Granddaughter wants to change her name.

eazybee

What do her parents think?

Tbh, I haven’t had a change to discuss it with my DD and SiL,
My DG only mentioned it when my DD and her called round to collect my youngest GD yesterday.
I’m sure they are fine with it.
I have texted my GD a few times today using her chosen name. ?

I think you only have to be 16 DiscoDancer1975

In my late mothers family my mum and two of her sisters were always called by a different name than the name their mother had given them at birth. All through my childhood and growing up my mum was called this name by everyone even dad called her that name. I was about forty years old when I found out that she had a different Christian name that was on her legal documents and was her legal birth name.
Later in life I had great difficulty when mum was in hospital for several months and all nurses called her by the legal Christian name I would just smile at her and then call her this alien name to me and have to laugh.

My DD is like Henetha. In her case she uses a dimunitive, and she has changed the spelling of that, for everything except legal documents

I use my middle name and have done for years so much so that I don’t recognise my first name if someone calls me by it.

My GD uses her middle name at college, her first name is used at home by family, so far the 2 factions haven’t met…….
I hate both my names so I use an abbreviation that doesnt appear to come from any particular name, my parents were quite happy to use it too.

It’s happened quite a bit in our family, first my own daughter age 4 would only answer to the name….Janice! Lasted about 18 months to 2 years. Then my granddaughter who came to live with us decided she didn’t like her name and used her middle name. The others have at other times changed their surname to their mother’s maiden name. What do I do, just carry on using what ever name they were born with.

I still don't like my name. I've wanted to change it all my life but didn't want to hurt my DPs. Now its really a bit too late.

Snap NfkDumpling!

Our DS was known as Richard (from the Famous Five) for two years as a 6/7 year old. He recently (now 32) revealed that his full name - Nickolas- has been a nuisance when dealing with official forms as he is always known by as Nick. Apparently the 'olas' has given him all sorts of grief.
Go with the flow for your Granddaughter - she's being brave.

I’ve known a few people use their middle names over my lifetime. You don’t have to do anything legal, just call her what she wants, just sticking to her registered name for legal stuff, as henetha said.

Once she’s 18, she can change it herself if it bothers her that much. The danger now is changing it, then her wanting to go back in a year! Depending on which way the wind is blowing.

It's pretty harmless really. All my life I have often used my middle name as I prefer it, but stick to my first name for legal things, passsport etc.

What do her parents think?

My mother changed her First name at the age of 95.
She was given the name of Clarissa but was always called Clarice.
When she went happily into residential care at 95 the staff called her Clarissa and she decided that was what she wanted to be and she was only called that for the next 7 years by friends and family.

My youngest DD had a nickname (an actual surname that showed up on her first scan picture) from before she was born and, until she went into Primary 2 (the one after Reception in England), everyone used her nickname. We moved house just before she entered P2 and she announced that she wanted to be called by her given name at school.

So she was.

We continued using the nickname for a while and told the school about it in case we referred to her using it.

No problems arose ever.

My sons-in-law both go by their second names, which sometimes needs explaining in work. A school-friend called Edwina hated it and persuaded everyone to use her second name. It wasn’t a big deal really, even back then. I your GD enjoys it.

Someone I know’s mother is known as Kathy, it’s her middle name. I only recently found out. The reason? Both her and her sister have the same first name.

If your grand daughter wants to be known by another name it’s fine. Lots of applications etc ask if you want to be known by a certain name.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

My youngest sister changed her name when she was about 18. For some reason she had always been known by her second name from birth, then she decided she preferred her first name and asked everyone to call her that. We are still not used to it after nearly 50 years!

Sounds perfectly normal to me. Lots of children, especially girls, decide to make changes to their names.

Sometime they swap middle for main name - like our Prime Minister -. His name is Alexander Boris (and a few more names) Johnson. At sometime he decided he wanted to be called Boris rather than Alexander.

My DD, didn't change her name, but did change its spelling - Jane to J.ne - (no that is not her name).

Your grand daughter probably doesn't like her first given name, but didn't know she could change it until she heard her aunt was doing it and then, with quiet relief, decided to shed her first name and use her second name.

How everyday. How normal.

Hithere - just realised you may be in Scotland or elsewhere. My knowledge is only how things work where I am (England and presumably Wales and NI).

Using your middle name as a first name is not that unusual.

Very easy to change your name.

Many years ago a girl at my school decided to change her name . We were a bit surprised but she insisted and within a year she was known by her new name by teachers/pupils/family etc etc

In fact I'm struggling now to remember what her initial name actually was!

Hithere

I never liked my name either but legal change is a nightmare, so I settled.

Good for her, to find who she is!

Are you in the UK highthere?
Changing a name legally is really easy and you can do it free actually. Even the "registered" route is less than £50. I think it's more likely to be the bank, water etc that's time consuming to be honest.
I've helped several people change names in my time working with women in refuge. It really wasn't hard.

As regards the 10 year old. A friend of mine had her 12 year old decide she didn't like her name. She just stopped using her given name (though kept her surname) and simply told everyone that she was now called x.
If felt a bit odd to me at first but she is 50 now and still using the name she chose, even after marriage.
Using a middle name isn't even changing a name. Just let it go!

I thought the name we chose for absentdaughter was lovely. She didn't and, once she became a preteen, she persuaded all her friends to call her by a completely different name. I didn't dislike the name she chose, but lots of people shared the same name whereas her original name was much more unusual. (Ironically, it is now one of the most popular girls' names in the UK.) Once she became an adult, she made the change legally and nowadays I always think of her with her new name – she is still the same daughter.

I never liked my name either but legal change is a nightmare, so I settled.

Good for her, to find who she is!

Her middle name is just as much her name as her first name. That is the great advantage of having two or more names to choose from . When our son secured a new job , he was asked if he had a middle name as there were already three members of staff with the same first name as him! Fortunately he has three forenames so he had two options! He was quite happy to choose one of his three names.
Please don't worry about your GD s decision, she is not changing her name she is simply choosing one of the two names she already has.
I am sure you will soon get used to it.