My full name is Christina — a beautiful name but relatively long (3 syllables! 9 letters!), so since I was a baby, my parents called me Tina. This was the name I was known as by all until I moved to a new town in the 3rd grade. I explained to my new teacher and class that they could call me Tina, and immediately the boys started calling me Tina Turner and taunting me on the playground. Being the naturally shy child that I was, I was completely humiliated and intimidated at the fact that I was already being made fun of on my first day at a new school. I immediately asked everyone to call me Christina instead, and that’s what I was known as until I graduated high school in that same town.
I had one problem though: my family and all of my friends from church (who I had grown up with throughout our childhood and am still close with to this day) all referred to me as Tina. These people who were closest to me never referred to me by my full name, and my school friends didn’t even know I went by a nickname at all. This made things really confusing when my two worlds collided at birthday parties. Also, whenever I got things personalized or monogrammed, I had a tough choice to make: Christina or Tina? C or T?
When I entered college, I was faced with the choice of continuing to go by my full name or just switching to my nickname. Since my family and closest friends called me Tina, I felt it was a little closer to my true identity. Plus, since I was regularly referred to by my nickname, my full name just sounded stuffy and formal to me. So I decided to go by my nickname and stick to that through college and onto my professional life.
This went along fine until people started to discover that Tina wasn’t my full name. They’d catch a glimpse of my license or student ID and say “your name is Christina??” I even came across some people who actually got a little upset that I had never told them my full name. That’s not something that really comes up in regular conversation– “Let’s meet at the dining hall. By the way, Tina isn’t my real name, my full name is actually Christina. Just in case you wanted to know.” Since my nickname happens to be the last part of my name instead of a simple shortening of the first part (like Jenny/Jennifer, Matt/Matthew, Jess/Jessica, Dave/David), it’s not automatically assumed that Tina is short for something.
(I should also mention that I actually don’t really like the name Tina. I have lost count of how many characters in books, TV shows, and movies with my name that are mistresses, strippers, cheerleaders, and generally ditzy! You might not think so, but now that I’ve told you this, you will start realizing this about my name as well. And every time a floozy character with my name is introduced, you can join me in saying “it’s ALWAYS Tina.”)
I’ve asked my parents why they gave me one name if they intended on calling me by another, thus giving me this minor identity crisis. Their simple explanation was “Christina is a beautiful name!”, which is true, so I can’t blame them. I swore up and down that I would give my kids a name that was solidly their identity all on their own and not commonly shortened, like Amy or Paul. (For the record, I have close friends with those names and I call them by nicknames. Hah.)
Fast forward to present day, and here I am with two children who primarily go by nicknames. Go figure. Both of their full names are formal and are commonly shortened to one of a whole slew of nicknames: Robert (Rob, Robby, Bob, Bobby, Bert) and Josephine (Jo, Jojo, Josie, Phini). But the nicknames Wagon Sr. and I chose to call them aren’t even among those common nicknames: RJ (for Robert Jr.) and Jodie. I’m extremely happy with the two names we ended up with, because I always thought it would be cool to have a son named after his father whom we could call Junior, and my favorite girl name has always been Jodie.
At least my kids won’t have a problem with their initials and monograms though!
(because I hate to post an entry without a single picture, here’s a montage of me and my two kids as babies.
Tina, RJ, and Jodie!)
Do you or your LOs go by a nickname?
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Omg!!!!!!!!!!! I’m in shock that you’re a Christina!!! Jk. Maybe just a little shocked.
So.. I thought RJ was your hubs’ twinnie, but he resembles you when you were a wee lass too!!
So much cuteness!
pomegranate / 3414 posts
DH goes by a shortened form of his given name. I typically go by my full name although some family call me a shortened version. Both my LO have names that could be shortened/have nicknames (Evelyn and Thomas) but our intention is not to use nicknames. Alas they often get called E and T during written based communications but not verbal and we don’t call them by their first initials.
guest
We name our girlie Calliope with the intent of calling her Calli for short (4 syllables is a mouthful, even when offset by a 1-syllable last name). But sometimes that nickname is necessary – I’m stunned by the number of people who can’t properly pronounce her full name! (this includes the director of her daycare…thankfully her teachers are with it, haha)
kiwi / 629 posts
This is interesting!!
My hubs has a fairly common first name (like in the top 3 the year he was born), but from a very early age he went by a weird made up nick name that his dad gave him (that has absolutely nothing to do in any way with his actual name). All through elementary and high school people referred to him by this nickname and a lot of them didn’t even know his real name.
