Work email

[lmnabc]

This is a work situation which I don't have an issue with but always wonder about:

My email address is Jennifer.Blogs@ but I always sign my name as "With best wishes, Jenny" and my email signature underneath is Jenny Blogs.

The majority of people reply with Dear Jennifer rather than Dear Jenny. Is it that people have an issue with shortened names? Just interested.

The thing is, in their inbox your email will appear as from "Jennifer". Only the sign off and signature will mention Jenny. If I was on auto pilot replying to emails, I wouldn't notice the difference as I'm not reading signatures or sign offs. Also, sometimes it can feel overfamiliar to refer to a colleague by a nickname (unless it's a preferred name).

Also I don't have a name that needs to be shortened if that makes sense? So for people who don't go by a shortened name by default, you don't really tend to think about these things with others. Whereas if I did go by a shortened name, I'd be more conscious of other people who go by shortened names. I'm more conscious of eg spelling names correctly as people often spell mine incorrectly

People just don't read the sign off, they just use whatever is in the e mail address.

Where I work we have 1 e mail box that all office staff use.

The address is [email protected]

I can have full conversations with someone, signing off with my name each time, and thet reply each time with Hello Bosses name.

They just don't see the sign off, it's like "wallpaper" to them, in the background, nit noticed.

My old company used to make me have my full name in my signature but I'd always sign off with my shortened (my LinkedIn etc was all in my short name and I'd always answer the phone using it)

When I receive emails from people who also sign off with a shortened name, if they write to me with my full name, I go back to them with their full name. It works every time.

If I'm honest, I think people who use my full name repeatedly get a colder and briefer response from me as I see them as rude.

I have to remember that it's only work and in the scheme of things not important

This

The importat thing is how your name comes up in the 'from' address line?

Try sending yourself an email and see what happens. I'm guessing it's probably 'Jennifer'.

I had this and wrote to the IT department to change my name to the shortened version (just my name on the system, not my actual email address).

Since then, people usually use the short version.

You can't expect people to go by the signature when they are busy, especially when signature says one thing and address line says another - they'll assume that you are happy with either.

Don't do this cause equally they might be using your full name as a sign of respect. Eg if I was messaging a senior manager that I am not close to or haven't worked with before, shortening their name could be seen as a faux pas

See it as they have to put more effort to use your full name vs your shortened name so are maybe being mindful vs rude and try not to let it get to you

This is very petty if your name is actually 'Jennifer' on the system and that's how its being displayed.

Change your name with IT if you care this much, surely.

In an ideal world, people would always check the name you’re using to sign off emails and reply using that name. In reality, most people are swamped with emails and so if the email sender shows up as Jennifer in their inbox, that’s what they will call you because they’re too busy to actively check email signatures/sign off. The easy way to greatly reduce this problem is to get your IT department to change your email address to Jenny.bloggs@… and also your email sender name to Jenny Bloggs so that’s the name that shows in people’s inboxes.

Yes - I mentioned earlier about how your name appears in the from field really has an impact

My company writes names in surname forename format. So for example, Jennifer Laura Briggs would show as "Briggs Jennifer Laura" in the from field. I would always get people calling me by my middle name eg Laura. As soon as I took that out by placing an IT request, the issue stopped.

I've come to the conclusion that many people don't read emails properly.

I send quite a few to arrange client meetings and the number of people who respond to my email saying 'I will visit you during WC 28th November, I can do any day except Tuesday, when is good for you' with 'I'm free on Tuesday morning, shall I send a Teams link' is surprisingly high, considering it's a reading comprehension exercise most primary schoolers could manage.

But you’re literally sending them emails from an address with the longer name, with the name field showing up with a longer name! And most email programmes will bold those elements, whereas your email body is normal text. So on their screen it goes:

Jennifer Thingy jennifer.thing… [Outlook cuts off]
Hi Tamara,

Let me get back to you about the salads.

In the meantime, here’s some salad-related information you may find helpful.

Blah blah.
Blah blah.
Blah blah.

Best wishes,
Jenny

It’s a mixed message heavily skewed towards your name being Jennifer, not Jenny. Either get IT to sort it out or open emails with “do call me Jenny btw! Ignore the formal email styling. Anyway, about those salads”.

I try to use whatever is in the person's signature. If in doubt I would use the full name - it's likely to be more annoying to someone who never abbreviates their name, if you force an unwanted or incorrect nickname onto them.

Exactly @PlaitBilledDuckyPuss It's just as annoying to abbreviate a name when someone doesn't want it abbreviated.

I use the name in the email address, unless I know the person uses a shorter version, or they use it in their sig.

Eg if someone is called Joanne and their email address is [email protected], but they always signed their emails from Jo, I would say Hello Jo as a greeting, but I've also known a Joanne who liked to be addressed as Joanne and hated Jo, she said nothing got her back up more than receiving an email that started off with 'Hello Jo'.

I go with whatever someone signs themself off as. I have many colleagues called David, but only some of them are Dave, for example. We have lots of people whose preference for their email address is the shortened version of their name too.

Getting someone's name wrong is one of the worst things you can do imho - it shows a lack of interest and little attention to detail. I have on occasion spelled names incorrectly - I always apologise.

Whilst I agree that getting someone's name wrong is awful, if someone is actually sending out emails containing two different versions of their name, that is a mixed message.

OP needs to get IT to change it if she cares this much.

No one would called her Jennifer if her email was [email protected] and her name showed up as Jenny Bloggs in the 'from' line. She can easily solve this problem.

I disagree that it is mixed messages, but I do wonder if it is how things have shifted over time. More people have the shortened form of their name as their email address, but it's definitely not the norm in my experience.

You think mixed messages @fruitsaladsweets, I think you are demonstrating a lack of attention to detail if you can't notice how someone has signed themself off as and use that.

I have a name with multiple spellings and it irritates me when people spell it wrong on email. Look at the email address!

My name is Oonagh, my email is Oonagh@ I sign my emails Oonagh. Yet I still get numerous emails back saying “Thanks Una.”

Do they think they’re correcting me as I must be mistaken?

I don't have an issue with shortened names, but I'm always very aware that not everyone likes their name to be shortened. So unless I've asked if you mind me calling you Jenny, or you've introduced yourself as Jenny, I'll always use the full version of your name

For me it’s often time saving and habit to use the name in the email address.

Sometimes if someone has a long name that’s typically shortened I might check (I checked yesterday and a Vivienne was Viv so I re typed as Viv even though I’d already typed Vivienne), but for most names people will get their full name… it is their name after all!

I don't know🤣..... I'm 57 ,from Yorkshire originally and it was always used when I grew up.....if you were known by your shortened name...then you heard your mother roaring out your full 'Sunday' name when you were out playing in Street.. you knew you were going to cop it when you got home!!

Time to grow up me thinks 🤔🙄