Which Name Would You Choose?

My mother chose my older cousin's name. It was Joy. I always wished she had saved it for me !

For those of you that are "Elizabeth " lovers out there, it is actually my first name. Mum had decided on that and my middle name years before I was born as it had been the name of her best friend when she was in the forces during the war. It would have been the name given to my elder sibling, except he was a boy!. Before I came along my cousin was born and she was an Elizabeth too. As a result I have always been known by my middle name. Short, only 3 letters as I am "without", and infinitely dull. Not only do I prefer Elizabeth with all it options, but being known by your middle name is incredibly difficult and confusing and causes all sorts of problems. Ironically, my cousin always calls me Elizabeth!

I had a friend called Gaye. I wonder what has happened to all the "Gaye"s. Have they stuck with it, or changed.

I like my name, it has never been shortened, but as a little girl I longed to be Susan.
I wanted to call my first born Daisy, but my mother ridiculed the name so much that it put me off. I wish I’d been more determined, I think Daisy would have suited her very well.

I am happy enough with my christian name. I have two middle names, one of which I hated when I was younger and dropped. I was teased mercilessly by the boys on the school bus when one of them found out the offending name. Nowadays I don’t mind it as it is a bit different. I love the names Megan and Bethan.

I know one name I wouldn't choose; years ago I used to know a lady called Mrs Ethel Thistlethwaite.

My name is Sandra I wish it had been Cassandra then I could be called Cassie for short.lol

I hated my first name and always wanted to be Morag. And my French best friend equally hated hers and decided to change it from Chantal, which I love, to Sandra which I find really uninspiring. But takes all sorts. Married someone with surname Stern, which people make fun of, but doesn't bother me.

Always liked my name- + my married name- I know some of you will be relieved, but I am unique, the only one of me, for 100% sure

As a small child I wished I had been given a flowery name like Daisy or Rose....only to be told my name was a flower, just not one I had heard of ?

CSizzle

I know one name I wouldn't choose; years ago I used to know a lady called Mrs Ethel Thistlethwaite.

I had a landlord in York whose name was Montgomery Wrigglesworth.

39SJV07 the mean girls I remember were Mabel and Veronica from the Bunty - I heartily disliked their hairstyles, too, especially the way the hair was shaped around their ears.

I’ve always disliked my first name which is very short and common. It has two spellings and people constantly use the wrong version. My middle name is so unusual that nobody’s ever heard of it. My surname, again, is extremely common.
I feel utterly anonymous and would like to be called Esmeralda Fitzmontgomery-Puddifoot. There aren’t many of those around!

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

My next youngest daughter was named after her paternal Grandmother, who in turn was born and named on the day Lloyd George came into power as Prime minister. To celebrate this, each child named after him was given a olden guinea, a lot of money back then. However, she grew up with most people calling her Joyce. As ourdaughter grew up, she hated the name, and refered to herself as 'Gina'. When she went off to University, some of the lads thought it was good sport to add the letters VA as a prefix to her name, and the more that she complained the more they used it. One sympathetic lecturer, on hearing of the problem, renamed her 'Francesca' and insisted that all staff use that name as well, although the name itself was entirely of his choosing! So for 4 years, she remained with a proffesional name entirely different to her own! She still uses her original given name on official documents and business, but preferes her very common and short popular middle name amoungst family and friends who know her well.

My OH has always been known by his second name, which his parents obviously preferred to his first name. It does cause problems with official documents etc. Why do parents do that?

I've always wanted to be called Rosemary and gave my favourite doll that name. I wasn't given a middle name, so I always lied when we played 'Grandmother's steps' in the playground and said it was Elizabeth, because it had a lot of letters, including a Z!
My first name was unusual and I was never able to find it on a pen or other souvenir in the gift shops, which used to really annoy me. My surname wasn't much better, people mispronounced or misspelt it, so I was glad to change it when I married.

