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How does your name affect your personality?

Yaru

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My name is Nadine. I think it affected my life a lot. I even have a Surname that is a misspelling of a quite unusual Italian surname.
I was born in South America, and I lived in a tiny town were having a weird surname with a French name didn't go unnoticed.
Maybe this made me start feeling like a foreign at a young age.
When I moved to Italy I found myself being an actual foreign, with a foreign name, and an unclear surname. Everything indicated I was different. I had a crazy family story that nobody ever believed, I was the kid sitting alone in the back of the class doodling in a sketchbook and reading Asian language dictionaries.
Basically, anybody liked me, starting from my name.

I don't dislike my name. But it's the name my parents gave me, it is not something I chose, so I used to hate it, because it represented what they expect me to be and what they see me like. So for a really long time people called me by nicknames. My closest friends still never call me by my name, I think they forgot what my true name is.

Anyway I hardly notice the difference, and I have to think about whether that person called me Nadine, Nadi, or by a nickname they chose.

The oddest nicknames they gave me, and also my favorite is Momskii.
I also had a friend that called me mommy. It was weird. Then she changed it with momma. Still kind of weird but better than mommy hah.

Anyway I never met another Nadine, I believe that the day I will, will be a great shock for me.
 

prplchknz

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34,397
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yupp
My name is Nadine. I think it affected my life a lot. I even have a Surname that is a misspelling of a quite unusual Italian surname.
I was born in South America, and I lived in a tiny town were having a weird surname with a French name didn't go unnoticed.
Maybe this made me start feeling like a foreign at a young age.
When I moved to Italy I found myself being an actual foreign, with a foreign name, and an unclear surname. Everything indicated I was different. I had a crazy family story that nobody ever believed, I was the kid sitting alone in the back of the class doodling in a sketchbook and reading Asian language dictionaries.
Basically, anybody liked me, starting from my name.

I don't dislike my name. But it's the name my parents gave me, it is not something I chose, so I used to hate it, because it represented what they expect me to be and what they see me like. So for a really long time people called me by nicknames. My closest friends still never call me by my name, I think they forgot what my true name is.

Anyway I hardly notice the difference, and I have to think about whether that person called me Nadine, Nadi, or by a nickname they chose.

The oddest nicknames they gave me, and also my favorite is Momskii.
I also had a friend that called me mommy. It was weird. Then she changed it with momma. Still kind of weird but better than mommy hah.

Anyway I never met another Nadine, I believe that the day I will, will be a great shock for me.
[MENTION=22109]Evee[/MENTION]
 

Cimarron

IRL is not real
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As a nickname, it probably originated in american schools at a time when it was very common for several people to have the same name in a single classroom. Hence nicknames such as Jack for John--it doesn't make sense now because usually a nickname serves to shorten a longer name, which Jack in no way does to John, nor does it sound remotely similar, save for sharing one letter. However, suppose you were named John in a classroom in 1920. Chances are you were probably not the only John in that classroom, so the teacher needed an easy way to distinguish his or her students and make it easier to call on students who shared names without causing confusion.

Still, how the hell people came up with some of these nicknames is beyond me. Libby as a nickname for Elizabeth at least makes more sense than Jack as a nickname for John.

Thank you; I've been wondering for a long time why John F. Kennedy was nicknamed "Jack" by his dad. Confused me to pieces when I kept thinking Jack Kennedy was his father's name or older brother or something.
 

Redbone

Orisha
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I have an uncle named "Johnny" not "John" and going by the first as a nickname. Who knows how it affected his personality--my Mom said he was a horrible spoiled brat as a child, but grew into this ultra-rigid ISTJ as an adult. He's really okay.

My dad's name is so unusual that I never met another person with it. Probably never will. I can just put in his first name in google search and it immediately pulls up genealogy/find-a-grave site. He hated his name but he hated everything so....
 

chickpea

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people have a lot of trouble pronouncing it. i think sometimes people think I just chose a more pretentious pronunciation of it myself to be cool or something, but it's my parents' fault and actually a lot of Israeli chicks say it like me. it means "grace of god" which is why I'm so fuckin special.
 

Such Irony

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My real name is Laura. I don't think it affects my personality in any way I'm aware of. People do occasionally say "it's a pretty name" but that's about it. Sometimes I wish my name wasn't so common. I know I've gotten confused with other people multiple times.
 

Raffaella

bon vivant
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My name is very common in its place of origin however I live nowhere near there so it's a just reminder that I'm a special snowflake. I get a lot of compliments since it's feminine and doesn't sound too unfamiliar (it's easy to read and pronounce). Despite its simplicity, I gave up on it and donned my nickname so I'd stop getting comments... and I can tell you that it's made life more efficient.
 

five sounds

MyPeeSmellsLikeCoffee247
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Pretty normal name. It doesn't mean too much as far as how I perceive myself or behave. I do like my name though.
 

