To find it annoying how Kate (Duchess of Cambridge) is referred to as Catherine?

[Dongdingdong]

I read an interview with James Middleton today in which he referred to his sister as Catherine rather than Kate. Prince William also calls her Catherine in interviews.

I don't know why, but I find it mildly grating that since she got together with Prince William, her family and friends have suddenly begun referring to her by a different, longer version of her first name - especially when they presumably always called her Kate before, still do in private and everybody else refers to her as Kate anyway.

It just seems very contrived and a little pretentious or something I suppose. AIBU to wonder why Prince William and her family can't just call her Kate in public?

I'm almost sure I heard Prince Harry call her Cathy in one interview which I thought was nice to hear.

How any woman could sleep with him is beyond my understanding.

Who, William?

Catherine obviously did, at least three times.

To people who say calling people by their full names and shortenings interchangeably is normal - um, is it?

I know Vickys, Lizzys, Kates and lots of others who have been called those names by family and friends since day dot. If they suddenly reverted to using their full, christened names, Victoria, Elizabeth and Katharine - and asked their friends and family to do so too - then it would be unusual to say the least.

How any woman could sleep with him is beyond my understanding.

Really?! I think PW is quite good looking (he was especially so in his younger years) and seems like a lovely chap.

I imagine it is so everyone gets used to calling her Catherine for when William becomes a King and therefore Catherine becomes Queen. Queen Catherine sounds rather more regal than Queen Kate!

To people who say calling people by their full names and shortenings interchangeably is normal - um, is it?

I would say it's not unusual to be called one or t'other by different people.

On another note, in Scotland, everyone calls me by my full name. When I'm in England, every fucker tries to shorten it.*

*I am not suggesting a trend, just an observation.

But it isn't 'reverting' if (pre-uni) friends and family always called her Catherine!

I know a few people who went by their long name till they went to uni and only became the short version at uni. My own sister included. I go and visit her sometimes and at gatherings if I say 'has anyone seen Melissa*' people look at me blankly till I say 'Mel' and they realise! Me calling her by her full name, is just what we used to call her BEFORE she met the uni people...

*not her real name

She was Catherine at primary school. I worked there for a while when I lived in the next village to her family.

I do get what you mean, it seems like it's done to sound proper.

But, My name is Rebecca. At school I was Becky but I feel like I've grown out of it now and would never use the name Becky now out of choice, but some older friends still call me it. (I mostly get called Bec now but wouldn't introduce myself as that, just get called it for short).

Maybe she likes being called Katherine. Maybe she got bored with being called Kate. Maybe maybe maybe....

I can't imagine starting a thread on such a trifling matter

I imagine it is so everyone gets used to calling her Catherine for when William becomes a King and therefore Catherine becomes Queen. Queen Catherine sounds rather more regal than Queen Kate!

That's what I think too!

SIL was at school with her. She was always Catherine.

I believe the press picked up on this after overhearing Charles or Diana using it

If we all went by the nicknames our parents
gave us as toddlers we’d be in workplaces fully of ‘Ickes princesses’ ‘curlywoos’ and baby jojo’s.

At least it’s her name. Meghan’s real name is Rachel.

I assume if he’s doing that in public there is a reason for it. If it pisses her off I’m sure she'll raise it with him. It is her actual name and used officially so maybe it’s a protocol he’s been advised to follow. YABU to be offended on her behalf.

I think calling her Catherine gives her a dignity which Kate does not. She is a 37 year old woman, a mother, and the future consort to a king. Even without those things, she is entitled to use her full name, or have others use it about her, in public, and have a pet name for family and friends' private use. So i actually find the use of the name Kate more annoying than Catherine. But then, I am oddly quite formal with names. I never abbreviate people's names in public, and only use a few nicknames for my children in private (which are usually longer than their actual names, rather than shorter.)

At least it’s her name. Meghan’s real name is Rachel.

Meghan IS her real name. According to Wikipedia, she has two forenames and has chosen to use the second of them. Doesn't mean 'Meghan' isn't her "real" name.

Plenty of examples from more casual engagements where awilliam calls her Kate, she’s also told little children they can call her Kate when they asked what to call her.

To people who say calling people by their full names and shortenings interchangeably is normal - um, is it?

Yes - it is entirely normal!

If the family decided on using a version of the name from day 1 (as the RF did with Harry ) then it might be odd.

But you have no evidence that the Middletons announced the birth of their daughter as "Catherine Elizabeth- to be known as Kate"

It is most likely that she has been known as various versions if her given name - because there are lots of examples of her actually being referred to as both Kate and Catherine by different people on different occasions .

It's not a fucking conspiracy it's just normal

I’ve always heard that it was ‘Kate’ because that was easier for typesetters to fit into a tabloid paper.

She was covered by the press while at Uni, so here being known as Kate there is a bit chicken and egg. Is that because people saw her name in the papers, or did the papers get it from her friends?

Besides, lots of people are called Del or Shaz or Sal or Bazza or Stee by their family and friends, but they’d be horrified if a stranger referred to them in the same way.

She is a friend of a friend. Everyone calls her Catherine in familiar circles. She is never kate.

My nearest and dearest know me by a shorter version of my name. That doesn’t mean I want all and sundry to, especially people I haven’t met, and will never know personally.

It’s interesting though that in an extremely honest and thought-provoking interview, the thing OP chooses to publicly deride is the fact he called his sister by her name.

Exactly. Very honest account of his depression and helpful to those who know and love someone who suffers.

They have always called her Catherine. YABU.

I read somewhere that hey have always called her Catherine, it's only the press that call her Kate...harry I've read in an interview calls her Catherine and cath

I remember when princess Charlotte was born the press tried to do it with her too...(there was a few headlines calling her Lottie)..

Catherine is her name...just because the press refer to her as Kate, doesn't mean that her family, her friends, or herself uses that name..

Yabu to be annoyed that someone uses their own name

Normal in that plenty of people do it, yeah. I had the opposite - a family member who was known by her full name for ages, and then last year (in her 40s) asked to be called a shortened version. Bit of a change, but not really an issue.

I call my spouse both by the shortened form and long form of his name. I can tell when we run into someone he went to school with as they call him a variant of his name no one else ever calls him. Two of my kids go 99% of the time by their full name, but occasionally I get their attention or discuss them using their first initial as sometimes people do for me rather than my full name. My other two kids have multiple nicknames.

Unusual, possibly, but still entirely normal.