Do you like your own firstname?

I was once told my parents had hoped for a boy (I was an only child) so wondered if they saddled me with my name as it has a boy's name in it. Workwise I have had so many problems with my fairly common UK name as in the US the spelling of it is a man's name and in Asia they use surnames so more often than not everyone thought I was a man. To try and make it more obvious I asked our IT dept to change my christian name spelling in my mail address but that's caused even more confusion so I've given up, It's quite funny when I finally speak to someone and they realise I'm not a man

ClaraB DH's parents did that to him - what a lot of confusion it has caused.

However, if we get a chatty phone call asking for him by his first name (or an abbreviated version of it) we know it's a cold caller!!

I have the commonest name of my generation. When I complained that my brothers had much fancier names my mother said,"It's plain and simple, like you". No wonder I hate it.

No surprises on my name ! I was apparently going to be Anne (after my father's mum ) but my mother decided it was too short. Being Angela a popular name in late 50s/60s that what I became.

I hate my name (Elaine). I was born in 1945 in North London and no-one pronounced it properly, I was always called EEEE-lane. My parents were going to call me Paula, which I would really have loved, but the doctor who delivered me declared that "Paula is a brunette name" and I was pink and fair.

DH uses his middle name as his mother decided, when he was about three, that she'd made a big mistake with his first name. I don't have a middle name and I have always felt deprived.

One of the many things my parents couldn't agree on was what to call me. I ended up with three names and they called me by the third! It's unusual, at least it was then, and so was my surname. How I longed to be Susan Brown!

I have to use my first name on official documents. My fear is that if I'm lying semi-conscious somewhere and people shout my first name, I won't respond!

My parents Christened me Elizabeth but always called me by my middle name as they didn't like names to be shortened. I'm happy with my middle name but what confusion it causes as on all official paperwork I am known by a name which I have never answered to. I would never do this to a child!

My school days were blighted by my first name. I dreaded the first day of term when the teacher made us go round the class saying our names because everyone laughed at mine. It's not actually that bad but used with my unusual surname it was quite a mouthful. I started using my second name when I left school and when I met my husband he abbreviated even that. I made sure both my children had simple but not boring names and I also gave them second names so they had the option to change. Neither of them did. I'm surprised that so many on this thread were pleased to have unusual names. I'd have given anything to have had a name that did not invite comment. I actually feel bad writing this because I had lovely parents who would have spent ages choosing a name for me and were probably quite upset when I changed it at the first opportunity although they never said so.

I grew up in Hackney and nobody was called Eleanor in those days, so I have always liked my name. My mum told me she named me after Eleanor Roosevelt!

I was always going to be a Julie. Born in July and father called Julian. I quite like it, luckily. To

I do wish I had been called by another name, one that wasn't so easily corrupted into a nickname.
I tried to keep my DC's names short for that reason, but alas, james they still get changed - either lengthened or turned into rhyming words!

I have the same name as my DH's late mother. It is very old-fashioned and I have only met one person younger than me, who has this name.
I was also the only person in my school with this plain old name.
I have always disliked it. (Perhaps DH was looking for a mother figure!)

BTW Victoria is my first name!

I really like my first name.My dad was German but chose to name me after his grandma,so I was lucky it could easily have been Bertha or something like ( apologies to all Berthas out there!)

Well I did choose my own name when I came out! I didn't follow the common custom of keeping my initial because I just knew my name was Mary. So yes I do like it.

Yes, but unlike annsixty, am glad it hadn't got e on the end. OH calls me Annie which I like. Can't think of a name I'd prefer.

As a young lass I hated mine and when asked 'with a Y or just plain Jane' I disliked it even more. To add insult to injury I remember an old man asking me my name after telling him he replied 'Oh like Lady Jane Grey, the poor lass she had her head chopped clean off!' Oh why, oh why couldn't I have had a more exotic name like Celestine or Francesca? When I became a mum myself I called my first born Kimberley and insisted no-one shortened it. I remember she must have been about 7 or 8 and she asked me 'mummy why did you have to call me Kimberley when I would much rather be called Doreen or Deirdre'. Bless her heart! Since then I've grown to like my name, Jane

I've always hated my name and still do! To some extent it's affected the way I see myself - may sound trivial, but it has. No princesses or film stars were ever called this name! It was one of the most common names at the time and there were always at least three in the class at school, and when we bought our first house there were five in the road! Nowadays I don't think there are any under the age of 70 so it's a dead giveaway of age.
Must stop complaining or I'll go on all day.

My names is James and I come from a long line of James's , it was a Scottish tradition always to name the son after the father. I have always been called Jimmy by my family and Jim by other people but rarely James.
I do wish I had been called by another name, one that wasn't so easily corrupted into a nickname.

Charleygirl, Isabella was my great grandmother's name pronounced
Eyesabella. She was a Scot and her maiden surname was Dick. Isabella was a popular name in great grandmother's time but you might agree that her Christian name and her maiden name together would have been a subject for some rude jokes had she been living in these times. She would not have been amused.

By the way when I joined Gransnet I tried to use my name and guess what there is somebody else registered with that name, so I tried each of my grandmother's 4 names and Mildred was the only one not taken, I feel Mildred is a grumpy name, Gran was called Milly and very cheery.

Until my late twenties I loved my name - it was unusual, people asked what it meant, I was the only person in all my schools with the name,and I hated it being shortened. Then the name became popular, associated with certain types of girls/women - I still liked my name, but somehow the shine of it dimmed. The name - Donna. Has anyone else had this experience? I still like unusual names for girls, and my DD's have unusual names. However my DS's have traditional men's names - I think it is still harder for a boy with an unusual name.

I'm called Pamela but for some reason people get mixed up and call me Pauline. I didn't like my name and surname at school as they both began with "P". There was a girl in my class called Ann Quinn and I wanted her name! I'm now happy with my name, especially as it goes better with my married surname.

I thought my parents were very unimaginative calling me Ann Elizabeth, before PA. In senior school there were 4 Anns in the class so I became Anni without an e and it has stuck. Happy with that.

The reaction was that age 27 I gave my DD a very pretentious name which was immediately shortened on the basis that small children wouldn't cope with it. That has stuck with her and people love it. Many were a bit surprised to hear the full version at her wedding! Downside was that it was unknown in England, slightly known on the continent so on holidays were always searching for bowls, mugs etc with her name on!

Yes it was Bunty, and I remember getting the first edition, my mother read it and disapproved of the snobbery in the Four Marys!

I am also a Susan, I really don't like it and never have but I'm ok with Sue. I always wanted to be a Sophia as it seemed very exotic. DH often calls me Susie unless I've annoyed him and then he calls me all sorts! but I pretty much answer to anything.