When you were little, did you want a different name?

[Asthaloth]

I'm quite fond of my names, and will actually hyphenate them on occasion (Philip - Edward)
My sister got of light however, my dad originally wanted to call her Verity.

Seriously.

[Mongrel]

My sister got of light however, my dad originally wanted to call her Verity.

Seriously.

If we're sharing "Almost-got-named-this" stories, my father apparently loved the name Penelope *shudder*
My mom wasn't much better; in my baby book, there's a list of names she thought about for me(before she knew which gender I'd be), and apparently she wanted me to be mistaken for a Mennonite because there are mostly names like Isaiah and Ezekiel on it.

[DM was on fire!]

I still want a different name.

[Tymaporer]

I was apparently almost Rachel or Julia. Damn, I'd kill for either of those names. Especially since there were two Rachels in my bumk one summer and it would've been awesome. Did they have to choose the uncommon, unspellable name instead of either of the two obvious ones? T_T

My brother was almost Robert or Kenneth. Daniel is a good name too...naturally he gets the super-extremely-insanely-probably-top-10-common name. Hmph.

[Twinkle]

My sister got of light however, my dad originally wanted to call her Verity.

Seriously.

If we're sharing "Almost-got-named-this" stories, my father apparently loved the name Penelope *shudder*
My mom wasn't much better; in my baby book, there's a list of names she thought about for me(before she knew which gender I'd be), and apparently she wanted me to be mistaken for a Mennonite because there are mostly names like Isaiah and Ezekiel on it.

I was nearly called Elena which I would've much preferred to plain old Helen. Heh, I hate having the same name as millions of 30 year olds!

[Regan]

I was nearly called Elena which I would've much preferred to plain old Helen. Heh, I hate having the same name as millions of 30 year olds!

I love the name Helen!

Anything is better than Regan, though I'm over hating my name now. I'm kind of thankful, actually. My mother wanted to call me Chyna. I don't know how I would have survived the 90's...

[Igg]

I desperately wanted a different name growing up, and I still don't like my name. Rachel was just so common and so bleh--it sounds like either a prissy little girl or a frail old woman. The only name I distinctly remember wanting was Jane, which sounded far more stylish to me. But I'm pretty sure every time I read a book with a cool heroine, I went through an "I want her name" phase.

It's weird how that varies from place to place. I would never think of Rachael as a frail old woman. Old lady names are Ruby, Constance, Vera &c.

Whereas Jane- plain Jane

And I like Penelope/Penny

I didn't nearly get called anything. My parents didn't know what genders we were when my mum was pregnant i.e. could've been 3 girls, 3 boys, or either mix. So they came up with 3 names for each. As the first and only girl, I ended up with the first choice name! Had there been more girls, and I been the 3rd, I would've been Petra. Yuck.

[Mongrel]

It's weird how that varies from place to place. I would never think of Rachael as a frail old woman. Old lady names are Ruby, Constance, Vera &c.

Whereas Jane- plain Jane

And I like Penelope/Penny

I spent a summer filing records in a doctor's office, and I noticed a lot of little girls and old women named Rachel--but no Veras at all.
My obsession with the name Jane probably comes from the show Daria. The titular character's best friend is named Jane, and she's an artist with a cool style and quirky sense of humor.
And Penelope...well, it might not have been so bad, but imagine having to write an eight-letter first name AND an eleven-character last name. My full name already falls off the tiny line they give you to write it on.

[Xaidread]

Heh, I remember when I first started Pre-Kindergarten that I didn't know how to spell my actual first name Elizabeth. I've always been called Lisa before going into an actual school.
And at the time this post was posted, I want my middle name to be Xaidread or something instead of a blank. That would be cool for the first few weeks.

[Igg]

It's weird how that varies from place to place. I would never think of Rachael as a frail old woman. Old lady names are Ruby, Constance, Vera &c.

Whereas Jane- plain Jane

And I like Penelope/Penny

I spent a summer filing records in a doctor's office, and I noticed a lot of little girls and old women named Rachel--but no Veras at all.
My obsession with the name Jane probably comes from the show Daria. The titular character's best friend is named Jane, and she's an artist with a cool style and quirky sense of humor.
And Penelope...well, it might not have been so bad, but imagine having to write an eight-letter first name AND an eleven-character last name. My full name already falls off the tiny line they give you to write it on.

I think it varies in different countries, that's what I meant.

[Shoyru_Lover]

No, but I spent the first few years of school fighting my parents tooth and nail to be called Alex, rather than Alexandra.

And I went through a stage where I wanted to spell it Alessandra. Yeah, dunno what was going on there.

OMG you wanted to be called Alessandra? Where did that come from?

Are you aware... that 99% of people that turn out demented all have unique spellings of common names?

[Mongrel]

I think it varies in different countries, that's what I meant.

I think I'm weird, is what I meant

[Twinkle]

No, but I spent the first few years of school fighting my parents tooth and nail to be called Alex, rather than Alexandra.

And I went through a stage where I wanted to spell it Alessandra. Yeah, dunno what was going on there.

OMG you wanted to be called Alessandra? Where did that come from?

Are you aware... that 99% of people that turn out demented all have unique spellings of common names?

What, like Kim?

[Shoyru_Lover]

No, but I spent the first few years of school fighting my parents tooth and nail to be called Alex, rather than Alexandra.

And I went through a stage where I wanted to spell it Alessandra. Yeah, dunno what was going on there.

OMG you wanted to be called Alessandra? Where did that come from?

Are you aware... that 99% of people that turn out demented all have unique spellings of common names?

What, like Kim?

Yes! Exactly. Like Kim. Quite clearly I am a working example.

[wandersong]

I’m Singaporean chinese, I have a Chinese name which doesn’t fall under the range of common Chinese names, and its kind if difficult to write, without my surname, its 21 strokes. I really really didn’t like my name when I was learning to write it.

I always envied classmates with easy to write, and what I considered cute names. And then my name was not particularly easy to pronounce even in Chinese, and in our multicultural society I get lots of non-chinese teachers and lecturers who mangle my name, to the extent that once or twice I didn’t realize they were calling me. :p I think I got the name changing urge out of my system when I was into MUD, with 3 alphabet names as well as long elaborate ones.

I had this guy in my class who insisted on imitating the way our British lecturer pronounced my name on a daily basis just to irritate me. When I started work I gave myself an English name to make things easier on the rest of the world, I can imagine someone like the Russian client who called last week trying to say my name.

That said, I no longer dislike my name. Once I got old enough to understand the meaning of my name I think its sort of beautiful. Having a sort of unusual name can be a conversation starter. Provided that the person talking to you isn’t too embarrassed to try pronouncing it of course :p