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Changing your name!

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 The New NickB 14 Mar 2014
Or using a preferred version of it.

I note of the Tony Benn thread someone is insisting on referring to him as Anthony Wedgewood Benn, stating that it is his given name. The fact that for more than 40 years he has asked to be referred to simply as Tony Benn clearly having no relevance.

I just wondered what people thought about respecting these choices that people make.

My given name is Nicholas, I don't like it much, luckily I do like the shortened version, and this is how I am known universally, it only took my parents about 30 years to get used to the idea.

My Dad switched his first and middle name as a teenager, as he hated being called Joey (Joseph), given his surname is Barton, rather a good thing really.

I am sure plenty other on here don't use their given name.
In reply to The New NickB:

My given name is Mark, middle name Anthony.
People call me Mark.
 Tony the Blade 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

Posted on the other thread, but will repost in this one as well

My name is Anthony, and I was called this until I was 16 then decided I wanted to be called Tony, now everyone calls me Tony - Except my Mam when I'm in trouble (Even though I'm very nearly 50!)

Although my middle name is none too clever... The

:-D
 Clarence 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

My given name is Clarence, I don't use it in real life hence it makes a convenient internet nickname. I use my third middle name as my first two middle names are equally unpleasant - Kenneth McAlpin.

Given that I am now a naturalised Englishman with no fondness for my country of birth I am thinking of changing my name to Egbert John Bull or something.
OP The New NickB 14 Mar 2014
In reply to Tony the Blade:

You need to update your age on your profile, as do I to be fair.
 cander 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

From the Tony Benn thread

Actually, to go off topic, I'd be surprised if your name didn't have some legal requirements to it, thats why we have deed poll to change names. So you can use whatever nick name or diminutive you like, but for example when the police ask your name or a court reads out a charge, or a solicitor prepares a document for you, I suspect you must use your full and given name, not your nickname. Though I'm sure the legal types will be able to give us chapter and verse.
 crayefish 14 Mar 2014
In reply to mh554:

> My given name is Mark, middle name Anthony.

> People call me Mark.

Actually most people call you PC Claret
OP The New NickB 14 Mar 2014
In reply to cander:

I'm sure you are right to an extent, but I am sure I have seen official documents that given a full legal name then the words "known as" and a shortened or alternative version is given.

Of course, I am not talking about that, it is simply about respecting someone decision to change, shorten or otherwise alter their name, whether it has gone through a legal process or not.
 Al Evans 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

My given name is Alan, but you can call me Al.
 wilkie14c 14 Mar 2014
In reply to Al Evans:

Only if you call me Betty
 Kimono 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

You do not legally need to change your name by deed poll. You can just make a 'declaration of change of name' which is a simple form that you can print off the internet and sign.
OP The New NickB 14 Mar 2014
In reply to Al Evans:

"You Can Call Me Al"

A man walks down the street
He says why am I soft in the middle now
Why am I soft in the middle
The rest of my life is so hard
I need a photo-opportunity
I want a shot at redemption
Don't want to end up a cartoon
In a cartoon graveyard
Bonedigger Bonedigger
Dogs in the moonlight
Far away my well-lit door
Mr. Beerbelly Beerbelly
Get these mutts away from me
You know I don't find this stuff amusing anymore

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al

A man walks down the street
He says why am I short of attention
Got a short little span of attention
And wo my nights are so long
Where's my wife and family
What if I die here
Who'll be my role-model
Now that my role-model is
Gone Gone
He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl
All along along
There were incidents and accidents
There were hints and allegations

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al

A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the Third World
Maybe it's his first time around
He doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says Amen! and Hallelujah!

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al
 Tony the Blade 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

> You need to update your age on your profile,

Hush now
Douglas Griffin 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

Given name Douglas.

At school (in Lanarkshire) it was always Dougie. (Pron. "doogie," never "duggie").

