Daft ways of signing your name
 

I just received an email from someone whose automatic signature details were thus: (actual name changed in case he finds this and sues me for emotional distress)

R. (Rick) E. Wakeman

What on earth is the point of that?

I've seen other people use odd combinations of initials and parentheses, and it seems to be more of an American affectation than Canadain, but what's it all about? Some companies seem to mandate it because everybody has their names listed in that style.

Those crazy Americans, what will they think of next?

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Most weird to me is that, when someone has elected not to go by his or her first name, the name is styled:

R. E. (Ed) Wakeman.

For what we need to know about the unused R?

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Indeed. And weirder still are the ones who persist in their childish nicknames:

R. E. (Butch) Wakeman

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

I did work with a few people in the UK who went with "alternates" of their original names, but went with it because it's the name they've gone with since they were kids, so it was what they wanted at work... but they're all pretty standard.

William --> Went by Will, changed his work email display name and everything to just be "Will"
Rosemary --> Went by Rosie, same as above
Jeremy --> Went by Jez, same as above

The only other one was someone whose first name was John and middle name James, but has been JJ since he was about 2 weeks old. As the people above, he changed his work name to appear as JJ [surname]. It was so weird when I found out it was actually John James. (I'd instead taken to calling him Jolly Jasper...)

I agree, though, the sort of "unrelated" ones like Butch or whatever are a bit more strange. At least all the ones above are just variations of the given name. (And this is when I lament having a name that doesn't shorten at all... Though I did find out there's an Aussie nickname for my name, which I actually like, but it'd be like forcing it on people here since it's not used here at all!)

I digress....

I suppose the alternate is parents who give their kids dipshit names instead. :P

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

I have a first name which I hate with a passion and for the first 44years of my life (in UK), I have never had a problem, people ask my name, I tell them Neil.
All documents in my name, except my birth/marriage certs & passport all my life have only had Neil on, after I explained that this is the name I go by.
Then, I came to Canada.
Now everything is in my (hated) first name with the occasional N in the middle before my surname because that is what is in my passport.
Except my SIN card, they were happy enough in Service Canada to use just Neil.
I had one supervisor, I worked for, for 5 years insisted on calling me by this name because that is " what is written on payroll."
I went to the bank this week to pay in a cheque that was "Neil G" and I get the third degree and had to show 2 forms of ID.
It drives me f------ crazy sometimes.
Anyway, sorry for rant, back on topic, I sign (initial) Neil (surname).

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

One of my corporate clients is a fair size family business. All the men in the family have the same same. Grandfathers, fathers, sons and grandsons are all called Richard Edward Wakeman. Obviously, this gets confusing so they chose alternate names to call each other. Their signature becomes:

R.E. Wakeman (Arthur)

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Who's on first, What's on second.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

So what's your first name? Let us judge. Is it a pikey name? ;)

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

HaHa, like I'm going to tell you.
I'm the judge & jury on this one.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Why don't you just change it, legally?

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

I worked with a guy named Rick. His parents gave him the name Ricky which he legally changed when he was old enough.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Like I said, the first 44 years, I had no problem, just too old now to change it.

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My step-fater was always clled George, but it wasn't his real given name, that was Richard. Apparently when he was born his mum and dad had a big disagreement about what he should be registered as. He wanted Richard, she wanted George. He seemed to give in and was sent to register the birth, when he came back he told his wife he had registered him as Richard. His wife said she would never use that name as long as she lived, and she called him George, as did his brothers and sisters and all his friends, the name Richard was only ever used on official papers.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

I had a First Nations friend up north named Gabby Munroe. I asked him why they called him Gabby and he said, "Because my first name is Cuthbert."

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

There was some poor girl at a dance competition last weekend called, and I'm not making up this spelling, Qurstyn. Or Kirstine in English. Or as they say here, Keeerstn.

Can you imagine spelling that out for people for your whole life. Christ! :thumbdown:

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

I see many many bizarre names and bizarre spellings, some due to weird "Westernised" names, some due to trendy parents.
I'd love to give examples but don't think that's wise given that I'm hardly anonymous here.

Let's just say some of them involve foodstuffs.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

I can rant along with you. The same happened to me. Everything but my passport back in the UK was in the name I used which is a kind of shortened version of my real name. For example everyone calls me Bats but my passport says Fledermaus. Everything in the UK says Bats, everything here says Fledermaus. Annoys me no end that they won't change it.

At work we have a space on the registration documents for a "known by" name.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Well in the North East of England Cuddy is the diminutive of Cuthbert. Maybe it lost in the translation?

