Thursday, May 08, 2008

What's In A Name?

This may be a silly question but I'm looking forward to reading your responses.

My question is:

If people call you by the wrong name, is it often the 'same' wrong name?


The reason I'm asking is that if someone is going to call me by the wrong name then almost always I will be called 'Christine' rather than 'Catherine.' Not sure why but it's a definite trend. The reason I'm asking is that we have a new guy at work who calls me 'Christine' every time he sees me even though he types emails to Catherine, my name plate says Catherine and everyone refers to me as Catherine. It just makes me laugh, and got me to thinking, does this happen to you?

PS - The exception to this rule is my great Dad. His sister is Cheri and when we're in the same room I become Cheri and she becomes Cathy. Yup....Cathy is my legal name. Leave it to me to go 'backwards' and go with a longer version of my name than what it is legally. Ahhh...explains a lot doesn't it?!! :o)

So...let me hear your names.

Signed, Catherine, Cathy, Christine and Cheri!

29 comments:

  1. For some odd reason, people have a tendency to call me Brenda...and I've never figured out why. All through high school people would mistakenly call me that. Weird, I haven't thought about that in years.

    There's also my social worker who refers to me as Rhoda, but you already know about that. ;)

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  2. My name is Christie and I most often get called Cindy.

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  3. Funny you should bring this up...well because my name is spelled different ("Karyne") but pronounced "Karen", I most always have people call me the wrong name...in high school , my grade 13 history teacher insisted on calling me "Corrine" all year, even when I corrected him...I eventually gave up! He said he liked Corrine better!!!

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  4. It doesn't happen to me really! Hmmm, I wonder why!

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  5. I've only had it once that I can remember where a coworker of my husband constantly called me Kathryn. (not a bad name eh?)

    k (aka Tracy) :)

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  6. I always get Stacy ... I hate it!
    Maia always gets Mia and Ran often gets Ryan or Rain - I guess the simplicity of R-a-n is just too much for some people to take!

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  7. I answer the phone for work, "XYZ Company, this is Susan." They respond by calling me Janet, Cindy or Sarah. My voicemail includes my name. Again, "Janet, blah, blah, blah." I really love it when they call back INSISTING Janet helped them and I simply must laugh. There are only two females in the front office and I'm the only one they would have spoken to. So, if I'm in a super crabby mood, I tell them Janet got fired. heh.

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  8. My name is Bev, I get called Beth quite often, but I suppose that's a fairly easy mistake. I sometimes find people I have known for years think I am Beth.

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  9. I'm still freaking that your legal name is Cathy- you are SO a Catherine to me (and cool that your "nickname" is the long version, right)?! I think I'm called Kim most of all- and I don't mind in the least, it's my sister's name :) I kinda wish I'd never shortened my name to Kris, Kristen is better, which is my legal name.

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  10. I just get called all the names that sound close to Krista but aren't..... Kristy, Crystal, Kristen, Krissy.

    When I was a kid, my mom would get flustered and call whichever of the three of us was in big trouble KristaCarlaTravis. Like some big run on name. But always in birth order. Funny.

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  11. I usually ALWAYS get Michelle.
    Family members will call me Melinda (my sister's name which is VERY close to mine)

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  12. It doesn't happen very often - most people are caught by my name and comment about Sybil Dorsett. If they do call me the wrong name it's Sylvia.

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  13. I get ALL kinds! First and last name.

    When I call my backoffice for work, they often call me Joyce. No idea where they get that from Doris.

    For me, it is how french people say my name. They mispronounce it when they frenchize it. Bugs me!

    Keep smilin!

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  14. Count me in as another one who gets called Brenda, but only at work. Everyone else seems to be able to call me by the correct name.

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  15. Because my name is two rolled into one I am often called by the first name only.
    Yes, this does happen a lot!

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  16. Sometimes on the phone at work I get Laura. Mostly I just get people spelling my name wrong.

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  17. People call me Julia a lot. When I was a customer service rep in a call center a long time ago, the callers often called me "Shirley."

    People assume Tess is short for Tessa and call her that.

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  18. I get Joanne or Johanna sometimes. And my high school choir director insisted on calling me Joe-ah-na instead of Joe-anna. He was a pretentious sort and I guess his version of my name sounded more highbrow than my actual name.

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  19. Oh my gosh mine is complicated.

    my name is Lea supposed to be pronounced as Leah! Some do, most don't. I pretty much introduce myself as, Lee!

    My family and friends of my family call me Dee Dee or Dee!

    My children call me, MOM!

    fun post Catherine OR whatever your name is!

    Lea

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  20. I've loved reading everyone's comments as much as I loved reading your post. I must say, I've never seen someone take the long version of their name as their nickname... pretty cool!

    I've been called Rhonda before but most people never know how to spell my name. They always ask "y" or "i".

    The same thing happens to my daughter Sarah. I originally wanted to spell it Sara but figured everyone would spell it the biblical way. Since my son's name is Seth, I figured I'd stick with the biblical way. Well, everyone drops the 'h'. When someone asks her what her name is, the response is "Sarah with an h"

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  21. no one calls me anything but Linda, except customers on the phone who sometimes say Brenda.. But I have a friend at work I always want to call Diane, which she thinks is really funny since her name is Mary Beth and she goes by Beth!!! I can't figure out why she looks like a Diane to me.. Thank Goodness she has a good sense of humour. Linda

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  22. My name is Shelly...if I has a nickle for every Sherry !

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  23. Your name is really CATHY????? WOW!!! You are sooooo a Catherine to me though! Go figure! :)

    Ugh - you'd think that with a name like Heather, it would be hard to confuse with anything else, but people do it all the time. They only remember that my name started with an "H" and they throw out, "Um, Heidi? Holly?" Those are the two I always get, and there's a bad reason for hearing either of them.

    First, I was supposed to be named Holly Noel and my parents changed it at the last minute (thank goodness), and the worst is that Heidi was the name of my friend who slept with my ex-husband (which is one of the million reasons he became my ex...lol). But yeah - kinda crappy to be called by the name of the chick who committed adultery with your spouse... right???

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  24. I always get called by the wrong name. People have a hard time pronouncing it. I get called Lorel, Lauren, Lori.

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  25. OK...well, you'll always be CATHY to me, (notice I didn't say, "Chatty Cathy" hahaha). If someone calls me a wrong name, it's usually "Joyce" - guess people just don't know a lot of "Joy's" and assume it must be the longer version.

    Now...I must also add, I often mistakenly get called "Japhia", but that's what happens when you're an identical twin! I'm so used to be called by someone else's name. I love that song that talks about God knowing my name. I rest in the fact that He never confuses me with anyone else - He always calls me 'Joy' - and someday He's even going to give me a new name - one only He has chosen for me - wonder what that will be?????

    Talk to you later Christine! :o)

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  26. I get "Ron" a whole lot.
    But you will ALWAYS be "Catherine" in my blogdom!

    Don

    Happy Mother's Day!

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  27. OH...and P.S. ...I'll give you $100 if you ever catch me calling you Catherine! You will always be my cousin Cathy!

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  28. Great post Catherine!

    People want to call me Kim...I always get Kim...

    or Joe (because they think that is what I am saying)

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  29. My name is Lori, the most frequent mistake is Laura. Sometimes Lisa

    Those that call me Laura do it on a consistent basis. Those that call me Lisa seem to realize right away they are wrong and self correct.

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