These days (in Aberdeenshire) I get called Doug more often. I still prefer "doog" as opposed to "dug", mainly because where I come from a dug is what you take for a walk on the end of a lead. Have to say, away from the West of Scotland the "dug" form is more common. Used to it now, though it took a while.

Very few people call me Douglas. My mum does, obviously.
OP The New NickB 14 Mar 2014
In reply to Douglas Griffin:

My Mum's cousins husband is a Douglas, they live in Aberdeenshire and are quite well to do. I cannot imagine anyone has ever called him Doug (dug or doog) or Dougie (duggie or doogie).
Douglas Griffin 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

Aye he'll be a Douglas no doubt!
In reply to The New NickB:

When I was a nipper, I always thought my Uncle Laurie had the coolest name. I told friends that I had an Uncle called Lorry which we all thought was a great name as we played with our matchbox cars
Beaky 14 Mar 2014
In reply to cander:

If you think thats a bit much this is a must watch, a group called the scottishsoverigns. vidoe quite long but very funny. It amazes me the effort this group go to, just to avoid normal day to day laws.

youtube.com/watch?v=qPpRAay8HLE&
 LastBoyScout 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

I've never been that fond of my first name, as it's so short you can't do anything with it, so I actually prefer nicknames - LastBoyScout, or "Scout", came from a mate of mine when I was doing a lot with running Scout groups and another group of mates know me by another nickname. I've considered changing my given name to something I prefer, but probably a bit late now.

Oddly, my Mum is known by 1/2 of her name to her friends and the other half to all my cousins - my Dad is known by his middle name to my cousins as he shares a first name with my Uncle.
OP The New NickB 14 Mar 2014
In reply to LastBoyScout:

> I've never been that fond of my first name, as it's so short you can't do anything with it, so I actually prefer nicknames - LastBoyScout, or "Scout", came from a mate of mine when I was doing a lot with running Scout groups and another group of mates know me by another nickname. I've considered changing my given name to something I prefer, but probably a bit late now.

I assumed it was a cheesy Bruce Willis thing.

> Oddly, my Mum is known by 1/2 of her name to her friends and the other half to all my cousins - my Dad is known by his middle name to my cousins as he shares a first name with my Uncle.

My brother is Angus James, always called James by the family, his Dad (my stepdad) is Angus Neil, always Neil to everyone, his Granddad was Angus. Anyway, he started playing rugby at 9 or 10 and to differential him from the 3 or 4 other James' in the team picked up the name Gus, short for Angus, he is Gus to everyone except family now, even then my Mum and Stepdad will refer to him as Gus when talking to people who know him as Gus.

 andy 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB: Is it Hitchens that insists on referring to Tony Blair as "Anthony Blair"? I can't remember why he does it, mind...

 teflonpete 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

Nothing too exciting here I'm afraid. My name is Peter but I much prefer, and have always been called Pete by everyone, except when I'm in trouble with my mum...
 Al Evans 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

Thank you Nick, I knew someone would get it
In reply to Tony the Blade:

> My name is Anthony, and I was called this until I was 16 then decided I wanted to be called Tony, now everyone calls me Tony - Except my Mam when I'm in trouble (Even though I'm very nearly 50!)

Same here: though my mother no longer calls me anything on account of not being around. But for her, especially when she had 'issues', it was always Anthony.

T.
 Yanis Nayu 14 Mar 2014
In reply to teflonpete:

> Nothing too exciting here I'm afraid. My name is Peter but I much prefer, and have always been called Pete by everyone, except when I'm in trouble with my mum...

Long names are always associated with bollockings)
 Choss 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

Im not quite sure i follow this thread.

Your name is your own, Whichever you choose to give Someone is who you are.

I have an online name, a pub name, a name my Daughter calls me, names my Friends call me, name my blood family calls me.

All are me, but each may be different people in different ways.
OP The New NickB 14 Mar 2014
In reply to Choss:

The thread has evolved, my original point was about respecting people's choices, not so much what names people have, but that's OK.
 Enty 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

I've met Joey Barton and he pretty much insists on being called Joe and his brother and mates all call him Joe.

