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You are here: Home > Forum > A Place of Safety > General Talk > Names
Names  [message #4347] Thu, 12 September 2002 10:55 Go to next message
tim is currently offline  tim

Really getting into it
Location: UK, West of London in Ber...
Registered: February 2002
Messages: 842



Parents name children. Now that is pretty obvious, isn't it?

Sometimes the names given to the children don't help them in life. The name sets an expectation, either in the public view, or in the child's mind.

I rememebr, when I was a kid, hating my name. It made me feel like a stupid little kid. The picture it dredged up each time was of The Nestles Milky Bar Kid, a blond haired wimp who had milk bottom bottle spectacles and couldn;t even eat real chocolate!


I asked to be called something else. I had a name in mind. Not important what it was. They laughed at me. "We called you 'Timothy' because we like the name," they said. Well they must have, because they gave me no middle name.

So I did my best to be 'Tim', because it sounded at least a little manly. But with my surname I get a staccato machine gun effect. Monosyllabic name with T at start and end! That with a T at the beggining, gives me three of the damn things.

My parents insisted on calling me Timothy, though. And the rest of my family still does. I loathe it and cringe.

Doesn't mean it's a bad name. I am the one loathing it.

It;s too late to change it, of course. But I am seriously thinking of modifying it a little, to make it a gentler dimunitive than 'Tim'.

Does anyone else have trouble with their given names?
Well, you know I do...  [message #4348 is a reply to message #4347] Thu, 12 September 2002 11:10 Go to previous messageGo to next message
lenny is currently offline  lenny

On fire!
Location: Far Away
Registered: March 2002
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No Message Body



"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."

-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
Not as bad as it could be...  [message #4350 is a reply to message #4348] Thu, 12 September 2002 12:25 Go to previous messageGo to next message
david in hong kong is currently offline  david in hong kong

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Location: American working in Thail...
Registered: February 2002
Messages: 1101




There was a Thai Cabinet Minister a few years called Chantrikol Kittikonsrithammasat. I never learned if he had a nick-name. Sure needed one, tho!

And then there was my grandmother's room-mate in the nursing home when I was a kid. Her name made me giggle every time we went to visit. Fanny Picken.

I kid you not.

PS...Hi everybody! And many thanks to the several of you who have stayed wth me for the past couple of months. I've been really busy trying to save my job in the midst of economic downturns, budget deficits, and such. Worst year of my working life.

But my depression and anxiety has been lifted by good friends here...you know who you are! THANKS and many hugs are due...!



"Always forgive your enemies...nothing annoys them quite so much." Oscar Wilde
icon7.gif Re: Names  [message #4351 is a reply to message #4347] Thu, 12 September 2002 15:06 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



So, I think I am making a change. If my own board registraton system lets me



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Names  [message #4352 is a reply to message #4351] Thu, 12 September 2002 15:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



well it has now. but megaman is going to tidy up behind the scenes.

I though long about this change. I used to think "timmy" was a cat's name, but I first allowed myself to be called it and then came to like and love it.

I won't change it at work, but I will change it here. It doesn't work with my surname either, but is not machine gun fire.

I wonder if my wife will change too? I doubt it.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
icon7.gif Timmy it is then!  [message #4353 is a reply to message #4352] Thu, 12 September 2002 15:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
lenny is currently offline  lenny

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Location: Far Away
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You know, I think I said this before, but I've always liked the name 'Tim'. I think it's cute. However, Timmy's just as cute, so I don't mind at all! Smile

Best of luck to you with the new name!


-Lenny



"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."

-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
icon7.gif Oh, HELLO David! So good to see you again!  [message #4354 is a reply to message #4350] Thu, 12 September 2002 15:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
lenny is currently offline  lenny

On fire!
Location: Far Away
Registered: March 2002
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I thought many times of sending you an email, but I heard you were busy and stressed-out and stuff and I thought I'd just add to your burdens with my inane babble... Maybe I chose wrongly, I don't know. But I do enjoy hearing from you again, it's really nice to see you post again!


-Lenny



"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."

-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
icon7.gif has a lower case "t"  [message #4355 is a reply to message #4353] Thu, 12 September 2002 15:54 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



I'm not into upper case right now



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
What's in a name... ?  [message #4356 is a reply to message #4347] Thu, 12 September 2002 16:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
warren c. e. austin is currently offline  warren c. e. austin

Likes it here
Location: Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 247



"Timmy" is just fine; but then again so is "Tim", although I do understand about the rat-ta-tat machine-gun effect of your naming, especially allowing that you have said you do not have a middle-name at all.

On the other hand parents, or circumstance, can be quite cruel (I don't know whether from intent, or through accident) when naming their children. Consider names such as "Sampson", "Hercules", "Jesus" and others which prompt in the mind of those hearing them certain expections from the bearer of the name.

I went to elementary school with a boy whose last name was Outhouse and you just have to know that his parents named him "Johnny" - not Eric, or George, or Philip or Stuart, or even just plain John, but "Johnny" - and like you Tim, he was given no middle-name. That poor kid was simply mortified every time he was asked his name and practically collapsed from the embarrassment each and every time. Then too were the vicious nick-names we, as his supposed friends, gave him, none of which I'll repeat here, but you all were children once, and I'm sure they'll readily come to mind.

