Laurence 2

I am a female Laurence in the United States. My parents gave me this name because they loved Laurence Owen who was a female ice skater who was a member of the 1961 US Figuring Skating team who perished in an airplane crash on the way to the World Championships. My name has been a constant attention getter both good and bad. It is rarely pronounced correctly. People expect me to be a male. I had someone tell me that I was pronouncing it wrong and I was just "snobby" and it was obviously pronounced like Lawrence. I can tell when someone is about to call out my name and the room is full of women because they look around, look at it again and then usually call out Lawrence. Over the years I have picked up several nicknames, Larry, Roxanne, Roxy, and the one that stuck which is Rauncie. It is pronounced Ron C. I am rarely called Laurence except by my family. I tried to go back to Laurence when I started working in academia but I got tried of correcting everyone.
I do love the name. It is unique and I believe that having a unique name can be a positive thing that helps people to remember you.

Boy name not girl.

I love this name but then again I bear it. As a French female living in the USA, I encounter many difficulties with this name:
1) it is very difficult for English-speaking people to pronounce it correctly, 2) always asking if I use Laurie or Laura, 3) always doing a double take as to my gender and 4) the most problematic: convincing telephone bankers that I truly am who I am because they believe I should sound male - therefore needing to go through extensive security checks.
I still love this name and no I do not use a nickname.