People shortening your name

[SparkleSoiree]

I don't think I'm being unreasonable but it's happening so much that I'm wondering if I am!

For example, you introduce yourself to someone as "Katherine" and they reply with "hello Katie". It gets my back up. When I've politely corrected them and said "It's Katherine" they appear to get irked that you've corrected them.

Katherine isn't my name but it's a similarly long name and I just don't like the shortened versions so prefer my given name.

AIBU?

My cousin is called Jessica and absolutely hates being called Jess or Jessie but my Nan and Grandad insist on calling her Jessie, its a running joke in the family now you can see her cringing when they say it haha!

I'm Lynette but always Lyn unless GP

Really annoys me. I have a long name which can be shortened several ways. Often, particularly by overly friendly sales people, I get asked "and what do you like to be called?" - My name would be acceptable thanks!

I loathe it when people shorten my name; a) because I always introduce myself with my full name (it's not that long anyway!), b) the shortening of my name is, I think, awful and c) why would someone else even take it upon themselves to give me a 'different' name?

New here but thought I would join in with this one - I've got a long and slightly hard to pronounce first name, I've had people shorten it to just about every conceivable option they could make out of my actual name - in the end I got bored with correcting people as half the time when I do they still get it wrong anyway - so I pretty much just answer to any version of my name now but I can totally understand how annoying it is.

Ooh this is interesting. I have a professional relationship with someone who, when I met her was styled e.g. Liz (surname) on her website etc. She is now employed rather than s/e and everyone now refers to her as Lizzie - and her email etc has changed to Lizzie (surname).

Having called her Liz for years I’m now not sure if I should be calling her Lizzie - Lizzie seems very familiar !

What about extending names ?

Eg my name is Lily and people think they are being funny/clever to call me Lillian. I have never been introduced as Lillian, because it isn't my name.

I get this with both my online user name, and my real name.
However, the difference between shortening my user name and real name is the fact I tell people that saying/typing "Kera" or "Keran" is easier than Kerantli.

I'm a Gemma, and only ONE person gets away with calling me Gem because after over 15 years of friendship, I can't get them to stop and hearing them say Gemma is actually strange!

I have a name with many variants. The people who know me through English know me as version A, people who know me through Irish know me as the Irish equivalent, version B, whilst anyone who knows me through DP calls me C (which is the version he uses). It doesn't bother me one bit, in fact, I love the fact that I can tell how people know me through what name they use for me.

My mother hates it, and thinks everyone should call me A, despite the fact she'll often use a completely unrelated name instead.

AGH - this is my absolute pet hate. I don't particularly like the shortened version of my name - but I've been it since I was a child and get introduced all the time as it. For clients I want my full name and it drives me insane when they can't write 5 more letters! Oddly DH calls me something else (a different shortened version) and I like it!

I don’t like shortenings. Names are beautiful and have meaning, and shortening it feels cheap and tacky.

Luckily my name isn’t shortened often.

I’m Victoria I don’t mind Vickie at all but Vic drives me mad I can’t stand it

In south Wales everyone's name is shortened to one syllable, so Barry becomes Ba, Neil becomes Nee etc.

I hate it when done by someone I don't know very well. It's over familiar and it freaks me out because I'm quite an introvert and don't like over familiarity.

My name isn’t long but it still gets shortened to a diminutive. I keep corrections brief and polite -
Me: Hello, I’m Platypus

PresumptiousTwit : Hello, Platy, nice to meet you .

Me: Platypus.

Anyone with any social sense should get it right after that.

I don't mind people shortening my name, it does bother me when we've only just met though!

It enrages me when people shorten my DDs name. It's only 4 letters! It doesn't need shortening!!!!

A colleague at work whomakes my name longer by repeating it. So it's Bettasplenden Bettasplenden (My name is 4 syllables already) does my nut in. I admittedly don't go by a nickname at work because my actual nickname is weird and not for use in professional environments

I get the lengthening too, does my head in!! Even Katrina or Katherine, and I'm neither! (Similar, not the same)

My son's name gets shortened a lot which he hates, he's 5 and just tells them bluntly that it's not his name so don't call him that and if they still try to call him a shortened name he picks a silly name to call them, that soon sorts it out ! People add to my name thinking I've shortened it and I'm like no my name is love so please call me by my name !

Yes this irks me too. The only people who call me by shortened names are my dad (I don't have the heart to correct him as he's shortened it since I was young, and he did choose my name to be fair.
He's the only one I allow to shorten my name though) and my 2 youngest nieces, purely because they can't pronounce my name, they call me 'Lelle' which I find quite sweet.

OTOH, my son has a name that we chose because we loved it and refused to shorten it, as he got older he has chosen sometimes to use the shortened version - Think Daniel & Dan, however my in-laws insist on adding a 'Y' to it to make 'Danny' and have done since he was a baby, which we absolutely hate, despite us repeatedly telling the in-laws not to do it. Name not Daniel, but very similar*

I'm the opposite to op, I hate my full name and am strictly known by a shortened version. I hate when people refuse and call me by my full name, it's disrespectful. As an adult I have every right to choose the name I wish to be known by. Yadnbu

I have the opposite problem. I have a name that is usually the 'short' version like 'Becky', yet people insist on calling me 'Rebecca ' . (Not my name but gives you the idea). I started a whole argument when i worked with a Lady who would insist on using the full version of people names even if they asked her not to. I was introduced as Becky and she insisted in calling me Rebecca, i have never been called this so it doesn't register as my name when some one says /writes it. I corrected her the first few times she said it to my face and explained and thought she had understood. She would send group emails out such as 'jonathan please arrange abc. Deborah you are incharge of efg and Rebecca could you take care of xyz? Because Rebecca isn't my name i though these were instructions for some one else (there were 3 Rebecca's) so i didnt do said task. She complained about me to my manager who laughed and explained thats not my name so, no i wouldnt follow instructions not aimed at me, she still wouldn't believe it wasn't my name and went to hr and complained about me and my manager (she really was a strange one). HR told her my correct name and explained why i wouldnt respond to the name she was using, she still kept using the other name, then putting complaints in when i didnt respond to her . (My manager told me not to respond to her until she used my correct name) this went on for weeks, in the end HR (with my permission) showed her my birth certificate and passport and told her if she didn't adress me correctly she would be disciplined. She barely acknowledged me after that, it was a looooong 3yrs of working with that woman!

I agree OP that it's very annoying and disrespectful and rude.

I agree OP that it's very annoying and disrespectful and rude.

YANBU, it IS annoying. And yes, I can't imagine WHY someone decides to call you a different name to the one you told them. I was recently introduced to 2 women called Angela and Olivia; I have no intention of calling them Angie and Livvy. I would expect a short shrift from them if I did!

Used to happen with my daughter too when she was a child. Her name is Chloe, and some people called her CHLO. It sounds utterly vile. CHLO. Really pissed me off it did. The name only has 2 syllables - it's not that much effort!

Now she is older (20's,) it doesn't happen.

As a few people have said on here, I have known a few people complain that their name is lengthened. Some people are called 'Katie' or ' Lucy,' and this is on their birth certificate, and yet people say Katherine or Lucille. Very annoying.

What annoys me more is when people get my name WRONG.

I have a fairly big extended family of siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles, and when I was much younger, I never saw a week go by without some family acquaintance or neighbour or SOMEone calling by another sibling or cousin's name. Really pissed me off.

I also used to know a woman who knew exactly what my name was, and my husband's too, and yet she sometimes pretended to 'forget' like we weren't important enough to her to get our names correct.

Needless to say, we ghosted her pretty sharpish.