What's in a name?

My Mum’s second name is ‘Kay’. According to Mum, my Dad liked it, so I was always going to be called ‘Kay’, even before I was born and they knew whether I would be a girl or a boy. They made my second name Anne which seemed to go well with Kay. My sister has only the one name – Joanne. We used to laugh about the fact that Mum’s cousins were called Doreen and Maureen. But is Kay Anne and Joanne much better?

Of course, growing up I was always known as Kay. Then, in my early 20s I decided that I wanted to use both names and joined them with a hyphen. There are too many reasons why to go into them here. That’s another story for another day. At the same time, Jo began dropping the anne, although I think in her case it evolved rather than was decided.

To begin with, if you dared to call me the wrong name, your head was abruptly bitten off! Now that I have been Kay-Anne for longer than I was Kay, I have mellowed a wee bit. (Emphasis on the ‘wee’.) I allow you to keep your head and you are politely corrected instead.

It still rankles though. I especially get irritated when I tell people my name is Kay-Anne and they immediately call me Kay! Did they not hear me? If I wanted to be called Kay I would have introduced myself as Kay! Don’t do it. It shows a lack of respect I think. If some-one tells me their name is Susan, I call them Susan. I don’t shorten it to Sue, or call them anything else. I don’t have that right. 

In any case, unless I’m looking at you when you call me the wrong name, it’s not even going to register that you’re talking to me. My name is Kay-Anne. Call me that and I’ll be very happy to talk to you.