facebook twitter instagram bloglovin
 photo toppost.png

May 3, 2020

What's in a Name

my real name is elizabeth, but i've been called betsy since birth.

in 7th grade, i tried to be liz.  it lasted a month and i was back to betsy.

those who really know me just call me bets, and it's one of those things that makes me feel really close to people.

sometimes people call me liz or beth or some other shortened version of elizabeth and i cringe a little bit because that's. not. me.

and sometimes, someone i just met drops the "y" from my name and one of two things happens:
either it feels awkward, like they're pretending that we're super tight but in reality, we're not on the same page….
or it's awesome because i've totally been friend-crushing and the little nickname they just adopted for me makes me feel like that friend crush has been fulfilled.

i also realized that i'm the perpetrator of this sometimes.  i will write an email or respond to a tweet or even talk to someone in person and i shorten their name.

so what about you?  do you have a name that gets shortened a lot?  do you love it or hate it?

20 comments:

  1. haha! I feel the same when people I've just met call me "Em" (which is what most of my fam/friends call me). But I do love when people I've become close to start calling me Em, because I know they feel comfortable. (Does that make sense?!) My dad has always called me Ember (hence my blog name) :) and some family members (& my husband) call me Emmy. It's sweet that different people have different nicknames for you, isn't it?


    (My middle name is Elizabeth!) :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this!! :) It's like some people randomly call me Amber, like they think it's my nickname and it's not. My nickname all through junior high and high school was Ambs and now that I'm older, not very many people that I've met since that time use that nickname, but it always makes me smile when someone does :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haha, I have such name issues too! I've been called Z for ages but when I was very young, everyone called me Kenzie. Practically no one ever calls me by my full name...it's so funny!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lauren AlbrechtMay 3, 2020 at 7:40 PM

    This is hilarious!! I'm DEFINITELY one of those people who shortens other people's names... I hope I don't do it "too soon" haha!! Yikes!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. haha I'm sure you're in the clear! i might just be hyper-sensitive to it since i have such an uncommon nickname for Elizabeth! haha

    ReplyDelete
  6. Haha that is funny! Yeah, I can't imagine that Z is the first nickname people think to call you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes! It took my boyfriend forever until he called me Bets and as soon as he did, I pointed out to him how much I loved it…I mean, it felt weird being like "AJ, I like you, so you should call me Bets…" haha...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Haha…it so is! Part of what made me start thinking about this whole thing was after I sent you an email this week and called you "Em"…as soon as I hit send I got a little panicky and was all "oh no! too soon?!" haha

    ReplyDelete
  9. My name isn't one that really works to be shortened. So I am very careful to call people exactly what they introduce themselves as. Except for my sister. She has a million nicknames.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh my gosh I KNEW that's what it was!! haha! Not at all - you call me Em anytime!!!! :) XO!

    ReplyDelete
  11. ALEXANDRA BOOTHBYMay 4, 2020 at 12:08 PM

    thanks for sharing.

    I would be honored if you would follow me as I share my journey with Huntingtons Disease.

    livingwithpassion90.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. As a Jessica, I'm frequently called Jess or Jessie (But I don't like Jessie at all, I try to squash it as soon as someone says it) For a while my dad called me Jose for completely incomprehensible reasons...he's a character haha!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I can totally see how people would shorten Jessica to Jess but Jessie seems a bit too comfortable, if that makes sense! haha I make up crazy nicknames for my brother all the time :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Haha no, yours is definitely difficult to shorten! I call my brother a bunch of crazy nicknames, my favorite being "Punky" haha

    ReplyDelete
  15. Once I was selling something online and the buyer emailed and called me Christy which was suuuper weird because no one calls me that. My family and a couple friends call me Chris, but it's the same thing where if someone I don't really know calls me that it feels weird.


    It's strange too if you are introduced to a new person by someone who is super close to them, so you're used to hearing their more intimate nickname, but you personally aren't close to them and don't know what they prefer. ya know? Like when you meet a sibling of a friend or something.

    ReplyDelete
  16. some people call me moe - it used to bother me. Until I realized people feel comfortable around me enough to call me whatever they'd like. And I'm ok with that :-)

    ReplyDelete
  17. my name gets shortened all the time! i'm a 'caitlin' so i get called a little bit of everything: cait, caitie, cat, etc. there's only 2 people who call me caitie, and have since childhood, so that's okay. but otherwise, i just like 'cait' or 'caitlin'. sometimes when i'm called 'cat', i can't figure out if i should just blink in response or meow, haha.

    ReplyDelete
  18. oh gosh….you totally should meow in response just to see how they react! haha…and then please report back, because i'm pretty sure it would be hilarious :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. haha…confession: when I first met you I had no idea what to call you….moe didn't quite feel right but maurice felt too formal! :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Haha yes! That is always a tricky situation…especially if you accidentally call them something that other's call them but that they might not be comfortable with you calling them!

    ReplyDelete

Hi! Thanks for reading! I read every comment posted here. Your thoughts are valuable to me! Thanks for taking the time to contribute!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
 photo envye.jpg
envye blogger theme