People that go by a shortened or different name - how did you decide?

Current Events

Current Events » People that go by a shortened or different name - how did you decide?
bluezero
06/19/2025
10:23 AM
#1
Let's say your parents named you Benjamin. How does one decide that they want to go by Ben, Benny, Benjamin, etc.? I even had a friend growing up where their name was John, but they went by Jack. My name isn't one that's typically messed with, so I guess I'm intrigued how people land on different names.
7800X3D - 7900 XTX - 32GB 6000 - 1440p Ultrawide
teep_
06/19/2025
10:25 AM
#2
I didn't. At my second high school, someone who had the same first name as me went by a shortened form, so when my teacher introduced me to everyone she automatically used that shortened form and it's stuck since
teep is a God damn genius - Zodd
Zodd is 100% correct about you - meralonne
Cornmuffins
06/19/2025
10:27 AM
#3
I prefer Mike
Getting C's and D's, saying thanks and please.
You broke the golden rule, you're staying after school.
Thermador446
06/19/2025
10:27 AM
#4
Shit, I go by a lengthened name
"While you were wasting your time castrating a priceless antique, I was systematically feeding babies to hungry mutated puppies!" -The Monarch
Southernfatman
06/19/2025
10:27 AM
#5
It was basically the default for the longest. Nowadays I get called by either the short or long version.
Fix your hearts or die.
When I sin I sin real good.
MrResetti
06/19/2025
10:28 AM
#6
I correct people when they try to shorten it
UnsteadyOwl
06/19/2025
10:29 AM
#7
I usually go by the shortened form of my name. It's what I remember most people calling me since I was little but I also think it's just easier. It doesn't bother me though if someone uses my full first name since it's still my name.
"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life."
__starsnostars
06/19/2025
10:33 AM
#8
You tell others your preference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDyXIXyAZq0
Please consider adopting a cat from your SPCA or local animal shelter.
AnsestralRecall
06/19/2025
10:34 AM
#9
My given name is too linked to my deadbeat father so really want nothing to do with it, unfortunately I'm kind of forced to go by it in my day to day since not actually publicly out

That said I'm public interactions I despise the shortened version of my name since it's what my father went by so full name plz

Chosen name I always liked and started using it in online spaces, naming characters in games, giving it as my name for forums etc. now I feel a really deep affinity for it overall
1312 // So long as men die, liberty will never perish \\ Queer Liberation
https://www.last.fm/user/crushedaria
Evening_Dragon
06/19/2025
10:37 AM
#10
I have like a dozen nicknames, almost half are just shorter versions of my full name. Only my parents really use my full name.
And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?
It's Guide
ReturnOfDevsman
06/19/2025
10:39 AM
#11
I went by my shortened nickname before I can remember.

My parents evidently went through my family tree looking for some asshole they've never heard of before who had a name that I guess sounded good at the time, then evidently decided it wasn't bullyable or teacher confusing enough and effed it up further, then they gave me a shortened nickname of it anyway.

I should ask them what the hell they were thinking.

Anyway, as the Bobs and Williams of the world see no problem with making every fast casual/fast food place demand your name, and I have long grown weary of arguing with cashiers about it, I just tell them my name is Bill.
Arguing on CE be all like:
https://youtu.be/JpRKrs67lOs?si=kPGA2RCKVHTdbVrJ
#12
Post #12 was unavailable or deleted.
ReturnOfDevsman
06/19/2025
11:01 AM
#13
Asherlee10 posted...
Nickname: Smash/Smashlee
lol, this is great
Arguing on CE be all like:
https://youtu.be/JpRKrs67lOs?si=kPGA2RCKVHTdbVrJ
elizajanegirl
06/19/2025
11:07 AM
#14
__starsnostars posted...
You tell others your preference.
This. My name is Elizabeth Jane, I go by Eliza Jane. And I tell people that when I first meet them. However I do say "You can call me Eliza Jane, but Elizabeth Jane is fine also." If they ask what I prefer (and they usually do) I say "Eliza Jane". Most definitely not "Eliza" or "Jane".
Just a girl in the great big world
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/elizajanegrl-1487/hero/76174370
HANGtheDJ_86
06/19/2025
11:35 AM
#15
As a teen one of my friends added on "son" to the end of my name once

