The other day I was talking to a friend of mine and he was telling me about something kinda boring, but what I did catch him say was "but Dave helped me out". The "Dave" in question is a co-worker of mine whom I always call "David". So I was teasing him and saying "oh so you and Dave are best buds now, huh?" while in the back of my mind, I wondered how David felt about being called Dave. You see David is very conservative, always signs his emails as David, has a nameplate at work with "David" on it, etc. But does he mind being called Dave? That's what I wanted to know.
You know, names are so important. I have several friends - Cynthia, Catherine, Dorothy - who don't like theirs to be shortened. It's a HUGE pet peeve of theirs, and I can understand that. It's their name, after all, so people should have a little respect. I get called Tracy a lot, which pretty much doesn't bother me, but sometimes I do want to say "hello, not my name, people". And don't even get me started on the spelling LOL. It was nice at RWA to have the authors ask how to spell it, and not just assume there's an "e" in my name, which is the most commonly spelled version. I appreciated that. One thing I don't mind at all is having my name shortened. I get called "Stace" a lot, and that's fine with me. It makes me feel like people are comfortable around me and don't mind letting me know that. In fact, I kinda like it. Of course then that's when it gets confusing with all whole spelling issue, but I don't want to go back there LOL.
Another person I know who doesn't like her name shortened is fab Brava author HelenKay Dimon. I think she has a very pretty name - why would anyone want to shorten it? Plus, I think unless she says otherwise, people should call her HelenKay. (Yes, I hear my mother drilling respect principles into my little head). Seriously. And with my friend Cynthia, I can't picture her as a "Cindy". Yet people call her Cindy, even when she introduces herself as Cynthia, and I know it drives her crazy. If people can't even get a name right, what about other, more important stuff? Names are who we are, how we represent ourselves. I think they should be respected.
Now I know there are people out there who just have a hard time with names. That's okay. I don't mind if you have to ask me "what's your name again?" I get that a lot anyway - don't make much of an impression on people, I guess. LOL. But there's something to be said for being anonymous - no one knows that it was you. *g*
How about you? Do you run into this with your name? How do you feel about it? How do you respond to people who just don't get it right? Does it make you crazy if someone spells your name wrong?
posted by Stacy~ at 8/27/2006 02:15:00 PM
My name is Kristine, you know how many versions and variations on spellings you can get from that... too many. So I prefer to go by the shortened version of Kris. It saves hassels and then I only have to deal with spelling (and that also is interestng because my husband is Chris).
byMy name is one that really can't be shortened which is fine with me, but what I never can understand is how people can get Cynthia, and many variations of different names, when my name is said phonically just the way it is spelled. It really is not that hard, but a lot of people see it far different than what is actually there.
byHugs,
Cryna
Interesting topic, Stacy! I get called "Laura" more than anything. My name is pronounced "Lawry" rather than Lori.
byCryna, I often wondered about your name - whether it is pronounced as you've said or like Serena. Glad you cleared that up for me! Guess I should have asked a long time ago! lol
I don't really mind when people shorten my name...I have had everything from Jen, Jenny, Jen-Jen...it doesn't really bother me. It is kind of hard to mispronounce my name...although I had a teacher who called me Jessica several times...even though I corrected her each time.
byPeople have a hard time spelling my name because most people spell my name Kelly but I spell it Kelley.
byI'm a huge nic name person. I always call people by a nic name or shorten their name once I feel comfortable with them. I'm like you, with the comfort thing. If people call me Kell it makes me feel good. I feel like they are comfortable with me.
My name is Amy, but so many people call me Ames. I don't mind. But with my last name? Oh that drives me crazy. My last name is hyphenated and French, so people spell and say it wrong ALL the time. LOL Or they'll think the first part of my last name is my first name. So they'll just use the last part of my last name.
byOk, now I'm getting confused. ;)
Everyone I know, except my pre-marriage family, calls me Barb. My mom insisted that I be called Barbara Ann from birth on, so that whole group still calls me Barbara. I did have one supervisor that called me Barbie, which I hated. But since she was a supervisor, I didn't really feel I could correct her. My maiden name is Bossuot. It's French, and pronounced Bo-sue, and that is always misspelled, and mispronounced.
byWhen I still worked, part of my job was doing orientation for new employees, and I always asked them what they prefered to be called, and sometimes even how they spelled it. If you've been on the receiving end of a messed up name, I think you are more aware and try not to inflict that on others.
Okay so it's really hard for me to make my comments on here about my name and all since I don't use my real name here. But you know what? There isn't any real reason for the fake name, besides the fact that the girls I blog with on SF use fake ones, so I'm just going to tell you my real name. But just for non-confusion sake still call me Jazz on blog stuff. Thanks. But anyway back on topic. My real name is Nicole, and it gets shortened to Nick, Nikki, Nics, I even had a kid call me Cole and it stuck for awhile. I really don't mind any of them, they are all special in a certain way, because of who calls me it. But if I don't like you, you don't get to shorten my name. It's Nicole. lol. But there are some people that their name shouldn't be shortened cause it totally takes away from it, I know a girl named Janeecia, and it's a pretty name. But if you were to shorten it to Jan that just totally takes away from the originality of her name. Then again I think some people with such a formal name should shorten it with friends, I have a Aunt Cinthia, but NOBODY calls her that, she is just Cindy.
byThe spelling thing. That annoys me. THERE IS NO FREAKING H IN MY NAME!!! My goodness Nichole is not even a common way to spell it. Even if it was common though, just ask. Like my son. His name is Jordon, notice I spelt it differant? Well I know I spelt in a out of the ordinary way but I though the 'o' made it more male, the 'a' seemed to feminine. And I do mind when it is spelled wrong. Family knows how to spell it, I've sent stuff out. School and things like that, they should never assume, so that would make me mad. And what is the worse???? MY MOM SPELLS IT WRONG SOMETIMES!!! He is 5 and her only grandson. How does she still get that wrong???? lol. Okay now that I've written a book here! Great topic.