Your name

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#1

Just out of curiosity - some questions about the names.

:question: What’s your name?
:question: What does it mean?
:question: Why you received that name?
:question: Do you like it?
:question: If not - do you wanna change it?
:question: If yes - to what name you wanna change?
:question: How do you react when you hear your name said or see it written?
:question: Are there many people around with the same name?
:question: How do you make sure to be differentiated from them?
:question: Have you gotten into any troubles because people can’t remember or pronounce your name correctly?
:question: How do you deal with those troubles?

Ok, starting with myself :unamused:

My passport name is Liudmila with given nickname Mila. My self-assigned name is Lucy.

Liudmila means “the one whom people love” or “the love of people”. Mila means pretty much something like “honey” or “sweetheart”. Lucy means “light”.

Liudmila is a very common Russian name, and both of my grandmothers were Liudmilas. That was what doomed me :laughing: My Mom didn’t feel well after I was born, and when she recovered I was already named. My Dad saw no problem in naming - the child is a girl, both grandmothers have the same name, and it’s a common Russian tradition to name children after their grandparents. The nickname Mila was the one of my Dad’s Mom.
Lucy, as I said, is self-assigned, but I intend to change it officially later.
I hate the name Liudmila, and even more I hate the name Mila. I’m completely ok with them belonging to other people and never had any biases about others with those names. They even sound beautiful when belong to others. But for myself - I really hate it. I always wanted to change it. So I did :unamused: Lucy is the name I really like, and I think it suits me very much too. So I took it :unamused:

With Liudmila I always reacted as if it’s not my name, I just didn’t associate it with myself. With Mila - twitching in disgust. And so on for the first 23 years of my life. Dale Carnegie was wrong saying that the sound of one’s name is the most pleasant sound in the world. It only works for those who love their name, otherwise - all bad. Really.
Right now after 3,5 years being called Lucy I already react on Mila and Liudmila as if they are just names that have nothing to do with me. So every time when I need to do something involving my passport I get surprised - what the hell is that name there? 8)
Lucy is completely ok for me, I react at it as if I’ve always been called like that, and yes, it’s nice and pleasant to hear it or see it written :unamused:

There are some Lucys around here, but not that many, in fact, permanently I interact only with two of them. One in NZLARPs, another at work.

With Liudmila it was much worse, as I said the name is very common, so Liudmilas in Russia are all around. Literally :laughing: However, the nickname Mila is rather uncommon, there are two others much more in use - Liusia and Liuda. That was supposed to make it easy for me to differentiate from them - as in most cases I was the only Mila around even if there were several Liusias and several Liudas.

With Lucy it’s rather tricky. This post is, in fact, inspired by appearing the second Lucy in the company where I work. I believe we’ll be differentiated by the surnames inside the company, and by the products we work with - for the customers. However, it may happen that they will also differ us by product inside - just because my surname is very unpronounceable for Kiwis :laughing:

In NZLARPs the mighty and smart Pirates Head GM made it very easy to differ us. She’s Big Lucy, I’m Lil’ Lucy. Cool, ne?

Troubles - hell yes.

Big Lucy is the only one who didn’t cause me any troubles. The one at work hopefully wouldn’t cause much, though I already got several calls from people wanting to talk to her, and it took me some time to realize it’s about her, not me. But we’ve just received the new list of internal contacts, and I marked her extension with orange marker, so if someone calles for her again I’ll easily find where to transfer them.

With Liudmila and Mila - omg, troubles all around :cry:

Starting from the fact that Mila is an uncommon name, but Liuda and Liusia are very common. I think 70% of Liudmilas are Liudas, and 29% - Liusias. So… Whenever I say “My name is Mila” people get freaked and say “What is this name?” So I gave to explain "“This is a nickname for Liudmila” “Ah, ok” say them. And then they remember my name is Liudmila, but don’t remember the nickname Mila. So they call me Liuda, or sometimes Liusia. And they get angry when I don’t react. They think that I must react on any nickname of Liudmila, so stupid, really…

And that happened very often. Pretty much with everyone.

In New Zealand I had to be very careful about spelling the name, as it’s differently spelled in different documents. I normally take the one from passport as the correct one. Plus I’m really freaked out when being called Liudmila. It’s not my name! Even if I have to live with it. But nice Kiwis of course think I would be very pleased to be called Liudmila. Grrrrr. Ok, luckily I don’t have to deal with it every day.

#2

[quote=“Aiwe”]Just out of curiosity - some questions about the names.

