names

I used to read about Lady Penelope and believe that her name was pronounced Penny-lope (lope as in antelope).

Anon

i used to think everyone with the same name looks and act the same. my name is sarah...u can imagine how petrified i was when i was until one day this girl came to my school, her name was sarah (ironically), she didn't look anything like me. Then i asked her how she spelled her name...it was without an H....ahah

sarah

When I was really small (maybe 4) I thought all men grew up to be called John! My dad and grandad are Johns and I guess because John Smith is a 'general' name for a man (at least in the UK)... I don't know. It didn't seem to confuse me that my Uncle is called Peter, I just wanted to know when my name would change!

Kitch

When I was younger I used to find it pretty surprising how my Dad could call my Grandad (his Father-in-law) names and get away with it.
I remember later telling Mum in the most concerned voice; "Mum! Dad called Grandad DICK!"
Later I found out this was due to his last name being Whittington and had something to do with the story of Dick Whittington and his cat.

Belinda

I was named Elizabeth, after my aunt. My family has always called me Beth, and she went by Betty. I always thought that when you were named Elizabeth, everyone called you Beth when you were little; and when you were an old lady, they called you Betty. I'm 32 now, and i'm still waiting for people to start calling me Betty.

beth

When I was little, my parents told me if someone had the same name as you they could be related to you, so till I was about 8, I would say to every Hannah I met, 'hey we might be related', until I realised my parents meant surnames...

Hannah

Up until i was 7 i belived i was the only girl in the world named fern then my aunt said she new a little girl called fern.I was so devistated.I then wanted to change my real name to my middle name sachiko meaning joy in english (of couse i wanted the english name) and my middle name to be fern then i found out that i couldnt change my name for along time.I said to my mum the next day "when i grow up im gona change my name to Ala kikurass. You should of seen the FACE she made it was so funny.I got grounded for the next 2 weeks.My mum looking back to it now thinks its funny to hear a 7 yr old say what i said.

Fern AKA:Ala Kikurass (i wish)

My dad's a farmer, and so we have CB's in our tractors. He always used to say "Hey you!" over the radio to someone else, and I actually thought someone's name was HeyYou. It didn't help that he told me someone WAS named HeyYou...but later on he said he was pulling my leg. I was so broken hearted...

Farmer's Daughter

When I was a kid, my parents had a good friend named David who was in his 40s. He was called Big David and I was Little David. I thought that when I grew up there couldn't be two different Davids and I would have to change my name. I liked Jason.

David

I am from the Washington D.C. area and when I was younger, the former Mayor, Marion Barry, was in the news quite a bit. For some reason, I didn't understand that he was just one person -- I thought it was really nice that they let a husband and wife team run the city - Mayors Mary and Barry! What is even more amusing is that my twin sister thought the exact same thing even though we never discussed it!

Leslie

Growing up as a twin can do funny things to your identity. In fact, I used to think my name was Tommyjason because my mom would always call my brother and I (for dinner, etc.), "Tommy! Jason!"

Jason L.

I used to believe and wonder why, my dads unmarried sister Hannah had a different surname to us; we were Wood and she was Tanner; as everyone called her Anne Tanner!

Mark Wood

When my sister Kylie was about 10 some kid in the neighborhood came up to her and was talking about this girl that lived on the end of our street who killed little kids whose names started with the letter K. Poor Kylie got so scared that one day when we went to play at a friends house down the street she wouldn't pass the house that had been pointed out to her. She even started crying.Then to make things even worse the girl came outside and Kylie ran home screaming.

No lie

When I was younger, I had a chinese name and a christian name (which was really more of a nickname). When my brother was born, he didn't have a christian name and I asked my mum why. She told me it was because my grandparents had died, and because of that, all the kids in the family who were born after the grands death couldn't have christian names too. I believed her until I was 20. can't believe I was that stupid.

pj