I  have struggled with this before. I have thought of changing my name at times in my life but I never find a name that can describe me but my own at this time.  I wonder what would happen if I had to change my name...

If  you were to change your name what would it be?  If you had to assume a different name what would  you choose?

This is funny to me because I've always hated my name. I changed it very often as a child. Now, I'm settled being Jo or Josi. But I still am irked when anyone calls me by my full name.

Change my name? Not a chance. I am disoriented enough as it is. :)

I didn't know Josi was you real name, Josi!  Could you choose a name for  yourself?

I love my name! :D

I did change my name. Well sort of, I shortened it and now use my mothers last name. Its being this way since I was 12. I have legal papers to prove my last name has changed. And my shorten first name, is on all of my legal docs.

I like my name. Now, my mother not so much apart from the last name.

And yes, I do have 11th house energy. Lots of it!

Slyvester Lavoris................I could dig it!!!!

go sunny! Many times people change their lives when they change their name.

Yes, this is true. I said to my mother, "I'm starting a new life, so a new name is in order". She was shocked. She never considered me to be this way. She should of seen this as a precursor to many more things to come. What 11/12 year old does that!

LOL

pretty wild, Sunny! It must have been destiny!

It was.

Annalisa, my full name is Jolinda. Josi is a nickname given to me by family. I hate Jolinda..the name..LOL. I don't hate me. To me it sounds like Jo-bob, Billy Bob, Bobby Sue or anyother hick name you could come up with.

Anyway, I would choose Rose. :) That is the name I would always go back to as a kid. I don't know why, I don't really like roses. Just always liked the name.

Ooohhhh la la... I like that name Josi! And also too funny! billy bob!

When you have a name like mine, people were confused!

I always new when my name came up during school role!

I LOVE Rose too, Josi! I wanted that name for some time! I can understand why you like Josi.  Jolinda is one I've never heard!

I would use my middle name if I changed what name I was called by. The thing is I don't "look" like my middle name, it has an entirely different energy. It was the name of a sister of each parent.

also interesting, Tam!  I  have a middle name that is the name of a sister my parents lost before  I  was born. I always felt I was carrying the karma for two  people.  They gave me the middle name in memory...

that's interesting Annalisa, my mother's sister died when she was 3 from a seizure. My dad's sister is still alive.

That must have been so very hard to take Tam!

It was very hard on my grandmother who was very sensitive. My mom remembers her sister dying.

It's odd to have been named after someone who died but I think I've carried the name well.

And my middle name...well I am 4th baby, 4th girl. My mother wanted to name each of her daughters a certain name but my father would not allow it.  Finally, with the 4th daughter, he allowed her to give me a derivative of that name as a middle name. I feel no connection to it at all because it meant nothing to either parent.

I think this is strange. My mother was bitter about it and I can't say I blame her.

I named my daughter after both my sisters since I had the only girl baby. My son was named by his father, per tradition, though his middle name is, Benjamin, after my friend, Ben. :)

I would not change my name.  I am who I am and the idea of calling myself anything else is just....foreign to me!

My middle name is my grandmother's first name.  Apt for one with Pluto on the Asc, I guess!

I think I would make a better Julia.

I can't even imagine being anything other than a Michele. I'd probably open the dictionary and point my finger, if I had to pick something.

OK. I just tried that and my finger landed on passport. How bizarre is that, considering my current situation.

My middle name is also my paternal grandmother's name. It's a bit awkward, as a name, but she was an awesome woman so it's pretty cool. I was born either on her birthday or the day before, or the day after..... Anyway, she was also a Cancer/Leo cusp. As is my daughter.

Blah blah blah. I should get moving.

*cue.twilight.music*

Yesterday, I was sitting next to my best friend and we were both working on our computers.  I was suddenly 'hit' with a thought completely unrelated to what I was reading and it was jolting.  I looked at her and said, "I wish my name was Grace."  I still have no idea where that came from.

I'm named after my great-great grandmother.  She had already passed when I was born, so of course I've never met her.  She was always referred to as 'Grandma Carrie', never just Carrie (that was me).

After my first grandchild was born, my mother told me that now "I" was Grandma Carrie.  I felt as if I had finally grown into my name.  It's what my grandson calls me, never just grandma but Grandma Carrie. ;-)  I think I'll keep it.

I don't think I'd re-name myself, but when I was a kid (probably 7th grade) I was ADAMANT I wanted to do this and INSISTED everyone call me Erika. Why? No idea.

Chalk it up to being a Pisces, I guess.

My mom called the school and informed them this was to be done, so they did it. Eventually I forgot and moved on; no harm, no foul.

I don't even find that name to be pretty, now, no offense to any Erika's out there.

Just another reason why I remind myself of Anne of Green Gables, who wanted to be known as "Cordelia" instead of Anne. :P

Well, I guess I like my name well enough but I don't have a middle name.  I had a client named Sunshine once and fell in love with it, I still need to get my name changed from having gotten married and may add it as my middle name... I think it suits me :D

Elsa, I am the 4th baby of 4th daughters too--my dad wanted one more to try for a boy but my mother refused:)

I got the feminized version of the name passed down to the first born son on my father's side. If I could change my name I'd take the male version--Christopher.

