Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think DH needs to tell his barber his real name?

112 replies

ReligiousEel · 02/08/2025 17:45

DH has been using the same barber for more than a decade. He goes about once a month. They chat when he’s there, about football, families, holidays, the usual stuff. We once bumped into the barber in the supermarket and said hello and had a very brief chat.

All fairly normal. Except the barber thinks DH is called Chris. He’s not called Chris, not even close.

I asked DH why the barber thinks he’s called Chris and he doesn’t know. He just knows at one of their early appointments the barber called him Chris and he didn’t correct him, as he didn’t think it was important. Now, more than a decade later, he’s still calling him Chris.

I suggested to DH that he tell him his actual name but he refused. He said it didn’t matter, he’s just the bloke who cuts his hair, and the ship has sailed - he’s just going to have to be Chris to the barber forever.

AIBU to think he should tell him?

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 05/08/2025 08:35

worstofbothworlds · 02/08/2025 19:27

Polly is a very long standing traditional NN for Mary, just as Peggy is for Margaret and Betsy for Elizabeth.

There used to be a tradition of boys with the surname Clark, being nicknamed ‘Nobby’. Somehow I don’t think anyone would use that now!

Re Chalky, I still have a children’s book entitled that, published in the 50s - the main character’s surname was White. Nobody else ever seems to have heard of it, but it’s a cracking read - I still return to it now and then.

dhfoody47 · 05/08/2025 08:28

Dave 😂

Snakebite61 · 04/08/2025 08:16

cofffeeee · 02/08/2025 18:06

I never use my real name everyone calls me by my nick name have done since the day i was born.
When my real name is called in doctors dentist etc i dont turn my head for a few seconds.
when im asked my name by others its always my nick name that comes out.
But in our family no one uses their real name.
Name a birth is given then you get a nick name and thats what we use.

Weird.

Snakebite61 · 04/08/2025 08:15

WiddlinDiddlin · 02/08/2025 17:51

Oh no... he shall be Chris forever more.

My Mum did a regular job at a restaurant as a contractor - the owner thought her name was (lets say!) Pamela, when in fact her name was Penelope.

She signed her name on the job sheet Penelope, every time. She had introduced herself as Penelope originally but somehow, he had misheard...

He still called her Pamela and when we went out for meals there she would hiss at us 'don't correct him! Just let him call me Pamela'. So he did, for about 15 years.

He came to her funeral and was still quite baffled by it all, he asked me if Pamela was her nickname... I just mumbled something and moved on!

😂 brilliant.

Snakebite61 · 04/08/2025 08:14

ReligiousEel · 02/08/2025 17:45

DH has been using the same barber for more than a decade. He goes about once a month. They chat when he’s there, about football, families, holidays, the usual stuff. We once bumped into the barber in the supermarket and said hello and had a very brief chat.

All fairly normal. Except the barber thinks DH is called Chris. He’s not called Chris, not even close.

I asked DH why the barber thinks he’s called Chris and he doesn’t know. He just knows at one of their early appointments the barber called him Chris and he didn’t correct him, as he didn’t think it was important. Now, more than a decade later, he’s still calling him Chris.

I suggested to DH that he tell him his actual name but he refused. He said it didn’t matter, he’s just the bloke who cuts his hair, and the ship has sailed - he’s just going to have to be Chris to the barber forever.

AIBU to think he should tell him?

This is hilarious 😂 What the hell are you worried about?

Nugg · 04/08/2025 05:29

If anyone ever gets my name wrong they call me Wendy. I have literally no idea why, but it’s happened about half a dozen times! The first person that did about 15 years ago I asked them why Wendy and all she could come up with is that I must look like a Wendy🤣

My name is nothing like Wendy!

dontforgetme · 04/08/2025 03:16

Ha this made me laugh op. Our old next door neighbour called my dp Toby for 11 years. His name sounds nothing like Toby! I referred to dp as his actual name when talking to the neighbours multiple times over the years but Toby just stuck. We’ve moved now and I call him Toby every now and then as I miss our neighbours! Cracking older couple felt so safe with them next door when dp worked away.

Itsnottheheatitsthehumidity · 04/08/2025 01:32

My gran was the product of an unmarried couple. She was born in the 1920s. Her mum gave her a name. But soon after she was born, her mum & dad married. My Great Grandfather was a b@stard to GGran according to my mum, a right piece of work.I assume GGran had to marry the father of her baby because those were the times she lived in. Anyway he didn't like Gran"s name and changed it, but not officially. My Gran took that name into adulthood. She needed to apply for a passport at some point and asked her imum for her birth certificate, but her mum wouldn't hand it over. So Gran got a copy from the registry office and found out the truth. (By then GGrandad was long gone, died of lung cancer).

I don't know what happened after that but Gran got married under the name her Dad gave her so she must have decided to change it, officially.

My grandfather was a very good kind man and my Gran has a happy life with him, so there was a happy ending. GGran lived into ger nineties, so had many happy years without GGrandad.

