Uhm...I get called all sorts of names

But coming from a culture that notoriously works with diminutives and weird, unrelated forms of formal names, it does not phase me when people have nicknames. Mind you, my own hb does not get called by his name, but by his middle name, which used to be his family last name, etc etc. So complicated.

We have cca 340 names back home in the calendar, people were allowed to only use those to name their kids in the past, they had to ask for a procedure with a committee to allow for an exceptions. Now, people are making up for it, but nothing extreme..We still get Jans that get to be called Honzas, David is Davídek, Tomas is Tomášek, Jozef is Pepa or Pepíček, Jana is Janička, Mark is Mareček..Vladimír is Vláďa, Alexandra is Saša, Petra is Péťa, Zuzana is Zuzka, Tereza is Terka, Terezka, Marie is Maruška, Máňa, Mařenka, Mařena, Maru.

I think moms like to use long versions since a. they live their kids' proper names, b. kids have done something bad.

It is normal to let other people decide what they will call you, but they usually adjust if there is some bad vibe from the name "owner". But if you are full length Martin, you hardly object if friends decide to call you Mates, just comes with the territory.

Nobody calls me my real name here because they can't pronounce it. Tragic Unless they are anglophone, and then they sometimes stress the wrong syllable.

There is a massive amount of anglophone names of francophone kids in this area, and the pronunciation is all..."messed" up, like Jeremy, Mathew, pronounced completely differently than those original English version, but it is very cute. Jessica then becomes [zhesika].

I like the culture here, as it is similar at home, it takes a while to get to the 1st name basis interaction, people address you by your last name for a while which is nice. It took me a while to realize it was an honor when people started to address me by my 1st name, without the usual "let's tutoyer" phrase, first.

If friend has a nice long name, I stick to it, since I like the melody of it. If they bug me about it, I switch to whatever is comfortable to them, as long as it isn't an EF name

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

Well you can't really shorten my name which I quite like, however, some friends of MD's sil managed even to do that and reduce it down to one syllable, which is what Americans just love. Doug, Al, Bob, Tom, Chris....... I suppose it's an incredible effort to pronouce two.

For my daughter I chose this beautiful name (I think) Inessa and her friends call her Ina! Isn't that a shame! I call her Nessie, my little monster

Up until I was 11, I thought my name was "Shut up"

in my culture there are so many nicknames that im not sure anyone is called by their real names, in fact i know a few people in my family and when my mama told me their real names i was surprised, i always knew them as chico, nono, tio macho or some other form...

ditto what db says, my son hears his full name only in times of pure trouble, and it is a lovely firey name that sounds perfect at those times... depending on who you talk to i may be called, la flaca, la macha, lula, nunena or my given name- and my son has an equal amount of versions, tito, tiquito, tico, chucho, gringuitico, blahblahblah...even it is pretty common to give nicknames of animal parts to people, patas de perro, culo de vaca or names describing where someone lives, example my uncle was cañero because he was from cañas...

actually i could go on and on about this, i am also a linguist and did much of my dissertation of forms of nicknames, love this stuff...

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'there isn't enough of anything as long as we live.
but at intervals a sweetness appears and, given a chance prevails'

I once tried to read a book by Dostojevski and I thought, boy how many characters are in this book? And got all confused since the plot didn't make much sense. Until I realized the characters each had at least three different names, which is common in Russia. An Alexander can be Sascha, Schura, or just called by the "fathersname" Maximov (na) and they also have last names. Honestly, I tried to make a chart to be in the know - too much for me. I gave up.

Ha ha!

We had that, my father would cycle through the names, usually starting at the opposite end depending on whom he was addressing:

Jane would be Carlos-Maria-Jane

Maria would be Jane-Carlos-Maria

Me would be Jane-Maria-Carlos

I think it is genetic though, as I find myself doing it with my children

... and that's changed now that you're 12 has it?

The name I most often go by is a nickname, Peg.

My family, being American 2nd but (primarily) Roman Catholic Irish first - has many, many MANY "Joseph" or variants of "Joseph." My real first name is one such variant.

Meanwhile, being proper naming convention among those Americans of Roman Catholic Irish ancestry, my middle name is also the name of a saint. Margaret of course being the one, and Peggy was what I was called when I was younger, post high school it became Peg.


Also, as DB pointed out, when I was a child, invariably, if my parents (but particularly my mother) called to me, using "Peggy" I knew it was no big deal. If I heard both the Saints though, oh boy, I I knew I was in for it big time.

