Anyone with a nickname every consider "going by" something else?

magpie1127

A lot of posters say they want to "give their kids options" for what name to go by when they get older - anyone ever exercised that option personally?

If you have a nickname name, have you ever changed the name you "go by?" I'm Margaret (nn Maggie), but next time I move or start a new job, I would consider going by either my legal name or a different nickname (Meg, Margot). Has anyone else decided to go by a different name?

sugar212

When I moved in 8th grade I said I was going to go by my middle name. I never did, besides, I only moved 20 miles and still talked to people from my past school and my family would have never went for it. (oh to be 12 again!). 

stahlop

I have a friend named Debi. I've known her since junior high.  When we hit high school she started going by Debra and now at work she goes by Deb.    She'll respond to all of them.

this decaf life

My parents & everyone called me Allie when I was growing up but when I got to high school I was glad I had the option to go by my full name, Allison, because I thought my NN was too young. It's not quite the same as going by a different NN but I definitely made the switch from everyone calling me Allie to everyone calling me Allison.

A friend recently did this, she always went by her NN and then decided to go by her full FN 2 months into starting a new job. The beginning was difficult but now she goes by just her FN and no one really thinks about her NN anymore.

Sto71

Once I got married my DH said he would start calling me TES since those are my new initials lol but he's only done it a few times

jburdet1

My sister is Christina. Throughout childhood she was called Christy. When she entered high school, she changed her nn to Chrissy. It was such a easy transition for everyone and she still goes by Chrissy today.

starshineamator

Not me, but a friend of mine, yes. Her name is Katrina. We were friends in high school and she was always Katie. At some point as she got older, I think she may have used Kate or Kate or both (around college I believe), and then we reconnected as adults and she goes by Katrina exclusively. I'm the only one who calls her Katie because I knew her back then. It was actually weird to me when I realized that people actually call her Katrina. She's a lawyer now, and definitely has made use of the more professional sounding fn, but like I said, she uses it with her friends too, not just at work. If you want to go by something else, go for it!

queenbone

I have a unNNable name. But my HS history teacher's name was Magdalena and went by Margie Maiden-Name. Then over the summer she married the music teacher, who was a tool. She came back in the fall as Alena Married-LN.

Her personality totally changed too. We were convinced they swapped bodies or something because she was so glum and dull after that and he was more fun and less of a jerk. We were all pretty traumatized. lol!

MrsTBird

I'm Melinda, but everyone except for my mom calls me Mindy. I've considered going by Melinda if I were to ever start a career, but I'm so used to Mindy that it's probably not going to happen. It's pretty instinctive now for me to think I'm in trouble if I'm called Melinda! 

1covejack

Weirdly I just tried to do that.  I'm Jacqueline, but I go by Jackie.  I tried to start with "Jacqueline" at my new job, but it didn't stick.  Guess I just suit Jackie better.

austenreader85

At my most recent job there was already a Chasity so I chose to go by middle name, Rose.  As a child I always wanted to use it.  I liked it, but I have long since made my peace with my name and really like it now so I did miss hearing it. 

Also, I dislike my nickname.  Family and close friends call me Chas, with an S- I will shoot eye daggers at you if you pronounce it with a Z.  It's ok.  And the girl at work was Chas.  And I've had other jobs where they shorten it to Chas.  But I don't feel like a Chas.  I feel like a Chasity.  In fact, I knew that I wanted to marry my husband one of the first times he said my name.  I knew I could hear him call my name the rest of my life.  Except now I usually only get Honey, lol!

All that to say, I like names that have several actual nickname options and not just shortened forms.  I had to go by Rose because by the time you'd say Chasity, the Chas would have come running.  So Theodore could be Theo, Ted, Teddy.  You already gave examples of Margaret, our leading girl name.  Leading boy name is William, most likely nn Will but maybe Billy, Bill as an adult, there's Liam also. 

