What's In A Name??

When I was born my mother named me Sarah. Sarah means Princess. I like my name.
But....my dad called me Sally. He thought Sarah was too formal. He was well intentioned.
 My mother went along with my dad and called me Sally.
Consequently, the name Sally stayed with me.......until I was eighteen and went away to college. At that time I told all the new people I met that my name was Sarah.....Eventually, the name Sally disappeared.....I enjoyed being known by my given name. I felt like a new person. I felt comfortable as Sarah.
Now, I don't want to offend anyone with the name of Sally or Sallie..It's just not my name. My name is Sarah.

Growing up, at the beginning of every school year, I had to explain to my teachers why the name people called me was different from my given name. One year, a high school art teacher made a big deal about the evils of a nickname....From my perspective, she was telling me and everyone within earshot that my parents were negligent by giving me a nickname.

After that, I vowed that once I left home, I would be discarding the name Sally and going by my proper and right name, Sarah.
My mother's sister is also named Sarah. And.... people also call her Sally. You may already have figured this out..... Yes, she was known as Big Sally and I was Little Sally. To me, the only thing worse than being called Sally was being called LITTLE SALLY!!

No one ever thought to ask me what named I preferred. If they had, I would have told them that Sarah is my name....

Recently, via Facebook, I have become reacquainted with my high school classmates. Of course, they all know me as.....Sally. Some of them have asked me why I changed my name......They had no idea that my name has always been Sarah.

Because of all this nickname mania, I never wanted any of my children to have a nickname. But, over the years, a few have acquired nicknames. Some of them have even given themselves nicknames. Joshua likes to be called Josh; Alison wants to be known as Ali, Michael is Mike; Abigail is Abby.......

Does it really matter if a person is given a nickname???  Well, I think it depends on the person. For myself, I obviously would have preferred to have been known as Sarah. My children, while liking nicknames, are also known by their given names. They interchange names at will.

I think it should be up to the person if they are called a nickname. It's just something for a parent to think about. Are you calling your child by a nickname? Have you asked them what they think about the name?

Not everyone wants to be known by a nickname, especially if it's significantly different from their given name. As you can obviously see, calling me by a nickname, especially one so different from my given name, has been difficult. So, new parents might want to think about forcing a nickname on their child. If the nickname comes naturally, and the child has no objections, then there is probably nothing to worry about.

However, some people just don't want to be called by a nickname. It's courteous to ask them what they think about their nickname. That's also  something to think about.....