Do you like your name?
I do. I always have. I was the only Megan in my class for years until some new girl came to town — but she pronounced it Meegan, not Mehgan, the way I do. So that was okay. There were still only two of us, and we weren’t the same.
I didn’t have a middle name when I was born; I’ve heard tell it was because I was so tiny my dad said I wasn’t big enough for one. I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s what I heard. I wanted a middle name by the time I was in oh, maybe preschool or kindergarten. So I got to pick my own. Pretty neat, huh? I’m pretty sure my mother steered my choice — I might’ve ended up with JimBob (he was my favorite Walton) if she hadn’t. As it is, I sorta wish I didn’t have a middle name now, just because that would be something different.
I get asked, often, when I say my name is Megan Hart, if my name has an H in it. I always say yes. HART. Aitch Ay Are Tee.
My name rhymes with EGGan, not AYgan. I really don’t like to be called Maygan. I don’t like to be called Meg, either. I had a college boyfriend who insisted on calling me Meg, even when I told him over and over I didn’t like it. (That’s another thing I really don’t like…when you tell a person you don’t like something, like being called a nickname, or being hugged, and they insist on doing it anyway. That’s just rude.)
Consequently, since I don’t like to be called Meg, I’ve never really had “a nickname.” My BFF since sixth grade did call me Mad Meg for a little while, you know, like Mad Max, and I guess every so often she still calls me Meg, but not often. Or, like, not to my face in conversation. In college I said I didn’t really have a nickname and so some friends began to call me Megonne, which is not a nickname but a different pronunciation of my name, and which Superman has picked up. I don’t know why. I didn’t know him when I was in college. Well. At least he doesn’t call me Meg.
Yes, I know that Hart rhymes with Fart. You think I didn’t get through elementary school without hearing *that* more than once? Whatever.
Sometimes I will get hits to my website with searches for Meghan Heart. This makes me laugh; I don’t know why. However, don’t spell my name wrong if you actually know me, especially if you’re replying to an email I sent you that has my correct name, like, RIGHT IN IT. I will mock you.
What about you lot? Do you like your names?
M
December 15th, 2008 at 11:34 am · Link
I guess I am used to my name now, after all these years. But those school years being called “Patty Fatty 2 by 4″? Sucked. On the plus side, I know only 1 other Patty. Then there is always Peppermint Patty – and I love her.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:34 pm · Link
I’m with Patty – I’m used to it now. I’m named for my father’s favorite aunt (although she was JoannA) and I have a cousin Joanne who is also named for that aunt. I never knew another Joanne until I went to college and there on my floor was me, a JoAnne, a Joanna, and a Johanna. My family still calls me “Joni” and my favorite uncle calls me “Joni Baloney.” It’s fine when he does it, it was NOT fine when people in grammar school called me that, like Patty said with “Patty Fatty.”
So, I’m used to it and I guess I’ll keep it, because how to people who change their names announce that sort of thing to their family/friends? “By the way, I’d like you to call me Cassandra, okay?”
December 15th, 2008 at 12:52 pm · Link
Growing up, I HATED my name. I mean, Brande? NOt only was it an odd spelling, which meant I NEVER got to have the cool personalized stuff like pencils or keychains,. but the jokes were endured well up into high school – even by a few of my teachers.
My senior year English teacher read my name off the roll sheet every day… “Bourbon”, “Tequila”, “Scotch”, etc. etc. ad nauseum. He didn’t quit until he got mad that I NEVER answered during roll and then would hold my hand up when he asked if he’d missed anyone. I said the joke was cute….. when I was six.
All my life, I heard two comments: “Oh, Brande…. I used to know a girl named Brandy. Come to think of it, she was a stripper.” OR “Brande. What a cute name. We named our dog Brandy!” Great – so obviously, I can either be a mutt or a poledancer. Thanks.
When I started working, I felt like my name was a disadvantage. After all, anyone named “Brandy” or anything sounding like it, must surely be petite, blonde and about as intelligent as a beach ball, right? I always felt like I walked into every interview or first day already behind the 8-ball – and I had to work harder, faster and better than everyone else to prove that I was more than just the airhead people assumed I’d be.
I’ve kind of grown into it at this point, although I’ve been known to growl at people who still make dumb comments about my name…..
December 15th, 2008 at 1:04 pm · Link
*sigh*
No.
I once read that Jennifer was the most common girl’s name for the year that I was born. It makes sense, because all through school I shared a class with at least two other Jennifers.
My mother is the only person that calls me Jennifer now. I don’t mind Jen, and that’s obviously what I prefer to be called. I hate Jenny, but I don’t really get called that either unless someone feels like being a smartass.
My middle name is Nicole, which is also super f-ing boring. The most I’ve ever got out of that combination was from an old boyfriend when he said “Jennifer Nicole? Oh that’s hot. That sounds like a porn stars name or something.”
Thumbs down.
December 15th, 2008 at 3:43 pm · Link
I love the name Jenn – I love the way it rolls off the tongue. So there.
I think I might punch anyone who told me I had a stripper name. Although my Grandma got pissed when my mom named the cat after her and not her daughter. I can kinda see that.
I always loved the name Katherine Elizabeth. Since I was a kid. I think it sounds important. Unlike Patty.
And I would like to take this moment to appologize to anyone names Brian because I always call them Brain. (damn you Jordan Catalano!)
December 15th, 2008 at 4:01 pm · Link
This is off topic, but…
*SQUEE!!!* Jordan Catalano!
I still haven’t gotten over him…
December 15th, 2008 at 4:05 pm · Link
@Jen: *puts hand on shoulder, looks into eyes*
That was a long time ago.
