Is my name really that uncommon?

KatWAG · November 2014

My biggest pet peeve is when people give me a nickname. I go by my formal name (think Elizabeth, Susan, Jillian, Kimberly etc) I introduce myself and then the other person says "oh hi Lizzy."

Grrrrr, thats not my name. Stop trying to make me sounds like a child. This happens all the time over email

daria24 · November 2014

FWIW, I pronounce terra-cotta and Tara differently. Terra-cotta has the same sound as "air". Tara I pronounce the same was as "arrogant." And I'm from PA.

It's like the graph of whether you pronounce Mary/marry/Merry the same way.

http://www.businessinsider.com/22-maps-that-show-the-deepest-linguistic-conflicts-in-america-2013-6#massachusetts-long-island-and-jersey-are-the-only-places-that-see-a-difference-between-merry-mary-and-marry-22

smalfrie19 · November 2014

littlemushroom said:

esstee33 said:

lolo883 said:

littlemushroom said:

A friend of mine has a little boy nicknamed Quin. His real name is like Bob Harry Smith V. They started calling him Quin before he was born.

People misspell my name all the time, both my proper name and my nickname. At work, a manager wrote me several emails thanking me for volunteering for something and spelled my name wrong every single time. All I could think is that they must not be very grateful considering they couldn't be bothered to spell my name correctly when it was printed right in front of them.

Quin like the prefix for 5 of something? Hm.

I dated a Jr. who really wanted to name a future hypothetical son after himself and nickname him Trey. Sorry dude, not naming my kid Ronald, no matter what the nickname will be.

I will never understand why people want to name their child one thing, but exclusively call them something else. I have a coworker who did this, and I just want to be like "IF YOU WANTED TO CALL HIM ALEX, WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST NAME HIM ALEX????"

YES! My mother always said this exact phrase!! My brother's name is Jeff- not Jeffrey. She's like why would I name him that if I just wanted him to be Jeff? She used to get pissed with James and Jimmy, she's like just name him fucking Jim if that's what you want.
And for the record I don't say it like TEE-ra cotta. It's hard to type out....but I meant TEH-Ra, which to me has a clear distinction from TARE-uh
Almost everyone I know goes by a diminutive of their proper name. Kimberly goes by Kim, Joshua goes by Josh, Bethany goes by Beth, Timothy is Tim, Judith is Judy, etc. My parents named me Nicole, but have always called me Nikki, except when I was in trouble. Maybe it is just because I see it all the time, but shortened versions of proper names seems really normal to me. I switched to Nicole in college and law school, and use it professionally. You can typically tell when someone met me by whether they call me Nikki or Nicole. The exception is DH and my close circle of friends, as they all call me Nikki because they see that is what the people closest to me call me. I have other friends who go exclusively by nicknames given to them by their dad as children. Martha goes by Echo, for example. Most people don't even know that Echo isn't her real name. Friends call their kids almost exclusively by nicknames, like Bean and Bug. Maybe it is a Midwest thing? The idea that nicknames of any sort would be thought weird is strange to me.

On this tangent, I had a friend named Morgan but I always called her Mo.

jenna8984 · November 2014

@daria24 yes! I couldn't figure out how to spell out the way I say them but I say it like you. And I'm from MA so there's definitely a difference between Mary, Marry, and Merry!

daria24 · November 2014

jenna8984 said:

@daria24 yes! I couldn't figure out how to spell out the way I say them but I say it like you. And I'm from MA so there's definitely a difference between Mary, Marry, and Merry!

I'm a little embarrassed by how long it took me to think of a word that has the same "a" sound as Tara.

manillabar · November 2014

jenna8984 said:

esstee33 said:

lolo883 said:

littlemushroom said:

A friend of mine has a little boy nicknamed Quin. His real name is like Bob Harry Smith V. They started calling him Quin before he was born.

People misspell my name all the time, both my proper name and my nickname. At work, a manager wrote me several emails thanking me for volunteering for something and spelled my name wrong every single time. All I could think is that they must not be very grateful considering they couldn't be bothered to spell my name correctly when it was printed right in front of them.

Quin like the prefix for 5 of something? Hm.

I dated a Jr. who really wanted to name a future hypothetical son after himself and nickname him Trey. Sorry dude, not naming my kid Ronald, no matter what the nickname will be.