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The Joys of Opticianry

Some names, mine included, have various shortened forms. I am happy with Rod, which is what I am generally known as now, but not so with other variants, particularly Rodney. Perhaps it is the 'Only Fools & Horses' association.

Occasionally I get called Rodders. I can live with that from close friends.

My name is only used when I need to be formal, or if my mother is cross with me Then as DB says it's both my first and second name.
Otherwise everbody call me by my nickname and it has stuck.

My name is short enough and nothing complicated so all people use that. I dont have any middle name.

My parents chose my name as it can't actually be shortened, so people just tended to lengthen it instead. Or at least my friends did. Then of course in the 80's when that bunch of sickly sweet bears arrived on TV and as toys I became Clarebear. That was eventually shortened to just Bear, which could get a tad embarrassing, especially when shouted out across a crowded pub.

My first name doesn't seem to exist here. Half of my mail and half of my medical records belong to someone named Eliane, so I answer to both.

Lots of people call me "e" (although my husband now says e in German so it sounds like "a".

My father could never keep my sister and I straight, my mother never had a problem despite naming us Elaine and Eileen. Fondness for names with e, I guess.

My Dad kept referring to my daughter using my name. And my grandmother got all mixed up with the names but would realize she was wrong after the first syllable which ended up as "Wil - Hil - Ju - Hubert" (my brother) and my mother now mixes up my name, my daughter's name, my sil's name (whose name is Annett) sometimes ending up calling my daughter Inetta or Anessa
somehow sad but still

I love nicknames that, on the surface, make no sense - but have a great story behind them!

Sadly, though, most Australian nicknames are unimaginative. For example, if your name has more than one syllable, and the first syllable ends with 'r', it will be shortened to the first syllable with a 'z' replacing the 'r', and often a 'za' on the end. So there are heaps of Dazza's, Shaz's, Jezza's, Kaz's, and so forth ...

Still, despite that, there are two great nicknames of people I know.

The first is a childhood mate, Don. I was first introduced to him as Don, and only found out the story after a couple of years. His given name is Mark. Mark was trying to do something (forgotten what, now - but probably involved cricket or golf) and said, "If it doesn't work this time, my name's Donald Duck!". He tried and failed ... and one of my other mates just turned to him and asked, "How do you think you'll go on your next attempt, Don?".

The second is one of my brothers-in-law. He's known as Mick, to just about everyone, but when my sister first introduced him to our father & extended family (I'd met him once before, and was told his name was Mick) he said his name was, "Rodger, with-a-d.". For a while that meant people in our family called him Withadee (sadly, that faded after a couple of years) but, with a bit of questioning, I found out where 'Mick' came from.
My brother-in-law is named Rodger John, after his father. But, when his wife was pregnant, Rodger John Sr promised his brother Michael that if it was a boy the child would be named after the brother (Michael). I believe alcohol was involved. But, when it came time to fill in the birth certificate, it was 'Rodger John' (withadee!). Michael, not to be defrauded of his namesack, simply called the baby Mick. It stuck, while Rodger John Jr did not.

As for me, there are people in my life who only call me by the forum name they first 'met' me under online, even though I've attended football matches and many drinks at pubs with them ... but they're back in Sydney now. I'm usually called by my full first name, but don't mind my 'favoured' shortened version (which actually came about when I misread my father's signature, and thought that sounded good for my nickname as well ... ironically, my father can't spell it despite using it frequently.).
I will use somebody else's full first name, unless they give me 'permission' to shorten it (or introduce themselves by some other name) - and in the case of my students, I use their full first name regardless of whether they suggest I shorten it, or if their own parents frequently shorten it. In my teacher training the issue of respect for the child came up, and it was suggested that shortening somebody's name (without some equality of position in the relationship) is disrespectful to that person. So, I use their full first name. Except when they call me "Mister ...", then I call them, "Miss ..." or "Master ..." in return.

In my Swiss village we all used to have nicknames- and I had a couple, my own, then my brother's was used for me too. Back here after a lifetime away, it is amazing how many people still remember them- very funny.

Odile is not easy to pronounce for many Brits - so it was always a big joke with my bil as he called me 'ordeal' or 'ideal' depending on his mood ( or mine,lol).

As a family, we had a problem: A brother and two brothers-in-law with the same first name. We had to come up with varieties of short forms of their name to avoid confusion.

Fortunately, one of my sisters got divorced, so that reduced the problem to just two of them.