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Re: Changing Nicknames
in reply to a message by Indy
It's funny - I sort of had the opposite experience. I had a formal legal name at birth that was quite respectable, but was called exclusively by a very childish nickname. I went through school registered under the name, the whole shebang. When I went to university, I decided I would try going by the full version. It felt bizarre at first! Like I was only pretending to be a grownup. It took some effort to not giggle whenever I introduced myself because it felt so strange. And responding to it took some time too. But finally it sunk in that, duh, these people hadn't grown up with me, so it wasn't weird for them to hear the name - just for me. And eventually, the people who knew me by the full version outnumbered those who knew me by the childhood name, and it became odder to hear myself called by the old name than the new one.I also once worked at a large store where there were like five people with the same name, so they made me call myself by an unfamiliar nickname so I wouldn't get mixed up with the others. It ended up being more trouble than anything because I never knew anyone was talking to me and totally ignored everyone accidentally.
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