Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I havea short name, please stop shortening it!

70 replies

idontlikealdi · 02/07/2014 10:42

I have a simple, easy, nice five letter name. Complete randoms at work shorten it to a two letter name. This is starting to increasingly get on my nerves.

Close friends call me the shortened version, and not even all the time.

WIBU to tell ask them to call me by name?

OP posts:
magimedi · 02/07/2014 10:43

I suffer from the same thing as you.

My 5 letter name gets shortened to a 3 letter one. I just say to people that my name is not **. Quite nicely & say it again if they don't get it.

YANBU

OberonTheHopeful · 02/07/2014 10:48

YANBU, you have every right to be identified as you wish and friends should understand that. I have a short (5 letter) name also and don't like people shortening it.

Whenever I get to know someone whose name has a common shortened version I ask what they prefer (unless they use the shortened version themselves), even if I hear their friends using it.

RaptorInaPorkPieHat · 02/07/2014 10:48

Magimedi's response is spot on

I can beat you both though, I have a 3 letter name that gets shortened to 2 letters Grin

GoringBit · 02/07/2014 10:49

YANBU to prefer your full name to a nickname, I do. After years of using my full name in cards, emails, whatever, some people use my full name, some people still shorten it. I've come to the conclusion that if that's what they're comfortable with, and it's not offensive (as a couple of shortenings of my surname have been), I'll leave it be.

However, people misspelling my first name drives me batshit and makes me very passive-aggressive.

squoosh · 02/07/2014 10:49

I have a five letter name that is shortened to two letters by some people too.

Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I quite like it in fact, even though I never refer to myself as the shortened version.

To be honest I'm a bit bemused by people who get annoyed by this sort of thing but if it's irritating you just ask them nicely to stop.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 02/07/2014 10:54

Anything with 2 syllables or more is going to get shortened.

Louise - Lou
Nicky - Nic
Gemma - Gem

YANBU to get a bit annoyed but it's like pissing into the wind trying to get people to say your full name. You will come across as very anal if you keep correcting people even though it is your right to be addressed how you please.

I agree with Goring though re spelling. I have a very normal name but people spell it in some really odd ways - I think they are trying to make it a bit more funky.

JonSnowsPout · 02/07/2014 10:58

I have a Ben and people lengthen it. Benji, Benjamin. Can't win

GroupieGirl · 02/07/2014 11:03

Yep. I feel your pain. I have a four letter, two syllable name,which people regularly shorten to the equivalent of one letter!

Usually, I wait until they have asked me a question, or made a request of me, and respond "yes, I'll do that, but only if you stop calling me X".

Close friends just get told!

I actually find repeated occurrences quite offensive- you're basically calling me by a different name. Would you like it if I started calling you Julie, or Bob?

BlackeyedSusan · 02/07/2014 11:09

I have only had two people shorten my name ever. As I am not keen on my long name it is annoying that there is not an acceptable shortening. It must be very annoying to be shortened when you don't want though.

Blueuggboots · 02/07/2014 11:10

I have a 6 letter name that is shortened by CLOSE friends and family to a 4 letter name.
I detest it if people I don't know well or simply don't like shorten it!

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 02/07/2014 11:11

I have a two letter name and people lengthen it! So you really, really can't win.

UncrushedParsley · 02/07/2014 11:14

My situation is similar to Jon above. My name if 4 letters, picked to be short so that no-one could mess about with it apparently. So people lengthen it. I have had many interesting variations over thee years... I think people just like to put their own stamp on things, but I can see how it can be annoying!

Fannydabbydozey · 02/07/2014 11:39

Oh god I hate having my name shortened. Hate it. And I do point it out to people. And if they persist then I'm afraid that I call them by another name...

I once sent an email to my team as they were all bloody doing it at one point. There was a lot of oohhhhhh-ing but then I shortened all their names to show what it was like for them. Some names are hideous when shortened and luckily half the team had that problem... But I really don't think I should have to do all this.

Sometimes I sing "that's not my name, that's not my name' at people too.

Flipflops7 · 02/07/2014 11:44

Doesn't bother me, it's a sign of affection and I know what my real name is.

throckenholt · 02/07/2014 11:49

My mum thought she had picked names that couldn't be shortened for me and my brother. My brother promptly shortened mine as soon as he could talk Grin.

Just always sign your name as you want it to be used - hopefully they will eventually get the message.

I am also guilty of having kids with single syllable names that I lengthen to a variety of nick names.

Isabeller · 02/07/2014 11:51

YAN Wink

KirjavaTheCat · 02/07/2014 11:51

My name is four letters long. And pretty difficult to shorten, nothing like 'Ann' for 'Anna' or anything. It has no natural sounding nickname. Quite unusual.

Does that deter people? Nope Angry

NinjaLeprechaun · 02/07/2014 12:07

I have a 6 letter name that is shortened by CLOSE friends and family to a 4 letter name.
I detest it if people I don't know well or simply don't like shorten it!
Yes. This.

I always feel like people shorten my name to prove that we're 'pals'. If they're doing it in a misguided attempt to make me feel more comfortable with them, which I often suspect is the case, it backfires, because I'm inclined to trust them less if they call me not-my-name.

The funny thing is that none of my actual friends or family use the most common short version of my name, so that type marks themselves out as fake anyway.

Wellwellwell3holesintheground · 02/07/2014 12:13

I happened to be looking in the direction of the mother of a child who was introduced as 'Tom' in school assembly yesterday. I could quite clearly see her say 'His name is THOMAS' to the woman next to her.

My DF lengthens names in the most ridiculous fashion. I'd tell you some of them if a) there was any chance you'd believe me and b) it wouldn't completely out me.

sonlypuppyfat · 02/07/2014 12:13

I'm a Deborah and I get called Debbie it gives me the fucking rage. Deb I don't mind but how is Debbie any shorter than Deborah?

Wellwellwell3holesintheground · 02/07/2014 12:14

You see my dad would probably call you Great Aunty Deborahkins.

Blithereens · 02/07/2014 12:19

I have a three-letter, one-syllable name and people are always trying to lengthen it! You can't win.

CrackedNipplesSuchFun · 02/07/2014 12:21

I have three letters in my name and people shorten it. It doesn't even shorten to a decent little word, just a letter sound. How lazy can you get.

I can't stand it when people I barely know do it but I burn with rage when people who know me do it as I mention and correct all the time and yet they still do it.

On a few occasions people have lenghtened it as they can't believe my actual name is just that. Doh!

DomesticSlobbess · 02/07/2014 12:21

DS' aunts and grandad do this with his name despite it only being 5 letters and two syllables. Yet they take the first part of the name and add something else on the end, so their version is STILL two syllables. So no time saved whatsoever.

Think something along the lines of "Dexter" being changed to "Dexy"... It's no wonder DS ignores them when they call him because no-one else ever calls him this.

PixieofCatan · 02/07/2014 12:22

I have the opposite. I'm a Nikki and always get called Nicola. Or Nicole. I'm not Nicola or Nicole, I'm Nikki, that's what is on my birth certificate! I've had a couple of people tell me that I can't be "just Nikki" and insinuate that I'm lying. I'm really not!