I find it interesting that all the old timers in my local pubs back in East Lancs refer to Mohammad Ali as "Clay".

E
 Skyfall 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:
Names are funny things. I've only recently found out that my middle name was my original first name (pre-adoption). I was mildly annoyed I'd never been told where it came from. In fact, seeing my own birth record with a different first and family name was pretty weird. Of course, I'm still the same person but it did change something. There's no way I would want to change it back, but it was quite a peculiar feeling.

I'm now a Jonathan but I always struggled with that a bit so I shortened it to Jon. As with many it seems, only my mother calls me Jonathan now, normally when she's ticking me off with that edge in her voice....
Post edited at 18:00
OP The New NickB 14 Mar 2014
In reply to Enty:

> I find it interesting that all the old timers in my local pubs back in East Lancs refer to Mohammad Ali as "Clay".

> E

I find the overtones of that pretty unpleasant, they may not be meant, it may just be that at their age they associate with that period of his career, but insisting on using what is effectively his slave name won't go down well in some places.
In reply to The New NickB:

I've been known as "Taff" since 1982, when I left Wales to go to Uni. Even some of my Welsh friends call me that. So do my wife and kid. A number of my Aussie mates think it's a Welsh name, one I was christened with.

It's far better than "Allan".
 Enty 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

> I find the overtones of that pretty unpleasant, they may not be meant, it may just be that at their age they associate with that period of his career, but insisting on using what is effectively his slave name won't go down well in some places.

And also it's disrespecting his conversion to Islam?

E
Jim C 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

> Or using a preferred version of it.

> my birth cert says James, when I was young I was known as Jimmy, but I was never keen on either, so I 'changed' mine to Jim at age 20.

My nephew really changed his name to Bert Dangerbond ( credit cards the lot!)
( He was Alistair)
Put my Jimmy to Jim to shame !

 BusyLizzie 14 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

I spent 35 years fitting in with what everyone else wanted to call me - Liz, Lizzie, Elizabeth - and trying to remember how to sign my Christmas cards (what does this person call me?). Since then I've been Lizzie, always sign my name Lizzie, and have stopped deferring to what other people want to call me. I feel better. And I teach my children to call other people what other people wish to be called.

Like Skyfall, and for the same reason, I have a different name on my birth certificate, and I still wonder what happens inside a baby when people call it "Susan" for five months and then start calling it "Elizabeth".

And like everyone else, I get all four syllables from my mum when I'm in trouble
 JLS 14 Mar 2014
In reply to Enty:


In our house he was, "Mohamma Dali". I think Islam and the significance of his name had yet to reach our corner of Scotland.
OP The New NickB 14 Mar 2014
In reply to Enty:

> And also it's disrespecting his conversion to Islam?

> E

There is that, may be more relevant in East Lancs.
OP The New NickB 15 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

I have just remembered my cousin, she just can't seem to make her mind up with names, she is on at least her fourth. Her given name was Angela, then she was Susan, then Hayley and she is now Jade. There may have been more, she lives in Sydney and I haven't seen her for 25 years.
 butteredfrog 15 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

We had a customer called (and he was a GP) DR D'eath. I know its not pronounced Death but, I think I would change that.

Also a Russ T Bullethole, credit cards and everything.
 Swirly 15 Mar 2014
In reply to stroppygob:



> It's far better than "Allan".

Yeah, that's on the way out.

 RockAngel 15 Mar 2014
In reply to The New NickB:

Changed my son's surname from his father's to mine when he was still at school. He'd been bullied because of his father & wanted to make it clear that he was completely cut off from him. It wasn't an easy decision for me to change it, it took him 6 months of asking me before I went ahead to do it as I wanted my son to know that it was what he really wanted. Changed it to my surname and it's not a great name either but has plenty of history.

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