Just call him, "hey, you."

My DH has the same name as his father, but with a different spelling and middle name. To keep them straight, DH was called my his initials, as in a.b.c. School (where I met him), and now work, and some friends that don't know the family all call him by his given name. I have always called him by what ever name the people we were with knew him by. They all also know that if I call him a.b.c that is who I am talking about. It was explained to them when we first met them. That way, if I forgot, being used to calling him by his inititals, they knew who I was talking to/about. Now, if he hears me call him by first and middle, he knows I need something ASAP, or he's in trouble!

It's hard to get used to, but I've done it for 34 years, so now it's second nature.

Of course, you could really stir things up and start calling him something else entirely!

Tami

Hubbie's name is Richard ... he grew up with his family calling him Dick. When he joined the Army, he changed it to Rick. His family still calls him Dick, and he's 68 years old!

As for my name, I don't care for Patricia ... and feel like I've 'grown out of' being a Patty, which is what the whole world calls me. I think, when I retire and we move, I'll become Trish.

My mom's name was Yvonne, she was called Bonnie, pretty close I guess. My friend married "Mike", we got an invitation to a party at their house with a return address from "Allen", I called her up and asked her who the heck was Allen..oh that's Mike's real name. Oh. My nephew is adopted from Korea. corean name is Min Song, American name is William Min Song. Family calls him Min, friends call him Will.

Vickey-MN

My mom's given name is Carol, but all family call her Susie or even Sue. Co-workers call her Carol. Friends know her as one or the other, depends on how they met her, but most do not even know about the other name. My DH didn't know for years that her real name is not Susie. In fact, our wedding invitation said "daughter of Susie" not Carol. We also have stories of someone calling, asking for Carol, and being told wrong number by someone who didn't know.

Same story with her older brother. Given name Earl, but better known as Butch. The other 4 siblings had names that could be easily shortened, and went by the shortened name. The family legend goes that Carol and Earl felt gipped, they wanted nicknames, too. So their father just gave them nicknames for fun one day, and they stuck... for almost 60 years now!

Why do parents give children names, then never use them? I've never been caled by my first name, always my middle name: Sue. The first day in Russian class in college the professor taking attendance was becoming irritated, calling for a girl who didn't answer. He was just using people's first names. When he added the girl's surname I realized the missing student was...me. (Blush.)

Men who are 'Juniors' don't have an easy time of it either. The man I knew as Uncle Bob was actually a Donald, named for his dad.

Names that may be cute for small children sound affected or silly, for an adult: Mugsy, Pinky, Chipper, etc. They sound like names for pets, not people.

FIL's name is Gary. Middle son is Gary Edward. Family always called him Edward or Ed. In college he decided that Gary is cooler than Edward & started using that. Friends would call & ask for Gary & get my FIL. His wife also calls him Gary. The rest of the family has to remember that she's talking about her husband & not her FIL.

When I was in college I dated a guy named Paul. He was a jr. & decided when he went to college to use Paul instead of Dwayne, which is what he was called at home. When I went to his house for a visit, it was really confusing, because they all called him Dwayne. His dad used the name Paul, so it sounded like I was talking about his dad instead of him.

I can't imagine having my family & the people at work call me different names. I think it would just be confusing all the time.

My sister is Barbara Ann, everyone calls her Bonnie. I have a friend at work Inez Karen U***** but everyone calls her Karen. Their paychecks read "Barbara" and "Inez".

I had a friend and co-worker named Larry Wayne. We called him Larry.
He had a son nmed Larry Wayne. Larry always referred to him as Wayne. Wayne and his wife adopted Anna's younger half sister and our families get together fairly often now. I've found out from being around them that Wayne is also called Larry at home. All the family members seem to know which one they are referring to, but it sometimes takes me a moment to catch up with what they are talking about.

Linda ~ who was often called Lou at work, but called Bug by my friends and called Linda by my family.

I was named Judy and always called Judy until I went to work where in a small office, there were 2 others with the same name. So I became Lynn for the next 23 years. But only from 8-5 Monday through Friday. I didn't realize it, but I never answered to Lynn after work, or Judy at work.
I was weird now that I think about it. My kids also had to be told I had both names in case somebody called asking for either.
I still know a lot of people that address me by one name or the other depending on where they met me and when.
DH just calls me sweetie, and that is my favoite name of all.

Trin

My DGS was called "Jeep" from the day he was born. After he started school his parents were called and told they should have his hearing checked. They finally realized the teacher was calling him by his given name, which didn't register with him at all. He hears fine!