And even with a name as uncommon as my own, you might still end up with more than one in your circle and it might be nice to have more options than just one nickname or a full name.  

firsttimeauntie

I have never changed my nickname per se but there are certain people that are allowed to call me certain things. I'm a Fiona and my friends all call me Fi but when my mum decided she was going to start calling me that I told her no. It sounded way too strange for her to call me Fi. For me, if I've been called Fiona ny my family all my life then it feels way too weird to change it now although I guess it would be different with new people I meet.

Todd&Laura

I was Laurie until 2nd or 3rd grade when someone moved into my class who had that as their real legal name. I was irritated at the time. I still was Laurie on and off in school until high school. My family still calls me Laurie for the most part.

austenreader85

Todd&Laura:

I was Laurie until 2nd or 3rd grade when someone moved into my class who had that as their real legal name. I was irritated at the time. I still was Laurie on and off in school until high school. My family still calls me Laurie for the most part.

Interesting!  I have an aunt named Laurie.  It's her legal name.  As an adult I've always wondered why she wasn't Laura nn Laurie instead.  My grandparents did that with all the other kids (they had 9).  I wonder if it was ever annoying for her.

shellyco

I grew up with a Maureen who, for whatever reason, was nn Mosey since she was little.  I met her again at my first job in high school and she said when she went off to college  in another state she was going to introduce herself as Molly.  Sure enough, she is now "Molly lastname" in her new life and hasn't looked back. 

CynthiaC1213

I think some people can do it, and some people can't. A classmate of mine successfully changed her NN in less than a week in 5th grade. I've been trying to get people to call me by my legal name, Cynthia, since 5th or 6th grade, and people just naturally use Cindy, my nickname, even if I never tell them that my family calls me that. I did get a really unique variation from a few of my friends in high school, Cyn. I think they thought it was funny to call a preacher's kid sin.

LaineyPaney

Me.
I hate my 1st name. So when I went away for college, I started going by my middle name, Laine.
When I work, I still use my first name bc that's what my licensed name reflects, but in my personal life, I go by Laine.
:

blu-eyedwife

I have a long classic name (think Elizabeth).

When I was a kid, maybe up until 2nd grade I went by a super-diminutive nickname (think Lizzie)

In 2nd grade, we moved to a new town, and "Lizzie" sounded too young, so I started going by a less-diminutive nickname (think Liz)

When I graduated from Law School and started working, I decided to go by "Elizabeth" professionally, but my friends call me "Liz."

theroadahead

I changed the spelling of my name, but not legally in middle school. I've grown out of it now, but some people still will write it on cards and what not.

magpie1127

I'lll also throw my mom's story out there.

Her name is Gretchen Anne (she's technically my stepmom, but she adopted me when I was young). All her life, she went by Gretchen. She met my dad and he immediately insisted that it was too "grouchy" of a name for her, and started calling her Annie (based on her MN). It caught on, and she's known to my entire family/all my relatives as Annie, but is known by Grechen in her work circle. I can't imagine living with two names!

526SadieSadie

I went through a tough girl phase in middle school (such a hard-core rebel at the age of 11).  I went from being called Gianna exclusively to G.  I even wanted teachers to call me G. 

It was part rebellion, part "I'm so sick of people who can't say my name correctly, I'll shorten it to something they can't possibly screw up."

Well, that tough phase came to an end in high school and I wanted people to call me Gia instead.  People I was meeting for the first time mostly obliged, or they called me Gianna but the friends I had made previously still called me G, no matter how much I hated it. Some of them still call me G.

KrazyKat35

I am a Katherine. I went by Katie before i hit high school, and since then i have gone by Kat. Everyone calls me Kat including my mom, that or Kitty.

plunderb

When I started graduate school, there were four women in my class: Caitlin, Caitlin, Katherine, and a non-Kate. We sat down the first week and divided up the name territory to make things easier on everyone. I dropped Cait and started going by Caitlin, the other Caitlin decided to go by Cate, and Katherine took Katie.

Two of the men in my class also took grad school as an opportunity to drop their trendy/young-sounding/unusually-spelled first names and start going by their middle names.