kicked off didn’t stop and now it’s spread around the book club. Actually I need to nip it in the bud.
Elisabeth
The hyphenated setup does look like it could be CONFUSING but it seems oh-so-common now…?
It can be hard to put the brakes on something like that! Good luck quashing the Marc!!
Christa Lamb
I’m a transplant from the UK to the USA (coming up on 12 years). I like my name okay. In the UK it was very unusual….not so much here (although with many different variations of spelling). My sister is called Tremaine, which is very unusual anywhere as she was named after a Cornish (UK) village. I have two grown up ‘children’. My son is called Max, which was more unusual when he was born than it is now. He likes his name. My daughter is called Eleni, which I love so much (it was a name waiting in the wings if Max had been female). She does not like it at all 🙁 She has called herself Elle since she was a teenager.
Elisabeth
Max is having a moment where we live! Such a popular name – and one of those rare one that seems to suit ALL ages of kids.
Elle is such a pretty name and she can always fall back on Eleni as she gets older; I bet it will “grow” on her.
I know A LOT of Kristy’s/Kristas/Kristen’s and Christa’s! Incidentally, I know a Kristy with a Max and a Kristen with a Max. Must be something about that combo 🙂
Stephany
I read through all these comments to see if someone had guessed your middle name. For the record, I was going to go with Hope. But I would have been wrong!
1. I think my name is fine. I don’t like it or hate it. It’s just… my name. Eh.
2. Oh yes, but I can’t get too bothered by that because my name is very uncommonly spelled. I get Stephanie a lot. Or Stefanie or Stephine, which always makes me worry for our educational system. lol
3. At this point, it would be a hassle to change my name! I will say it’s hard having an uncommonly spelled first name and a very weird last name, so I am constantly spelling out my name. It would be nice to be, like, Kelly and never have to worry about that. But alas!
4. Yup!
5. Yes. It’s Marie, just like 95% of girls born in the 80s/90s, HA.
6. I go by Steph sometimes. I like Steph or Stephany… I don’t mind either one!
Elisabeth
Wow – I know so few people with the middle name Marie? I didn’t know it was so popular for a middle name?
Stephany has a LOT of spellings. Stephanie is definitely the main option I see, but I do know. Stefanie – but she’s from Germany.
I feel like Kelly could be Kellie or Kelley…so even there, you’d likely have issues with spelling. People often ask how to spell A’s name and I’m like…the normal way?
Colleen Martin
Do you like your name? Not particularly. I always thought it was a cute kid’s name but not a grown woman’s name. At least my last name is Martin now, because my maiden name is Sweeney and people would call me Colleeney Sweeney.
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? Sometimes they drop an L. Actually I have a friend with the same name as me, and she spells it with only one L…which of course is incorrect 😉
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? Hmmmmm maybe something with a nickname like Lainey or Emmy
Do you go by your first name? Yup
Do you have a middle name? Yes, Margaret after my mom and grandma and hence why my daughter is named Maggie 🙂
Do you have a nickname? Some people try to call me “Colls” but typically no. My family calls me Pickens or Gretchen occasionally (stories behind both but not gonna get into that now!)
Elisabeth
I can see that maiden name pairing being less than ideal!
Aww. Love the family legacy of Margaret!
Gretchen is pretty far off from Colleen; that must be quite a story!!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Do you like your name? -> YES
Do people regularly misspell/mispronounce your name? -> YES, mainly the male version. But my FIL never managed it correctly. I decided it was endearing and not unrespectful.
If you were going change your name to anything else, what would you choose? I wouldn’t.
Do you go by your first name? NOPE. But back when Iw as born the law was different and the birth certificate indicated the name one was going with. Since they changed the law and now it’s an issue. Also internationally it’s an issue. It sucks. I did write a whole post on it.
Do you have a middle name? YES, the one everyone knows.
Do you have a nickname? YES, for family. And one or two other people who claimed it. Also the husband has one for me.