First name/middle name

[Carrie]

I've gotta admit some of the things I think of are really dorky. Like this question.

Anyway, I was surprised to learn that in Mike's family only 1 person out of the 12 of them use their "first" name as their first name. All the rest use their middle names. Mike can't even remember his sister's first name (he's a man, what can I say?).

I was talking to my Swedish friend about this and she told me that no one in her family uses their first names.

Is this a really common thing? Or do I just know strange people? I don't know why, but for some reason I find this whole thing kind of fascinating. It seems like their first names are all old family names that have been passed down and their second names are more modern.

On a side note, Mike hates his first name so much that he's planning on officially having it dropped before we move over to the States so that it won't be on any documents there.

Carrie

[Debbie]

Bosse uses his first name.....so did my grandparents.

[Cake Guru]

Gosh, I guess I never even thought of before, but I do know lots of peeps who use one of their middle names. Peter does, but I never really wondered about that because if YOU were called:

Jan Peter Johan Gudbrand Vogstad Berntsen

Which would YOU choose?

[LadyDuff]

I think that it is something very common here to have more than one name, but I have always met people who use the first name as a name. I dont think I have ever met people who dont, but I know there are some out there!!


I can understand that if people have old names or "strange" names, they would want to be called a name that is more modern or used today. I do think that these "strange" or "old" names are very very nice!

Oh I see, well I have many times joked about changing my name as well, since very few can pronounce it here in Sweden, or spell it! But, when I think about changing my name to Carol ( which is close to my real name) I wonder if I would react if someone called me that...

I dont think I would, so I just keep my name!! I just have to live with the wrong spelling and such!

[Natasha]

My sambo also goes by his second name. So do his dad and brother. If they didn't it would be quite confusing since they all have the same first name (Per)! I think it is fairly common since I know of other Swedes who do the same thing. I have even had people call me by my middle name. I guess Natasha seems to silly and complicated for them, so they just call me Ann instead, much easier (this has only been on letters, not face to face). It feels strange for me to be called Ann since it's my mom's name. I once had a letter come to me addressed as Ann Natasha instead of Natasha Ann. I guess the order of names here in Sweden have nothing to do with what name people will actually call you.

[Sabeine]

I do think that it is quite common here. Anders uses his middle name, his real first name is Axel. My Swedish dad did the same thing. His family here still calls him by his Swedish middle name. Alfter he moved to the States in the early 60's he changed his name completely only keeping his last name.

The letters I used to get here from the bank, credit card company etc,.. used to be addressed to my first name which is Anna. Now all of them are addressed to my middle name which is Marie. How this happened I'll never know.

[Carolyn]

Anders is Anders Krister and he uses Anders. His other 8 brothers and sisters use/used their first name, although one of them has a hyphenated first name Stig-Ake. (can't get the keyboard to change to Swedish now)!

I am Carolyn Augusta and am always Carolyn in Sweden, although some people have written to me as Carolyn-Augusta, which I don't mind, and I wouldn't mind Augusta either (name of POWER).

[LadyDuff]

Hmmm I have seen my name spelt different ways! My real full name is (get ready! it is looong) :

Carlota Manuela Thérèse Bocio Duff, although I just use Carlota Duff for every day, and with both last names on papers!

I like my name, but I have seen it as Charlotta, Charlotte, Karlotta, or even worse...Kalotta....my last name ( my father´s last name) I have seen as Boccio, Bozio or Bossijo....

[Pam]

My Swedish sister-in-law has two daughters. They both have Margareta in their name....it's a family name....
I am mostly Pamela here because Pam sounds too much like parrrrrm?? LOL I didn't think so either. And sometimes Pamela is confused with Pernilla.
Only one friend back in America gets away with calling me Pamela but I'm starting to get used to it.

[LadyDuff]

Hehe, well Im mostly just Carlota here in Sweden, to my friends and family, some are allowed to call me Lotta, but not that many!

I have found that almost all male names have an E at the end when it is an abbreviation. Example of that is Bo ---> Bosse and so on....

I think that Swedes aren´t used to such things as calling you Pam, for Pamela. So, they just say Pamela. I think that it is because they dont have the same traditions when it comes to shortening a name.

An example, my husband, Shawn, has Timothy as a middle name, our nephew has Timothy for his first name, in Canada everyone calls him Tim, here in Sweden they would say Timpa or something like that...

Well, I hope I made sense...

[Natooke]

I guess it's quite common my husband and BIL use their second names ...

[LadyDuff]

I was thinking, what about the new generations?? If you have kids ( or if you had them) what would/do you use, their first or middle name?

We dont have kids yet but we will, and we are going to call them Mary Izabella Summer Rain and Tryfan Owen Giuliano. We have decided to use the first name, because it is the easies thing to do...

[Natasha]

We use now and will continue to use the first name. Emma's full name is Emma Ann Kristina. Since it is the norm in Canada to be called by your first name we don't want any confusion when we one day move there.

[LadyDuff]

By the way, I just had to share this...a while ago my husband and I were just surfing on the net when we came across this site where parents to be could post the name they wanted for their kids...

Well, I have always believed that parents have the right to pick any name they want for their kids, but sometimes you just have to wonder what some people where thinking!!

I read about this woman who had named her twin daughters Pookie Bear and Poopsie Dier ( to sound like deer)

Other babies with bad luck were:

Baby Jesus Joseph Smith ( he is to be called Baby Jesus)
and siblings Ovaries and Uterus....

[LadyDuff]

here are some other kids with names that arent of this world:

Weird names for Boys:

Abba
Abyss
Amen
Andrew's (note the apostrophe, as if the mother were reminding herself of who
the father was!)
Apple
As-Matik (say it fast, you'll see what I mean)
Bear
Blade
Brando (8 different ones!)
Charm
Confession
Dwarf (I don't even want to think about that kid's childhood)
GQ (must have been a handsome lad)
Gal
Go
Godly
Gospel
Hey (makes it easy to call him in for dinner, Hey! Hey! HEY!)
Holy
Infinite (3 different Infinites, you do the math!)
Knight Sir Lancelot (I'm not kidding)
Lisa (A boy named Lisa?)
Nadir (which means "absolute lowest point", thanks Mom.)
Stalin
Stallone
Truth ($100 bucks the kid becomes pathological liar)
Unique (15 different Uniques, and one Uneek, which when you think about it,
makes him unique)

Weird Names for Girls

Alaska
Albert
Beautiful
Beautiphul (beautiful, but in a strange way)
Boat
Chaos (what were they thinking?)
Chevy (I mean, why not Saab?)
Chevette
Choice (as in, "If I had one, I'd have chosen another name!)
Cuba
Dynasty
Final (does this mean her younger sister is a mistake?)
Galaxy (hope she ain't shy)
He (a she named He?)
Infinity (I guess infinity is any gender)
N/A (as in, not applicable?)
Nada
Precious Angel
Prince
Promise
Providence
Sin
Sparkle
Story
Symphony
Tall (you better hope she is, that's all I have to say)
Tangerine
Tequilla (this means Mom won't get upset the first time you come home wasted)

Treasure
Unique (15 of these as well!)
Virgin (ok, so her name will be obsolete around her 16th birthday?)
Wednesday
ZC (I can't even begin to speculate on that one)