What do you think of YOUR name?

[km903]

Kristen Ann. I'm not a fan. When I was growing up in the '80s, there were maybe 5 or so Krist(e/i)ns in my grade, so I always had at least one other in my class at any given time. And I am forever correcting the spelling. People are always doing things with C- and Ch- and -in, -on, -yn, -an... Kristin I can understand, but when someone writes it Chrystyn, I just want to throw things at their head. And they pronounce it Kristine a lot.

My dad wanted to name me Kris, because he thought it sounded cool for a girl. My mom persuaded him to change it to Kristen and just call me Kris as a nickname. They also considered Jessica, after my uncle Jesse. I'm pretty sure Ann was just a placeholder, because they didn't want to use Marie, since our last name also begins with M, and they didn't want the KMM intials. My sister has the same middle name (or at least she did until she got married).

There's just no romance in Kristen. Blaaaah.

[annika]

My name is Annika. You know, I'm from Germany and here it is FAR more common to not give children middle names (most of my friends do not have a middle name either), although now there is a strong trend towards middle names. Anyway, Annika is quite popular here, so it's not like a special name or anything. Still, I never had any other Annnikas in my class, so that was alright. But what really bothered me is that there is no particular story behind my name and I really wish I would at least been given a middle name with some background.
Also, I never had a nickname that stuck. As a child I was sometimes called Anni (Annika is pronounced "Un-nikah" so Anni was "Unnie" more or less) which I didn't like at all. I wanted to try Nici for some time but I gave it up because nobody was using it anyway.
I kind of envied my sister for her name (Dana), because it is so much more seldom. But - as an irony of fate - she had another Dana in her class from fifth grade onward.
So, i guess, in the end I'm okay with my name, even so it's quite boring (I will make that up on my children and hope they're not going to hate me for that)

[jmc1988]

My name is Jennifer Michelle! I really, really love my name! But seeing as I was born in the 80s and Jennifer was in the top 10, I have a pretty common name! My dad named me and I am glad that he did so, seeing as my mom was going to name me Nicolette Sheridan after her favorite actress! Boy am I glad that she was out of it when it was time to give me a name! On the other hand, there are way to many Jennifer's around the same age as me and it is a very common name. I went to school with between 5 and 9 Jennifer's, and 3 of which were also Jennifer Michelle! All in all, I really like my name, and most of the time I go by Jenn, never Jenny - I hate this name (sorry to any fellow Jenny's but I absolutely cringe when someone calls me this)! I can't imagine being anything other than Jennifer Michelle, considering that I could have been Nicolette Sheridan!

[erinpurple]

My name is actually Kelly Marie and I am not a big fan. While I actually quite like Marie as a middle name (it is my mothers also) and I will very likely use it if we have a girl, Kelly I don't believe has ever suited me. I do have red hair, but I am not irish and in general I feel that the name is not serious enough. I always wished I had a longer more formal name that I could turn to for professional purposes.

Even as a child in Pre-school I wanted a new name and bravely informed all of my nursery school teachers that they were to call me Natasha and that when I turned 18 I would be changing my name. Now I am DEFINIELY not a Natasha, but a Kathleen or something that doesn't end in a Y would have been nice.

Growing up in an era of Kelly Kopowski's, Kelly seemed like it was always the cheerleader's name, or the ditz, or the floozy. I have always been a little too serious (so maybe my name helps to lighten my image some I guess) but as a young professional (and it doesn't also help that I look very young still) in a corporate environment constantly trying to prove myself, a name like Kelly certainly doesn't help.

It is actually funny reading so many of the posts saying they WANTED a name that was lighter and ended in a vowel, where as I have always wanted the opposite.

I am acutally quite often asked what Kelly is short for, which surprises me, and I wish I had something to tell them!

[ricamaca]

I'm Erica Nicole. I always thought of different names I could be when I was a kid. But I haven't met that many Ericas...a few, yes, but its not too common. So that part I like. I just always thought it was too boring for me. No one can get the spelling right, either. Do you know how many people try to spell it Ericka? That's like overkill, right? I always wanted a pretty Italian name. My father was born there and I've always loved that heritage. How boring is Erica next to Cesare? But now, I really don't mind my name at all.

[gin.s]

My name is Virginia Koren, and it's always been a source of frustration for me. I've often thought about changing it, but didn't want to hurt my mom by doing so. With Virginia it's always been a problem with spelling and nicknames. People can't spell it! And then nicknames were Ginny, Ginger, Gin, and then the less kind ones like "hey virgin", guinea pig, etc. And then Koren, never knew where that one came from, people can't spell it, don't know how to say it when they see it (kohr-ENN). But then for my son I chose Connor, which can have it's own annoying nicknames (one of his aunts calls him Connie, but he's too young to understand yet), but most people are good and just say Connor. Poor little guy, I think he'll suffer misspellings all his life too, I'm already correcting people!

[smitty]

Erica, that is how my sister spells her name and she is always frusterated with people misspelling it with a K or a CK too! Our parents tried to give us the easiest, most common spellings but I guess that anymore with all the different spellings there is no easy way :( Oh well, I think Erica is pretty!

[vesey]

My name is Victoria Marie
I could care less about my middle it's the same middle name as my Moms and sound nice with the first but it just doesn't do much for me.

I love it it's common but not too common. I didn't have another Victoria in my grade until Junior High. Although I always got a Victoria's secret jokes and icky Vicky/picky Vicky teasings I thought it was cool how there was Queen Victoria and countless many places called Victoria because of that. There are also a lot of nickname possibilities the basic Vikki or Tori, and the Shorter Vic or Tor. I could even go by Ria but I don't like that nickame, and this is going into petnames but a lot of people call me V since there aren't many V-names or Victory/Victorious

I kind of wish a was little less popular though

[ricamaca]

Erica, that is how my sister spells her name and she is always frusterated with people misspelling it with a K or a CK too! Our parents tried to give us the easiest, most common spellings but I guess that anymore with all the different spellings there is no easy way :( Oh well, I think Erica is pretty!

Thanks! I've come to like it, too. I hope she does as well! :)

[busy_bay]

I'm Nastassia Simone. Pronounced Na-sta-sha. I used to hate my name because NOBODY had it, and nobody could say it or spell it! I've always had an obsession with names, and used to spend hours trying to figure what I could rename myself when I turned 18. But now, I really like my name! I think Nastassia sounds very foreign and ballerina-ish, and Simone is simple, beautiful, and feminine.