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There's a reason why I didn't want to name my child this!!!!

post #1 of 12
4/6/05 at 4:41pm
Thread Starter 
OK--No offense to anyone with a John, Jon, or Johnny in your family!

Jonathan Andrew was DH's choice for a name, not mine. I told him from the very beginning that I didn't really like the name because I was afraid they'd call him Johnny, and I didn't like it for some reason. I knew John was a name from his family and he didn't want to use that, but he wanted to use something close to it. So, I agreed to Jonathan and started calling him Jon Jon.

Debbie, his former sitter always called him Jon. I always called him Jonathan or Jon Jon. But now I've started calling him Jon more. That's what everyone at church and the sitter's called him. Well, the other day, this lady at church was asking me questions about "Little Johnny". I thought she was talking about someone else and didn't say much. Well, I take him to Sunday School the other day, and I don't see his name on the roll poster they have on the wall, but there is a "Johnny" on there. (They had him on there as "John" before.) And the teacher is refering to him as "Johnny", and he's not responding. Ummmm--that's not his name and he's never been called that--THAT COULD BE THE REASON!!!! But now we've got several people calling him Johnny, too.

If I'd wanted to name him Johnny, I'd have named him Johnny. If I wanted him to be called Johnny, I'd call him that. But DH and I have never called him that, and neither have any of our family. Where in the world did they pick this up? HOW do I get them to stop?
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post #2 of 12
4/6/05 at 4:46pm
Kindly ask then to put his correct name on there and start using his correct name in the classroom, and they may get a better response out of him. By asking politly, it may help.

I know my parents were frustrated when people called my brother Richard "Dick" while he was growing up. Ritch or Richard, but not "Dick" if that was what he was to be called, he would have been named it!
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post #3 of 12
4/6/05 at 4:55pm
Oh I can feel that frustration! My first name is Kimberly. I don't even go by it, but I know it's my first name. What the hell makes people assume they can call me Kim? Especially when they don't even know me!!!! ARGH! I'm not Kim. Never have been Kim. Don't want to be Kim. If you're going to address me by my first name, then use my first name darnit!

Same with Jessica ... yes, I call her Jessi. And I spell it Jessi. Drives me batty when I introduce her as Jessica and people assume they can call her Jess or Jessi. And most spell it Jessie. We don't!

Ahhh ... gotta love people some days! Personally, I would very nicely request they use my child's proper name ... especially since you don't even use that nickname!
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post #4 of 12
4/6/05 at 5:01pm
We get that too with Alexander! Everyone just assumes that he is called Alex and that's what they'll call them. I have told several people (including my MIL who said she is his grandmother and can call him what she wants - both Billy and I told her NO to that - nicely of course) very nicely and politely that we call him Alexander, not Alex. Sometimes we refer to him as Al but that's us and no one else. Even at the doctor's office we have to correct them. I'm waiting to see what'll happen when he starts preschool this fall and school the next. Thankfully he likes his name and has started correcting people on his own.

And believe it or not, I have people call me Lis which irks me to no end! My name has four letters and two syllables so why do you feel the need to shorten it? And who said you could?

So I suggest the same, just let people know in a nice way that he goes by Jonathan. If they continue to call him by a nickname, then let them have it!
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post #5 of 12
4/6/05 at 5:17pm
I would just politely correct them when they call him johnny. Just say, we call him jonathan.

My mom had to do that with a lot of people and my name too. They always tried to call me nicki, and she would tell them if I had wanted her called that I would have named her that.
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post #6 of 12
4/6/05 at 5:32pm
I thought that by naming Faith with a one syllable name she wouldn't get a nickname. Well, people started calling her Faithy. How annoying is that?
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post #7 of 12
4/6/05 at 5:38pm
When we tell people Elizabeth's name...they say do you call her Liz or Beth...we say we call her Elizabeth. Then people wants to call her Lizzy and it drives me crazy. If I wanted her to be Lizzy I would have named her that. Her name is Elizabeth.

I would tell everyone that his name is Jonathan...not Johnny. It wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit because that is your child's name.
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post #8 of 12
4/6/05 at 6:18pm
I get the same thing with Trey. His given name is Randall Joseph. Why do people continue to call him Randy? Or Randall when he does not even respond to it. If the mother calls him Trey then damn it use what she does.
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post #9 of 12
4/6/05 at 7:45pm
People call Kate, Katie. I hate it. The big reason I got rid of my right from the start lady was she insisted on calling Kate - Katie. No matter how many times we corrected her. ARgh! Once people get to know Kate and see how stubborn and strong headed she is, they dump the Katie pretty quickly. She is no Katie. She's a strong willed, tough to the bones Kate.
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post #10 of 12
4/6/05 at 9:27pm
I agree- just politely tell her that his name is not Johnny. People are just odd. I have a lot of people ask me if we call Christian- Chris. No offense but my son is not a Chris. If I wanted to call him Chris I would have named him Chris.

Good luck- I hope you have success.
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post #11 of 12
4/7/05 at 10:44am
I don't like the name Johnny either. And that is what all of John's friends call him.
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post #12 of 12
4/10/05 at 8:14pm
My familys actualy really big on nicknames, almost all names have to have a shortening!
My sisters name is Amelia, but shes been Millie since the she was born. Didnt even know she was actually called Amelia until she was 3. My Harriet but was called Harri for much of my childhood, though I introduce myself as Harriet now. My brothers name is George. We call him G, my sister calls him Ojie.

All names I consider for my own children must have shortenings, its just the way we are, but that said, my Mum decided the nick name, always go on what the parents call them!
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