I will never understand why people want to name their child one thing, but exclusively call them something else. I have a coworker who did this, and I just want to be like "IF YOU WANTED TO CALL HIM ALEX, WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST NAME HIM ALEX????"

YES! My mother always said this exact phrase!! My brother's name is Jeff- not Jeffrey. She's like why would I name him that if I just wanted him to be Jeff? She used to get pissed with James and Jimmy, she's like just name him fucking Jim if that's what you want.
And for the record I don't say it like TEE-ra cotta. It's hard to type out....but I meant TEH-Ra, which to me has a clear distinction from TARE-uh

To the bolded, I know what you mean because I would pronounce it the same way... like the "te" in "television" or "tell".

*edited to remove the part about my name because there aren't a lot of people with my name and I'd like to pretend I care about my privacy, haha

amelisha · November 2014

KatWAG said:

My biggest pet peeve is when people give me a nickname. I go by my formal name (think Elizabeth, Susan, Jillian, Kimberly etc) I introduce myself and then the other person says "oh hi Lizzy."

Grrrrr, thats not my name. Stop trying to make me sounds like a child. This happens all the time over email

I hate this too. My name is two syllables, and people who try to shorten it further kinda infuriate me. I think it's lazy, it's not my name, and none of my friends or family call me that so when acquaintances try I get pretty annoyed. It's just not "me" and I would never introduce myself that way.

I have always been under the impression that the polite thing to do is call any new person what they are introduced as (or sign themselves over email) unless they tell you otherwise. Like, if I meet a guy who says "Hi, I'm Nathan," I'm not going to call him "Nat" or "Nathaniel". Don't nickname people you don't know well, and don't ever question people when they tell you how they prefer to be called. That goes for names, pronouns, titles, everything.

steph861 · November 2014

I don't usually get weird spellings, though a couple times I've gotten Stefanie or Stefany. I once had a (non-ESL) teacher pronounce my name steph-ON-ee.

georgyg · November 2014

My first name is Jordan and I often have people (even my own family somtimes) spell my name J-o-r-d-O-n. I never understand that one. I've never seen anyone with the name actually spell it that way, but it's really common for people to misspell my name using an "o".

I'm also female so I've had a lot of issues in the past with people assuming I'm a guy. It's a much more gender neutral name now, but it wasn't in my area when I was growing up. I actually got assigned to the boys gym class on my class schedule several times because of it. Substitute teachers never believed it was my name. It usually took the entire class backing me up before the old biddies let it go.

I even had some problems as work, especially when I handled recruiting. There were a few times when a candidate came in for an interview and had only corresponded with me over email. I got some surprised looks when I introduced myself to them. One guy actually said, "Oh! I thought you'd be a guy!". Then he looked a little mortified that he said that out loud. I started putting "Ms." in my email signature as fair warning.

penguin44 · November 2014

I have a very common Irish first name and a very common German last name. People in the US can't seem to figure it out though. Actually my last name is fairly common, as it's a common appliance name brand. But people like to correct me as I'm spelling it out for them because it sounds similar to a noun.

I have seen so many variations of my first name it's ridiculous. I know it isn't spelled exactly how it sounds, but it really isn't difficult to say. I like it when people ask how to spell it multiple times, yet still get it wrong. My pediatrician actually had my name spelled incorrectly, and he said it incorrectly for 18 years. I corrected him every time.

I also have people spell my name incorrectly when the email me even though my email address is my full name. My in-laws actually all call me "D" because they think my name is too complicated.

buttercup1958 · November 2014

I know how you all feel! My last name is Popejoy. Everyone always asks how is it spell and pronunced. It shouldn't be hard people! They always add or take off extra es. I'll never understand it.

alpacalunch · November 2014

kaitlynmichelle said:

My name is Kaitlyn. I've had it spelled as Kaitlynn, Caitlin, Caitlyn, Catelin, Katelin, Katelyn, Kathleen, Kaihtlin... you get the idea. Some weird ones too. A rep last year called me Kimberly. I corrected him and he kept calling me that. It was really annoying but after the third time correcting him I felt like an ass. Some people also try to go with Katie, which is an absolute no for me. My work email is kaitlyn.maidenname@companyname too so when they email me and get it wrong it drives me nuts. Work seems to be dragging their heels on giving me an email with my married name so I changed my email signature. People also sometimes see my nametag and ask how to pronounce it. Really?! I get my spelling isn't the most common but it was a really common name when I was born. I think there were 6 of us, all with different ways to spell it, in one of my elementary classes.

