Do you like your first name...

[soocool]

Do you like the first name your parents gave you and if you had the chance would you change it?

In my family all the female names were alike, Lasey, Casey, Stasey. My mom thought this was cute (even the spelling). We 2 girls disagreed. My mom used to monogram the first letter of our names on our clothes when we were little. People then began calling us, C & L (those nicknames stuck!). It drove my mom crazy and she was the only one who continued to call us by our proper names. In fact, on our wedding invitations we used C & L (individually of course) and still do not sign our first names, only the initials.

 

[Maisie]

My first name is Shelley. I like it. I wasn''t so keen when I was a kid though and asked everyone to call me Michelle instead. When my mother found out she wasn''t very pleased. I don''t know why I didn''t like it back then. I think it was something to do with a kid in my class making fun of my name.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Took me a long time. I have a VERY common first name which always bothered me.

 

[CurlySue]

I''m kind of ambivalent. My name is Jennifer. It''s so common that it''s not weird or anything, but sometimes I wish I had a unique name - mainly b/c my last name is also very common.

I have been told that my first name suits me and that I "look" like a Jennifer... whatever that means!

 

[Haven]

My name is Lori. I love it now, but I thought it was boring and too short when I was younger. I wanted a unique name that was long enough to turn into a nickname.

 

[princesss]

Date: 6/5/2009 11:16:58 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring
Took me a long time. I have a VERY common first name which always bothered me.

I felt the same way for a while, T. I like it fairly well now, and I really can''t see myself being any other name.

I did REALLY want to be Jessica for a while. Or Jennifer. Those seemed like awesome names when I was 5.

 

[monarch64]

I do like my first name. I''ve mentioned this before on PS...my SIL''s first name is also Heather, and she and my brother named my niece Heather as well. There are three of us--mama, baby, and auntie. It''s fun to tell people the story and see their reaction. Mainly we get a lot of strange looks. LOL

 

[tigian]

I didn''t like my name growing up, now it''s whatever. It is an uncommon name and people usually have to ask about it so I don''t like the extra attention when introducing myself. I would have preferred a more common name.

 

[tyty333]

I DO like my first name but I grew up with my family calling me by my middle name (Ann). Very boring and common for middle names of
my time. So, when I''m out in public and people who dont know me call me by my first name I kind of like it.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Interesting question. I hardly ever use my first name, and have only recently (last few years) grown to think of it as actually part of my name. My name is Mary Elizabeth, but I have ALWAYS been called Elizabeth. I was named after a great-grandmother but my parents always preferred Elizabeth. It makes for odd introductions with tedious explanations in school, at jobs, etc. Ultimately, I like the name Mary, but it''s a little blah to me. I much prefer Elizabeth, but perhaps that''s some ingrained psychological thing because I''ve known my parents always preferred Elizabeth and have attached a positive stigma to it. Hmmmm...my inner complex revealed.

 

[OUpearlgirl]

My full name is Margaret but I''ve always gone by Meg.. I HATED Margaret growing up, but now I''ve learned to love it.

My only annoyance now is when people ask "Well how''d they get Meg our of Margaret?" I mean.. I don''t know! It''s been a nickname for Margaret for ages! Read the book Little Women!

 

[Diamond*Dana]

My first name is Dana, and I do like it. I have not met too many Dana''s...

 

[whitby_2773]

my first name is a bit of a bother....

kareyn. i mean - gees....

i like it, but it''s spelled wrongly 9 times out of 10. the thing that makes me chuckle about it, tho, is when i write to people and they write back "dear karen...." - as tho i''ve made a mistake and they''re going to correct it for me! (no folks - i really DO know how to spell my own name!)

 

[InLuv101]

My name is Vanessa and I have always loved it! I wouldn''t change it because it fits me perfectly.

 

[atroop711]

Wasn''t a fan of my name (Annette) as a kid. I could NEVER find anything in the store personalized with my name on it. That really annoyed me. As an adult, I don''t really care. Don''t love it enough to name one of my daughters after me. I guess it''s ok but still not a Fan. I can''t imagines myself with any other name.

My mom did name me after Annette Funicello from the Mickey Mouse club (true story).

 

[Shoopy]

I love my name! It''s an extremely common name but when I look at myself, I can''t picture any other name. The name was given to me by my father. He had an "M" name and wanted an "M" name for me. I also love, love the nicknames I get from it. My name is Melissa and people call me Meli or Mel all the time which I adore.