Ene

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I have a White name, it's my legal name. It is on all my papers. It was chosen by my parents. It means "Magic Beloved Wanderer." I was named after someone my dad considered a sister.

I have a nickname. It was given to me by my brother. It is the name I use with family and friends and the one I use on here.

I have a pen name that I sometimes use for published poetry.

I have a Cherokee name that my friends call me. It is Sunalei Noquisi. It means, loosely translated--- DawnStar [Morningstar]..the Drawing Star or She Draws the Light. A few friends call me Dayita, it means Beloved like my White name does. They have the same meaning so that my parents called me Beloved. All my life, I have been called Beloved. It's a good thing to be called in any language.

And I have a spirit name that is known to no one but me and one elder of the tribe and she would not tell. A spirit name is never to be shared with anyone but an elder, so I can not tell you that name. And since I value my privacy to some degree, I will not tell you my White name either.

To us, names are important, so important that sometimes we even hold a naming ceremony. A person may have many names within a lifetime. I would never name a child without consideration of what the name meant and the connotations it will carry throughout life. Still, knowing this, I had a great-grandmother named Running Water. I don't know if she was like water or if she peed a lot. She died before I was born so who can say?
 

grey_beard

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Lucy is a nice name, if slightly old-fashioned. I would add Amanda, Claire, Hannah and Nicole.

I was thinking of Luke, Henry, Jack and Ollie (Oliver) for boys.

I've always felt sorry for any woman named Bertha. (Matlida conjures up similar, but perhaps more "pleasingly plump.")

Or for the boys, how about a nice Biblical name like Arphaxad...'twas only in the 1800s that other Biblical names like Ebenezer or Elijah or Ichabod were still extant;
some of the more common ones like Jacob or David or Michael are still around.

On another note, I'm glad to see that the name Adolph remains completely *OUT* of style.
 

grey_beard

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Thank you; I've been wondering for a long time why John F. Kennedy was nicknamed "Jack" by his dad. Confused me to pieces when I kept thinking Jack Kennedy was his father's name or older brother or something.

C.S. Lewis started insisting on the name "Jack" for himself at an early age: three years old IIRC.
He pointed at himself and said, "He is Jacksie."

Go figure.

On the other hand, his *real* name was Clive Staples, so mayhap even Jacksie is an improvement...
 

grey_beard

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My name in some ways makes me feel a little pretentious. When I was young, combined with my mothers "you're super special!" barrage at me, it didn't help with it. My real name is Pieter (I don't really mind sharing it too much). Every time I have to say for someone to write down I have to say "but it's spelled different". I get people that say "pie-eater", "Pee-ater", and many different variations. It's pronounced exactly the same as Peter. It's just the dutch spelling of the name (since I am 1/4th dutch ancestry). Combined with my middle name, and last name (both of which are about as German as you can get), my name stands out a good chunk. I do like that my name is unique though, but not in an overt way.

Pieter, and some German in you?
Just *reeks* of organic chemistry. :D
 

Kullervo

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I've always felt sorry for any woman named Bertha. (Matlida conjures up similar, but perhaps more "pleasingly plump.")

Or for the boys, how about a nice Biblical name like Arphaxad...'twas only in the 1800s that other Biblical names like Ebenezer or Elijah or Ichabod were still extant;
some of the more common ones like Jacob or David or Michael are still around.

On another note, I'm glad to see that the name Adolph remains completely *OUT* of style.

Within reason, I don't mind what you call your kid. Obviously it has to be a serious name.

However I personally want to give my children names that are meaningful (i.e. appropriate for their heritage) and normal enough that they won't be bullied because of them.
 

HongDou

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I've always felt sorry for any woman named Bertha. (Matlida conjures up similar, but perhaps more "pleasingly plump.")

Or for the boys, how about a nice Biblical name like Arphaxad...'twas only in the 1800s that other Biblical names like Ebenezer or Elijah or Ichabod were still extant;
some of the more common ones like Jacob or David or Michael are still around.

On another note, I'm glad to see that the name Adolph remains completely *OUT* of style.

There were two guys from my high school named Elijah. :thinking: They were hot. I think my friends had crushes on them lol.
 

chubber

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Coincidently most of my friends at high school were called "Pieter". :thinking:

The generation before that is all called "Andre"

I end up calling them all on their surname. Or thanks to instant messaging I don't have to say a name, since that part is assumed :D
 

Haven

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My main frustration about my name is that somehow people that take my order at restaurants somehow manage to mishear it every time. You'd think a simple name with 3 letters would be easy to understand, but no, extra syllables get stuck in there somehow.
 
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