Are you talking to me?

[kherbert05]

We have students named Kimberly. We have a student named Herbert. I am the Tech go to person - We have kids answering when teachers are trying to get my attention, we have me answering when they are trying to get the kids attention.

The funniest was when a child answered and the teacher needed me. The teacher said No I need Ms. Herbert to do (tech repair) and the kid said oh I can do that and fixed the problem. (I train the kids to fix a lot of the problems.)

[Dogface]

My old dog had the same name as one of my friends. We got our dog long before I ever met my friend (We got the dog when I was six and I met my friend when I was a freshman in high school), but it was always interesting when my friend came over.

"Hey Sally, can you get that for me?" (Cue the dog trotting up to me at the mention of her name.)

"Sally! Down!" (My friend looks at me, confused.)

It got to the point where I had to refer to each as SallyDog and SallyHuman to keep them straight. I still refer to my friend as SallyHuman, even though SallyDog died about a year ago. XP

[CG]

There is a group in which I am referred to as "not THAT CG" or "the other CG". The first CG has been around a long time and has quite a reputation. My real name is slightly unusual, so people who meet me for the first time and don't know the first one tend to raise their eyebrows at me.

[LibraryLady]

My brother's wife shared the same name as I do, say "Mary".  For a long time, both of us would respond when he called Mary, come here.   Finally I quit, as many times he meant wife Mary.

My younger sister would refer to me as Sister Mary when talking with friends about her family.  Finally one of her friends asked her "Sarah is your sister a nun?"  and if you knew my sis, it would be a stretch.

anyway, I thought it was funny

[Lisbeth]

Cute joke!  It took me a moment to get it.

To the OP whose FIL played a name joke on those girls:  That was a mean thing to do.  He got a kick out of embarrassing them for nothing.

[Piratelvr1121]

I used to work at a doctor's office, doing medical records in the front office.   My given name's Annie, and there was a nurse that worked part time as an assistant for one of the doctors.  Her name was Ann but some people called her Annie, too.   So on the days she worked they'd call us Ann and Annie or Annie H. and Annie M.   When paged for a call though, everyone used Ann or Annie so as to not get confused.

That is, everyone but the front office manager.   She insisted on calling me Ann and the other woman Annie, despite both of us asking her to stop doing so because it caused confusion.   She'd say it didn't matter, we should know who she was talking or referring to, though sometimes we didn't.  Ann didn't mind being called Annie, neither of us minded if we were both called Annie, but I do mind being called Ann since it's not my name.  

Anyway, on a day Ann was working, she was her usual cheerful self but was also saying she missed her hubby because he was away on business and wouldn't be home for another day.   Over the intercom, B, the front office manager announced "Annie, back line park 9! Annie back line park 9!"  (The back line was for personal incoming calls)  

The conversation went as follows

Piratelvr:  Hi, this is Annie, may I help you?
Caller: Hey, how would you like your husband to come home tonight?  (Now my husband was scheduled to come home that evening so I was confused and thought it was a prank)
Piratelvr: I'd like that a lot, but I thought he already was? Who is this? pause on the other end
Caller:  It's G (Ann's husband)  Is this Annie H****?  I start to laugh, realizing the mixup
Piratelvr: Oh sorry, no, it's the other Annie in the office! We both start laughing
G: Oh, Annie's told me about you!  How are you?
Piratelvr: I'm fine, thanks!  Hold on, I'll get your Annie for you!

Ann and I both laughed about it, and it was used as an example to B why she should make sure to clarify which one of us she was talking to.   She did, when calling our names over the PA system, but aside from that, she continued to call me Ann long after Ann quit because she and G were moving to the Midwest.  

[chillybee]

Cute story. For some years now I have worked at the same place, my current manager interviewed me for the job. I am good friends with many of my colleagues and we go out together for a meal or a drink occasionally. The thing is, for some reason, my manager and several colleagues keep calling me ("Chillybee") by another colleague's name ("Frances"). Just this last Tuesday, we were in a meeting and my manager looked me straight in the eye and said, "Francis, could you please take the minutes?" I responded by meeting her eye and saying, "Um, sorry, I'm Chillybee, it's only been five years, so I understand that you can't remember my name", which was possibly a little rude. We laughed it off, but to be honest with you, it's really irritating. I've spoken to Frances, who is often called Chillybee by mistake and she feels the same way. We dress differently, don't look or sound at all alike and come from different backgrounds in different countries, but agree that perhaps there are certain things in our personalities which are similar.

