Warning rant coming! My name is [name]Elizabeth[/name] and honestly I don’t really like any of the shortened forms. It has really started to annoy me that after introducing myself to new people as [name]Elizabeth[/name] that they will automatically call me [name]Liz[/name] (well mostly [name]Liz[/name] and occasionally other nicknames)?? I just don’t get it… surely if you introduce yourself as a particular name why do people automatically pick a different one? Am I really overreacting?!
Wow, that felt better! Anyone else experienced this or have an opinion?
lol, no, sorry, I’m the opposite! I always wanted a nn and never really got one… I like [name]Ashley[/name] and I’m fine with people calling me [name]Ashley[/name], but I like it when the occasional person calls me [name]Ash[/name]. I might be like you in the future, though, lol, because I’d like to use [name]Asher[/name] nn [name]Ash[/name] for a son at some point, and we obviously can’t both be [name]Ash[/name], haha. My sister gets the same thing–her closest friends and family all call her [name]Becca[/name] (full name [name]Rebecca[/name]), and she loves it, but all the new people she meets always try and call her just [name]Rebecca[/name]. Although she feels like they obviously don’t know her well enough (bahaha, I love melodramatic teenagers!), because if they did, they would know that she prefers [name]Becca[/name]. haha. I think it’s just a preference thing, though. If you prefer [name]Elizabeth[/name] and they call you [name]Liz[/name] or [name]Beth[/name] or whatever, I would just say, “Oh, I just go by [name]Elizabeth[/name]…” Who knows if that’d stick, though, lol.
I’m completely different, I immediately tell people to shorten my name however they wish, lol. Maurilia is a mouthful of a name, even for me. I mostly get [name]Mo[/name], Maur, Maur-Maur, Mauri, and the like, but lately there have been some interesting names. Maur-baby is my newest, and I got Rilly and [name]Lia[/name] the other day. I appreciated those.
I’d just tell them to call you [name]Elizabeth[/name], and it’ll probably stick.
I don’t get this problem very often. People don’t usually start to call me by my nn ([name]Ari[/name]) until they’ve spent quite a lot of time around me and my family members, who are the primary people who call me that. The exception is when I meet someone who has heard about me a lot from a family member, because that is how my cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. refer to me. It does weird me out a little when someone I barely know calls me [name]Ari[/name], since I’m used to only people I’ve known for a loooong time calling me that.
I do have a friend named [name]Danielle[/name] who gets pretty irritated when people shorten her name to [name]Dani[/name]. Her mom hates it too; she says “I named you [name]Danielle[/name] because that’s what I want people to call you. If I wanted you to be called [name]Dani[/name], I would have named you [name]Dani[/name].” Personally, I try to call a person by the name they used to introduce themself.
I kind of wish people would shorten my name more, to be honost! Maybe that just comes from carrying around the four-syllable, vowel-heavy, oh-so-popular “[name]Olivia[/name]” all the time, but I love nicknames. I really like when people call me “[name]Liv[/name]”, and I wish my parents or I had thought to ask people to call me “[name]Via[/name]” when I was younger, because I adore that nickname!
Anyhow, people give you nicknames because they like you, or are trying to be friendly. Please don’t be insulted! But really, if you ask to be called [name]Elizabeth[/name], people should respect that and hopefuly will comply. Good luck!
You’re not over reacting! I don’t let people call me Ev unless i know them well and i HATE it when i say, “hi, my name is [name]Evelyn[/name]” and they say, “Nice to meet you Ev.” my mom always says to take a deep breath, put a smile on your face and say, “Please just call me [name]Evelyn[/name]” she says not matter how many times you have to tell people to always say it kindly. it gets very annoying, but politeness is key! good luck!
I was more the opposite in that most people tended to shorten my name to Chels’ growing up which drove my mother nuts and she would always correct people if she heard them, but I didn’t care. But I am like ariel_michal in that I tend to call people by the name they introduce themselves to me, unless I know them really well.
My husband has a name that can easily be shortened or nn’d but he has never gone by one since he dislikes them and he basically doesnt tolerate it… If he introduces himself to someone and they say “nice to meet you nickname” or “Whats up nickname?” he will outright tell them “I think you misheard me my name is _____” or “its ____, not much”. Try saying something like this or even telling a person you dont care for nn’s.
Tell the person “No, it’s [name]Elizabeth[/name], not xxx”. Be a b****h about it if you have to. Their already being rude by not calling you by the name you introduced yourself with.
Absolutely, be polite and patient when correcting them. If someone is addressing you by a nickname, chances are they just want to be friends. I’m sure they don’t mean to be rude.