I've always been grateful for my brother's obsession with classical music as he asked my mum to name me after a Russian pianist who's surname was Milkina, first name Nina.
There was never another girl named so throughout my school years and I loved the compliments I got and still get, although I notice a few of us on Gransnet.
Brother also got first dibs at my middle name which is an opera overture by Schubert that no one can say correctly although it looks easy enough written. Even I am not sure exactly how it's said as it doesn't come out very often for an airing.
I've liked the name Isla ever since I watched Isla Fisher in Home and Away.

I’d rather like to be called Thea or Ottilie ?

Both our DDs had their dad's first name as their middle name, as this was the custom in his culture. (Though DH's sisters then told me that it was an old-fashioned thing to do. Possibly because we didn't give them the chance to choose our girls' names, which was also a custom.)

A few years after they were married, our elder DH and her husband decided to change their surname, as he no longer wanted to be known by his stepfather's name. They changed it to the Scottish version of his DM's maiden name. Our DD decided that she would also like to change her middle name to a girl's name that she liked.

Recently she told me that they wanted to put my maiden name into their surname, and regretted that they hadn't thought of doing it when they changed it years ago. So now they have a hyphenated surname with my name first. I was surprised but pleased.

Most people have always called her by a diminutive version of her first name, but she has decided to be called by a similar but androgynous diminutive. She feels that it will help her career, as she is in a fairly male-dominated profession.

I don't know if this is the final choice of names, as she has certainly been through a few changes.

Our younger DD is also known by a diminutive and has no desire to change it. She also puts up with her second name, though she too has grumbled, "Why did you give me a boy's name?" I have pointed out to both of them that lot of people don't even realise it's a boy's name. I wouldn't do it again, though.

Was given the name Margaret at birth, my dad always said it was because he liked Princess Margaret Rose, if he ever heard anyone call me anything but Margaret he went up the wall, he would say "you were christened Margaret and that is what people will call you".
Well its changed a bit now, I get my full name or Mags or even Magsy. I answer to them but often wonder if my dad looks down on me and shakes his head each time he hears people calling me anything other than Margaret!!

My first marriage was to Deborah Clare, which I thought were pretty smart forenames. When she died I was lucky enough to get married to Charmaine Ruth, which I think is also a cracking pairing. Sadly she doesn't agree and has called herself something else for the last 60-odd years. My first name only has three letters, and quite suits me.

Love the names Leonora and Fenella.

Have gone through life having to spell both my first name and surname - luckily don't have a middle name! My first name was very unusual at the time my mother gave it to me in the 50's, especially as it is the male version of the name, though it became popular later using the female spelling of it.

When I started junior school I told the headmistress she had spelt my name incorrectly and she retorted that her spelling was correct and mine was wrong. My mother was furious with her not least because I started junior school at the age of four and had been taught how to read and write by my grandmother before then.

FarNorth

39SJV07 the mean girls I remember were Mabel and Veronica from the Bunty - I heartily disliked their hairstyles, too, especially the way the hair was shaped around their ears.

Goodness me, what a memory you have!
There seemed to be a lot of Mary’s in girls comics but I can’t remember any other ones.I read Girls Crystal and Bunty and can’t remember a thing about them now.

My mother really hated both her first names - evidently fashionable when she was born in 1918 - so all 4 of us were given classic names that she thought wouldn’t date. I’ve always liked mine but my sisters weren’t so keen on theirs, and one has always been known even professionally by the nickname her not much older brother gave her when she was a baby.

Funnily enough that has turned into a relatively common name now - Mia - but we’d never heard of it at the time. When Mia Farrow was first well known - long ago now - we thought she’d pinched it!

A granny hated her name, too - Phoebe - but that went through a newly fashionable stage too, ditto some other really (to me) old lady names from that era. Poppy is just one I used to associate with whiskery old great aunts!

I do sometimes wonder how long it’ll be before some of the very popular names from my schooldays will be recycled - it seems to take at least 3 generations. Nice names, but you don’t hear of any baby being given those now. Or at least I haven’t.