Have you/would you change your own first name?

I would quite like to be known as my middle name rather than my first. In my 30s now though so feel it is a little late.

I've gone through endless variations of my name as nicknames (think Georgina - Georgie - George - Gina), and realised this year that I just don't actually like it.

But I can date people in my past by which nickname they call me!

I have two perspectives on this. Firstly, Alix is my daughter's name and I think it's lovely- I've never thought of it as 'wacky' and we've never had any negative comments.

However, I can sympathise with having negative emotional baggage attached to your name due to bullying as that happened to me. I also felt that my original name was too 'flowery' and didn't suit me. At age 18 I changed my name by deed poll (keeping my original first name as a middle name, in respect of my parents' feelings I chose not to totally discard it. ) I have never regretted changing my name for a moment. There is something very empowering about choosing one's own name and it does make a difference to be able to introduce yourself without the memories of bullying ringing in your ears. If you want a change, go for it.

I have changed my name, but parents and siblings still use my real first name. I don't mind this, I didn't expect them to change.
Friends, neighbours and colleagues all know me as my chosen, completely different name.
My chosen name is classic and simple.
My given name is ugly, harsh-sounding, and hard to spell. It prompts the questions 'really?' 'you must be Irish?' 'are you a catholic?' 'are you frigid?' (yes, really) with monotonous regularity.
In answer to your query regarding everlasting happiness, confidence, weight loss and world domination - yes!

I love Alix! Its a strong name, not a girly girl name, but the name of a person who knows her mind and people dont mess with! I like the fact it's quite a unisex name too. Didnt the Rolling Stone call his daughter Dandelion, but she prefers to call herself Angela??? My own name has so many variations, nicknames and diminutives, people often say What is your name? - and I reply I dont know! I d really like a nice straight forward name, just that little bit different like Alix. Do you wanna swap names with me??

Englishwoman your name was one I longed to be called when I was young [I think I am right]H..... was on my list for dd but dh wasn't keen.

I have always been known by the third of my three Christian names-I have never liked it-not horrible just a bit...meh!
When I was a student and for a while afterwards I used my first name but my family and school friends just couldn't remember so for a while one group of people knew me as V.. and one group as S....
I married someone who had known me at school so just gave up and went bak to V..
However my present dh always uses a diminutive of S.... as a nn for me :)

Go for it - I think the change from Alix to Alice sounds very workable, and your work situation ideal for it. As the names are similar sounding it won't matter so much if there are still a few people who use the old one, and switching won't be as weird to people as if you go for something totally and utterly different.

I've never liked my name - it's gender neutral and can also be a surname, and I always remember the first time I went away on an activity holiday without my parents and the instructors all decided to make comments like "What a big man you were when you climbed Everest" Its also very dated and not pretty sounding at all. I was very self concious introducing myself as a teen and had things happen like a couple of boys coming to chat me and my friend up, and when I said my name the one talking to me asked his friend to "swap" (yes I know they were clearly total idiots we were best running a mile from, but it's not pleasant when you're 13 or so!!)

My sisters also oddly got nice normal names... My mother claims I liked my name as a child - if I did it must have been as a very small child indeed... but tbh I just never mentioned not liking it to her til a conversation we had when I was pregnant with DC3, during which she was regaling me at length with her brilliant decision in choosing my name, and how much I have always loved it

All that said I am 37 and feel I should have changed my name when I went to uni, or before that on my year off, or straight after when I first started work... or at one of the other landmark changes that happen in your late teens and early 20s, it feels too late now, especially as we have lived where we do now for years and nobody would "get it" if I decided to change it now...

A relative of mine changed his name by deedpoll.and he was 60!He had never liked his original name.But he actually went the other way from you.He had a fairly long name,and changed it to a short name which used up some of the letters from his original name iyswim.Trouble was,some of his older relatives refused to call him by his new name,so he ended up half the time being called by his new name,and half the time by his old name.
But he never regretted it.
Think he did it by deed poll.I assume he could always have changed it again.Dont know if you can do that,or if there is a cost involved.

Yes, that sort of stuff can definitely affect you when you're young and just trying to fit it My first name has never been a problem (in fact, if you are going to change yours, feel free to use mine, it's Kate ) but my maiden name was horrific. Hard to spell, hard to say, with some very horrible sounds in it which were used to tease One of the highlights of getting married was that I could get rid of it So I can definitely understand how you feel about that. I also struggled with a middle name that was a boys name (and an unattractive one at that!), but thankfully it was a second middle name, so I have kind of dropped it now except for official documents
I know I said I like it and that you shouldn't change it, but I'd you really feel that strongly, you should. I know that my self esteem took a massive boost when I got married due to the surname change, especially as I moved at the same time, so a lot of friends, work colleagues etc will never know what my old surname was

Oh, I am so sorry, I don't mean to offend, that was the least of my intentions

If it helps, my thoughts could be unusual in that I am very interested in people's names and still tend to have a little think about the origins of the names of people I meet, even the really boring ones! I've been like that more since I named my own children, as I realise now how difficult it is to name a child! Anyway, sorry, I'm waffling, my point was that I don't think most people give other people's names a second thought, it could be that you are reading too much into others reactions. It's most definitely not wacky enough for me to have ever mentioned it to anyone else who doesn't know her! I feel I may be digging myself into a hole here, I'm sorry I'll just end by saying that I think it's nice (in a very bog standard boring way, not a wacky way!)