As another Caitlin, I can feel your pain so strongly.

Once I was receiving an award for 10yrs of volunteering at my local community centre. It was a big deal, happened at city hall, there was media, etc etc. Spelled my name "Kate-Lynne". Really, guys?

alpacalunch · November 2014

Andplusalso, when I was waiting tables, I introduced myself to some folks, and they asked me how I spelled my name. Fine, whatever, recited the letters. Then, "huh, do you always spell it that way?" Well, yes. Yes I do.

jenna8984 · November 2014

alpacalunch said:

Andplusalso, when I was waiting tables, I introduced myself to some folks, and they asked me how I spelled my name. Fine, whatever, recited the letters. Then, "huh, do you always spell it that way?" Well, yes. Yes I do.

lol that is so weird! When I was a waitress, my coworker Bridgette once introduced herself to a table and they laughed and said "that's hilarious- what's your real name?" They legit thought it was like a kitschy "theme" work name.

WinstonsGirl · November 2014

DH's name has both a male and female form (add an e on the end for girls). I get that it's not a super common male name here, as he is not from Canada, but even our friends spell it in the feminine form. I've had some weird looks from people when I tell them his name.

My last name has 5 letters. Most people need it spelt out several times for them before they get it right. I have to give it to them a letter at a time, or they mix them up. It's pretty similar to more common last names, and I usually don't correct people unless it's something important.

ashley8918 · November 2014

daria24 said:

FWIW, I pronounce terra-cotta and Tara differently. Terra-cotta has the same sound as "air". Tara I pronounce the same was as "arrogant." And I'm from PA.

It's like the graph of whether you pronounce Mary/marry/Merry the same way.

http://www.businessinsider.com/22-maps-that-show-the-deepest-linguistic-conflicts-in-america-2013-6#massachusetts-long-island-and-jersey-are-the-only-places-that-see-a-difference-between-merry-mary-and-marry-22

I AM SO CONFUSED. These are all pronounced with the air sound around here. i.e.T-air-uh cotta or air-uh-gant... I can't even think of how they could be pronounced differently. I think i'm going to need to find some audio, hahaha. I am literally baffled!

Same with Mary/marry/merry. I can't even imagine a way in which they would be pronounced differently. It's all M-air-ee to me.

ETA

buttercup1958 · November 2014

I feel bad for miss pronouncing names but sometimes its hard for me. I have went to speech therarpy for 7 years as a kid. This is as good as I'm going to get. I do make the attempt though!

kaitlynmichelle · November 2014

@hellosweetie1015‌ Now I'm dying to know how you spell it!

My new married name is very uncommon so now I have to get used to no one spelling or pronouncing that right either. Even our officiant butchered it when she pronounced us, despite our spelling it out for her and writing it out as well. Oh well. Our families found it hilarious!

jenna8984 · November 2014

@ashley8918

In MA, generally it's like this:

marry- the way you said M-AIR-EE

Mary- like the movie Zach & Miri make a porno, or like the beginning of mirror

merry- like the beginning of Meredith

kaitlynmichelle · November 2014

@alpacalunch‌ I won an award in high school with my first name spelled wrong. I was pretty mad since it was from the Royal Canadian Legion so I was really proud of it.

ashley8918 · November 2014

jenna8984 said:

@ashley8918
In MA, generally it's like this:
marry- the way you said M-AIR-EE
Mary- like the movie Zach & Miri make a porno, or like the beginning of mirror
merry- like the beginning of Meredith

Whoa. Mary = Miri feels SUPER weird to me, hahaha. I had no idea!

And I would pronounce Meredith with an "air" in it, as well (M-air-uh-dith).

You learn something new every day!

theartistformerlyknownas · November 2014

Lol the only way I know what y'all are talking about with your east coast pronunciation is remembering the endless arguments with my high school bf who lived in New Jersey, over how we said "tired and fired" with the I sounding more like "uy" than "eye."

Sugargirl1019 · November 2014

beachyone15 said:
Ugh, Flynn sounds too much like "phlegm".

This is part of my name. I'm serious. And I love it.

Sooo thanks for hatin on my name.

My first name is Colleen. (I showed my wedding trailer and it showed my name so I don't care). People spell it Coleen, Collen, Colin, Collin... I'm like some of those are boy names! People pronounce my name like Collin all the time for some reason, like Is this a boy figure in front of you??

beethery · November 2014

penguin44 said:

I have a very common Irish first name and a very common German last name. People in the US can't seem to figure it out though. Actually my last name is fairly common, as it's a common appliance name brand. But people like to correct me as I'm spelling it out for them because it sounds similar to a noun.