 

[Erin]

I like my name - Erin. I''m usually the only one at work, the only one amongst a circle of friends, and the only one in a class. I''ve grown accustomed at work to signing things like purchase orders, Erin. Like my name is Cher or Madonna.

 

[librarychickie]

I love my name -- Hayley. I was the only one named that when I was growing up. It''s become a lot more common in the past 15 years or so, but nobody my age is named that!

~LC

 

[geckodani]

I''m indifferent. If I could have chosen my name, I doubt I''d have chosen Danielle. I usually go by Dani, which suits me better for some reason.

 

[Clio]

My name is Julia, and I love it. It suits me very well. Plus, my parents were flighty hippie kids, so it could have been much, much worse.

When I was growing up, there were tons of Julies but very few Julias. I actually went by Julie when I was little but reverted to Julia when I started school. Even now, my sister, cousins, and friends from when I was 3-4 will call me Julie. To everyone else, though, I''m always Julia, never Julie.

 

[lyra]

Hate it, but maybe that stems from relentless teasing by my sister growing up. Also dislike the spelling, which is unisex--teachers always assumed I would be a boy at the start of classes every year. Ugh. Leslie.

 

[Kelli]

I like mine just fine. Never thought about changing it or anything. It suits me I suppose

 

[sunnyd]

I like being a Meagan. I''m just glad my parents didn''t take the spelling TOO far like they almost did. Can you imagine -- Meaghanne?!?!

There are always a lot of us though around here, my best friend is a Megan, my best friend in HS was Meagan that went by Megan, another Megan was a friend...

I always loved Michelle (my middle name) or Jennifer. Something girlier than Meagan.

 

[lyra]

Date: 6/5/2009 12:46:23 PM
Author: Kelli
I like mine just fine. Never thought about changing it or anything. It suits me I suppose

Okay, that''s so funny. You have my sister''s name, and I always thought my parents did a lot better choosing her name!

 

[Thomperchik]

No. I have a very Hispanic name. My first name is Maria and I''m sure you can guess my last name.

Yuck.

 

[luckystar112]

My first name is Amanda, and I''m okay with it. I didn''t like it when I was little because I thought it was a boys name (has the word "man" in it...haha).
My name was one of the top five in the year I was born, but for some reason I''ve only met a handful of people with my name. I meet way more Jessicas, Jennifers, Sarahs, Ashleys, and Tiffanys.

 

[Kaleigh]

My first name is Alice. I was never called Alice growing up. Always Lisa. I didn''t like the name Alice growing up but it''s grown on me.

 

[KimberlyH]

My name is Kimberly, but I have always been called Kimi. I love my name and nickname suites me, but people like to shorten it to Kim, which I simply don''t answer to, because I don''t think they are referring to me!

 

[musey]

I have a very uncommon first name which always seemed to get in the way. No one could ever pronounce it, they always wanted to know what it was short for (um, nothing), and when I did meet another person with the name I had this (irrational) territorial response (hey, that's MY name

). I still get some of that sometimes - I saw it show up on a PS baby name thread recently and a little voice in the back of my head said "back off!"

I've always thought I'd give my children names somewhere in-between... maybe between 60-100 on the SSA name list (mine has hovered between the low-300s to 900+ in the past 20 years). That way it would be common to the point that they would come across others with the name often enough to avoid the territorial emotional response, but not often enough to feel like EVERYONE ELSE has their name.


Side note, I still wish I could change the spelling of my first name (to NF's spelling, actually

) because it looks prettier and is more intuitive as far as pronunciation... but after changing my last name recently, I think changing the spelling on my first name would be too traumatic

 

[Kelli]

Date: 6/5/2009 12:47:51 PM
Author: lyra

Date: 6/5/2009 12:46:23 PM
Author: Kelli
I like mine just fine. Never thought about changing it or anything. It suits me I suppose

Okay, that''s so funny. You have my sister''s name, and I always thought my parents did a lot better choosing her name!

That is funny I like it, but I never thought there was anything wrong with Leslie either. And I never thought of that as a boy''s name. But I do know of a few boys named Kelly. My brother''s best friend''s name is Kelly, which is also the name of his (my brother''s) wife. At his wedding last week we went by Sister Kelli, Bride Kelly, and neighbor Kelly (because his best friend is my parents'' next door neighbor.)