A litttle bit of trivia. Eider ducks are called Cuddy ducks after St Cuthbert who used to talk to them back on Lindisfarne.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

At the hospital I worked in there was a family called KEY, they had already had a daughter and they had called her ANN, and when their son was born the nurses spent a long time persuading them it wasn't such a good idea to call him LEE.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

That's nearly as bad as the poor unfortunate fellow I once worked with, Mr Peacock, whose parents in their infinite wisdom had christened him Christopher. He was known universally as Crunchy Dick.

On the daft ways to sign yourself, though, I know a couple of people who have three given names, of which they choose to use the second one. They both habitually sign themselves in the manner of J Ronald R Tolkien or G Herbert W Bush. Beats me why they bother using the two spare initials, it just confuses people.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Daft ways to sign: I've enjoyed this Winter, writing my name in the snow nearly everyday.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

:rofl:

My Nan hated her first name & was only ever called by her middle name Hazel. I didn't get given a middle name. I am constantly asked for it, as if I am trying to keep it secret or something. I really don't have one.

Also, on the conversation of names, mine is Nicola, but Canadians can't say it correctly for love nor money. It is not Ni-Cola!!!! :blink:

We didn't think too much when naming our younger boy. If you leave out his middle initial it's B.S. :o

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

In Canada is is Ni-Cola. Just like Brits can't say a lot of names we give our kids correctly for love not money. Different country, different pronounciations. :)

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Just curious how to say it then?

Ni-Cola is the only way I have ever heard it said in Canada and the US.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Which names do cradles give their children that challenge the pronounciation of native English speakers?

The only male cradles I know are called Daryl (spelled umpteen ways), Wayne or Shaun/Shawn/Sean. The women are all called Lori.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Nicola - I would have assumed it was pronounced NI-cola, emphasis on the "Ni".

If your name is Nicole, then it's Ni-COLE, emphasis on the second syllable.

But in Nicola, I would have gone with NI-co-la, emphases on the first syllable.

No?

I don't mind names that have multiple "accepted" spellings - Katherine/Catherine, Jonathan/Johnathan, Steven/Stephen, Shaun/Shawn/Sean, Megan/Meghan/Meaghan, Haley/Hailey/Hayley, and so on. I get grumpier about names that are spelled stupidly for the fun of it or to make names "unique" (and apologies if anyone here has done that!). My mom works at a school and a number of years ago had two students with special names: Sheileiagh (Sheila) and Jaynuarie (January).

(And then there's my cousin, who gave her daughter the middle name Neveah. I asked how she picked it, she said it's "heaven" spelled backwards.......... once you see it......)

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

I'm from London. The kids are called Shardnay.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

I really hate those "spelt backwards" things. I know it probably makes me a terrible person, but I can't help a slight twinge of ridicule every time I hear of the poor unfortunate kid in Nova Scotia driven to suicide by sexual assault and cyberbullying. Rehtaeh - Heather backwards - is just a really stupid name. The 'ht' in the middle is awkward, and the diphthong 'ae' is pronounced as though it were still an 'ea.'

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Rita, innit?

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

In my cousin's case... if you're going to spell it backwards, at least spell it right... Neveah <> Heaven backwards.

And yes I noticed as well, Heather backwards for Rehtaeh. (My fingers go all derp trying to type that!) I think it was also pronounced exactly as written as well - Ruh-taya.

Which reminds me of someone I know who has two girls... won't post their actual names. The older one's name is completely made up, the second one has a stupidly spelled name (the equivalent of "my name is Tina, but spelled Teina"). Whyyyyyyyyy plague the child!!!!! (And the older one is going to have to say "my made-up name is pronounced ___".)

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

A few years back when we went on holiday in South Carolina, my daughter (she was 10 then) met a girl called Tequila and her bigger sister was called Brandy.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Well at least they won't have to change their names when they become strippers ;)

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I was aware of two children in the playground, Harmony and Neutrina. The father called the older one "Harm". I waited and waited but never heard him shout after the younger one.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Before my daughter was born we had decided that we wanted to use one of my dad's names James and also use Connor to hint at my family's Irish background ( way back ).

As my surname starts with a D, we decided against it as his initials would have been CJD and from my Grammar school days it would npot have been a hard leap to be known as Mad Cow for the duration of his school days.

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Not sure if you mean "the name of one of my fathers", or "one of the names given to my father"...

Either way, LOL at Mad Cow!

Re: Daft ways of signing your name
 

Exactly Ni-co-la, I do try to explain to them but they seem to pronounce as they would Nicole, but substituting the e for an a. I have had some very interesting spellings when I have said my name over the phone too. Oh well.

Hahahaha!

When I worked for a hated UK Government department, some of the names people called their kids were unbelievable. Many a good laugh looking at names and also the stories of how children were conceived! :rofl: