I love my name, [name]Penelope[/name], more so as an adult. I have always been [name]Penny[/name] (until grade five when I changed the spelling to [name]Penni[/name] - it was 1985, the year of the i). [name]Penni[/name] has stuck and I sometimes wish I’d changed it back before my name became a part of my professional identity but oh well. I did try and change my name to [name]Laura[/name] in grade three, but I think that was more pro-[name]Laura[/name] than anti-[name]Penelope[/name].
I get [name]Pen[/name] and [name]Nell[/name] too.
My name has great literary roots which fascinated me as a kid.
I have never been teased nastily, but I got songs sung to me ([name]Penny[/name] [name]Lane[/name], Pennies from [name]Heaven[/name]) mostly by daggy old teachers, and my year 7 English teacher convinced the whole class that there was such thing as a pen-e-lope - a five legged antelope. But it was always good-natured. I’ve always known at least one other [name]Penelope[/name] or [name]Penny[/name], but it’s not especially common.
My name is [name]Raquel[/name]. When I was growing up, I hated it. [name]Every[/name] single one of my teachers called me [name]Rachel[/name] the first time they said my name, I was (and still am) forever correcting people. It was easier to use my nn as a child. However, I had a boyfriend in high school who loved the name [name]Raquel[/name] so much that he refused to call me by my nn. From there on out I was [name]Raquel[/name], and now I love my name! I love that not very many people have it, but I still get [name]Rachel[/name] ALL the time! [name]Even[/name] when I say my name, some people look at me with a “question mark” on their face, so I just say “like [name]Raquel[/name] [name]Welch[/name]” and they immediately know what I’m talking about.
I never got made fun of for my name, but I am caucasian, and I live near a very large Hispanic community, I always got a lot of this: “[name]Raquel[/name] is a Spanish name. Why do you have a Spanish name if you’re white?”, and that was said in a not-so-nice way. \ I also would meet a lot of people who assumed I could speak Spanish because of my name.
My name is [name]Brittany[/name]… and I was never teased. I don’t feel like the name [name]Brittany[/name] fits me. But nevertheless it’s the name I have.
My name is Chlo [name]Annabel[/name]. I used to hate it because everytime i’d meet someone new and especially teachers at school, they would call me [name]Chloe[/name] and i’d have to tell them it’s just Chlo! But i suppose i’ve grown to love it as it is kind of different from the normal ‘[name]Chloe[/name]’. I weren’t really teased, occasionally my friends would (and still do) call me [name]Chloe[/name] to annoy me. Suppose i like it now
[name]Gabrielle[/name] [name]Carolina[/name] and I adore my name!
What I don’t adore? [name]Gabby[/name], or as I spelled it the year I gave into the Scabby nn [name]Gabbi[/name]. If you ever me a [name]Gabrielle[/name] call her [name]Gabrielle[/name] unless she says she likes [name]Gabby[/name], [name]Ellie[/name] ect.
I go by [name]Bella[/name] when forced to take a nn, but I could never be anything other than [name]Gabrielle[/name].
My name is [name]Laurie[/name] [name]Ann[/name]. I’ve always hated my name. I found it childish even when I was a child. And [name]Ann[/name], could you have a more boring name? Also, growing up it was such a popular name!! I was always one of at least three in my class, if not more. I think the reason why I’m so obsessed with names is because I want my child to love her name and be the only one in her class. No one ever teased me because of my name.
My name is [name]Candace[/name], which I love. It peaked a full ten years before I was born, so I’ve NEVER met a [name]Candace[/name] who was younger than I am (though I’m sure they exist, haha). I like that my name isn’t even in the top 1000 anymore, and that it has ancient origins…
I guess this is why it’s so important to me that my kids have names that they can grow into. I mean, they’ll be children for a little while, but for most of their lives they’re going to be adults living in an adult world.
My name is [name]Anna[/name], and I love it, even though I stopped eating bananas altogether when I was younger in hopes of people not calling me [name]Anna[/name] [name]Banana[/name]. (it didn’t work) But surprisingly I was the only [name]Anna[/name] in my school, which was great.
I didn’t like [name]Joy[/name] after getting sung the “[name]Happy[/name] [name]Happy[/name] [name]Joy[/name] [name]Joy[/name]” song for a whole bus ride but as I got older I got attached to it. [name]Michelle[/name] is fine, but I didn’t like having such a popular name. It is a bit frustrating to always get differentiated with your last initial, or in my case, the first two letters of my last name because there was even another [name]Michelle[/name] M!
The only bad nickname I ever got was “Miss Hell”, but I think kids will come up with something no matter how innocuous the name.
