On the naming of things, specifically me

[geekchick]

My first name is Catherine. I was named after my maternal grandmother, although she was a Katherine. For my entire life, or at least all of it that I can remember, I've been Cathy. It suits me, I think, and it's comfortable. When I started my current job, we ran into a bit of trouble: one of my coworkers is named Kathy. (This is mostly a problem because there are only five of us, so having 2/5 of the staff named [K|C]athy can get confusing.) There was some minor drama related to the name confusion thing apparently before I was hired, but it seems to have worked out well because she and I are quite good friends now. Amusingly enough, we also happen to share a middle name, and her maiden name started with the same letter as my last name. Since her name is just Kathy, we tried to come up with something else to call me; we settled on Catherine. (This didn't last long, now we're referred to by everyone as "K-Kathy" and "C-Cathy"".) It felt strange, unwieldy almost.

Catherine to me feels like it belongs to someone else, like someone who's much more "proper" than I am, who doesn't dye her hair blue or pierce her nose or laugh out loud at dirty jokes in mixed company. Or else it's someone glamorous, always seen perfectly turned out, every hair in place and perfect makeup. I had a boyfriend in college who preferred to call me Catherine, and come to think of it, I think he really was looking long-term for someone who more fits my imagining of a Catherine. And all this is leaving aside that answering to that version of my name is hard because the only time anyone called me that growing up was when I was in deep, deep trouble and it preceded the rest of my full name. I kept expecting to find out I was in trouble for the few weeks we tried calling me by that name at work. From time to time I am a Catherine, but never for very long before it starts feeling strange.

I've also been a Cate, which also seems like it's not usually me, although not in the same way as Catherine does. That's the name someone dear to me used to address me, and they were the only person to use that variant on anything resembling a consistent basis. I tried to think today why it is that I never even suggested "Cate" as an alternative in the office, and the best I could come up with was that it just felt too intimate for me to want strangers to address me that way. In fact I don't think it would feel quite right coming from anyone else, so please don't start referring to me as Cate unless you happen to be the person who already does. =) There was also the matter of not reflexively answering to it as I would to either Cathy or Catherine, which didn't hurt. Cate feels more to me like an adventurer, someone whose memoirs would be full of danger and romance and wild abandon. Not sure why I have those particular connotations to any of these variants of my name, but there they are.

Mostly, however, I'm just Cathy. That's the name that I use to mean the plain old me, comfortable and familiar. Every once in a while though it's good to pull out the others and try them on, like dressing up for a masquerade ball.

Comments

[crouchback.livejournal.com]

Do you mind being called gc?

[geekchick]

Nope, not at all. I don't usually refer to myself that way other than places where I might not prefer to use my given name (*points to journal title*), but I don't mind being called gc by other people.

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

Or even gcc?

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

For me, for a long time, "Patricia" was my "Uh oh, I'm in trouble name." Now, at least when I use it (as opposed to people erroneously and annoyingly first naming me) it's my "I've been a lawyer and you damn well better not mess with me" name or my "My kids go to your school -- what have they done now?" name. The two occasionally overlap : )

(And "Cate" is lovely. How sweet you have someone who matters who calls you that. )

[geekchick]

I'd always wanted to be a "Cate" rather than a "Cathy" when I was younger, because my name seemed so boring and average for a unique little flower like myself. ;)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

If you were a Cate, you'd be going by the same 1st name as one of my favorite on-screen celebs.

I've always had issues with people assuming my "whole" first name is "Daniel". Bzzzt! My immediate family called me "Danny" as a child, but that died out pretty much around high school. In school and at work I've always been just "Dan".

[nminusone.livejournal.com]

I think the person is more important than the name. Seems to me the name is whatever the person makes of it:

David Bowie
David Duke

Patty Duke
Patty Hearst

Charles Manson
Charles Schultz

Barbara Walters
Barbara Bush

Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Robbins (The "You have the power!" infomercial guy)

Tonya Harding
Tanya Donnelly (Belly)

Jack Ruby
Jack Black

Mary Kay Letourneau
Mary Tyler Moore

Except for the special case of people named Ted, where you're doomed to become a menace to society:

Ted Bundy
Ted Kaczynsky
Ted Turner

[yy2bggggs.livejournal.com]

(This version from Siddharth on orkut in one of the Buddhism communities):

A troubled man came searching for buddha. He found him meditating under the tree.

Man: Help me master..I am totally lost. I dont know who I am.. I dont know what has happened to me. I am happily married I have kids. Life was good but im so lost somewhere. But I dont know...I have searched everywhere. Please help me.

Buddha remained silent.

Man: I need your help I will go insane. Who am i ? Please tell me...what am I?

Buddha remained silent.

Man seeing buddhas reaction started to leave.

Just as he was leaving buddha called out his name.

The man stopped in his tracks, turned back and said 'yes?'

Buddha: There it is.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I have a lot of names (and one of them changes every time I get promoted, which happens less as the ranks get rarified).

When I was in high school there were three people named Terry on the staff of the paper. It took about three weeks for people to learn three, slightly, different ways of pronouncing that name.

Which meant we could, in the hustle and bustle of a newspaper, be called and the caller would get the right one.

But it was a newspaper, and people would come in looking for one of us. They would enter, see the (apparent) chaos, and call out, "Is there a Terry in here?" At which point (they not knowing the correct tonality) would have three heads rotate, look at them and say, "Yes."

At which point they would evidence great confusion and a sense of being overwhelmed.

TK

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. "Antoinette" is someone who's much more proper and formal than I am, by a long stretch. "Antoinette" is who I am when I go to the doctor, or fill out legal forms.

I tried "Annie" and "Anne" for a brief time, but neither of them were me, either. Besides the issue with remembering to answer to it, they just weren't right.

"Toni" is just me.

[stitchinthyme.livejournal.com]

I kind of envy you folks who have names that can be shortened to different variants. My first name, "Tina" (which is not short for anything) can only be shortened to "Tee" or "Teen", both of which I hate, or diminutized to something like "Tiny" or "Teeny", which are even worse. I always wished my name were something like Catherine or Amanda or Elizabeth or Victoria so that I could choose from among the many variants. Though of course I'm used to it and I answer to it and all, I've never really felt like "Tina" fit me very well. And when you add in my middle name (Marie), it just conjures up images of an '80s one-hit wonder.