Another I encounterd at parochial school was named "Chester", and of course simply because his surname was Kings, they provided him with a middle-name of Field. Truly vicious on the part of the family. One other from the same period of my life was a wonderful youth named "North" North Western. Remarkable what nonsense parents will perpetrate on their children.

Then there was the situation in the 1970's, here in Canada, that arose at the Royal Bank of Canada (U.K. residents will know them as The Orion Banking Group and NatWest, or National Westminister Bank, wheras in the U.S. they're popularily known under the names Marine Midland Group, Nations Bank and Republic Bank amongst others) where they were running a series of 'You have a problem... Just ask for for me, my name is "Mary"' adverts in all the major media, but especially noticed on both Television and Radio. It featured an attractive buxom young lady of truly ample proportions, winning smile and eyes you could drown in. Unfortunately the reality was that her real neme was "MaryLou Big Canoe" and instead of running with it, the Bank's Advertizing Agency decided in their greater wisdom to change it to "Mary Robertson" and of course this eventually got out. The scandal, firstly because of the visual connotation her real name implied especially when compared to her actual on-screen presence, and secondly because of the assumptions that were made regarding societal understanding of Dine naming conventions and their un-acceptability to the general public. Of course that was a whole lot of crap, but to the moguls of Madison Avenue, and their focus groups in small-town middle America and the "I'm from Missouri" ethos that prevailed during these time, the Advertising Agency convinced the Bank the change in name was necessary. I like to think that we know better today, but I'm not too sure about that either.

I have a catalogue of other naming excesses from my youth, but I thought I would share just these few with you.

Lastly, but not the least is my own. I was named specifically for my great-uncle, on my grand-father's side, not directly through my father - a man who I met only prior to his death, although I do understand he attended my christening, and baptism, but I would not have known that without having been told - and as such, I guess probably a a number "III", there being a II or Jr. before me. Anyway he was the first U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and actually serving in that capacity at the time of my birth. Let me tell you it could have be worse, far worse, with names such as Jedediah, Erasmus, Ezekiel, and others similar featured prominently throughout my family lineage; then too there being the First half of my legally hyphenated surname "Ellithorpe", although by convention it is no longer used and hasn't been since my grand-fathers' generation; but is required when signing any actionable here in Canada, but not elsewhere.

Warren C. E. Austin
Re: Names  [message #4358 is a reply to message #4347] Thu, 12 September 2002 20:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Guest is currently offline  Guest

On fire!

Registered: March 2012
Messages: 2344



hey timmy....look up the greek translation of your name you might really like it i know i did.

as for my name well it works for me i wish i still had my birth name (adoption took it from me) but all in all i rather like Tim or like all my other screen names....Timmer.

and the mention of the name North...that would rock to have a cool name like that.

oh well just my 4 cents worth (inflation you know(

peace
tim...of USA
Re: Not as bad as it could be...  [message #4359 is a reply to message #4350] Thu, 12 September 2002 20:45 Go to previous messageGo to next message
trevor is currently offline  trevor

Really getting into it

Registered: November 2002
Messages: 732



Yes, good to see you join us for a moment of inane babble, David! Tim, it certainly could be worse - I think I once told you my father's name and proposed son's name, but e-mail me if you don't recall. Parents can be stupid about names! Rusty Pipes, Ben Dover, etc . . .
Ah, the classics!  [message #4360 is a reply to message #4358] Thu, 12 September 2002 20:52 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



It comes from timo meaning I honour and Theos meaning God, and often mis-translated from the latin timeo meaning I fear.

I can never understand why they could not translate it properly. Mind you thr "television" should more properly be called a "proculvision"

Smile



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Names  [message #4361 is a reply to message #4347] Fri, 13 September 2002 01:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
kevin is currently offline  kevin

On fire!
Location: Somewhere
Registered: September 2002
Messages: 1108




I was once introduced to a gentelman in a meeting by the name ... Dick Rot .... now I maight have used Richard but he didn't. Other than that, no one I knew then was a Kevin, and that's exactly how I felt ..... like I was like no one else.

Guess I figured it suited me that way.

Kevin



"Be excellent to each other, and, party on dudes"!
Re: Names  [message #4369 is a reply to message #4361] Fri, 13 September 2002 06:01 Go to previous messageGo to next message
e is currently offline  e

On fire!
Location: currently So Cal
Registered: May 2002
Messages: 1179



The former pitching coach for my favorite baseball team was named Dick Pole. Currently they have players named Milton Bradley and Coco Crisp.

I tried very unsuccessfully to get people to call me by my first name instead of my middle name. It worked on one job I had for three years, though that was the same job where I got the nickname "e" and that was mostly what they called me (but I liked being called e). My parents used my middle name because I was given the same first name as my father and grandfather. I always liked my first name, but I hate my middle name.

Think good thoughts,
e
Don't Get Fooled by a Name  [message #4374 is a reply to message #4347] Sat, 14 September 2002 00:20 Go to previous message
charlie is currently offline  charlie

Really getting into it
Location: San Antonio, TX
Registered: February 2002
Messages: 445




This is such a coincidence. Last night in my advocacy class we covered cultural diversity and one of the exercises had to do with names.
One example used was a lady named Sasha Corry. Now what does that sound like to you?
The truth is she was born to a black parent and a white parent, named by her god parents who were Russian Jew immigrants. By the way, she does not have a grandmother Corry or grandfather Corry because that is not the surname either of her parents were born with.
Verrrry interesting.


Hugs, Charlie
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