Sue

My oldest son is named Robert,but we all called him Bobby from day one..fast forward to Kindergarten...teacher calls me to ask why he doesn't respond to the name Robert...OOPS!We then decided that maybe Bob would sound better and to mom and dad he will always be Bob.
As he grew older...Lips became a favorite pet name by his siblings....He looked a little like a young Mick Jagger...so he goes out into the work force and aquires the name Mick for same reasons...meets his then girlfriend who has never called him anything but Rob...So YES!
My family is a little quirky but we do love each other!..LOL

My name is Suzanne and I've always gone by some version of that (Suzie, Sue, etc.). A friend of mine was given a non-Saints name, which apparently upset the priests. As a result he was baptized using his middle name, which is a good Italian name. That is the name he always used. After he finished college he changed his first AND last name (shortened the too many vowels last name). But his mother still calls him by the name he was given but never used (well, she used it, no one else did).

I received a shower invitation for a "Mary Smith". I don't know Mary Smith, DH doesn't know Mary Smith. Who is Mary Smith? I ask one of DH's relatives, ends up that is the real name of the woman engaged to DH's cousin (I've met her many times). Apparently her real name is Mary Ellen Smith, but everyone except her mother calls her Ellen. Her mother insisted that Mary and not Ellen (or even Mary Ellen) appear on the invitation. I guess a lot of people were confused.

Our family "copies" names from generation to generation, consequently I have a sister Beatrice, an aunt Beatrice and a Great Aunt Beatrice. So within the family (and neighbourhood) they were always referred to as Big B, Little B and Young B.

My husband's name is Joseph, but his father and family called him Jody, and everyone else does now...except he calls himself
Joe. ?? In my family, almost everyone went by their middle name. I know I did because my first name is the same as my mother's, but everyone else did...except in fairly recent years, my sister went back to using her first name....as did
three of her kids.

When my daughter was little, I called her Nat, altho her name is Erin. Many people thought her name was Natalie. Only when she started school did we start calling her Erin.

Also, everyone in my family has a son named David...except me....but, I have only one girl, no boys. I don't know what
I would have named a boy...except, I have to admit, I did like the name John David.

I hasd a male friend in High School whose real name was Blake but everyone called him "Biff".

I guess DH's name thing isn't so unusual.
Kathy G in MI

Kathy G in MI (and do you have various names?)

Haven't you realized before now that the bunch around here are rather unusual ...

... well, "strange" ...

... or, how about "peculiar" ...

... or, possibly "odd" ... or "different"?

Or ... possibly, more mainstream than we realize?

Enjoy your weekend, by whatever name you may be operating, these days.

ole joyful

Just Kathy, Ed AKA Ole Joyful!
Kathy G in MI

Marilyn_C, my name conundrum reminds me of your husband's in a way.

My birth name is "Debra Jo", my father's name is "Joseph" (no middle name), though he went by "Joey" his entire life. I have been called "Jody/Jodi" my entire life. I have no idea why I would be given one name and called another.

Jodi-

During my genealogy seaches for my family roots, I did find interesting naming conventions. I found that in the 1800s, some pioneer families used the "German" method of naming, e.g., the first son is named after his mother's father and the second son was named after his father's father. There are several more rules that I have not remembered. This explained how some of the given names were derived for my grandfather and his brothers.

Another convention was to name the first born after the father thus creating a 'junior'. When this happens through more than one generation, it makes for confusion because it creates multiple 'juniors and seniors'. A junior in one generation may change to a senior to the next generation.

I also found a number of my ancestors who used their middle name because they preferred it. In one case, I had an uncle who used his middle name while he was at or near his parents. His first name was the same as his grandfather's, so I've supposed this was the reason he chose to use an altenate name. Then, when he left home (his grandfather had expired), he began using his first name. This dual name usage shows in the census records and if one does not discover it, this becomes a broken trail in trying to document his whereabouts.

I went to high school with a boy who used only two letters for his first name, RC. He claimed that was his name and that he had no middle name. This is the official name that appears in the school record and the yearbook. Later, I learned that RC really stood for two names, but that the boy either did not know these names or for some reason insisted the RC was his real name.

My grandmother was born during the Civil War to a single parent and was not named. When her uncle saw her, he called he a little 'Bugdett' and the name stuck. When grandmother became 6 yr old and was to enter school, she picked the name, Frances, for herself and that became the official name she used for the remainder of her life. Therefore, a search of her birth record is fruitless since there is none.