When he moved away for University he apparently wanted a change so he started introducing himself with his real name, which is when I met him. For a long time I found it very strange that all his family calls him by this other totally random name. I have always avoided using his first name altogether with them (and instead refer to him as “your son” or something like that).
LOVE your kid’s nicknames by the way! What a clever idea.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
I’m a nickname girl too, much to my mothers chagrin. There were 2 Elizabeths in my JK class, so I decided to be Liz at the ripe old age of 4 and it stuck forever.
LO has a zillion nicknames, but one of the reasons I chose it is because of how adroably it can be shortened.
GOLD / papaya / 10166 posts
My name is usually a nickname for so many other names. But my parents named me what they would call me so there wouldn’t be any identity issues. DD’s name doesn’t have any way of making it to a nickname.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
Uh oh, now I’m worried about my LO who will be named Alexander, but nicknamed Xander. Oh well!
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@chopsuey119: hehe that’s what our samonim said when she saw this pic of me!
@Adira: one of our friends’ little boy is named Xander.. I think he’s about 8 months now.. we call him Big X! Really fits him, so adorable
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
I’m afraid that I will be giving both of my girls name identity plus monogram issues. Crud!! At least your story had a happy ending and your kids go by nicknames instead of ending it like – nooooooooo don’t ever do this to your kids!!!!!!!!!
guest
I have the opposite problem- my birth name is Tina, but throughout my life friends, teachers, employers have routinely tried to call me Christina, Christine or on one occasion ( when I explained my name was just Tina) Justina.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Tina C Yes!! I get “Christine” a lot as well. Justina– hilarious. I have a friend who is a fellow Tina whose full name is Martina!
watermelon / 14206 posts
I’m Katherine, but I have gone by Katie my entire life. Only a few people know I’m a Katherine, like my doctor, dentist, and family. I identify myself as a Katie, rather than a Katherine…Katherine seems like my more grown up, sophisticated alter ego, lol. Katie is the whimsical person I’m known as to the whole world.
pomelo / 5331 posts
Love this! I’m also a Christina and I have always hated with a passion when anybody calls me anything other than Christina (sorry, “Christine” is not a nickname — it is an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT NAME). I think a lot about whether people will call my son something like DJ (his first and middle initial), etc. but in the end, I guess I can’t really control it.
clementine / 943 posts
I have the opposite problem too- I’m just “Katie” but my whole life, teachers call me Katherine or Kate.
I know there are nicknames for my LOs name (Jax/jacks/Jack) but I fully intend on calling him Jackson. He’s too little for those nicknames, they just seem “too cool” for a baby
coffee bean / 48 posts
When I first met my future hubby in high school pretty much everyone called him David, and I asked him if he preferred to go by Dave or David. He said he preferred Dave, but I learned much, much later that the reason he said that to me was he wanted to impress me and sound “cool”, and I guess he thought I would think Dave was cooler than David. Anyway, I started calling him Dave and pretty much everyone else followed suit.
I still feel a little weird calling him Dave around his mother, since she ALWAYS calls him David and I feel a twinge like maybe I’m being disrespectful since she’s the one who named him? Ah well. It makes for a cute story.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
I’m Angela, but everyone (even people that first meet me) call me Ange because practically everyone calls me Ange! I kind of cringe when people call me Angie though. I thought a lot about possible nicknames when we went about naming our kiddos too! Noelle has a slew of nicknames (Ellie, Ella, Elle, Noellie), and it is fine as a standalone name too. I LOVE calling ppl by their shortened names, so I’m a big nickname fan.
RJ totally looks like you as a baby!! Twinsies and super cute
coffee bean / 41 posts
I don’t like personally being called by nicknames that are shortened versions of names, I don’t know for sure why, just don’t. So I made sure to give both of my kids names that were only 3 letters long so I wouldn’t have to deal with it. A family member kept asking if we could call my first son by RJ, AJ etc. because his middle name was James, as we were considering different first names. And I kept saying no I don’t really want to do that. His first name ended up starting with an E so it wasn’t a big deal since EJ sounds kind of weird. Although if he were to have a nickname we call him Mr. James, but only on occasion.
My younger son’s name is Les, just Les, so it already is a shortened version of a name. So now people ask me if it’s short for something, that’s what I get I guess, lol.
