STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Kitty · Hermes

RE: Do you like your name?

Jahni · Dooney & Bourke

Maddie wrote:

Jahni wrote: I've always loved my name. It's pronounced "Johnny," like the boys name, but I think the spelling definitely makes it more feminine. I'm named after my dad so that makes it even more special. When I was younger people would try to tease me, but it never bothered me. It does get mispronounced A LOT, and people are always asking what the origin is, to which I have to reply..."nothing really, my mom just made it up" but that's all ok! That's funny, I always assumed you were Iranian or something because I have two Iranian friends named Jaleh and Jehan and Jahni sounded similar.

Hahaha...that's funny, mainly because I'm as far from Iranian-looking as possible...very fair and blonde...Everyone assumes that it's German or that I'm German...but Nope...just plain ol' American...whatever that is....

Jahni · Dooney & Bourke

Mara wrote:

Jahni wrote: I've always loved my name. It's pronounced "Johnny," like the boys name, but I think the spelling definitely makes it more feminine. I'm named after my dad so that makes it even more special. When I was younger people would try to tease me, but it never bothered me. It does get mispronounced A LOT, and people are always asking what the origin is, to which I have to reply..."nothing really, my mom just made it up" but that's all ok! i love it jahni! so creative and really pretty.

Thanks! my mom is a really creative person...

Metric · Gucci

I hated it growing up and I'm not really fond of it now, I'm just used to it. Its not a difficult or unusal name- Natalie- but no one can spell it or pronounce it correctly. It has 3 syllables Nat-a-lee, but most people say it Nat-ly, which I can't stand.

I don't mind begin called Nat or Natty, but only close friends call me by either of those nicknames. Fortunatly, there really isn't any way to make fun of Natalie so as a kid I never got teased about my name. In HS though my best friend had a really long but not uncommon name also so we bonded over that.

I have always thought that if DH and I split up, I'd totally re-invent myself and give myself a totally new name. My parents were hippies so I just feel fortunate that I didn't end up being called Moonbeam or Starlight or something.

erin · Chanel

i like erin. i can't really imagine being anything else.

boobaby · Kate Spade

My name was the #1 girls name for like 14 years (before and after my birth). There was always, always, always another Jennifer in my class or grade. In fact, one class I had in high school had 5 Jennifers. My teacher seated us in a row and said we all had to go by his assigned names: Jen, Jenny, Jennifer, JenJen, Jennie. I dropped the class before second semester started. He seemed really sad to see me go, I think because I was messing up his "Jennifer" row.

My college dormmate was also a Jennifer. It caused some confusion with phone calls, etc.

I let people call me whatever they want. Most people know several and I notice that even though I usually introduce myself as Jennifer, many instantly shorten it. Or they ask my preference and I don't really mind.

One time, in college, I called a female friend who had a male roommate who I was also casual friends with. He answered the phone. I said "Hey John, It's Jen. Is Becky there?" And he started talking all sexy to me (which was a definite departure from his normal behavior with me). So I was like "Okay, John, put Becky on the phone." He sounded all disappointed and annoyed and said "Oh, its Jenny, not Jen. You need to be more specific." I seriously felt like a troll or a kid sister or something!

esquiress · Marc Jacobs

i do but i agree w/ ttara, my name and myself are so connected i don't really know how to differentiate the two. my full name is Shaiza Maureen Shamim, pronounced Shay-zuh Maw-reen Shuh-meem. It has a kind of singsong quality that i have to admit i enjoy

as for nicknames: a lot of my friends call me Shaiz, pronounced Shayz. sillier nicknames that have nothing to do w/ my actual name are corn nut and cheese macqueen because of my penchant for saying the cheesiest and corniest things but i'm certainly glad my real name isn't either of those two!

oh and my name doesn't mean anything that i know of--my aunt suggested my first name and thought it meant "queen" in Farsi but when my Persian friends heard that they were like, sweetie we love your name but it doesn't mean anything in our language! lol, gotta love the crazy aunt in the family. Oh but I think my middle name means "little mary" in Irish--not sure about that though.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

Jahni wrote:

Maddie wrote:
Jahni wrote: I've always loved my name. It's pronounced "Johnny," like the boys name, but I think the spelling definitely makes it more feminine. I'm named after my dad so that makes it even more special. When I was younger people would try to tease me, but it never bothered me. It does get mispronounced A LOT, and people are always asking what the origin is, to which I have to reply..."nothing really, my mom just made it up" but that's all ok! That's funny, I always assumed you were Iranian or something because I have two Iranian friends named Jaleh and Jehan and Jahni sounded similar.

Hahaha...that's funny, mainly because I'm as far from Iranian-looking as possible...very fair and blonde...Everyone assumes that it's German or that I'm German...but Nope...just plain ol' American...whatever that is....

wow. I totally pictures you as being Iranian/Palestinian/Indian too. Def. not German looking. But I love the name Jahni- it's really pretty and so unique!

luckyclover · Dooney & Bourke

I never really had a nickname. My name is short so there is no way to shorten it into a nickname. Even now we have a group of friends we hang out with and almost all of them have at least one nickname. DH has more nicknames than anyone I know. It kinda makes me feel boring lol.

