To what extent does your name have an effect on your personality and life?

Can you please describe in what way the names of your examples relate to their character?
I mean, I can see it with Chris Pratt’s character in Jurassic World, “Owen Thunderguns”.

Nah, it has no influence on your life.

I sure hope it doesn’t. Then again, creative parents have it in their power to make things problematic for their children. To this day, such questions as this one set me wondering as to what became of my brother’s classmate Easterbunny Maxwell.

@stanleybmanly LMAO. That’s awesome.

Maybe. But I wonder what the kid thought about it.

Friend in grammar school girl – - Merry Christmas

Dentist in Chatham Connecticut – - Dr. B. Hurt

Merry was very merry.
Dentist didn’t seem to mind, he did use general anesthesia along with Novocaine.

Our local surgeon was named (translated) Dr. “Butcher”.
There was an insurance agency run by a guy named (translated) “Scream”.
And a funeral company run by a guy named (translated) “Cancer”

Ughhhhh, I’m pretty sure there was a chapter of Freakonomics about this, but I’m too lazy to dig it up right now.

My name is a trendy baby name of the 80s. There are a SHITLOAD of other women my age with this name. One of my childhood friends actually had the same name and was born three days before me. This name appears often on daytime TV and court TV and it’s a common stripper name. According to the article, in about 30 years it will be a Your Mom’s Friend name.

The same thing is happening today with the names Olivia and Sophia. I swear like every three-year-old is one of those. Or Hayden and all the names that rhyme with it for like 10–15 year-olds. Don’t do it, parents!

I don’t think my name has changed my outcome much, because self determination and all. But it definitely marks me as a member of a certain generation and economic class.

Judging people by their names is like judging them by their look.

My first name is great, and identified me through my childhood.

My surname is banal, and is the cause of all my worries.~

My parents gave me a boy’s name in the 1970s when that wasn’t really done. They also dressed me in the gender neutral Garanimals outfits. For the first half of my first year in preschool, the teachers thought I was a boy. I was punished when I tried to ‘sneak’ into the girls’ bathroom and shamed because I was the last boy in class who still had to pee sitting down.

Because I kept asking my parents odd questions like “When are you going to teach me to pee standing up?” And freaking out when my momtried to take me into the ladies room in public, my parents gradually figured out something was amiss. My mom made me wear a dress to school one day and suddenly, after finally getting used to being a boy at school, I was getting in trouble for trying to sneak into the boys bathroom all the time.

I completely gave up being human at school and spent the rest of that year pretending to be a dog, crawling around on all fours, barking and growling at all the other kids. I hid under tables and threatened to bite the teachers whenever it was potty time. So.. In the end I “flunked” preschool and had to go back a second time.

I’m a pretty neurotic person as an adult and I wouldn’t be too surprised if my preschool gender bending just broke me for life. Every now and then, I still feel some anxiety when I use a public toilet. No matter what I do, I’m never totally convinced I’m using the right stall.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had screwy things happen because of my name. I was nominated, won, but was disqualified for prom king my junior year due to some clueless school secretaries was the one that stood out.

I spent 5 years of my life as a professional drag prince (kinda like a drag king, except instead of impersonating men, I impersonated boys from sitcoms and horror movies—long story of how I got the job saved for another time). I always thought it was just a weird set of coincidences that led me to the job, but maybe my time as a boy in preschool created my destiny. Who knows?

Wow. I feel like we should all do an old “Hippie” thing and stand around you in a circle, giving you hugs and reassurance.

Flipping amazing story, @keobooks. I can’t believe it took this long to surface.
You’re very literate…have you started an autobiography yet?

I thought I talked about it before, but when I think about it, it was 43things.com (Oh how I miss that site!!). I have always had a love/hate thing with my first name. I’ll be the first to admit that I love to ham things up when I’m telling a story about my life for a good laugh, but yeah, I DO feel I’d be a different person with a girls first name. A Boy Named Sue has always been a song I could relate to.

Also after getting married to someone with a Polish last name, I really feel like I took my old Scotch/Irish name for granted. It’s nice having a name that people aren’t afraid to attempt to pronounce. I did get made fun of a little bit for having two common nouns joined up together as one, but at least people didn’t inwardly or outwardly cringe whenever they were called upon to say my full name. That’s gotta do something to you growing up.

No.
I was serious, @keobooks.
Have you considered starting an autobiography?

You obviously like to write. You have a way with words. Your spelling and typing are flawless. ” I’ll be the first to admit that I love to ham things up when I’m telling a story about my life for a good laugh.”
I really want to be an editor. (Seriously) When do think you can have a chapter/year? We’ll save your unedited text and when I prod you into finishing the book, submit to real editors.

I’ll PM this in case it’s too much of a digression for General and that can’t be resolved.

When I was a kid, I was embarrassed with my first name and last name. They are unusual and the other kids laughed and made fun of my names. I wished that I had a simple common name. So did my mane effect my personality? Yest I think that it did. I was very self conscious and shy. But c’est la vie! Life is tough so get tough or die young. I’m old so I must be one tough SOB! HA!