BooneyBeautiful · 04/08/2025 00:44

Pudmyboy · 02/08/2025 18:46

Years ago I knew someone called Mary who was known as Polly, it was not a unique pairing, other women called Mary were known as Polly, apparently at one point it was common for certain names to have alternative/nicknames associated with them: I will try to think of other examples but an obvious one is if someone had a surname of White, they would be known as Chalky. But other alternative/nicknames were nothing to do with the surname.
The woman I knew was probably born around 100 years ago (long deceased) so maybe it was a thing then....

Show quote history

Margaret was always Peg or Peggy.

Bernardo1 · 04/08/2025 00:30

Maybe he fantasies he's James Bond or another 00.
Get him a shoulder holster for his birthday, he can keep his mobile in it!

MaddestGranny · 03/08/2025 23:35

Reminds me of the music teacher we had at my grammar school, very many years ago, who - without exception - called every boy "George" and every girl "Mathilda". Very odd in many ways, but I have him to thank for a sound basic knowledge of dates and styles of composers from medieval through classical to romantic and early modern 20th century.

Endorewitch · 03/08/2025 23:33

Called our friendly corner shop owner Charlie for years. Then found out he was called Dave!He never bothered to correct me. Saving my blushes I presume!Honestly it is no big deal. Your DH is right.

Dogeatdog · 03/08/2025 23:06

I used to live in a forces married quarter and was on speaking terms with a lady that lived there . We moved to our own house in the village and she later moved down the road . We had mutual friends that we chatted about when we saw each other and she always called me Helen (nc) not my name but I didn’t correct her.
Anyway , I had a little girl and she was about 3 or 4 when we stopped by this lady’s gate and she investable called me Helen in conversation - my daughter piped up with ‘ why is that lady calling you Helen , your name is Marie (nc) . So embarrassed as I had to then explain to the lady that Dd was correct , my name wasn’t Helen but Marie - kids , don’t you just love em 😳😧

FloofyBird · 03/08/2025 23:01

I wonder if there's shop owners out there calling everyone Chris or Debbie just to see who corrects them 😂

Papergirl1968 · 03/08/2025 22:46

yoursecretcrush · 03/08/2025 05:14

I have no idea why anyone wouldn’t correct someone if they have your name wrong or check exactly what some one’s name is. It’s not hard? Insane behaviour.

Because of the famous British politeness and reserve!
I don’t think I’ve ever been called a completely different name but my name can be spelled in a few different ways, eg Katie, Katy or Lucy/Lucie as another example. Even some relatives eg an aunt get it wrong and I don’t correct people. Ots a complete name in itself but one friend occasionally lengthens it, eg to Kathryn. Or Lucinda in the second example.
I let it go because life’s too short.

Blades2 · 03/08/2025 22:31

I mean…..it’s not as bad as the very drunk woman I met outside a hotel, who insisted on telling me the story that she had met, had sex with, yelled his name alot, spent the entire next day with him calling him said name……to then find out, she had misheard him and was using a completely different name.

Mellowbear · 03/08/2025 22:30

My hairdresser has called me Sheila for ten years and I'm Sylvia but I've replied to it for so long I can't say anything now xxxx

WhatMyNameis · 03/08/2025 21:28

My dry cleaner of 20 years calls me by my last name (I have a firstname/lastname).

too late now!

troppibambini6 · 03/08/2025 21:01

There is a woman I met when I was 19 (I’m 47) she always calls me Francesca. I have an Italian name but it’s nothing like Francesca. I feel like after 28 years it’s probably too late to correct her. I don’t see much of her now but did bump into her once when I was with dh. He couldn’t stop laughing afterwards when I explained I’d just accepted the new name.

Treesandsheepeverywhere · 03/08/2025 21:00

Why give yourself a job of worrying about it. If your DH doesn't mind, let them be.

Roomforapony · 03/08/2025 20:45

RoadAtlas · 02/08/2025 17:59

"They're going to call him Rodney... after Dave" comes to mind.

🙌🏻

BendingSpoons · 03/08/2025 20:22

mintsugardress · 03/08/2025 08:41

I actually have this with a woman at work! She’s called Helen but she reminds me so much of a woman I used to know called Sally. It’s been two years and I still struggle not to call her Sally, in fact I did it just the other day. She was very nice about it 🙃

Show quote history

I had this with a work colleague. She REALLY reminded me of a friend from uni and I kept wanting to call her uni friend's name. The problem was my uni friend had the same name as me, so I would have seemed very strange mistakenly calling my work colleague by my name.

Thisworldsnofun · 03/08/2025 20:15

Maybe once a week I get breakfast from a local sandwich shop. One day I went in and the woman behind the counter announced what I was having. She was so proud of remembering I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't my order. Been eating the wrong sandwich for about a year now. It's actually quite nice 🤷

MyDeftHedgehog · 03/08/2025 19:53

Years ago I worked in a shop and one of the regular customers always called me Susan. I dont know why and I never bothered to correct her.
Fast forward a few years and I got a job in a shop near the old one. The same woman shopped there and for some unfathomable reason I became Mary.
Again I didnt bother to correct her, I just couldn't be arsed 🤣

Heyhoitsme · 03/08/2025 19:47

A colleague was spelling something out on the phone. She said "N for Nora". Ever since the person has called her Nora and she doesn't like to correct him.

Swipe left for the next trending thread