What would be a more polite way for Frances and me to get people to stop mixing us up? Or, after five years, do we need to be a bit more obvious or heavy-handed?

[TootsNYC]

My dad is a Michael.* I married a man named Michael.

I never call my dad Mike, of course, so *I* don't have any problem. (though when i was writing out the wedding invitation, I kept automatically writing "Michael Meyer" (my dad's name) when I meant to write "Michael Henderson," bcs when i was in "first name, last name" mode, "Michael" goes with *MY* last name. I just didn't usually think of my fiancé in "first name, last name" terms.


My ILs mostly call their son Michael, so when my dad visits, he's the only Mike.

My mother is the one with the problem. She gave up; when they visit, she calls my husband Henderson.


*all names changed.

[TootsNYC]

We had three Kathy/Cathy's once. Kathleen, Catherine, Katharine. All shortened.

We named one of them Cathy Popcorn (bcs she was the one who'd brought popcorn--and she looked a little like a popped popcorn kernel, actually--a little short and round, w/ a happy face and happy outlook, and having her around made you happy--just like popcorn! After a week or so, we just called her Popcorn)

For another, we shortened her last name and called her Kathy Trout (think "Troutman" being shortened to "Trout"), and eventually just shortened it to Trout.

I think the other Kathy didn't hang around a long time. Maybe bcs she didn't get a cool, affectionate nickname.

[Garden Goblin]

I worked at a store once that employed about 15 men.  Of these 15 men, 9 were named Dave, 3 were named Bob, one was Joe, and the other two were Brian and Ryan.

[Piratelvr1121]

My DH has an ex-gf, the one he was with before we got together, whose given name was Jennifer.  She didn't like the name though, because it's so common a name.  So she went by her confirmation name.  Can't say I blame her really. 

The Cathy story reminded me of one a friend (N, aka my surrogate mama) once told me about.  She used to work in Big Home Improvement Store and both she and another coworker had the same first name.   However they had different personalities, and SM's is one that just made her more likeable amongst other employers and customers.   She's free spirited, cheerful, outgoing, funny, and has a positive attitude most of the time.    The other woman wasn't nasty or rude, she just was a whiner and tended to be negative.   

So most of my Nicole's* coworkers would call her "Nic" or "Nice Nic" when the other Nicole wasn't around or working that day.  Then there were some teens and early 20 year olds that just called SM "Mom". 

*Name changed, of course.

[pwv]

In high school, in several of my classes, there were four students named Patricia.  We were seated alphabetically, which resulted in the 4 Patricias sitting next to each other.  We ended up calling them Pat, Patty, Patricia, and Trish.

[Piratelvr1121]

In college I ran across a few pairs of people who shared names and were best friends.   My first roomate was one of them.  She and her best friend where both named Mia.   

Across the hall (coed floor) there were two guys who had been friends in high school and both named Steve.   We called them Huck (because he brought Huck Finn to our minds) and Howie.   

Then I met two guys who had known each other since high school and were both named Paul.   We called the first one we met Paul and when the other transferred to our school we called him Kramer because he reminded us of the character from Seinfeld.   

[kitty-cat]

Allrighy, I think mine takes the cake. *names will be changed*

My stepdad married and divorced a Samantha.  My mom's name is Samantha. Stepsis goes by Sammie. One of my best friends goes by Sammy.

(ie, stepsis and my friend have the same sounding nickname; they are just spelled diffrently. It works better when their real names are used...)

So, when talking about the exwife it's "Samantha number 1" or "Old Samantha"; my mom is "Samantha number 2" or "New Samantha".

It's really fun when I'm talking about stepsis with my friends; I'm talking about "Sammie" and most others who don't know what I'm talking about think I'm talking about "Sammy", my friend. I've started to call my friend "Samantha" now; it's just easier because I call my mom "Mom".

So, who is confused?

[Piratelvr1121]

I have a good one too when it comes to confusing names only it involves just one person.  *names changed, of course*

So the "Nicole" I mentioned upthread, I call her by a variation of her middle name, which starts with J.   It's also the name of her self-insert in her POTC stories and we both think it fits her better than her first name.   My husband, kids and a few friends of mine know her as J****.  Actually my boys call her "Auntie J****". 

And when I started calling her "J****", she started calling me by my self-insert's name, Jade, or Jadie.   But when we're around most people we call each other by our real first names.