I have a cousin named Sammie, that when she was in school (around ten years old) her teacher started roll and was asking for Melissa with my cousins same last name. They finally figured out that the teacher was talking about my cousin "Sammie". When my cousin went home she learned that her actual name was Melissa Michelle, but her dad liked the name Sammie. That is what she was always called and it never occur ed to anyone to tell her. It was news to the rest of us too.

My name is Vicki...not Victoria and please don't call me that. You can call me Vickers, which is what my brother and my sister call me. Sometimes, it is Vickaroo or Wilma (which is our grandmother's name). My DH calls me Punkin or Gu'Fwend. And when he calls me Vicki, I do a double take.

I always wanted my name to be KC. Just that, KC. I don't know why, I just like it. I always call my older sister Aubby or Ruby (which is our aunt's name) and her name is Audry. She hates her name and I am not crazy about mine. We call our little sister Conkie or Conkie Bean and her name is really Connie Jean.

My boys are Kiel (pronounced Kyle)and Kelly. I have always called Kiel, Kiel or Junior. Kelly has always been Kudee, because Kiel couldn't say his name. Kelly's girlfriend is called TeTee...because her younger siblings couldn't say Kristi.

I won't even get into my DH's family names. WOW...they have some strange ones. LOL

My name is Teresa Ann. I'm supposedly named after my 2 grandmothers, but my 2 grandmothers names are Mary and Anna. My fathers mother (Mary) died when he was a baby. His aunt Teresa came and lived with them to help his dad raise 3 kids-so he wanted to honor her.

My name is Teresa, but when I moved when I was in 3rd grade. My new teacher asked if I had a nickname-did I go by Terri? Well at age 8, that sounded cool, so I said yes. I've gone by Terri ever since, but I actually don't like that name at all! I've tried unsucessfully to go back to Teresa, but since I'm still friends with high school/college people-it gets confusing. People at work and my DD's playgroup know me as Teresa. My DH just rolls his eyes over it! lol

My DH is a Jr, and 2 of his cousins are jr's, so there are lots of duplicate names.

In some Irish families, the first born son is named after the grandfather and the second son is named after the father.

My dad's whole family go by their middle names, he also sometimes goes by his first name or by his initials- I never know how(or who rather) I should introduce him!

My husband's brother is named John William, but when he was a kid, everyone called him J.W. or Jay Dub, for short. :)

His wife calls him Jay and he calls himself, John. :))

I mentioned my sister who went back to using her first name, and so did three of her (grown) kids. But her oldest son, who we always called by his first name...didn't like his name, which was Garland, so he has always gone by his middle name, Wayne, once he grew up and left home.

My mom's name was Maria Florence, but she never used Maria (she thought it was too "common"). Her neice was named after her....Florence, that is. But everyone called my cousin (mom's neice) Candy. Until I was in my teens I thought her real name was Candy. That is, until she was getting married and we received the invitation, which stated Florence *** and Dennis *** request the honor, etc. I looked at my mom and saked, "Who is Florence?". We still laugh about it to this day. And Candy's DH, Dennis, has never been called Dennis, he's always been called Duke.

My Mom name was Marjorie but was called Madge all of her life. My sister is also Marjorie but was never called Madge. LOL

I often wondered how people get the name Peggy from Margaret. I know a few Margaret's that were called Peggy. LOL

My Godfather and Uncle was born Henry but he was called Harry all his life. My Aunt Joan was born Hannah. My cousin Butch was born Graeme. I would never call him Graeme. LOL

Anne

I just remembered a couple other family name oddities.

My uncle's name was Fredrick, but as a child he was called Buster. By the time I entered the scene, Buster had been shortened to Bus. His wife however, has always called him Buz. Don't know why.

My grandmother was a strikingly beautiful Eskimo woman with a lovely birth name of Anna Letrice, but we all called her (affectionately of course), Grandma Fishface. LOL

Jodi-

It seems pretty normal to me...in my husbands family...
My husband as a child chose to go by his middle name when he started school..but his family still calls him by Bill or Billy. His first name is William.
His youngest brother the family calls him by part of his middle name...LOL He's actually in the music industry and has a "stage" name now. But his friends called him Chris. Christopher is his first name.

My mother was named "Dorothy Jean"..... but they always called her Billye. She's 83 now, and still goes by Billye...had it legally changed about 40 years ago when she needed a passport.

I am Susan...hate to be called Sue...I like Suz, just fine.
My kids have stayed pretty much the same...John is John, and James is Jim.

My dogs answer to Bacchus and Nike

I'm Brenda....go by Bree. Brother is James...goes by Jamie.