Your Name

I want to ask how you folks conceive of your own name. Specifically, have you ever changed your name voluntarily? If you have, why did you do it? Why did you choose the name you chose? Does your name have any special signifigance to you or is it just something you call yourself? Do you want to stay with one name your whole life, or do you feel that it is appropriate to change your name as you change as a person?

I am named after my great-grandfather on my father's side. My middle name is after my uncle on my mother's side. My mother never got married to my father, mostly because she would have lost her legal status as a native if she did so... (Yes, a native person is not a native person unless the government says so -- welcome to Canada.) Because natives were arbitrarily given Anglicized names around the nineteenth century, I have an odd last name. My last name is a first name, and it is also a common nickname for my first name. This has saddened and annoyed me for a very long time.

Though I've never changed my name legally, I have thought about it. Not my first name, however, but my surname. I'm still not sure that I'll ever do it, simply because I don't think one's family name should ever be changed. To be honest, I don't see the reason to change any names at all unless you need to -- e.g. witness protection or you're publicly hated after some incident.

The only time I would be open to changing my name is if it had some cultural and ceremonial significance. In the culture of my native heritage, names are given out after one has been shown themselves wanting one and worthy of having one. After that, one would have their anglicized name -- the 'legal' one -- and the native one. If I was ever conferred with such a name, I would probably head over to the office and have it added to my legal name in some way.

The only other instance in which I wouldn't find odd for someone to change their name would be if something drastic changed. I would understand and accept would be if they were transgendered and the name change was a first step or a final stage in the change.

I dunno, I guess names are something that are sacrosanct in my mind. You can't just change it without it looking really odd to me, I'd have to make a judgment on why you did it, and whether I thought it was a gratuitous display...

Another note, and a mild tangent, I figure online handles are quite different in my mind. Made-up names for a made-up place seems quite symmetrical in my mind.

I wish i would of never changed my name after i got married...my maiden name had so much more character.

Eh, it's a name. It doesn't really matter much to me. I wish I had a less common name, just because it gets annoying to always hear your name being shouted out when you're in a crowd, and it's pretty much never you they're calling for.
I don't care nearly enough to change it though.

I changed my last name a bunch of years ago...no, not because I got married.

Having been adopted...and my father having been adopted...the name didn't hold much meaning to me.

Plus, I had changed so much as a person, I was drawing a line in the sand between who I'd been and who I'd become.

I got disinherited for it, but have never regretted it!

[Edited on Nov 07, 2005 by Meaney]

I changed from Cathy to Cat just after high school (it's actually Catherine but no one's ever called me that). Cathy is a nice girl, cheerleader name. Cat is more me. I did not change my last name when I married because it was my father's name and I want to maintain my father's name. I also have it tattooed on my arm.

Edited because this is apparently about first names. Oh how observant I is.

Rizzo. Because my first name begins with an "R" and my last name ends in a "Z". RZ. Rizzo. Fo' shizzo.

[Edited on Nov 07, 2005 by TheBastard]

I think I lucked out with the name I have. You see my parents are brain dead and came up with some shitty names before they settled on Nicholas. My dad wanted to name me Rocky Allen Walker, he was and is a big Rocky fan and Allen is his middle name. My mom wanted to name me Elvis Aaron Presley Walker. So I’m happy with what I got.

I go by what ever veriation people feel like calling me. I go by Nick, Nicholas, Nick-Allen and Walker.

[Edited on Nov 07, 2005 by Walker]

I go by my middle name, in part because it's what my mother's side of the family goes by, but also because I like it better than my first name. "Clint" or "Clinton" is so much more distinctive than "Sean".

i am named after my father. i love my name. its different for a girl. i didnt change my name when i got married. we have a name we both want to change our last name to. my first name is actually two names so i change between the one name and two depending on my mood... the only other name i use is lemuria and i chose that because the lost continent is very special to me.

i wish i would have never gotten my last name changed...i dont even talk with my father enough to want his name anymore....i should have stuck with my original

I go by Steve. Because, I'm Steve. What the fuck else would I be? Besides a FridgeMagnet of course.

I got married a week ago, and still am contemplating the name change thing. I happen to like my last name, not because of my father, but just because its pretty. When you hear it you picture natural scenes and landscapes. I am going to have to trade it in for a stuffy German name, because I want to FEEL married.
My first name is a boy's name with feminine spelling, i HATED it when i was younger, but have grown to appreciate its uniqueness.

My name is Bradley, but I've only ever gone by "Brad." I like it alright, and could never imagine changing it. I hated my middle name, Allen, as a child, though. I wanted to change it to "Steve" (because that was the guitarist from Def Leppard's name, duh. Rox0rz!).

I like my first name. It was my grandfather's middle name, but it's a pretty good name nonetheless.

I knew a girl whose last name was "Crowe". She got married and changed it to "Mellor". What a terrible waste...

C'mon Steve! *guitar solo evar*

My first name is the least fitting name for me that I could possibly fathom. That one was taken from my great-great-grandmother.

As for my middle name...I was named after Wonder Woman. Seriously.

My older brother (who was 4 when I was born) couldn't say Diana Prince--he'd always call WW's alter ego "Deanna." And my mom liked it, so it stuck.

I'm pretty ambivalent towards my last name. Put the entire fucker together, though, and it all flows really well. And it's so long that it takes up multiple lines on my state ID. Awesome.

I have a very Italian name which, when spoken including my middle name, flows like a really nice red wine. Some friends have kind of joked about the fact that I am an artist/designer with a good name for it... "have you seen the latest design by Robert Anthony V--------i".

I like my name...I'm half French also.

I didn't like any of my names when I was younger, but I have grown to like them over the years. Despite both my parents being Irish, they gave me a very french Christian name, which is two names, hyphenated together. my middle name is english and my Confirmation name was my choice, (and italian, incidentally) so of course I like that. My surname is distinctly irish and extremely unusual in this country, which for me, adds to its appeal.

I don't think I'd ever take a man's surname as my own if I was to get married, but I wouldn't rule it out entirely; I suppose it depends on his name. My daughter has both my surname and her father's; I thought it was important for her to identify with both families in an official respect, as well as a personal one.

I knew a conquistador named steve once.

I was named after a soldier my dad knew in the Yom Kippur war, who died saved his and a few other people's lives. I didn't know that until I was 18, and grew to like the name afterwards. People don't usually come across it, so they're always saying "that's an...interesting name" (it's also the name used by a coupla SGs which amuses me ).

My name is quite unique and I love it. My Mum got it from the place where she was born and grew up. There is a beach there that has my name. When my Mum died, we scattered some of her ashes in the water there. It made me proud of my name.

There are two major pronunciations of my first name, and just today I got asked which of the two I go by (I just got a job). However, I think with the way my name is spelled there is only ONE correct pronunciation. Not everyone agrees. There's also a shortened version that some people use as a nickname, but I would never ever use it because I don't like it. It's not my name. It's entirely different, in my view.

I was named after my great grandfather as per Jewish tradition to name your child after the most recently deceased member of the family.

I'd never change my name. My first name, anyway. If I really loved someone enough to marry them I'd consider adopting their last name. But I don't plan to marry.

In the unlikely event that I have children, I'd most likely adopt as a single mother, giving my child my last name. My "family line" (such as it is) will die out otherwise. I don't think about it much but I'd feel bad if that happened.