11 Year Old Has Changed Her Name

I have the most boring name in the world and no middle name!No one in our family has ( my parents thought it pretentious). I remember saying, “ but it didn’t cost you extra “ ! At school I sat on a table with 5 others of the same name. I’m sure that ,to an extent, your name defines you and I, like an earlier poster, felt deprived!

Someone dear to me is named Constantine (birth certificate:
Constantine Dean Last Name) ,
but used Dean, for everything, all his life. In the last 10 years, he is now in his 60's, it has become an issue, with legal and government documents in that, in renewals or applications, he must bring his birth certificate, documents are changed back to Constantine, and he now must sign his name Constantine. It has been a hassle

I used to do payroll; it surprised me how many people did not use their given name, changed the spelling, so it does not seem odd or strange to me anymore.

Babysat a boy for many years and everyone called him ed, I didn't know until a few years after I stopped looking after him that was his middle name. I found out by fb. when he sent me a friends request,

My brother never liked his first name and as soon as he started work always used his middle name, although the family still called him by his first name.

It caused a great deal of confusion at his wedding. His friends were all saying who is ...(first name?!)

I used my middle name ( Susan) when I started school as I could not pronounce Virginia! Eventually I was known as Ginny and if anyone now calls me Virginia it sounds almost alien. I do not object to the name , just feel I am in trouble if someone uses it!. Incidentally my father called me Susan until he died aged 83.

DGF and DF called me by my middle name which was very old-fashioned. However I loved them so tolerated it! Now I like that middle name much more than my first name as it reminds me of them.

My given name was very old-fashioned and I hated it. I tried to change it mid way through grammar school but a particularly unreasonable teacher made me completely re-write an assignment because I'd put the wrong name at the top! I eventually changed it when I went to university but not by deed poll so some official documents have my original name on them. However my passport is in the name I use despite it not matching my birth certificate. I simply changed it and no-one questioned it.

A relative of mine changed her name from Ruby which, although it has come back into fashion now, was very old fashioned when she was a child and she got a lot of bullying because of it so she changed to her middle name. She had had a difficult childhood as her mother died and her younger brother needed many operations so being bullied for this was the final straw and one of the few things that she had control over.
She probably would have been about the same age as your GD and it gave her much more confidence.

I have an unusual name and I've never liked it. Legally, it's still my name but I prefer to be known by the name of MY choice, not my parents.

You can call yourself any name you want as ling as there is no intent to deceive or commit fraud. For legal purposes registered name/s must be used. Of course if a legal change of name that is different.

I shared a name with a classmate at secondary school and was immediately issued by my head of year with a variant of my first name. "We will call you [Muffinette]"

All my teachers and classmates then used this variant. Many of my friends still do.

This completely flummoxes my parents but I'm fine with it.

Grosvenor We booked a last minute holiday and had to pick up the tickets at the airport - only to find that the travel agent had got my name wrong!
However, the airport staff very kindly let me board (it was in the days before security was tightened up) and I did wonder if I would be able to get home again.
I did!

Just remembered my Mum was Christened Gwendoline Alice Sheila - the first name after an aunt who was very well off. I think Grandma thought she might leave Mum something in her will as she was so flattered. She died about a year after Mum was born & left nothing so they started calling Mum Shelia from then on. No idea where the Gwendoline came from.This left Mum with a phobia of long names so I only got the one name with no middle names to worry about. Typically I always wanted a middle name!

My sister used her middle name for a while as a child, then reverted to the first of her given names. My parents accepted both changes.

I used my first name all through childhood, inserted a hyphen between my first and second name as a young adult, and now use my middle name.

My mother had three Christian names and used them all in turn. Those who knew her as a child called her by her first name, her teenage friends knew her by her third name, and my father and all their mutual friends called her by her second name, as my father felt uncomfortable calling my mother by her first name as it was also the name of his elder sister.

My father had two Christian names, his parents and brother and sister and all that side of the family called him by the first. He elected to be called by a shortened form of his second name at University and was called by that name by anyone, including my mother, whom he met after starting university.

So in my family it is quite often done to use different names at different stages in our lives.

I was always known by my 3rd name but half way through secondary school I decided it was very boring and changed it to my first name.
My mum wouldn't go along with it to this day!

Yes. I changed my first name at secondary school as there was an annoying girl in my class with the same first name.
I’m still using my new name 30+ years later.

A friend's daughter changed the spelling of her name when she started secondary school. It's a pretty name but she now uses the more modern spelling.
DD wanted to change her name when she was 8/9 oddly the name she wanted was the one I would have liked to give her but avoided as it was a good friend's daughter's name.

Half of our family are known by their second or middle name, some because they prefer it and the others because of family names being handed down and it saves confusion. If it's one of your given names then it's your own choice to use it. One of my cousin's had two names which we had to call her by both, all the time ( her parents insisted) once she became adult she couldn't bear it and we all then knew her by a much shortened version of her first name only.

When my younger sister was 3 years old she suddenly decided that she wanted to be known by her middle name rather than her first name. The only problem I can remember was that for the first few months she (and my parents) had to remind other family members when we saw them. My husband has always used his middle name, but even now, after 40 years, I am still taken aback when he is referred to by his first name e.g. on hospital visits, picking up prescriptions etc!

When a small group of friends went on holiday, our flights were all booked by one person. At the airport one lady was challenged about her name and had to pay £50 to get her ticket changed. None of us knew that she used her middle name, and her first name also appeared on her passport. When booking a flight, only first names are required.

Very few people like their first name. I was called Annette after my cousin. I hated it because my father, who fancied himself in the limerick department, used to say
"There was a young lady called Annette
Who swallowed her food like a gannet...."

When I said I wanted to be called Anne, he then said
"There was a young lady called Anne
One day she was chasing a man.."

GRRR! Daddy, you were so mean!!! Now I prefer Anna.

My sister - in her mid sixties - recently changed her first name and reverted to her maiden surname . We fell out spectacularly when I said I didn't actually like the first name she'd chosen . There are lots of other reasons we fell out which I won't go into here but this name change was the trigger . I actually said that although I didn't like the name she'd chosen it was her choice and in the end not my decision to make but this non commital answer was obviously not what she wanted to hear and we fell out. I fear that her mind is going anyway as she has done a lot of odd things in the past few years.

Not me, but both my parents did

You are not alone, MissAdventure. In our family the first, second and fifth child(me) had 2 names, middle 2 had only one each, no idea why. My brother announced, when quite young that he was called John Bob (this was before the Waltons) instead of just John. My niece told me at my sister's funeral (she was just Mary) that her mother had always bitterly resented having only one name. I had no idea!