My brother, step-brother and I have all gone through periods (at least once) where we didn’t like our names. Not for very long periods as in many months or years, but nor do I mean just one day you don’t like it and then the next day you are fine with it again. I also am not really getting at the grass is greener where you meet someone and really like their name and wish you had theirs.
I have always wondered if this was just a family trait or something circumstantial around our names. So I am curious if others have grown up with the same feelings at different times.
Definitely. I went to school and when I had to be called [name_f]Jessica[/name_f] #2 or “the other [name_f]Jessica[/name_f]” I’d ask my mom why I had such a common name. In 1985 she’d only heard the name once and she wasn’t aware it was going to sky rocket that year. Most times though I didn’t think much of it. It was just normal.
Yes, definitely. Mostly I feel neutral to a bit eh with my nam, but I’ve also had a number of periods of really loathing it and wanting a different one
My name is [name_f]Brynn[/name_f]. I do love having a unique name (especially being named [name_f]Brynn[/name_f] at my age, it’s more popular for babies now). It’s definitely not my personal style but I can appreciate it. Now a days I do prefer the spelling [name_u]Bryn[/name_u] I think.
Oh for sure. Especially because no one can remember what it is, and no one spells it right even when they have my paperwork or id. In the end, I usually realize that my name is part of who I am and part of what formed me, so I wouldn’t change it. But I think that’s totally normal.
Oh, definitely! It was really only for a brief period when I was pretty young (maybe 8 or 10) but I outgrew it. I couldn’t imagine having a different name. Interestingly enough, since you brought up the family aspect of it, my eldest niece dealt with this, too! For over a year, she’d introduce herself as [name_f]Emma[/name_f]. She wrote it on her school papers, told people to call her it, and truly seemed to identify with the name. She was about 7 at the time. She came to outgrow that but I wouldn’t be surprised if she did change her name to [name_f]Emma[/name_f] one day!
I’ve always had issues with my name. When I was really little (like 4) I didn’t like it because it didn’t end in an -a sound like my sister [name_f]Leah[/name_f]’s, because at the time my favorite princess was [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] so I thought -a names sounded more feminine. In middle school, I thought it was too old fashioned, especially next to my friends named [name_f]Caylee[/name_f] and [name_u]Laken[/name_u]. For the last 8 or so years, I’ve just hated how popular it is. I’ve known girls with the same first and middle, and same first and last names as me. I’ve been in classes where almost half of the girls are named [name_u]Abby[/name_u] (only in dance, thankfully, but still 2/5 and 3/7).
I wouldn’t change it because I respect that my mom put thought into my name and loves it but I still hate how overused it is.
I don’t think I know anyone who really, really loves their name. I’m all right with mine; I go through periods of almost liking it, but most of the time I’m fairly neutral towards it or even dislike it. People struggle to spell it, although I use the most common spelling, so that annoys me too.
I spent most of my life disliking my name - I just didn’t like the sound of it. It’s only been in my 20’s that I’ve appreciated the uniqueness of it and the reasons my parents chose it. My husband also loves my name and the unique spelling, which helps make it feel more special to me.
Honestly, it seems I’m the odd one here because I never went through that phase of disliking my name, let alone hating it. I love my name actually. It’s perfect for me; it has the right amount of “tomboy” in a girl’s name with the potential of being girly imo. Though the only problem I’ve encountered with my name ([name_f]Deanne[/name_f]) is the consistent “[name_f]Deanna[/name_f]” and other variations. Instead of hating MY name, I hated the name [name_f]Deanna[/name_f], but I guess I could have easily hated my own name for that reason.
I hated my name growing up! [name_u]Harper[/name_u] was pretty much unheard of as a first name when I was born, but it was the last name of a loved one who had passed just before my twin and I were born so my parents used it to honor that person. My brothers called me harpoon as a nickname, and I got similar nns from kids at school and some of my parents friends as well. I feel like having such a “weird” name is probably why I love names so much; I would spend hours as a kid perusing my parents baby books, trying to decide what I should rename myself when I got older. I’m kind of meh about it now, I don’t hate it but people still seem a little surprised when I introduce myself.
