There are always people who, after knowing them for several years, suddenly decide to re-invent themselves. These are the people who decide to go by their middle name or even their initials instead of using their actual first name. Usually, it happens when they introduce themselves to a new group of people outside the circle in which they are already known. This only causes confusion when later these groups meet.
You’re always going to have the people who have used a shortened form of their name or even a nickname suddenly decide that they want to be more mature and now use their full name. So Chuck becomes Charles, Chris becomes Christine, Don becomes Donald, and JP tries to become Jean-Paul.
Sometimes they’ll go the other way and, after using their full name for years, decide they now want the shorter version. In these cases Katherine becomes Kate or even Cat, Michael is now Mike, Elizabeth is now Liz, and Alexandra becomes Alex or Lex or even Andi.
There will even be time when someone will change their name due to a conversion in their religious beliefs. With these, Lou becomes Kareem, Cassius becomes Muhammad, and Christine becomes Kedma.
The level of success with these changes varies depending on how resistant the people in your former circles are and how often the circles intersect. Plus, how pretentious or cloying the name change is has a big factor on it’s eventual success or failure.
The people in fandom seem to have embraced this concept wholeheartedly. Granted, when you only run into people at conventions and they only know you by the name that you have put on your badge, going by an altered name is easier that you might think. Plus they let you put almost anything on your badge.
It’s just that some of them then take this acceptance and try to go by these names out in the real world. Thus you have Althea, Terrakian, and Bodi. I’m all for letting people change their identities but, if you’re going to be serious enough about it to get people to call you by your new name, spend a few bucks and get it legally changed. If I can’t write a cheque to you under your new name that you can cash, I’m not going to be quick to adopt that name.
Just saying is all.
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3 comments:
Greetings! I found this blog while wandering about the Net, and I'm curious if you are referring to several folks I may know, including myself, who often can be seen wandering the halls of Keycon Science-Fiction Convention in Winnipeg? I am Terrakian, and if you believe that my name isn't a legal one, I can show you my ID- I changed it legally over 18 years ago, and have been using the name since 1984. Pretentious? I hope not. But it's my name. :)
I'm probably refering to at least a few people you know. How many Terrakians can there be?
http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/Albus_Draconis
You were, however, one of the few people in fandom who actually legally assumed their assumed name. My hat is off to you for that. :)
David
Heh, figured I must have met ya someplace! Hi! I believe Althea actually changed her name legally, as well, but I'm not 100% certain on that.
Bizarrely enough, I found your blog by typing in "Terrakian", and after a couple of PAGES of Terrakian references- everything from slave-girls to the Heavy Metal movie (which my name has nothing to do with at all), to stuff about space pirates, I found your comments about names. :p
There are several folk calling themselves Terrakian, it seems (see what happens when you try to have a unique name? Ha!), one of them a female married to somebody named Brian. Heh.
And you'd be surprised how many folks ask me if I'm Armenian. Seems there's a name in that culture that sounds very like it. Huh, and I made the name up when I was 13, based on stuff from an SF novel. Go figure.
Cheers!
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