December 15th, 2008 at 4:06 pm · Link
@Patty: LOL the cat?!
December 15th, 2008 at 4:07 pm · Link
@Jen: I’ll be honest. There was a girl I knew in college whose name was Jen and I so despised her it tainted the name for me for YEARS!!!!!
But I’m over it now.
December 15th, 2008 at 4:07 pm · Link
@Gemini: I don’t blame you for growling. A name is so intimate, and most people don’t choose it, so making fun of it is just lame, squared.
December 15th, 2008 at 4:08 pm · Link
@joanne: LOL, I bet lots of people try to change their names and still get called whatever their family named them.
December 15th, 2008 at 4:08 pm · Link
@Patty: Awww, Peppermint Patty. My favorite candy!
December 15th, 2008 at 4:24 pm · Link
@Megan:Yeah, the cat. Lucy. I think I might be even more scary as a Lucy. Granny was pissed for YEARS!
December 15th, 2008 at 5:20 pm · Link
That’s too funny cause my mom and I were just talking about this because my godmommy (who found me after many years on FACEBOOK of all things) was the one that named me Nancy and I was never overly fond of that name though I do love my godmommy. My dad wanted to name me Elizabeth which is only slightly less meh but I could have shortened that at least to Beth or something.
I had this girl in my French class who had the exact same name as me. First and last so for the entire semester I went by my middle name in that class which is my mom’s maiden name. But it was funny cause everytime I’d be called over the P.A, down we would both go until they told us which one they meant.
December 15th, 2008 at 5:40 pm · Link
@ Megan: Shhhhhh!
*Curls up into fetal position*
God.Even reading that crippled me with embarassment. I don’t know how I didn’t die at his feet when it happened.
And the whole hating on the name Jen thing…You totally got over that on the account of me, right?
December 15th, 2008 at 5:45 pm · Link
My sister’s name is Jennifer – she used to say that if you called “Jen” down the hall at her high school, 15 girls would turn their heads.
And, her best friend is a Jen, too – they refer to themselves as “this Jen” and “that Jen.” Somehow, they always know who they’re talking about, but none of the rest of us did.
December 15th, 2008 at 5:53 pm · Link
@ Joanne: Seriously, that’s how it was at my high school too!
Its either come yp with something like what your sister did, or call all Jens by their full name, which also sucks.
My last name isn’t the greatest!
December 15th, 2008 at 9:35 pm · Link
Being that I’m another “Jen” on the list…I love my name Jennifer Marie Franklin..there were alot of Jennifer’s I went to school with but I was the only black girl with the name so very easy to stand out….But MEGAN i’m so glad you don’t hate “us” anymore!
December 15th, 2008 at 9:38 pm · Link
Another thing, that’s a nice pic of you…kinda dark like you belong in a vampire movie…or is it because I’m reading vamp books at the moment…Hmm
December 15th, 2008 at 11:11 pm · Link
Yep, I was ok with my name though I was the only female Dana that I knew at the time. Thus… I thought it was cool.
But…here be the little rhyme/jingle that was chanted all through elementary school. And believe it or not… I was bean pole skinny, and assume thats why it never really bother me too much.
Dana Dye died on the 4th of July because she ate so much pie she had to die.
Needless to say…I wasn’t the popular kid.
LMAO…But by 5th grade at 5 ft 8..I was the BIGGEST…and the jingle suddenly quit.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:51 am · Link
I really do like all of my names. None of them are spelled in the ‘normal’ way and until I went to college, I only knew one other Karen, whose name isn’t spelled like mine, Karin.
One of the most interesting things is that my oldest brother married someone whose name is pronounced the same as mine but spelled differently, who also happens to have a birthday two days after mine. The funny thing, though, was that the first month they were married, she and I worked at the same place. Got a bit confusing when talking to some of our coworkers and customers.
The other thing is that I’m quite used to having my middle and last names mispronounced but had never had my first name mispronounced until my college graduation. My friends and some of my professors turned it into a joke and it definitely made that event stick out.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:21 am · Link
I don’t mind my name, but it is a bit boring. When I was younger, I always wanted to have the pretty spelling of Laurie but instead I was stuck with the plain old Lori. This was how my Dad wanted to spell while my Mom wanted the Laurie spelling. My Dad got to pick however, because he really wanted to call me Louise (which is apparently his favorite name and my Mom’s middle name) but thankfully my Mom said NO to that. So, then I ended up with just Lori as the spelling. This must have been a relatively popular name when I was born because all through high school I had at least two in class with me.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:10 pm · Link
Well, my full name is Caroline -in grade school boys would sing Sweet Caroline to me, which wasn’t bad really. But whenever I filled out a form or something, people always pronounced it “Carolyn”, which I didn’t like.
So I ended up just going by Carol. And that was fine and all until some pain in the a$$ woman at work started emailing me as Carole. GRRRRrrrr… and she was doing it to piss me off because my signature always indicated the correct spelling of my name!
December 16th, 2008 at 7:13 pm · Link
I like my one name. It’s quite common, but that didn’t really bother me because enough about me was different otherwise. I always grew up with a number of nicknames… from my family. (In fact I don’t think my extended family enough knows my real other name.)
I don’t have a middle name… but I have a middle initial. Sort of. I never remember how it goes- I think it’s on my social security card, but not my driver’s license? (Maybe my middle name is the letter?)
My post is confusing. lol. Ah well.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:11 am · Link
do you remember garbage pail kids?
well, there was an UGlee. It took a while to live that one down in the 6th grade…
I like my name. It’s just getting people to spell it properly. How many ways can you spell Leeanne?