Annoying name shortening trend

BrandyGran

Once trying to put a new member of our sewing class at ease I asked her name. She told me it was Winifred. I then asked ,again trying to be friendly, if she was ever called Winnie. She took a step back and said"Why would I want to be called Winnie when I have told you my name is Winifred "!
She turned out to be great fun and I now totally respect what she did.

My Mum was Winifred, no other names. The friend she lived with while working in London called her "Pooh" as in Winnie-the-!

why is it annoying, necessarily? If it is for you, say so, I made the mistake to call a neighbours son Tim instead of Timothy- and it was clear she did not like it. So I never did it again.

It so personal.

I worked with a headmaster who like to shorten all the staff' names to show he was on friendly terms with them: Margaret was Mags, Russel; was Rus, ones he couldn't shorten were lengthened: Frank was Frankie, Sue was Sussie, Even Tony became Tone.
He always called me Kate - perhaps he didn't like me!

I didn't like shortened names either. I tried to pick names that wouldn't be shortened. Daughter is Selina. She gets called Sels!!!!

I associated my name with a not very happy childhood, so just junked it altogether when I was sixteen, and have been my present name happily ever after!

BTW did you also have nicknames- we all did at school- sometimes based on the shortened version, or on parents nicknames, events, likes, dislikes... etc.

My name is Kathleen but I am called Kathy, Kathleen or Kate/Katy depending where in the country, or world, I am.
Kathleen was only ever family and my mother detested it to be shortened going so far as to tell others not to do it.
Kathy came about when I moved to London aged 18 and everyone started calling me Kath, which I hated but I don't mind Kathy.
Now where I live I'm Kate, except for my lovely postman who decades later, although he knows I am Kate, calls me Kath!
My mother was Aggie until she was about 60 and started requesting to be called Agnes. Amazingly, all her friends of 50 odd years did. Her middle name was Caroline and when I asked why she didn't choose to be called that when she was younger as it was a prettier name said she didn't like it.

It's always been a "thing". My cousin was born 1960, call Derek and was always called Del Del. Other names were also shortened.

I’m called Jacqueline and someone I didn’t like persisted in calling me Jaxie. I kind of adopted it out of irony. A friend asked me if I understood what its popular meaning was. “ Asshole” I replied, “ and according to you I can be one sometimes.” Puzzled look on her face, end of conversation.

Haha!

My name is Maureen, but always been called Mo, for as long as I can remember, if my late husband called me Maureen, I knew straight away he was annoyed with me. But the best nickname I've heard is one my neighbour uses for his dog, the dog's name is Juno, but he always calls him Oi! It's Oi come here, Oi sit down, Oi, don't do that etc.

We have 2 sons, David who is known to every as Dave exept us, to distinguish between him and DH (who he is named after he gets his full name. When his brother was born we decided on a name that couldn't be shortened so he is Lee (popular in the mid 70s). When he went to school there were 3 others in his class, so 1st letter of last name was added so they became Leer, Leef, Leer, these days he lives in Hanoi, with his partner Le!

I was always called Christine by everyone when I was young but decided I preferred Chris as I got older. It is only my aunts and uncles and cousins who I didn't see very often still call me by my full name.
We named our daughter Lucy, which she didn't like and she shortened it to Lu - she has since changed it by deed poll. Our son, on the other hand, we named Benjamin though we have always called him Ben - just thought that he may like a choice as he got older
A friend had the opposite problem. Her name was June but some people insisted on calling her Junie which hated.

Love shortening or lengthening names. I think it's more friendly. I have a colleague called Sian and I call her Siany. She loves it!

One of my cousins was named Helen after her late maternal grandmother, but when she started school, other children started calling her 'Hel'! Her parents were furious about this, as they were very religious people, so changed it to her middle name of Julie, only it didn't take long for the class mates to shorten that one to 'Jue' which again did not fare well with their religion!
My Eldest daughter was named Claire, but often got called Bear by her siblings, or 'Care bear' after the cartoon characters if they really wanted to annoy her!

The ones that amuse me most are when people call Kirsty, Curse and Darcy, Darse.
My dog's name is Oscar and I call him Ozzywozzybozwoz.
Daft, aren't we.

One trend I really don’t like is to give children two names and then call them by the initials.eg Peter John - PJ. In our area (fishing community) it’s quite common to call children by both of their given names, so you get Stephanie-Louise, Matthew-John.etc

My mother hated the fashion for adding y onto names eg Annie, Susie so she named me Wendy. Everyone calls me Wend.

I was determined my children's names wouldn't be shortened. I gave up when all her friends started shortening my daughter's beautiful, unusual, and rare name to B.

I named my son Stephen hoping when older he would be called Steve but alas no it's Ste which he prefers

I'm not a fan of shortening names and have always called my children by their full names. I would always hesitate when one of their friends would call them Dan or Joe or Nikki. But they were teenagers by then so I never even tried to correct anyone, but have always called them by their full name. I admit it did bother me when my MIL called Joseph Joey right from the start when he was a baby., but I let it go as her pet name for him.

I work in an industry (longshoring) where most men had the strangest nicknames not related at all to their actual name, especially the old-timers. Shrubby, Bluey, Jumpy, etc.
I was a little afraid to get a nickname, but thankfully never did. One fellow I had always known as Jake was actually named Fedelis. His wife called the office looking for him and I told her no one by that name worked here. That was how I found out his actual name!

It's interesting to hear people's own experiences with names although I must admit I would be reluctant to put as much personal and family information on an open forum as some have.

However, could someone tell me why what others are called or call themselves is any business of the rest of us. The idea that any control or even judgement on this should go further than your own name is a mystery to me.

I have a family name, my mother and grandmother had shortened versions of it, I am call by the full name, DD inherited the dimunitive of her great garndmother, but changed the spelling.

I work on the one stroke and your out principle. If someone new shortens my name, I explain that I am known by the full name. After that I ignore anyone calling me anything but the name I am known by and prefer.

Pippa

I have some sympathy with your view. The problem is however that it is often not the individual who chooses what they are called but friends or in some cases casual acquaintances. I often shorten my own name because many people seem incapable or unwilling to pronounce my full name as I would wish.

Well I didn’t choose to be called Pam (rhymes with Spam) .
I was always called by my full name then all of a sudden, when I moved it began to be shortened.
I gave up in the end. There are only so many times one can say politely “actually it’s”...... I’m still the real deal to my old friends and family.
I gave my girls names that couldn’t be shortened. It worked with one and not the other. Well 50% is a win. Isn’t it?