:question: What’s your name?
:question: What does it mean?
:question: Why you received that name?
:question: Do you like it?
:question: If not - do you wanna change it?
:question: If yes - to what name you wanna change?
:question: How do you react when you hear your name said or see it written?
:question: Are there many people around with the same name?
:question: How do you make sure to be differentiated from them?
:question: Have you gotten into any troubles because people can’t remember or pronounce your name correctly?
:question: How do you deal with those troubles?
.[/quote]

1 Carl

2 I have seen lots of meanings, some say “Strong” Some say “Freeman” since it is a derivitive of Charles, it usually means whatever Charles means, Freeman is my favourite meaning, It does have a Elvish translation which I think is pretty cool.

3 I am named for one of my grandfathers, Carls-Andro Pedersen, it is kind of a tradition in my family, my brother is named for the Patriarch of my family line. there was some debate over the spelling K or C but C is traditionally the Danish spelling.

4 I like it fine, I cant imagine me with any other name.

5 My name is pretty rare, the more common spelling is Karl, so when i see my name omewhere i think “Cool another Carl with a C”.

6 See “5”, there are a few but not many

7 never had a problem, even if there is another Carl around they are usually spelled with a K so that solves any confusion

8 Keith (My flatmates little boy) cant say the hard C sound yet so I am Uncle Darl which is kinda cute, kids usually have the most trouble, I end up as “Cowl” or “Kyle” but I just let it slide, they get it right in the end, I have more trouble with my Surname than my chrstian name. People do automatically spell it with a K though, but I am used to it.

9 I have had 34 years :open_mouth: :unamused: of problems with my name so now i automatically verbally spell my name “Carl with a C” I judge my closest freinds as those who can spell my full name without asking.

nice idea Lucy names are interesting and have a strange power, i am keenly interested to see others responses to this thread, Kudos to you

#3

I have always found names to be facinating :smiley:

Nadia

Hope. I came across an article which gave the idea of translating the meaning of your name into Elvish, which I thought was awesome. That is why my username is Estel, and it was Aragorn’s name in Rivendell, which was rather cool.

I wasn’t named after anyone, my parents just liked it. Mum blames reading Dr Zhivago before I was born!

I like it. And because its short, I don’t usually get nicknamed, except for occasionally being called Nad, Nads or Nadi.

I havn’t met many other people with the same name, and the only one I was around alot was a good friend in Primary school, which used to confuse alot of people. We generally had to be differentiated by the first letter of our last names and it always annoyed me being Nadia B. When I tried gymnastics as a kid, the trainers were really entusiastic because for some reason they thought because of my name I might be good. They very quickly gave up one me :smiley: .

I like having a name that is fairly uncommon so it doesn’t get mixed up too often. The only time it is kinda sad is when they have things you can buy with peoples names on. I’ve never found ‘Nadia’ in NZ, except for once, but maybe its getting more common…

And you never have songs or poems about your name if its not that common. After reading Wordsworth’s ‘Lucy’ poems, I asked Lucy if there were any Russian ‘Nadia’ poems, but she couldn’t think of any :stuck_out_tongue:

Occasionally people misspell it and I get stuck with NaRdia, which drives me mad. Otherwise I sometimes get called Natalie or something similar.

#4

I’m glad my name is Derek, 'cause that’s what all my friends call me.

#5

Michael/Mike/Mikaere

I always thought Michael was 2IC after Lucifer (any relation to Lucy?) was cast down. Being named after an Arch Angel has a certain appeal, at least to me.

Depending on the social context, I am variously known as Mike, Michael or Mikaere (the Maori transliteration). It’s a popular name, like many biblical names (e.g. Luke, John, Matthew, Mark). Mikaere is more exclusive, which is helpful if that’s what I want.

When our daughter was born (nearly 10 years ago, yikes !), we opted away from the mainstream Christening, and held a Naming Ceremony instead. These days, they are a lot more common and we’ve been to a few. Given our intermarried whakapapa, we’ve managed to select unique names for our children which is pretty cool. They both have firstname@gmail.com and they both own firstname.com. For a while I had firstname@hotmail.com too, but the pornspam (and 30 day account closedown) turned me off.

We knew a Kiwi Nadia around the time our daughter was born (she assisted in the pre-labour efforts). So, Nadia, I’m interested to hear that there are very few around.

#6

[quote=“Aiwe”] :question: What’s your name?
:question: What does it mean?
:question: Why you received that name?
:question: Do you like it?
:question: If not - do you wanna change it?
:question: If yes - to what name you wanna change?
:question: How do you react when you hear your name said or see it written?
:question: Are there many people around with the same name?
:question: How do you make sure to be differentiated from them?
:question: Have you gotten into any troubles because people can’t remember or pronounce your name correctly?
:question: How do you deal with those troubles?[/quote]

1 - Andrew
2 - I don’t know. I remember asking once, but never got a straight answer. I’m not named after anyone and my family isn’t religious, so I guess my parents just liked the name.
3 - Yes
4 - Void
5 - Void
6 - I usually look around to see who is saying my name, and then either ignore or pay attention depending on who it is. If I see it written I don’t usually react so much, but I might notice the note is actually for me so I won’t just pass over it.
7 - Yes there is. A lot of them. I think there are three LARPers.
8 - When we all turn around at once, the speaker then has to make it clear which one they want by pointing, describing, saying a last name or whatever. It’s not up to us. Andrews don’t do the work that other people can do for us.
9 - No. Andrew is easy to spell, pronounce and remember and almost impossible to make fun of. Maybe that’s why my parents chose it.
10 - Void

#7

Oh gods, I ended up being born by Lucifer :laughing:

Specially searched in Runet (Russian internet) and found no poetry about Nadia, which doesn’t mean it’s not existing, just Internet search is not perfect. Found a song about hope, but it’s not exactly that.

In Russian hope is “nadezhda”, and the full version of Nadia is Nadezhda. It’s taken from Old Slavic language, and the Ancient Russian form of the name is Nadezha (“e” is pronounced as soft “o”, I think). That was usually applied to someone for whom people had lots of hope, usually hoping that person would take care of them in some way :laughing: Traditionally the word “nadezha” was used when addresing the Tsar, in a combination “nadezha Tsar”.

#8

1 What’s your name?
Kara

2 What does it mean?
Depending on the language, I believe it means “dear one” in Italian (actual sp is Cara), it also i THINK (lucy correct me!!!) it is the word for “black” in Russian and means “from” in Japanese, bah!.

3 Why you received that name?
Oh ye gods… there was a one hit wonder in 1972 called Kara Kara Kimbayay… I kid you not… :blush:

4 Do you like it?
I do now, but the entire time I was growing up I hated it. I have the opposite problem to Carl. Almost every Cara is spelled with a C, so I always have to say “Kara, with a K”.

5 If not - do you wanna change it?
Not anymore, but I did.

6 If yes - to what name you wanna change?
Actually I can’t remember. I remember having a thing for long fancy names (probably because mine is four letters and impossible to abbreviate). I probably wanted to be called Anastacia or Hermione or something like that!

7 How do you react when you hear your name said or see it written?
It’s me. I can’t really imagine having another name now, I don’t even have any nicknames.

8 Are there many people around with the same name?
No, hardly any. I think I’ve met 4 or 5 in my whole life.

9 How do you make sure to be differentiated from them?
Ummm… I don’t. It’s never happened!

  1. Have you gotten into any troubles because people can’t remember or pronounce your name correctly?
    The spelling is always an issue, but the biggest problems I had were in Canada, where I was NEVER Kara once in the 5 years I was there. Their accent makes “Keira” the closest I ever got. Alternatives were Carol, Cora, Karen and Carolyn :unamused: .

11 How do you deal with those troubles?
You get so sick of correcting people that you just put up with it. Fortunately Kiwis don’t have any trouble with the pronunciation of it, at least! :slight_smile:

This is a fun thread. :slight_smile: Thanks Lucy, I never knew that wasn’t your real name!

#9

:unamused:

“kara” is “black” in Turkic language, the one of those nomads of whom there were so many in Medieval Russia. Lots of Russian words originate from Turkic ones. Like “karandash” which means “black stone”, in Russian it is a word for pencil, it writes in black.

#10

[quote=“theotherphoenix”]3 Why you received that name?
Oh ye gods… there was a one hit wonder in 1972 called Kara Kara Kimbayay… I kid you not… :blush:[/quote]

I met a woman called Arwen once. Naturally I said “like in the Lord of the Rings?” and she gave me a look that could melt paint.

Ryan means small king in Gaelic. My dad’s name is Rex, which means king in Latin. Kinda poetic, although my parents didn’t make that connection until I pointed it out. I like my name, it’s rare enough that there usually aren’t a crowd of us around although it may be getting a bit trendier now. People always think I’ve said “Brian” though.

Paddy is more of a funny one. I like, it makes my combined name almost unique in the world as it’s a fairly rare surname, which I like. It’s not more common in Ireland or Scotland like some people assume, there are a scattered few and some in England. The meaning is unknown, my dad is trying to trace it but has multiple leads. For a while he thought it was a name for a smithy, so might have come from a blacksmithing forebearer.

People often assume that I have my names the wrong way around and am really “Paddy Ryan”. Doesn’t bother me, nor do I mind just being called Paddy.

#11

What’s your name?
What does it mean?
Why you received that name?
Do you like it?
If not - do you wanna change it?
If yes - to what name you wanna change?
How do you react when you hear your name said or see it written?
Are there many people around with the same name?
How do you make sure to be differentiated from them?
Have you gotten into any troubles because people can’t remember or pronounce your name correctly?
How do you deal with those troubles?

My first name is Stephanie which comes from the Greek word ‘stefanos’, meaning a crown, or a garland of flowers. My middle name is Anne, which means grace. ‘Pegg’ apparently means a sharp point, but the more prosaic explanation is probably that my family name comes from a long distinguished line of peg makers.

There’s a family story Gran was pushing to have a grand daughter named Stephanie so that she could nick-name me ‘Stiffy’, which thankfully she never did. I only recently found out that Stiffy is diminutive of Stephanie (there was a character called that in a P G Wodehouse book) which is my best guess for where she got it from.

Yes, I like it.

There aren’t very many Stephanies around, although there are lots and lots of Steves, Stephens and Stefans. I sometimes feel a bit grumpy when I do have to deal with a Stephanie, kind of a ‘stay away from my name!’ feeling. I was recently in a class with another girl called Stephanie and found it very confusing. On the plus side, there are far fewer Stephanie Peggs in the world, and I’m more internet active than all the other ones, so I totally pwn the Google vanity search for my name.

My troubles aren’t so much with people remembering how to pronounce my name as remembering that it is my name at all. I still have a habit of looking up when people say Catherine, and I got very very grump about being misnamed as a teenager. It doesn’t matter so much now, as our appearances have diverged a lot and we live in different cities.

#12

As you may have guessed from my login, my name is Adam.
The name is again obviously Hebrew in origin (as anyone who has heard of the bible can tell you).
The meaning is first man or red earth, or first man from red earth.
Why I received my name is interesting, for those who are older you may have heard of a famous long running cowboy TV programme called Bonanza (1959 to 1973). The programme from what I understand was about a family of 3 boys and their father in the wild west. The oldest brother was as a favourite of my mother, and his character was named Adam, so when I was born my mother thought well lets name him after a cowboy who always wears black of TV and Adam it was.
Yes I really like may name as it is never shortened and is not very common. It is also a name that everyone can easily say as they have all heard it before, no matter what their culture or background.

#13

What’s your name?

  • My given name is John, which is derived by three degrees of seperation from the Hebrew Yôḥānān.

What does it mean?

  • Simply “God is Gracious”.

Why you received that name?

  • I was the first born, a younger brother following afterward, and as such was named after my father.

Do you like it?

  • Yes and no. I don’t mind my given name of John so much, it’s more the fact that it’s coupled with the last name Edwards. Apart from being constantly associated to the American politician of the same name, it sounds far too generic for my liking.

If not - do you wanna change it?

  • I will most probably change my name as a whole, while keeping elements of my given name.

If yes - to what name you wanna change?

  • Should my acting career come to fruition as planned, I’ll simply change my name to either one of these self-proposed screen/stage names, choosing between Johnny or Jean, the French equivalent. Either way, I’m adopting my old name’s middle name of Malcolm as a surname.

How do you react when you hear your name said or see it written?

  • I gnerally don’t. It’s such a common name that it’s phased out in my mind. Which is odd because, from Primary school to College, I’ve been the only John to my knowledge.

Are there many people around with the same name?

  • I know it’s by no means a rarity, there are plenty of folk around named John. I just don’t know any personally, aside from my Dad.

How do you make sure to be differentiated from them?

  • Oh, believe you me. People can differentiate us pretty easily, him being the conservative, hard-nosed realist and me being the liberal, daydreaming drama fag. :slight_smile:

Have you gotten into any troubles because people can’t remember or pronounce your name correctly?

  • More people spell the name “John” incorrectly than you would think, forming “Jhon” which I thought for years wasn’t actually a legitimate name.

How do you deal with those troubles?

  • Berating and pouting, mostly.
#14

I’m a Steven, which was really common back in the UK at my naming point. Many Steves about.

It gets annoying when people KEEP spelling it with a PH though. I’m a rare ‘V’ type, not one of those common PH-ers.

Steven means ‘garland’ or ‘wreath’ (as in Ceasar’s laurel wreath crown).

I was pleased to have a common name when at school. No teasing.

Now, my daughter Cathy was named recently because we were looking for a name that works in both Chinese and english. Cathy is approximately ‘Kai-xi’ (kai-she) in Chinese.

Cathy (short for Catherine, of course) means ‘purity’, but Kai-xi means ‘joy of dawn’s first light’. Maybe we should have called her Dawn instead, and had the matching by meaning rather than by sound. The in-laws call her Kitty, though. It was only later I discovered that this year the most common girls name is… [CK]atherin(e). Sigh.

#15

What’s your name? Catherine
Question What does it mean? Like the gentleman above said, though I’ve sometimes seen it translated as ‘genuineness’
Question Why you received that name? After my Great Aunt Cathy
Question Do you like it? Yes. It has a certain weight and articulation when I want those things, and is easily shortened when I don’t. I just wish I didn’t have to share it with so many other people.
Question If not - do you wanna change it? See above.
Question If yes - to what name you wanna change? Actually, I’m rather fond of ‘Margaret’, don’t know why. If I ever have to efface my identity and run from the Yakuza/Mob/Corrupt Government/Fluffy Bunnies, that’s probably what I’d use.
Question How do you react when you hear your name said or see it written? Meh.
Question Are there many people around with the same name? Too. Damn. Many.
Question How do you make sure to be differentiated from them? Ask not how I differentiate myself from them, but rather how they differentiate themselves from me.
Question Have you gotten into any troubles because people can’t remember or pronounce your name correctly? When other people write my name down, theres’ usually a short discussion about which exact spelling is used. My name has a lot of variations…
Question How do you deal with those troubles? Sort out the K, I, and E questions in the ensuing discussion.

Steve, the Kaixi version is v. cool. Could you possibly tell me how to write it, or point me to a reference?

#16

This board doesn’t support chinese… and I’m not 100% sure of the character format in any case. I’d have to get Meiling to write it (and one of the characters is a bit complex).

#17

What’s your name?
Simone

What does it mean?
It comes from the hebrew ‘Shimeon’ meaning ‘One who hears’. The day I found that out on a day during which, whenever someone talked to me, I’d be like ‘huh?’ ‘waddya just say?’ ‘wha?’.

Why you received that name?
I was named after an uncle of mine, simon, who died young in some tragic accident.

How do you react when you hear your name said or see it written?
A little glow of pride, like ‘ooh, that’s me’.

Are there many people around with the same name?
Not a lot. I’ve only come across 1 or 2 personally.

Have you gotten into any troubles because people can’t remember or pronounce your name correctly?
Yeah. People usually call me Michelle or Sonja when they get it wrong (often). I also get the 'oh, so which way do you like that pronounced? SI-mon or si-MOAN. I used to go with si-MOAN until a few years ago when I realised that is a horrible way to pronounce it. Unfortunately, with my last name (Michaux) there are very few people who can actually pronounce my whole name correctly. I once found some customer service guy who said it perfectly first time off and I nearly hugged the poor man.

How do you deal with those troubles?
Pre-emptive strikes are the only way, I’m afraid.

#18

“Sim-own mee-show”.

Do I get a hug? :wink:

#19

I’m afraid the ‘sim-own’ gets the hug downgraded to a cookie :wink:
But spot on with the last name!

#20

What’s your name?
Nicole
What does it mean?
Victory of the people

Why you received that name?
My parents had a friend called Nick diagnosed with terminal cancer and he had 3 months to live. True to his nature he fought it all the way, and lasted 3 years. On his 3 month anniversary of when he ‘shouldve died’ he held a wake, where everyone said their speeches and he gave the women gifts like silver bracelets. They felt he should be remembered, so I got named after him :slight_smile:

Do you like it?
Yes, it always had a nice history, and being thought of as a victory of the people has a nice ring. That and the alternative was Dulcinée.

If not - do you wanna change it?
Happy as is.

If yes - to what name you wanna change?

How do you react when you hear your name said or see it written?
I actually dont tend to respond unless im in an enclosed area or with someone. It briefly clicks while reading, but nothing much.

Are there many people around with the same name?
Yep, I had a class in primary school where there were 3 Nicoles and a Nicola.
I got to keep my name, but everyone else got shortened to nic, nikki etc

How do you make sure to be differentiated from them?
Give everyong a reason to remember my name in particular :stuck_out_tongue:

Have you gotten into any troubles because people can’t remember or pronounce your name correctly?
I had a report swapped with another nicole, not just given to the wrong person, but marking us as each other all year. That was fun to try and sort out.
How do you deal with those troubles?
Act nice so the teacher will up my grades while they are changing them over? lol