I’m still not super keen on my full name, I don’t hate it but I don’t love it and I don’t feel like it’s very ‘me’. I have always liked my nickname though.
I don’t think I’ve ever hated my name, but when I was younger, I did wish for a different name because the only logical/straightforward nickname for my name does not suit me at all (think Lex for Lexi). I wanted a longer name that had more nickname options (if my name is Lexi, I wished I was Alexandria so I could be Ally, or Alex, or Andi, or Ria, etc.). Because of this, if/when I have kids, I would probably go with the longer version of any name I like so as not to limit them, even if I only like one of the nicknames.
Ironically, I have the opposite issue now. People often think my name is short for a longer name, then get confused when I say it is my full name, and insist on calling me by what they think my full name should be. It’s kind of strange, but I’m pretty neutral towards my name and my parents didn’t have much of reason to pick it besides liking it, so it doesn’t really bother me when people call me other things as long as I know they are not purposefully being rude or offensive.
I probably started hating my name around the age of 10 or so (I wouldn’t have given it much thought before). I hate how popular it is for females my age (it was in the top ten the year I was born), and I hate when people call me by the male nicknames [name_u]Sam[/name_u] and [name_u]Sammy[/name_u].
[name_f]Samantha[/name_f] is a very dated name that screams “I was probably born from 1980-2010”, and it only ever became popular because of a crappy TV show.
I don’t think I’ve ever gone through a stage of hating my name but I’ve never loved it really either.
My name ([name_u]Lisa[/name_u]) was super popular growing up but now I am realizing that I got the tail end of that popularity (I was born in the mid 80s) and most people with my name are my age or older so I find it really dates me
I think I would have preferred something more chic or timeless with perhaps more nickname options. Sometimes I wish I would have had people start calling me [name_f]Elle[/name_f] (as in the letter L) when I moved for college since it is a good time for a change like that. I feel like its too late now though.
Funny thinking of it though, because I did not pick a name that is classic or has lots of nickname options for my daughter! Well hopefully she likes her name later in life anyways (she’s 2 lol).
“period”? Hell, I still hate my given names, have hated them since I was a kid. I respect that they’re chosen to honor my parents, but I hate the names so much that I plan on effectively changing it (i.e. telling everyone my name but giving them a name I would much rather be called, even if I never do the paperwork). I’m fine with them on other people–I just think they suit me very badly.
Currently within a small group of friends I go by [name_m]Raiden[/name_m], which is already feeling more at home with me than my given names ever have; sometimes I find myself not responding to my given name at all but turning around when I hear my chosen name.
I’m in the minority, but I never did! My name is very rare, but this never bothered me, because so are my sisters’ names; having a more common name would seem abnormal to me. My name doesn’t come with a lot of nickname options either, and I don’t have a nearly exclusive one like my sisters (whose nicknames are also very rare) - once again, it never really bothered me because nearly everyone in my life seems to come up with a nickname for me anyways, even if it isn’t built off my name (Munchkin/[name_u]Boo[/name_u]/Bub, etc.) I have a few from my name that my friends call me, but they also call me by my full name. I don’t care much for my middle name, but it honours my grandmother, so I have good associations with it.
I love my name ([name_f]Tiana[/name_f]), but I have hated what I consider it’s two flaws:
there are two pronounciations. One is tee-awn-a like in Disney’s the [name_f]Princess[/name_f] and the Frog. Mine is tee-anne-a. To stick mine in peoples heads when they keep getting it wrong, I explain that my name is a question “[name_f]Tea[/name_f], [name_f]Anna[/name_f]?” though I dont know how well that will continue to work with the character [name_f]Anna[/name_f] from Disney’s Frozen having a different pronounciation. Disney has really been working against me! [name_m]Long[/name_m] rant but the short and short is that I prefer my proniunciation, but it is not often that people correctly guess it
there are two spellings (and I secretly prefer [name_f]Tianna[/name_f])
or something circumstantial around our names. So I am curious if others have grown up with the same feelings at different times.