Nicknames

[jmc_bks]

SB Candy wrote about naming conventions last week. Suisan wrote about naming heroes. They covered the subjects pretty thoroughly, I think. Reading their posts reminded me of something I've noticed lately in my every day life. My given name is a fairly common one – there were three other girls in my grade through out middle and senior high school with the same given name. We all went by different versions or diminutives and the teachers used them uniformly, so there was never any confusion about who they were calling on or talking to in class. I had a variety of familial nicknames which are still used, but they are completely unrelated to my given name. When I went away to college, I tried an abbreviation of my name as a nickname; my friends from college still use it – you can date my friends by which version of my name they use. When I entered the professional world, I thought that the abbreviation was too short, making my name too choppy and a little childish. I never introduce myself to anyone with the diminutive in a professional context. Everything I write professionally has my full name. But suddenly I’m getting work-related emails and correspondence addressing me with two different diminutives, one of which I have never used. Huh? I’m not the most formal person in the world, but the assumption of familiarity kind of bothers me, especially since I get email from relative strangers. Would you address a total stranger named David as Dave or Davey? I don't think so. The use of my regular nickname isn't a big deal, but I actively dislike the other nickname (which is why I have never used it). I'm trying to tactfully steer people back to my given name, but some people are really offended by the idea that I don't want to be called by a nickname.

Comments

I know what you mean

[(Anonymous)]

I kind of have the opposite problem. My parents named me Jennifer, then proceeded to never, ever call me that. I've always been Jennie and it drives me a little nuts when people call me Jennifer--it just doesn't sound like me. I even made the IT guys at my company change my name in the email/phone address book. Luckily, I work in a pretty casual setting.

But then when people further shorten it to Jen, that's annoying too. I mean, come on, it's only two syllables. I think you can handle it.

-jennie

[(Anonymous)]

The same thing happens to me. I go by my full name - I never introduce myself as anything but my full name and yet people always try to shorten it. And I hate the conventional shortening of my name. When I was younger I used to tell people I didn't like to be called that, and was able to break all but 1 or 2 holdouts from calling me that.

A woman at work the other day realized she shortened my name and asked me if I minded. I told her I did so she's working on remembering not to shorten.

2 of my closest friends call me by my familial nickname and with one person it sounds perfect and I barely notice when she uses it, but for the other one I hear it every single time and can't get used it. Of course, I'll never tell him that, but I'm only barely able to keep from cringing.

You shouldn't let the people who are offended waylay you. It's your name, you deserve to be called what you want. Stay strong! :)

~Jay