I used the second half of my name because I find I like a little anonymity. (Some may know Lissa is short for Melissa.) It's too late for me to change it to something else since I've used it for so long. So laziness had kept me using the name but overtime I am kind of glad because I might have ended up with a truly silly nickname. But often, it gets misspelled with one less S so that's the downside to this name.
There was a classmate in college I knew who kept telling people to use her English name because she thought no one could pronounce her foreign name even though it was written in English. I thought that's a bit condescending for her to assume no one can pronounce her name. But I think she was not completely wrong in doing this. She was just protecting her name from being butchered. So I think maybe some of us want to protect our name by not using it or maybe it's just easier to use a simpler name so then you don't have tell people how to pronounce it.
For me, nicknames and shortened names sound more friendly. I'm not saying you can't use your full name since most people do but it's a blog, no need to be so formal, right? On a blog, you can, maybe, use the name you want and no one has to know whether it's your real name or not.
Do you use a nickname or your real name on your blog? Or does it matter what name you use?
My real first name only
ReplyDeleteChristine: Christine is a good name.
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I use my real name. The only time I used a nickname online was in the far off olden days of aol homeschooling boards. I used raisennsun, which was referencing a poem by Langston Hughes but which everyone thought was about the California Raisens.
ReplyDeleteKristin: Raisennsun? It sounds okay but I wouldn't know it came from a Hughes poem.
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I've used nicknames online, especially at the beginning when the chatrooms came up and everyone used nicknames. My name was Marigold there. Afterwards, I have often used my Esperanto "nickname" which is just my initials pronounced in Esperanto: Momo. It's not my "official" nickname but a lot of people know me under that name.
ReplyDeleteAs to the wrong pronunciation. Sometimes you think you pronounce a word correctly but it is completely different in another language and then it sounds weird to you. I know a Finnish girl who uses her second name because she says, every foreigner pronounces it incorrectly. And I met a lady called Aída, she wrote her name down because she signed up for our book club and I said, oh Aída (pronounced: A-EE-DA), what a pretty name. And she said I was the first person to pronounce it correctly. I was baffled because I only know it with that pronunciation, famous opera, everyone pronounces it that way in Europe. But she had just come over from the States where, apparently, they always pronounce it Ayda. So, I can understand that after a while you are sick of having to correct people.
Marianne: I like the name Momo. I had seen and read a lot of character with that name and I had always liked it.
DeleteI know I would have said Ayda too because that's how it looked, I'm terrible at pronouncing with words with accents above letters. This is why nicknames are useful so people don't have to butcher each other's names.
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Thanks, Lissa. Yes, it's tough to know how to pronounce a name that is unfamiliar to you. Or spell them if some parent has the idea to give their kids an extraordinary name (I'm not a fan of that).
DeleteI knew this name because of the opera.
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"Lissa" has a nice ring to it, and it's more original...most people with your same name would go by "Mel".
ReplyDeleteI've always used my real name on the net - I thought, no harm in doing it, since I don't make my surname or exact location public. In real life, family and friends would often call me Roby...I know it sounds a bit odd to English-speaking people, because you would shorten my name (or its male counterpart) to Robby/Robbie, with two "b"s.
(I was thinking - of course "Mel" might be short for "Melanie" too...).
DeleteRoberta: Yes, I could have gone by Mel but I didn't like that.
DeleteRoby sounds good. I think nicknames don't have to follow the regular rules, it makes it more original.
I do know Mel is also short of Melanie, I don't like that name though.
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I've always used my real name, even back when I was writing articles for Yahoo Contributor Network. If you Google my name, I'm there. lol My middle name is Melissa.
ReplyDeleteMary Kirkland: I would also use my real name but I didn't really like my name so. Hello to another Melissa, though it's your middle name.
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