I have seen so many variations of my first name it's ridiculous. I know it isn't spelled exactly how it sounds, but it really isn't difficult to say. I like it when people ask how to spell it multiple times, yet still get it wrong. My pediatrician actually had my name spelled incorrectly, and he said it incorrectly for 18 years. I corrected him every time.

I also have people spell my name incorrectly when the email me even though my email address is my full name. My in-laws actually all call me "D" because they think my name is too complicated.

Your last name is Whirlpool?!??!?!?!?!

penguin44 · November 2014

beethery said:

penguin44 said:

I have a very common Irish first name and a very common German last name. People in the US can't seem to figure it out though. Actually my last name is fairly common, as it's a common appliance name brand. But people like to correct me as I'm spelling it out for them because it sounds similar to a noun.

I have seen so many variations of my first name it's ridiculous. I know it isn't spelled exactly how it sounds, but it really isn't difficult to say. I like it when people ask how to spell it multiple times, yet still get it wrong. My pediatrician actually had my name spelled incorrectly, and he said it incorrectly for 18 years. I corrected him every time.

I also have people spell my name incorrectly when the email me even though my email address is my full name. My in-laws actually all call me "D" because they think my name is too complicated.

Your last name is Whirlpool?!??!?!?!?!

SMALL appliance. Haha. And my new last name is another small appliance brand. We like to call ourselves the blenders and coffeemakers.

huskypuppy14 · November 2014

amelisha said:

"Soapy" is kind of adorable and if I had a pet or small child named "Sophie" I would definitely nickname it so. But...not for an adult human or stranger of any age.

I cannot wait until the fad of inserting random "y"s in place of virtually any other vowel of a name is over. I don't think "Madysyn" is cute, you know? And I don't care if it's classist but it makes the parents, and later the named person, look uneducated in my opinion.

My name is Lauryn, and I actually think it looks better with the y than with an e. I see your point with some names, but not all Ys are bad.

People are constantly spelling my name wrong. Look, I don't care if you're a stranger, obviously you would spell it the "normal way" if you didn't know better.

But there is no excuse for spelling my name Lauren in an email or facebook. My name is right there. People who have known me for many years, still spell my name wrong.

One time at I was emailing with a vendor and they kept referring to me as Laura. Emails went back and forth about 5 times, with me signing of with Lauryn. Next email would be "Hi Laura, ..."
There actually is a Laura at my work, so I finally said, look my name is Lauryn, and there is another person named Laura, so I don't want the package to come to Laura and not Lauryn. It made them look very unprofessional.

huskypuppy14 · November 2014

lolo883 said:

Lol the only way I know what y'all are talking about with your east coast pronunciation is remembering the endless arguments with my high school bf who lived in New Jersey, over how we said "tired and fired" with the I sounding more like "uy" than "eye."

Not all eastcoasters sound like this. I don't even understand what Jenna is trying to say!

People from Connecticut have more of a neutral accent, like the midwest. Mary, Merry, Marry all sound the same to me. I can't even pronounce how some people say Marry. It's seems so exagerated to me...Maaarry.

luckya23 · November 2014

I'm from NY but have been told I have a pretty neutral accent. Mary/merry sound similar if I'm being lazy but in my head they are supposed to sound different. Mary would be m+airy. Mehry xmas. Like Jerry. Marry like Harry, not hairy!

charlieyankee03 · November 2014

"Hello, this is Courtney."

"Hi, Brittney."

"......."

ALL.THE.TIME.

jenna8984 · November 2014

huskypuppy14 said:

lolo883 said:

Lol the only way I know what y'all are talking about with your east coast pronunciation is remembering the endless arguments with my high school bf who lived in New Jersey, over how we said "tired and fired" with the I sounding more like "uy" than "eye."

Not all eastcoasters sound like this. I don't even understand what Jenna is trying to say!

People from Connecticut have more of a neutral accent, like the midwest. Mary, Merry, Marry all sound the same to me. I can't even pronounce how some people say Marry. It's seems so exagerated to me...Maaarry.

lol sorry, that's how my family pronounces things, I'll shut up now

Is my name really that uncommon?

Re: Is my name really that uncommon?

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