Oh, I know of an Alix! FWIW, the first time I saw her name written down, my thoughts were 'ooo, her parents must be a bit wacky... But it's more interesting than bog standard Alex... I like it!'
If I were you, I wouldn't change it, and stop apologising for it, it's fine!

Interesting thread- Certainly useful for those thinking of giving their child a "different" name...
FWIW, I think Alix is a pretty cool name. I think it's more a question of your confidence than the actual name... Don't apologise for it! "Hi, I'm Alix... No, not Alex, Alix with an i. It's French."

I went through a period of finding my name a bit of a bother- not disliking it, exactly, but it's very very unusual, with a weird spelling, and lots of teasing potential (though I was teased for my fat arse rather than my name :o ) I did think a lot about what I'd like to be called instead, and thought how I would feel better with a more common name... But I didn't change it.
Then my mother died, and then I had my own children. Those things taught me to LOVE my name, because it was the first thing my mother ever bestowed upon me- The first gift I was ever given.

(Disclaimer: I am a romantic fool)

In other words, I think you overemphasise the importance of a name, a collection of letters by which you're known.

"Have you ever known a case of a namechange leading to everlasting happiness, confidence, weight loss, world domination etc? "

No. In my experience people make their name, not the other way round. I know some great characters with, quite frankly, unusual/comical names who I greatly admire. Equally I know lots of people with bog standard names that are un-confident and not particularly happy.

I have a totally different name to the one on my birth certificate. No one really called me by my first name as I had a nickname as a child.

At school I tried to shorten my name but didn't like any of the shortened ones. A friend of the family suggested a different name, I liked it and chose to be known as that, but I was a child not an adult.

I was known as this name for ages but it was clearly difficult at school as everyone knew me by my original name.

When I went to Uni my new name was the only name everyone knew me by so that was much easier.

I had it changed by deed poll.

The known as option is a PITA, because you always get someone trying to make you use it.

If you want to change it, then do it and do it by deed poll. My parents and siblings called me by my new name. Only one person refused, so I never spoke to her again My Mum said, who the hell does she think she is to dictate what you call yourself if your Dad and I are fine with it and we were the ones who gave you the original name! I love my Mum.

I did it, like you no new e mail adddress needed, I did it by deed poll it was a bit of a pain informing bank, getting new passport etc but it has made the world of difference to me. For some reason my younger sister still calls me by my former name , as does my Dad but i know have a little sigh rather than get annoyed.

I know two people who have done this - both as adults over the age of 35.

DP's brother changed his name (but not officially) - he changed his first name and surname and there was a period of about two years where his family still called him by his 'real' name; now, apart from his mum, they all use his 'chosen' first name. I am not sure what they do with his surname - it's not like they use it much in conversation. I don't know his reasons behind doing this (although his real first name is the same as DP's middle name which I always thought was a bit odd). In the rest of his life, I think he just changed his name and that was that - professionally he travels around DJ-ing and making music/records so is something of a free spirit anyway and has never had an office job with colleagues who would find a new name strange.

Then I know someone else who changed his name officially - although all he did was swap round the two first names so he is now officially known by his middle name. He actually did this professionally first - he owns his own business and it was already called his middle name/last name; lots of his friends have alternated between calling him his middle name and his first name since they were kids. I am not sure whether his parents call him original name or whether they too now use his middle name (which is the nn version - so for example, if his original middle name had been Daniel, his new 'official' name is Danny).

Oh and slightly different but I also know two transgender people. One whose family fully accept him and call him by his chosen male name and one whose mum still insists on using an original male name even though she is now post-op and has been for several years.

I think if I knew you in rl I would have no problem with you telling me that you had chosen a new name so I say go for it if you feel strongly about it.

Why don't you just have the spelling changed to the more conventional form? That way you still have the same name but don't have to fiddle about correcting people's spelling. Perhaps that would help with the confidence issues that seem to have been associated with your name. Or just shorten it, if possible...

I'd go for it! Really I would!

You never know when you might be in a similar position again.

In your situation,could your DP and his family just call you Ali if there's any issues? And your friends should happily oblige if they know its important as it's not a difficult or dramatic change.