I am who I am

I do have some ideas for pen names or aliases

Louis Jay Levesque - is one such potential alias

But I am Bruce named for my father

Middle name Alfred for my grandfather

My last name is the family line and don't want to be the one to break it.

I have been told either my Iroquois or Chippewa name is River Wolf

Jenfullmoon  OMG - I was just getting ready to type that - I love the name Julia.

Too cool.

I also thought of running my first and middle names together.  :)

If I were to choose my own name, it would be Aislinn (pron. ESH-lin) Rose. Aislinn is a Gaelic name used in my family for generations, and Rose would be short for Riosinn, my maternal grandmother's name. My name would match my looks and my heritage. I'm named Deborah instead, which is Hebrew. Feh. I've never liked it. : (

Oh gosh, LS, Deborah is such a kickass, powerful, noble name. The OT stories of Deborah are some of my favorite.  :)

As for me, I confess to being a merry flibbertegibbet for names. It's not so much that I *change* my name. More like I adopt and shift and include new names as often and whenever I am moved to do so.

Some are variations on the three birth names I was given at birth/christened with, but others I simply picked up for various reasons including, once in awhile, that I loved the sound or 'feel' of a name and wished to experience it for a time.

Against all reason, I can state that this habit hasn't caused much confusion or strife. Even from an early age, my parents and those around me were pretty agreeable and adaptable to this quirk (<--as I'm writing this out, it's occured to me that it *is* a little quirky I suppose). I love all my names...It's been sometime since I've taken a new one but who knows what the future holds, eh?

@CP -- Thanks girl, you rock !

My mother insists I picked my names.   She and Pop had a name picked out for me that was a combination of both their names, and the middle name I have no idea where it came from.  Truly.  But then one day she said the name Shannon Rene popped into her head, and it felt right.

So Shannon Rene I was dubbed, and I think it suits me - masculine misspelling and all.  I have the ultimate gender-ambiguous name.  Also?  I've been Shannon for 40 years - I can't imagine changing it!

But my friends still call me Crafty - a shortened version of the nickname my mother accidentally gave me when I was about 18 or 20.  My SadgeSis gets away with Shan, but she's the only one.  (I really hate it, truthfully, but she can do it and I don't twitch.)

My primary name got shortened to the "boy spelling", too, Shannon. Not that I had any idea until first grade when a little boy with the same name indignantly pointed it out...I remember I did some quick thinking and then asked, "When's your birthday?" He was younger than me by a few months, so, in my nascent, infinite wisdom, I declared that, having had the name before him, I had precedence and therefore it was HE who had the "girl spelling"...He was unmoved, but I was comfortable in the certainty of my logic. Stalemate. :)

On a funny, related sidenote:

TAB just pointed out that I am *notorious* for renaming people--often without their knowledge (and sometimes mine!) and having it stick. On reflection, he's got a point...

The most startling example of which would be the tenant that--for love or money I constantly referred to as "Megan" rather than her given name of Natalie. It was embarrassing! And then, about a year later, she announced that she was legally changing her name to Megan. I was certain she was pulling my leg and having a jest at my rudeness in constantly botching her name. Nope. She said, "I just got to where I liked it so much better. I really am more of a Megan, I think..."

He also notes that, with rare exception, one of my first questions on meeting someone is, "how do you like to be called/addressed?".

LOL CP I love your childlike logic!

ohsh*t..."MAUREEN"...not "MEGAN"  HAHAHAHA...

CP<--incorrigible...

My parents did great job! Even I've been going by my middle name all my life, that was the one they heard several years before I was born and decided to call their daughter, if they ever had one. Turns out, it suits me just perfectly. When people learn about my first name, they are, without fail, telling me how the name I go by is just me, and how they have hard time seeing me baring that other name.

Oh, Hubby and I have already picked the name for a son, if we'll have one. It's a Roman name I thought of as a middle name for a son. Then, after going out for a couple of months, we were discussing Hubby's nephews. I asked him what he'd call a son. He said that he had thought of a Roman name ending with letter s, and the first he mentioned was the very same I had thought of!  It also sounds cool combined to our surname... Kind of Bond villanesque, actually. We have visions of the Little Ceasar taking over the playground.

Daughter, well, we know we don't want anything too cutesy. That's a problem for some of my Hubby's female colleagues. They are supposed to be highly achieving professionals, and are stuck with names that could be Poppy or Apple in English.

I have a strange name. It really is Omie. Everyone has to tell me that is what they call their grandma. Anyway.

I feel pretty ambivilent about my name.. It's not femine or masculine. There is no reason why I am named it other than it happened. My middle name is Kate, after my father's evil mother. I like my numerology alright. I have never met anyone with my name, so I don't really have a grip on what is supposed to be like. It was hell as a child, in terms of teasing.. but so many things were.

I'm not really sure what else would suit me....

I LOVE names however! I had so much fun naming my kids.