Anyone here dislike their own name? Would you change them?

[WildSeahorses]

Just wondering - I REALLY hate my name. Not going to say what it is [paranoid about being identifiable on t'interweb] but trust me, it's awful.

I don't have a middle name and you can't shorten my first name to anything (this was a deliberate choice on my parents' part, as my Mum didn't want other people to either be able to shorten it or call me anything else).

On top of that, I wasn't allowed to take a middle name when I was confirmed (despite the fact that my parents knew I hated my name). Apparently the fact that THEY liked it was more important than how I felt about it . Also, I "wasn't mature enough" to pick a new name - but was sufficiently mature to decide to formally be accepted into the church .

I've been thinking about just changing my name by deed poll and was wondering if anyone else here had changed their name as an adult. If so, did you have any problems with that? Was it hard to get people to call you by your new name?

Did you change your name legally, Riven? Or just informally, by asking poeple to call you something else?

I can imagine it will be quite difficult to get some people to call me something different - old habits and all that. And I can imagine one or two people who will consider the change 'silly' and therefore to be deliberately ignored...

I hated it as a child (unpronounceable foreign name), but I enjoy having an unusual name now I'm an adult. I don't know if I'd ever change my name. Would people you'd known for years stick to it? Wouldn't you just feel a tiny bit silly? I dunno. I suppose if your own name makes you cringe, it is worth it...

MrsMattie - I know you mean about feeling a bit daft, it does seem a bit odd on the face of it - but then, it also seems a bit silly to go through life hating my name. It really is dreadful. I really wish I'd been a bit stroppier when I was younger and had insisted I was allowed to change it then...

However, I would like to start ttc in the next few months (after honeymoon) - I expect after having children I'll meet lots of new people (and, potentially, a few existing friends could drift away a bit) so it seems like it would be much easier to change before then, so at least some people will never have know me by the existing horrible name IYSWIM?

What I would do in your position is to keep your awful name as your middle name. Pick a first name that you like and then get it legally done by deed poll.

Then when people call you by your awful name, you can say - that's actually my middle name, my first name is Kate or whatever.

Keeping the awful name as a middle name might be helpful with official stuff, it is a PITA to change your name and it takes ages to get everything changed over.

And also - do it now - it is clearly upsetting you and has done so forever.

Also, to people who think dispensing with your name is odd - it will be easier for them to pick up/understand if you keep the awful name in the middle. You won't look "silly" if people use the old name either.

Nobody asks what your middle name is adn lots of peole have really embarassing ones!