Abbreviating your name

[Glinda]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

My maiden name was very common, and my first name even more so. Nevermind all the other girls with my same first name, I actually went to high school with another girl who shared my first and last name.

So around 2nd grade I picked up the nickname Fergie, shortened from my last name, and it stuck all the way until graduation. Teachers used it too, and I had some friends who didn't even know my real name. (This was, incidentally, during the time that Princess Fergie in the UK was commonly in the news, but the Black Eyed Peas did not yet exist.)

I don't use my real first name at all (unless it's for legal/banking stuff). When I was born, everyone in the whole world named their kid the same thing my mom named me. In one high school class, there were FIVE of us.

By that time, I'd taken to using a nick I got as a tyke in Texas - NOBODY had that name. Imagine my disgust 40 years later, when everyone's giving their damned kids my name (boys and girls alike).

Guess I'm a trendsetter, but sincerely, I'd rather they just ignore me and all my awesomeness.