My name - Jocelyne - opinions please!

I don’t want to sound self centered but am interested to know what others think of my name - [name]Jocelyne[/name]. It’s quite unusual where I live, I have only met about five others in my life but what makes my name even more unusual is the ‘e’ on the end (it’s normally spelt [name]Jocelyn[/name]). My parents got the name from my mothers French exchange friend and that’s why I have an ‘e’ because in [name]France[/name] [name]Jocelyn[/name] is a boys name while [name]Jocelyne[/name] is feminine. It really annoys me that people always spell it wrong (the worst I’ve had is Gosling) or say it wrong (I’m [name]Joss[/name]-lin not [name]Joyce[/name]-lin or Jossa-lin or Joca-line). But most of the time it’s ok (especially for people who know me) except for the missing ‘e’.

Anyway I’m not sure if I actually like my name or not, sometimes my family call me ‘[name]Jay[/name]’ as in from the first letter of my name and I like the sound of that but to almost everyone else I’m [name]Jocelyne[/name]. I was wondreing if you’d let me know what you think of it and whether I should go by [name]Jay[/name] or not and how to let people know that’s what I want? I’m sorry if I’ve put anyone off naming their child (boy or girl) [name]Jocelyne[/name] because of what I’ve said about spelling etc. I’ve heard what my family and friends think of my mame but they know me so have a face and character to place with the name - you won’t. So what is your opinion on my name? Thanks :slight_smile:

I think [name]Jocelyn[/name] is a fine name and I haven’t heard of the French spelling till now. I suppose I am biased as I have a lovely daughter named [name]Jacquelyn[/name]. I would embrace [name]Jocelyne[/name] if it was my name and sometimes I use J as a nn for my daughter but I have no trouble saying [name]Jacquelyn[/name] and neither should anyone have a problem saying [name]Jocelyne[/name] ([name]Joss[/name] lyn).

rollo

[name]Jocelyn[/name] is one of my favorite names, and I’ll take your spelling into account (it makes it more unique on paper, which is great). It’s beautifully feminine and European-flavored without sounding old.

[name]Jocelyne[/name] is pretty! I’ve seen both spellings, but if I were using the name (which I’ve considered!), I would probably use the simpler [name]Jocelyn[/name], even though I’m not crazy on unisex names (which I’ve heard it is). If you don’t like [name]Jay[/name] as a nn, then tell people you don’t like it! If I had a [name]Jocelyn[/name], I might be tempted to use a “J” MN so I could call her JJ sometimes. :slight_smile: But by all means, if you don’t like it, don’t use it. I personally prefer [name]Joss[/name]–does that appeal to you?

SO MANY thumbs up to [name]Jocelyne[/name]! I’ve always considered [name]Jocelyn[/name] to be a masculine name, and [name]Jocelyne[/name] would be the feminine version (I know probably 4 Jocelynes, and a male [name]Jocelyn[/name] and a female [name]Jocelyn[/name])
If you don’t want to go by [name]Jay[/name], DEFINITELY tell people that. With my legal name, it easily gets shortened to nicknames I loathe, and I just end up ignoring it.

You’ve put [name]Jocelyne[/name] on my radar! I guess I never thought about it before, but it has a very pretty sound to it.

I used to work with a [name]Jocelyn[/name] (pr [name]Joss[/name]-e-lin) and we normally called her [name]Joss[/name]. My husband liked it so much that it is his all time favourite girl’s name but as we have 2 boys with J names we won’t be using it.

There is a male [name]Jocelyn[/name] in one of the P G Wodehouse books - I’m sorry but I can’t remember which one but I wouldn’t consider it to be a unisex name any more (just like [name]Meredith[/name] used to be male but is now almost exclusively female).

As for my mental picture of a [name]Jocelyne[/name] - I guess I see her as young (definately under 30) and more of a girly-girl (since she hasn’t shortened to [name]Joss[/name]/[name]Jackie[/name]/J etc). The [name]Jocelyn[/name] I knew was really funky and fun so that association is very strong with the name for me.

If you like [name]Jay[/name] then when you meet someone new just say ‘[name]Hi[/name], I’m [name]Jay[/name]’ :slight_smile: When you write your name, write [name]Jay[/name], eventually it will catch on.

[name]Hi[/name]! I like your name too. [name]Jocelyn[/name] is very pretty and classic [name]IMO[/name]. If you go by nn [name]Joss[/name], people will have less trouble remembering how to pronounce your full name. When people introduce you, you can throw in “just call me [name]Joss[/name]”. [name]Even[/name] here in francophone country, the name is not super common… but everyone would be familiar with it and be able to pronounce it just fine. :slight_smile:

I like [name]Jocelyne[/name]! My cousin’s name is [name]Jocelyn[/name], who gets called [name]Jojo[/name] pretty much all the time.

Forgot to add that if we had a [name]Jocelyn[/name] we would call her [name]Josie[/name] :slight_smile: