miyooper2b
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Posts: 329
Location: Central Indiana
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Jun 27, 2014 15:38:05 GMT
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Post by miyooper2b on Jun 30, 2014 15:18:20 GMT
DD #1 told me about a recent phone call with one of her cousins. I thought this was funny and wanted to share. Quick background: My brother's kids are 13+ years younger than my girls. Needless to say the cousins are not close. My girls are grown with their own kids and Niece and Nephew are in college. We don't see them very often even though we live in the same area, usually at Christmas. When Nephew was born my brother and SIL asked the family to call him by his full given name, "Christopher". I know that makes them sound somewhat controlling but they are really good parents and have raised two responsible young adults. These are my girls only cousins on my side of the family. On my Ex-H's side of the family my girls probably have 20+ cousins, many close to their age. They get together for anything and everything. So DD #1 gets a phone call while at a ball game for DGD. She doesn't recognize the number but answers it because she is expecting a phone call from her insurance company. The conversation went something like this: DD: Hello? Nephew: Hi, Betsy, it's Chris. DD: Chris? Chris, who? Nephew: Your cousin Chris. DD: (thinking, I don't have a cousin Chris, I have a cousin Christy [other side of family]) Ummm . . . Nephew: You know, CHRIS! DD: (totally confused) Umm . . . Nephew: Anyway I'm staying at Grandma and Grandpa's to feed the animals while they are on vacation. Do you have the password for the internet access? DD: Oh, this is Christopher! Nephew: Yes! Chris! DD was highly embarrassed she didn't put Chris and Christopher together. But as she pointed out, we have never referred to him as Chris, only Christopher. She figured it out when he said he was staying at my parents. She knew that because she was the back up in case he needed help. FTR, Nephew called my parents first for the internet password. They, being technologically challenged, could not remember it and ask Nephew to call DD because she knows it. So the moral of the story is that if you are going to insist that family call your kids by their full, given name, be prepared for some confusion when said child decides to shorten or change it. I'm still laughing about it. Gonna call my brother tonight and razz him about it.  Anyone else have a story like that? Please share. |
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Post by stargazer on Jun 30, 2014 15:23:43 GMT
Lol. My sister's godson was also a Christopher but ALWAYS to be referred to as "Chrissy"...very weird now that he's 6ft tall & in his early 20s...!
OT if one of my cousins called me I'd have even more trouble placing them than your daughter - I think I last saw 2 of them at my wedding (20 years ago next month), the other 4 probably at our grandfather's funeral which must be about 24 years ago!
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Post by ingrid6 on Jun 30, 2014 15:40:48 GMT
Ingrid is my middle name. If my first name is called, I don't even look up because I'd never think that it was me you were talking to. I've never used it, family & friends have only referred to me as Ingrid - so why, oh why, didn't my parents just make Ingrid my first name to begin with? Especially since they're the ones that from day one dropped the use of my first name  |
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Post by *christine* on Jun 30, 2014 15:41:59 GMT
Yes! My son has a cousin Matthew and the whole family calls him Matthew but now ds refers to him by Matt because so many of his friends are Matt for Matthew. I always have to ask Matt who when he's talking to him or asking if they can hang out. I should refer to him as shirtless Matt (after my thread the other day! lol)
But then again my son called from Matthew/Matt's the other day and I didn't even recognize his voice on the phone! His voice is changing and it sounds even weirder on the phone!
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emanon
Junior Member
Refupea 673
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Post by emanon on Jun 30, 2014 15:42:08 GMT
We may experience the opposite effect in the future. My son is a junior. To distinguish between him and his father (and grandfather for that matter who has the same first name but different middle), we call him 'First initial J' and DH by his full first name. Everyone his entire life has called him this, and when he started school we asked him if he wanted us to list that as his name on his school forms. He said yes. Fast forward to middle school where he now want to be called 'full first name' while in school. All his classmates still call him by his nickname, and the teachers that have known him since kindy do as well. We told since his middle and elem are in the same building, he may want to wait the two years left until he goes to the high school to start using his full name.  |
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quiltz
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,695
Location: CANADA
Jun 29, 2014 16:13:28 GMT
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Post by quiltz on Jun 30, 2014 15:45:36 GMT
Sometimes there are benefits to being in a small family. No "Jr." or long given names that could be shortened.
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Post by Zee on Jun 30, 2014 15:50:52 GMT
My aunt tried to make calling my son by his middle name a thing when he was a baby. Like it could be his cool new nickname. If I wanted to call him by that name,I would have just given him that name in the first place. Luckily she gave up.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 2, 2024 17:44:42 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 16:04:34 GMT
Both of my boys have names that can be shortened. My oldest goes by the full name and the youngest goes by the shortened version. I don't care if my oldest chooses to go by the shortened version. I don't know if he ever will as it will make him one of 4 Mikes in the family. Calling him Michael separates him from two uncles and a (distant) cousin. I can see one of his Aunts getting confused if he ever called them up and said "hey, it's Mike." They'd probably think it's Uncle Mike.  |
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Post by shevy on Jun 30, 2014 16:06:35 GMT
Ours went the other way. All the cousins when by nicknames as kids. As we grew up we all asked to be called our given names and there was confusion when we got together about what to call each other.
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Post by jemali on Jun 30, 2014 16:07:29 GMT
My friend's younger brother is named Daniel. Not Dan, not Danny.
When he started kindergarten, his teacher told his mother that he was not a good listener. Whenever she called his name he ignored her. They finally figured out that she was calling him Dan and he had no idea that she was talking to him!
He goes by Dan now lol
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Peal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,524
Jun 25, 2014 22:45:40 GMT
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Post by Peal on Jun 30, 2014 16:08:43 GMT
I have a second cousin I share a name with. First and last. We are about the same age but she grew up in a different state and I only met her one or two times at big family reunions. Well, we ended up going to the same University. And she was hot. Like, danced for a professional sports team hot. And guys would call her all the time. But they got her number out of the school directory and often ended up calling me. I could hear the disappointment in their voices they reached the wrong Chris. I always knew it was for her because have I never, ever gone by Chris.
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Post by Goldynn on Jun 30, 2014 16:50:07 GMT
This is a little bit different, but along the same lines: I have an uncle that goes by his middle name, let's call him Steven Ray. My whole life everyone only called him Ray, I had no idea it was his middle name. One day the hospital called (he lived in my town) to tell me Steven had been admitted and given them my name to call. I had no clue who he was and told the hospital there had been a mistake. Felt really bad about it later  ? |
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Post by kmk1112 on Jun 30, 2014 17:01:03 GMT
Sort of the opposite-my nephew was named after his father, he's the third. His name is pretty awful, old fashioned, hillbilly sounding if you ask me, but he's always been called Trey, from birth.
He graduated this year, and I was writing him a check Sunday. I knew his ID probably didn't say Trey, but I didn't know how to spell his real name, so I had to call my parents to figure it out. (And then I had to print it on the check since he can't read cursive, but that's a whole 'nother thread!)
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Post by OSUBuckeyeFan on Jun 30, 2014 17:19:16 GMT
Well, my son's name is Patrick and when he started school, we told the teacher we preferred that he be called Patrick. Sports coaches have consistently shortened it to Pat without asking either him or us whether that was acceptable. To ME it's not. DS never spoke up to correct the coaches...I have though. Son is now 10 and informs us that he's going to go by Pat. I'm still going to call him Patrick. To me, Pat is a woman's name. I guess it's up to him but I don't like the shortened version because it's androgynous. I named him Patrick because I liked the name as it's DH's middle name. Plus Patrick sounds more professional.
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,962
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Post by Nanner on Jun 30, 2014 17:35:14 GMT
My nephew was always called Steven. He's 23 now, and now goes by Steve. My husband's name is Steve. But now with Steven being called Steve by some of the family and Steven by others, it gets very confusing.
A couple of Christmases ago, Steve (my husband) opened a Christmas gift meant for Steven. It had "Steve" written on it and the person handing out the gifts handed it to "my" Steve, because she was one of those who always calls Steven "Steven".
Personally, I think we need to go to a "young Steve"/"old Steve", "big Steve"/little Steve", "blonde Steve/gray Steve" kind of thing. Because our family can't get it straight anymore!
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