I do have nicknames from my family but they aren’t related to my name, like blondie because of my hair, and shorty because of my height.
cherry / 112 posts
I’m the same way – I have a legal name but I’ve only ever gone by a nickname. My parents did that so that I was named after my grandmother, but my mom had always loved the nickname that I go by. It’s definitely had its pros and cons, and I used to think that I’d never do that to my child, but my favorite girl name is a full name/nickname situation! Go figure…
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
I have known one Tina irl… and she stole my aunt’s husband!
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Leialou: IT’S ALWAYS TINA!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
I knew a Tina in jr high who was was a Christina! She was nice!
guest
My given name is Katie. Most who meet me assume it’s a nickname; they assume I’m a Kathleen. For my oldest son we loved the name Michael, but I really really really don’t like Mike as a nickname. So far very few people have tried to get away with shortening it. He’s not in school yet though. So we’ll have to see what happens. I’m ok with Mick or Mickey, but not Mike or Mikey. My youngest is Samuel, but we’ve been calling him Sam or Sammy since the delivery room. People ask us why Sam gets a nickname and Michael doesn’t. It’s just our preference.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
My family and friends from earlier on call me by my nickname, but I started going by my full name once I got to grad school. I felt it fit me better. So people call me both now, but I never introduce myself with my nickname anymore.
coconut / 8472 posts
One of my good friends from grad school is named Christina, but only goes by Tina. Sometimes I forget that’s her real name, but I pretty much always knew about it – she has her full name on facebook, would use it on grad school assignments, etc.
I have one of those short names that doesn’t lend itself well to nicknames and I’ve always felt like it was kind of awkward for people, lol.
pomelo / 5178 posts
There’s no shortening my name; it’s a stand-alone name that doesn’t have any attached nicknames.
But DD identifies herself by a nickname (not her full name), and I’m ok with that. We have a million nicknames for her, but around 18 months or so, she chose one all by herself and started calling herself that. She’s knows her full name, but if people ask, she introduces herself by her nickname.
On the other hand, I love DS’s full name, and I HATE the common nickname associated with it. So if people try to call him by the nickname, I correct them. He’s my baby, so people have to call him what I want until he’s old enough to speak for himself.
pomegranate / 3275 posts
My name is Andrea but I go by Annie, always have. Some of DH’s family didn’t know my real name was Andrea until our wedding invitation! whups!!! I do have to admit, that it can be a huge pain in the butt when meeting new people, but I am NOT an Andrea
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
My full name is Nicole but my parents never called me Nicky because they had a dog by that name when I was born. My older sister couldn’t pronounce Nicole and always said cole. So they started calling me coley. It’s only my family and it never continued through school or my friends. In fact my husband was a little shocked when he found out my nephews called me auntie coley.
Now all but one of my kids goes by a nick name.
James is just James. Joseph goes by joe and jojo. Nicholas goes by nick. And Lilliana goes by Lilly. We will see what they want to be called when they get older.
nectarine / 2690 posts
I knew a Tina growing up that was short for Christina. I never thought it was odd though LOL
I’m a Jenny short for Jennifer. Professionally I am Jennifer, everywhere else I’m Jenny. Funny thing is I prefer Jenny, but I always introduce myself as Jennifer. I’m not sure why though. LOL
pomegranate / 3032 posts
both hubs and I have long names – Jonathan and Stephanie – he goes by Jon and most people dont realize he’s not John. I’ll answer to just about anything Steph, Stephie, Stephanie. though most of my extended family members have no idea how to spell my name they throw in some “F”s and maybe a “Y” or “I” at the end.
I have an older cousin who’s a Jr. full name Joseph John Lastname Jr. Always went by J.J. now that he’s in his 30’s his peers call him Joe and I just cant do it. He’ll always be J.J. or just J to me.
Even weirder is both my mom and MIL are Susan. Mom hates nn Sue doesnt mind Susie. MIL only goes by Sue – should be interesting for my kids one day
blogger / persimmon / 1398 posts
Wait… say what?!?! We almost have the same name?!?! See… I KNEW I liked you!!
I go by Christine, just Christine. My dad and three other people in my life are allowed to call me Chris, but that’s it. I’m really just a Christine. (Funny story, my mom was planning to call me “Christie” but took one look at me in the nursery and went “ohhh nooo… so not a ‘Christie’!”)
As for my little one… I worked really hard to find a name that DOESN’T easily go to a nickname. We drop the “R” at the end sometimes… but mostly he’s the full on Spencer. (Or sprout, but that doesn’t come from his name!)
coffee bean / 41 posts
I love this post, if only because I’ve gone through something similar! Even now, my husband and everyone who knows me where we currently live refer to me by my given first name, but most of the people who knew me before we married know me by my nickname.