What's In A Name?

When I was a little kid, my family called me "Barby". With a "y", not an "ie" like the doll. The Christmas stocking my mother made for me when I was a small child still has that name on it. When I got to an age to make my opinion known, I killed the nickname. I didn't want to be associated with the Barbie doll. In fact, I refused to have one of those dolls. I wasn't really a doll person to start with. But being associated with that particular doll just didn't work for me.

I went from "Barby" to "Barb". Throughout junior high school and senior high school, I went by that name. It worked for my teenage self.

When I went to college, I became "Barbara". Since then, I have always introduced myself to new people as "Barbara". But there are still people who call me "Barb" - my family and people who know me from junior high school. Or people who met me through people who knew me from junior high school. But it's rare.

So when people call me "Barb" when they didn't know me way back when or are not my friend, it irks me. Somehow it's assuming an intimacy that isn't appropriate.

Maybe that's going too far? Maybe I shouldn't be so sensitive?

Except that I know other people who go by their full name and would be really ticked off if someone shortened it without permission. So perhaps I'm not the only one.