Changing your name

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

I want to use my middle name as my first name.

Using the middle name is almost a tradition in my family.
I go by my middle name, as does my sister. Our father did, too.
No one knows, and it usually makes no difference.
Only problem is when you are in a professional office and the receptionist calls out your first name, the one you never use and don't answer to.
Several times, at a doctor's office, I've sat reading long after the receptionist first announced, using the wrong name, that the doctor would see me now.

 

[No_Strings]

Several times, at a doctor's office, I've sat reading long after the receptionist first announced, using the wrong name, that the doctor would see me now.

I think that's just your hearing.

 

[B_ScaredLittleBoy]

I wouldn't mind my middle name as my first name. Or anything else, really. I hate my first name. I was going to make a blog about the issue and the identity crises that my name(s) has/have caused.

:redface:

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

I think that's just your hearing.

What?
(BTW, Rubi has poor hearing, so you've just grievously insulted, nay destroyed, a handicapped person.)

 

[Tattooed Goddess]

My legal first name is not what i go by in social situations, bank accounts, credit cards, etc. What i have always gone by in school and now is a variation of my real name. It's so close that most people don't even notice the difference when comparing my drivers license to my credit card or checks.

I did not legally change it, but if it were way off from my birth name i would probably legally change it...for the sake of its popularity. I refused to be one of the many Sarah's in my class. Therefor i named my daughter a unique name that is one syllable, easy to spell and easy to remember but you rarely ever see it on anyone.

Names are so important and i know my unique name has been a conversation piece on many occasions. I wanted my daughter to have the same luxury.

But my first and last name together are very strange, the first four letters of my first name is the last four letters of my lastname. People mispronounce it and screw it up constantly. I do miss my maiden name since it was hard to screw up. But no one forgets us by our lastname and doing family searches on the internet is very easy.

 

[No_Strings]

What?
(BTW, Rubi has poor hearing, so you've just grievously insulted, nay destroyed, a handicapped person.)

Nice, I unwittingly earned bonus points.
Feel free to make fun of my back. Or my ears. Or those hairs that go too far in. But, but, don't make fun of my peenus. It's sharp.

 

[D_Thoraxis_Biggulp]

I find nothing wrong with the name Apple. I grew up with people of all sorts of backgrounds and my high school year book had Mustafa, Velma, Dhjib (not to be confused with Dhjub or Djhab), Omar, Oemil, Pleasant, Nazareth, Song, Kareem, Munir, Beanie, Soheir (or was it Sohair), London and Sahib not to mention, Isadore, Igor, Valentine and Raj and of course there were the odd names such as Thomas, Joseph, George, William, James, Louis, Pamela, Susan, Ann...

A name is what you make of it or don't. Names which strike an American as odd may seem normal to a Pakistani and vice-versa. As to changing it, why? It's served me well so far; so, why tamper with it.

You're comparing actual ethnic names random words being used as names. Apple Paltrow sounds like a dessert pastry, and Moon Unit sounds like a James Bond villain. There's a difference between unusual (as in uncommon) and stupidly absurd.

 

[deleted257218]

I've already legally changed my last name once and I'm contemplating changing my first name now.......I want to use my middle name as my first name:
Currently my name is Peter, If I change it my name will be Feliks(the polish spelling).......Should i do it? I kind of like Feliks.

You just like the name or i assume you're of Polish origin? I've spent a day with a different name. We have to wear name tags at work and i lost mine. When i went to look for the name sheets mine wasn't there so my boss just went "oh pick any" ^^ i picked James cos i like that as well, was rather strange when a customer went to customer services saying how lovely James was and customer services going "wtf? there's no James' in the entire store

 

[hotbtminla]

When I was younger I wasn't happy with my first name because it was the same as my dad's, which often got confusing. My family constantly referred to me as "Little {hotbtminla}" to differentiate us, which sometimes made me feel like I didn't have my own identity. It's not easy for a 10 year old to deal with an existential crisis. And by the time I turned 16 I was bigger than him, so the "Little" moniker was just obnoxious. Once I got to college I was given a nickname (because in a house of 6 guys 4 of us had my name) that became so quickly and universally accepted that to this day that's the name most people know me by. In fact when a friend uses my given name it results in a choked pause, a "why did I just call you that" and laughter.

I am, however, over the whole dad thing.

I didn't have many alternatives growing up. "Junior" wasn't an option because my dad and I had different middle names. My middle name is my mom's maiden name and it doesn't lend itself to being a first name in any way. Though why in the world they never thought to call me by 1 or 2 common derivations of my first name I'll never know. My folks were strange like that.

I've always liked my name.
Not many people believe my last name is real, but that's ok with me.
They don't have to know I'm actually a superhero. ;]

Well you certainly have the body for superheroism, as well as the attitude. :smile:

{hotbtminla imagines Rocky in tights} :tongue:

 

[Charles Finn]

Charles Martin Finn-Neuendorf
I was adopted twice and had to go from Finn to Neuendorf at 8 years old
Finn was much easier to spell.
I did go from Chuck to Charles in the 2nd grade

 

[deleted3782]

I like mine. Im named after an ancestor who lived in the late eighteenth century...unofficially my name is followed by a "II" since I'm named after him. I'm keepin' it.

 

[D_Martin van Burden]

I love my name, too. My first name is Dee. It's a nickname, but I've used it so much over the past few years that it just made sense to change it. I don't have a middle name, and I have two surnames -- my dad's (American) and my great-grandmother's (Greek).

 

[bbristow]

i didn't like my first name at, ugh, first, coz i believed it was too formal (which is why i always go by my nickname, which is just my initials) and my surname too, coz it sounds too ethnic.. but when people whose mother tongue is the english language say it (they pronounce it 2 different ways, depending on which syllable is stressed), it doesn't sound so ethnic anymore, it's quite different.. so i kinda like it now..

the only thing i don't like right now is that my mother's maiden name is always a part of my (and my siblings too) name... it's a cultural thing.. and my mom would probably kill me if i drop it legally..

 

[WifeOfBath]

I have a very long, hard to spell last name. My business life primarily uses my name for its identity, and I have put serious thought into changing my last name to something more easily spoken, read, and spelled. I really haven't been able to bring myself to do it though because everything else I come up with seems kinda childish or affected, and I also like sharing my name with my husband and son. The other problem is that I'm pretty entrenched in my current web address and I wouldn't want to change that, so I'd have to work within the confines of it.

 

[gymfresh]

You're comparing actual ethnic names random words being used as names. Apple Paltrow sounds like a dessert pastry, and Moon Unit sounds like a James Bond villain. There's a difference between unusual (as in uncommon) and stupidly absurd.

Ja. My sister's 2 best friends in elementary school were Colony and Pajama (pronounced pazhamay), and I thought they were ridiculous even then.

 

[DiscoBoy]

I've thought about changing the spelling of my name. The way I spell my name is atypical and people tend to misspell it, even after I've corrected them. But I've decided to keep it the way it is; it's shorter this way and gives me character (well, I like to delude myself into thinking so anyway).

 

[Viking_UK]

When you see the names some parents lumber their kids with, it's no wonder that many change them as soon as they're able to.It doesn't seem to matter what your name is though, it usually sounds like a word in somebody else's language, which can be hilarious or embarrassing. The name of one of my friends at uni sounded very like a word in Gaelic which, loosely translated, means cretin or idiot. My real first name sounds like an equally complimentary word in Welsh, but I'm not going to change it. I like it, and I don't often have to deal with Welsh speakers these days.