Page 5 | Little rant about name shortening

PickasillyChristmasName · 2004-12-09T08:41:51+00:00

This isn't an important rant but it's something that bothers me a bit so I wanted to share it [smile]. DS is called Benjamin and DH and I call him that ie not Ben. We have no objections to the name Ben, but *we* call him Benjamin. So why if we introduce him as Benjamin do people automatically call him Ben? Am I the only person with this problem? And is it Benjamins who always get shortened by other people? Any other names that get shortened when you'd rather use the "long" version?

TheHollyAndTheTwiglett · 09/12/2004 16:47

pockettasha .. i always shorten Natasha to Gnasher ... don't know why

lockets · 09/12/2004 17:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KatieMaChristmas · 09/12/2004 18:52

At my first parents evening the teacher said to my mum'Katherine never answers to her name' to which my mum replied 'sorry - we're not Katherines parents - were here to talk to you about Kate'

I also have a hang up that people call me Kate (my name) and people who LOVE me call me Katie.....not sure what that makes you lot

tallulah · 09/12/2004 19:08

Eulalia- with you there! Why do all the nicest long names have such horrible shortenings?

My mother gave us names that couldn't be shortened. My brother calls himself something completely different. I suffer from lengthening syndrome.

I gave my DD a beautiful 3 syllable name & we have never shortened it. People have tried on & off & now she has found a not-so-obvious shortening of her name which really grates. We went to a parents evening & every teacher used this awful name until I was ready to scream... I'm starting to wish we'd gone with the more obvious one because this one is horrible!!!!

(On the other hand, we have a baby name for DS2, which doesn't get used outside the family. MIL has her own version of it & has never got it quite right. It drives him mad. )

jane313 · 09/12/2004 19:52

My nephew has always been called an unusual diminutive of his whole name but when he went to secondary school quite a few teachers called him the more ususual diminutive of it and even wrote it on his books. I can imagine them having a policy of writing the whole name but what they did was really rude. My nephew was far too shy to say anything.

A schools friend name was Kirsten but it confused her primary school in the late early seventies and for her whole school career it was Christine.

I always remember school friends who parents were the only one who used the whole name. Personally I would have loved a diminutive.

We call my son his whole name but like the fact is can be shortened if he wants to (but I hate one diminutive so its sods law he'll be called that)

jane313 · 09/12/2004 19:52

My nephew has always been called an unusual diminutive of his whole name but when he went to secondary school quite a few teachers called him the more ususual diminutive of it and even wrote it on his books. I can imagine them having a policy of writing the whole name but what they did was really rude. My nephew was far too shy to say anything.

A schools friend name was Kirsten but it confused her primary school in the late early seventies and for her whole school career it was Christine.

I always remember school friends who parents were the only one who used the whole name. Personally I would have loved a diminutive.

We call my son his whole name but like the fact is can be shortened if he wants to (but I hate one diminutive so its sods law he'll be called that)

jane313 · 09/12/2004 19:53

My nephew has always been called an unusual diminutive of his whole name but when he went to secondary school quite a few teachers called him the more ususual diminutive of it and even wrote it on his books. I can imagine them having a policy of writing the whole name but what they did was really rude. My nephew was far too shy to say anything.

A schools friend name was Kirsten but it confused her primary school in the late early seventies and for her whole school career it was Christine.

I always remember school friends who parents were the only one who used the whole name. Personally I would have loved a diminutive.

We call my son his whole name but like the fact is can be shortened if he wants to (but I hate one diminutive so its sods law he'll be called that)

jane313 · 09/12/2004 19:54

ooops thats the first time that happened to me

MaryP0p1 · 09/12/2004 20:06

I have inherited my deep dislike or name shortening and, like my mother, named my children names that couldn't be shortened. Ha ha ha or so I thought. Rachel is now Rach and Jack J. I phyisically cringe when I hear it and have to say correct people on their behalf.

TanzieTinselToes · 09/12/2004 22:03

My DD gets shortened to O'. (That's a glottal stop at the end)

mikeyjon · 09/12/2004 22:05

TanzieTinselToes · 09/12/2004 22:06

It's even better when it's preceded with Oi! (As is "Oi, O' come over ere!")

alexsmum · 09/12/2004 22:07

mikeyjon, I suspect your sil has read the armistead maupin 'tales of the city' books.one of the main characters in them is called michael mouse.(his nickname)

PocketTinsel · 10/12/2004 09:09

TheHollyandtheTwiglett (HIGLETT if you will!) GGRRRR! . I had one cousin who called me Gnasher as a child... Once! (You see my mum heard her and she never did it again! . Pet hate pet hate pet hate!!! What made it worse was i had an uncle who i was very close to (called Dennis) that everybody called dennis the meanis for laughs, and he loved it!

marialuisa · 10/12/2004 10:25

DD's 3 letter name is invariably shortened to "P" by her childminder's family. It's a matesy scouse thing (the DH is known as "Ste") but I hate it, and so does DD. But I call DH "Ja" which is probably worse

tiredemma · 10/12/2004 10:48

dp's mother seems to be obsessed with using initials to address a child, she calls, and writes on my sons cards "H", when we and everybody else have only ever called him harry, and i gave her ds2 birth certificate so she could open a bank account for him, so discovered his middle name is jack ( first name is alfie)- so last time we visited she started shouting "A J" WHY!!!!- HIS NAME IS ALFIE !!

californiagirl · 10/12/2004 20:39

It's not about difficulty, you know. I'm Elizabeth, a very popular name when I was growing up, and I went to school with a Liz, a Libby, and a Beth. So I don't answer to any of those names. Honestly. You can stand behind me calling "Liz? Liz!" and I will wonder vaguely who you might be speaking to for ages. I can't stand people who insist it's too hard, and used to offer them "Ann" (my mother's name, which I was frequently called by as a kid and answer to) until I got malicious and offered "Ed", my initials. Apparently these are too hard, too, as nobody has ever taken me up on these (although I have gotten "eddzie" from all three of my initials, "Isabelle" from a French-speaking small child who infected bunches of people, and "George" from a couple of my colleagues who were even worse than me about torturing people who felt the need to shorten my name).

And DD is "Opal", sometimes called "Opalita" since she's little. So one of my current colleagues "shortens" this to "Opie" or "Ita". Which are, of course, the same length as her name!

MiaouyChristmas · 10/12/2004 21:21

I'm definitely of the "call people the name they introduce themselves by" (or parents introduce them as) school of thought. Both dds have two syllable names, one of which you could definitely shorten, the other you definitely can't! Amazingly, no-one has ever tried (to my knowledge). Dh, in a formal setting, will often introduce himself with his Sunday name, then find himself being called it for ages afterwards which pees him off - Duh! My name is un-shortenable - but as a child I had a y added to the end which I really liked - but none of my teachers would call me by that name and insisted on using my proper name! I was not terribly impressed, particularly as my friend Rebecca was called Becky by same teachers.....

We have friends who have an Alexander who is known by his full name, which I find a mouthful but can't imagine calling him anything else now. BUT (and I am showing my northern roots here) I DO think it's funny when the parents shout "Alexarrrrndarrrr" ....