Usually I veto any nicknames I hate on the spot but I give them other options. So if they call me Ambie (I DESPISE that nickname) then I say “No thank you; I don’t like Ambie, but Am, [name]Ammy[/name] or just [name]Amber[/name] is fine.” That said, it doesn’t happen often since [name]Amber[/name]'s a short name, and most of my nicknames just lengthen it (Amberghini, Ambergris, [name]Amber[/name]-daydream, and yes that is where my username is from :).)
[name]Elizabeth[/name] is a name very diverse in terms of nicknames; are you absolutely sure there are none you like? My favourite [name]Elizabeth[/name] nickname is either [name]Lily[/name], [name]Lilibeth[/name] or [name]Bess[/name].
YES. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. I go by [name]Rebecca[/name] and not so much anymore, but when I was younger, I got “[name]Becky[/name]” about half the time.
An ex-coworker was [name]Elizabeth[/name]. I couldn’t picture her any other way and she never had a problem. Not sure what the secret is!
I know what you mean… I’m a [name]Rose[/name], and cannot STAND [name]Rosie[/name]. Mainly because my parents stuck me with it from the minute I was born ([name]Rose[/name] is on the birth certificate, but they called me [name]Rosie[/name] for ages) up until I was 12 and decided to speak up about how much I hated it. I’m rather loud and not very feminine, so it doesn’t suit me at all. Everybody has the sense not to try it on me, though, because I’ll go mad.
I’m the exact opposite! My name is a “made up” spelling of [name]Lorraine[/name]. My mom changed the O to an A, dropped one R, and changed the E to an A, so it sounds similar to the hispanic name [name]Lorena[/name] (without the accents, etc). In childhood/school I had tons of nicknames, [name]Lala[/name], [name]Lainy[/name], [name]Laine[/name], [name]Larry[/name], [name]Rain[/name], [name]Raina[/name], [name]Rainy[/name]… I loved it. As an adult, nobody shortens my name, it’s always the full/formal 3 syllable mess that nobody can spell. I really wish people would call me [name]Lainy[/name]/[name]Laine[/name], but I feel like I can’t just nickname myself…
My mum and my younger brother hate it when people shorten their names. My brother, [name]Douglas[/name] hates being called [name]Doug[/name] or [name]Dougie[/name], which happens a lot because we live in Australia; the land of the nickname. My mother, [name]Pamela[/name] dislikes her name being shortened but will tolerate it from her closest friends. They both always politely correct who make the mistake.
Mum had a funny little conversation with our builder friend one day. He’d come over to do some odd jobs for us and called Mum [name]Pam[/name]. Without missing a beat, she called him [name]Benjamin[/name]. He realised his mistake and they had a laugh over it - no harm done at all.
I can understand that it’s annoying constantly having to correct people, but at the end of the day, politeness and calmness must be employed. I doubt there’s any malicious intent, so I wouldn’t be too bothered.
I’m the opposite. I always wanted a nickname cause I hated/disliked my name, but now that I’m changing it, I’m getting wary of people shortening is automatically.
I mean shoot, if I’m renaming myself [name]Melody[/name], I want you to call me [name]Melody[/name]. Unless we’re close, then I love nicknames cause it’s endearing.
A little tip: When you intorduce yourself just say “I’m [name]Lorraine[/name], but you can call me [name]Laine[/name].” And then they’ll jump to that right away.
I know how you feel! I was called [name]Niki[/name] by my family and it stuck, and everyone knew me as [name]Niki[/name] for so long. Finally I decided that I had grown out of it, and would much rather go by [name]Nichole[/name], but old friends and all my family still call me [name]Niki[/name]. The name makes me cringe now, haha.
I don’t feel that you’re over reacting either. I use not understand people getting annoyed with NNs until my father explained it to me:
“If I introduced myself to some one as [name]Kevin[/name] then that is what I wish the to call me. Fine if I introduce myself as [name]Kev[/name], but if not,respect that I wish to be called by how I firstly said.”
That really hit home with me, so now I am mindful with what people ask to be called and respect that
I have a two syllable name that has a few potential nicknames but I have never in my life been automatically called either of those nicknames. I know tons of Elizabeths too, and I wouldn’t call them a nickname unless they specifically requested to be called that.
For me, I feel really uncomfortable calling someone a nn if I don’t whether or not they like it. That’s why I don’t understand how people can just automatically shorten a name, especially when you just met the person. If I met an [name]Elizabeth[/name], I would call her [name]Elizabeth[/name] until I was either good friends with her or she told me to call her something else. Like, my best friend’s name is [name]Jessica[/name], and only people who know her really well will call her [name]Jess[/name] because most of us know she hates it- and at this point we strive to annoy her But then again, some people call her [name]Steve[/name], which I don’t understand.