My aunt told me once that she had always hated her name. She said she could change it if she wanted but she never would. She said it was the only thing her parents gave her that no one could ever take from her.

Shello · Kenneth Cole

I've always found my name - Michelle - pretty boring. I don't mind it, but I do kind of mind how I got it. My parents had the brilliant idea to let my 4 year old sister name me - right after she watched Peter Pan. She wanted to be Wendy, and wanted a brother named Michael. Since I was a girl, I got the name Michelle. Really creative on my parents' part. But, on the bright side, I'm really lucky I didn't end up as Tinkerbell or whatever the dog's name was (Nana?).

Also, all the Michelle's I've ever met in my life have been pretty cool, so I can't really complain about being in that group.

lovelygirl · Kenneth Cole

I've always really loved my first name (Maya). It's funny bc when I was younger, I didn't know anyone with that name. But it's really become more popular in the last few years and I feel like every other person I meet tells me that his or her little daughter's name is Maya!

laken1 · Hermes

I do because I think the pronounciation is rather original. It's "tasha" - sounds like cash but with a "t" - I have just had to put up with people calling me TOsha for my whole life. My last name is also very hard to pronounce if you see it written. I remember when I was 18ish telling my dad how difficult it was to tell a guy in a loud bar what my name was. He said that was ok with him since I shouldn't be telling guys in bars my name anyhow! But even now over the phone people mistake my name for "patsy" or "passion" a lot of times - yeah, dude, like my mom would name me Passion!!!

My last name is Slovic & my first name is a russian derivative so I think it sounds kind of exotic - I get a lot of people assuming I'm russian although I'm german / french (coonass)!

The only thing that I hated as a kid was that my name was never available on the pre-printed rulers, pencils, etc. My mom spent lots of money having my backpacks & pencil cases monogramed because I fussed about it a lot!

ETA: a head nod - add me to the list of people that though Jahni was of Indian decent!

-- Edited by laken1 at 09:53, 2006-06-08

JoceyBaby23 · Gucci

I've always liked my name. It is unique and to this day I have only ever met 3 other Jocelyns in my lifetime.

It gets shortened to: J, Joc, Jocey, J-Lo, J-dog most frequently.

People are constantly mispronoucing it too. I get Josh-a-lyn, Joz-lynn, Jack-a-lynn, and Joyce-a-lynn. They all drive me insane. I actually get very insulted when people mispronounce my name. It's not hard. You say it exactly how it is spelled. I often think to myself - "why can't this person invest 5 seconds of their lives to actually read my name and practice saying it correctly. Am I not worth 5 seconds?"

zeitgeist4 · Gucci

Like others have said, it's hard to detach myself from my name. What would I think of the name Anneliese if it wasn't mine? I have known one other girl with the same spelling as my name. And it was Anne Frank's full first name.

All I know is that it's a pain in the ass. Everyone tells me it's pretty, but they don't have to spell it out for people all the time. Half of the people think I'm saying "Emily" and the other half think I'm saying my first and last name (Ann Eliese).

I don't like to go by Ann either, because it's kinda boring.

Elle · Hermes

Zeitgeist - do you use the American pronounciation or the German?

Just curious . Anneliese was my name in German class, so it was pronounced Ahn-uh-leez-ah instead of Ann-uh-leese or Ann-uh-leese-uh.....

-- Edited by Elle at 12:00, 2006-06-08

atlgirl · Gucci

Well...it's allright - Jill. I sometimes wish it was more exotic. I don't really get nicknames from it, so it's pretty straightforward. And I've only met a few other Jills in my lifetime.

The only thing I get is that many people call me "Julie". No offense to any Julies anywhere, but I HATE being called Julie. It's like people are too friggin' lazy and to me by my correct first name. I refuse to answer to Julie!

NCshopper · Hermes

I like my name (Lindsey). It's pretty and most people know how to pronounce it, so I've never had a problem with it.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

I like my name. There are just too many idiots who misspell it even though it's written right in front of them. Um, hello, I didn't misspell my own name! And there are people who spell it the same way I do.

zeitgeist4 · Gucci

Elle wrote:

Zeitgeist - do you use the American pronounciation or the German?
Just curious . Anneliese was my name in German class, so it was pronounced Ahn-uh-leez-ah instead of Ann-uh-leese or Ann-uh-leese-uh.....-- Edited by Elle at 12:00, 2006-06-08

I use the American Ann-uh-leese. We had to pick German names in my HS class too, so I just kept mine and changed the pronounciation.

rlutz · Chanel

My name is Randi...i never mined it much growingup...but then when I went to live in London I totally got harrassed about my name...I had people cale me Lisa...my middle name...everyone at work would come up to me and say "are you Randi"...(the adjective)