And since it rhymed with "Jetson" it was pretty much set in stone after that
I feel well put
boomgetchopped3
06/19/2025
11:40 AM
#16
Some shortened names are just assumed. If I see Benjamin written Im just saying Ben with some exceptions for formal things
Wink wink oh oh wink wink
RasterGraphic
06/19/2025
11:42 AM
#17
I went through most of my using the short version of my name because I was too lazy to learn how to spell the full version when I was a little kid.

Now I go by the full name just because I decided I liked it more.

I'm probably going to start going by my middle name though.
"Well, thanks to the Internet, I'm now bored with sex."
- Philip J. Fry
kirbymuncher
06/19/2025
11:44 AM
#18
ReturnOfDevsman posted...
Anyway, as the Bobs and Williams of the world see no problem with making every fast casual/fast food place demand your name, and I have long grown weary of arguing with cashiers about it, I just tell them my name is Bill.
I have a short and fairly normal name so I've never had to do actual nicknames or anything, but I do this sort of thing sometimes if the environment is loud because I'm bad at pronouncing my own name and it often gets misheard :/
THIS IS WHAT I HATE A BOUT EVREY WEBSITE!! THERES SO MUCH PEOPLE READING AND POSTING STUIPED STUFF
Derwood
06/19/2025
11:45 AM
#19
We purposely gave our kids names that can't easily have a nickname.

I am also of the mind that if you have a kid and you intend to call him Ben that you should just name him Ben, not Benjamin
Evening_Dragon
06/19/2025
11:47 AM
#20
Derwood posted...
We purposely gave our kids names that can't easily have a nickname.

I am also of the mind that if you have a kid and you intend to call him Ben that you should just name him Ben, not Benjamin

I think it's good to have a casual version of your formal title. It's an immediate, if small, factor of being approachable. And then when you need to be formal and authoritative, well, you have that.
And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?
It's Guide
ReturnOfDevsman
06/19/2025
11:47 AM
#21
Derwood posted...
We purposely gave our kids names that can't easily have a nickname.

I am also of the mind that if you have a kid and you intend to call him Ben that you should just name him Ben, not Benjamin
They're just gonna be the first syllable regardless, I'm afraid.

Maybe with a long e sound at the end.
Arguing on CE be all like:
https://youtu.be/JpRKrs67lOs?si=kPGA2RCKVHTdbVrJ
#22
Post #22 was unavailable or deleted.
furb
06/19/2025
11:49 AM
#23
My parents just always used the shortened name. So everyone else did too.
You know how fads are. Today it's brains, tomorrow, pierced tongues. Then the next day, pierced brains.
-Jane Lane
ReturnOfDevsman
06/19/2025
11:57 AM
#24
Gladius_ posted...
My name is very hard for people to pronounce correctly so they get confused. I tell them just to call me (blank) because it's the closest to it that is easy to pronounce.
I've known a handful of people who do this when their names are uncommon here in the US or use sounds that English doesn't have. One I was actually a good enough friend with in college that I took to calling him by his real name as a sort of odd reverse-nickname, lol.
Arguing on CE be all like:
https://youtu.be/JpRKrs67lOs?si=kPGA2RCKVHTdbVrJ
Dungeater
06/19/2025
12:14 PM
#25
Cornmuffins posted...
I prefer Mike
this. its short and to the point
My fate was the grandest, most brilliant of them all.
He/Him
Hospy
06/19/2025
12:56 PM
#26
One syllable is more convenient than multiple syllables. I dont care either way though.
OldNastyBastard
06/19/2025
01:07 PM
#27
My name is Shawn. The only nickname I've had from friends was Shawnie. I'm named after my biological father so I don't have any attachments to my name at all.
Current Events » People that go by a shortened or different name - how did you decide?