Lets not forget Moon Unit Zappa!
My first name is Wilton and I simply answer to Milt, Walt, Willy or a host of others. My former father in law called me Wilfred.

Sent by Wilt | 11:57 AM ET | 06-13-2007

My given name is Kristine (not CH) my family called my Kristie along with all school chums. My baby sister couldn't pronounce Kristie and called me "TT" hence my father shortening that to "T", which he uses occasionally bringing raised eyebrows from my husband and teenage kids.

However the kicker was my sir name of JOYCE. No one ever believed it nor could they figure out which name was first or last. It was convient dealing with telemarketers when they would ask for Joyce.....

I find it amusing there is a Christopher Joyce at NPR...... Bet he has stories....

Sent by Kristine | 12:20 PM ET | 06-13-2007

When I have a child, I will not, repeat NOT, name them ANY name that has appeared on the top ten list for the previous ten years.

I grew up a Jessica, always in a classroom with several Jessica. "Oh I spoke to Jessica" someone would say, and the other person would furrow their brow, "Which Jessica?" Or people would confuse me with other Jessica's and think my last name was something different and then attribute a piece of gossip about a DIFFERENT Jessica to me. It was not fun. Still isn't. The Jennifers have it worst, tho...I know at least 7, and they are all friends.

Sent by Jessica | 12:22 PM ET | 06-13-2007

A friend of ours recently had a little boy and named him Emmett Quigley. I'm still wondering if he'll go by EQ when he's older.

We had a tough time naming our daughter. I'm Jewish and my wife's Irish Catholic. In my family, you name kids after loved ones who have passed away, while for her family, naming kids after living relatives would be more acceptable. So we went with a travel theme instead, calling her Kayleigh India. Kayleigh, because we both lived in Scotland for a while, and it's the name of a traditional dance (though in Gaelic it's spelled ceilidh). And India because, well, we love traveling there. At one point we were thinking of naming her Cayenne but we chickened out.

btw, my wife and I do a video blog about parenting and our next video is going to be about picking out names for a baby. I'll let you know when the video is posted.

Sent by andy carvin | 12:30 PM ET | 06-13-2007

My name is Quinn Brady. Obviously the first thought in everyone's mind is the Brady Bunch. That was just the beginning. Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Quinn Buckner the famous basketball coach. And finally the best...Brady Quinn former quarterback of Notre Dame, now NFL quarterback of my hometown team the Cleveland Browns. "You have heard of Brady Quinn the quarterback right?" I think I might puke everytime I have to smile and nod to this question. Don't get me wrong I love my name, just a little more though when I was just mine.

Sent by Quinn Brady | 3:50 PM ET | 06-13-2007

Like nails on a chalk board the butchering of my name always sent a shudder down my neck. Jorge. Yes Jorge. No...No not "whorehey" not "Jore-gay" it more "hode heh". Good, now say it fast. Yeesh,its not that hard . You can just imagine the my fun when I was young.
I completely understand the difficulty sometimes and so to avoid the awkwardness I sigh and say "its George". Then again "George" to me sounds like a short, balding, portly bespectacled tax man.
I love my family name and my culture but as I leave San Antonio for a job in the northeast I might just have to leave Jorge here in South Texas.

Sent by Jorge | 4:03 PM ET | 06-13-2007

Imagine being born in Austria with blonde hair and blue eyes and growing up in America with a Japanese first name and Austrian last name. The most unfortunate detail of being born Toshiko Alana L??schnig is that my name has no fascinating origin-just a 17 year-old mother who found it interesting. This, however, has never been sufficient to those who, upon first meeting, ask the inevitable question. In my reluctance to disappoint, my fictitious POW story, which has taken a lifetime to perfect, always pleases. There's nothing like beginning a relationship on lies

Sent by Toshiko Alana Dignam (L??schnig) | 4:05 PM ET | 06-13-2007

Yes, my given name is Chantilly Lovelace. In 7th grade, the teacher broke into the song I was named for, recorded by the Big Bopper, when reading roll call the first day--VERY embarrassing for me, hilarious for my classmates who had been teasing me with that song since kindegarten. I now use my full name in introductions because once people catch on to the Big Bopper song, they never forget my name. For most other purposes, I prefer Chan. I have one friend who will use ONLY my full name because he has a male friend with my short name.

My younger sister got a much less notorious name, Angela. So much for being the oldest, huh?

Sent by Chantilly Lovelace | 4:14 PM ET | 06-13-2007

My first name is Haralee. My mother told me she read the name in the NY Times society section of a debutant's coming out party. I have been asked about my name almost every day of my life. When I was about 20 I told the story about my name and my Mother about fell over laughing. She couldn't believe that I believed her! Fast forward 30 years and I started my own internet company. When trying to find an original domain name I decided to use my own name. I now have my name registered and the name of my company is Haralee.com. I make sleepwear for women having nightsweats and hot flashes. My mother at 85 years old, has taken the philosophy of the name story that if you tell the same story often enough isn't it true?

Sent by Haralee Weintraub | 6:31 PM ET | 06-13-2007

Jackie Loken here. I hated my name when I was a little girl because the other kids teased me about having a boys name. Then, in 1961, when I was 7 years old, Jackie Kennedy moved into the White House. Jackie was suddenly a great name for a little girl to have!

Sent by Jackie Loken | 6:55 PM ET | 06-13-2007

I was given my Dad's name, Tom, when I was born. My Dad told my Mom he was going to call me Murph. He wanted an Irishman in the house, (steelworker humor). Just about everybody called me by my nickname. I left home in the mid 70's with a road band and was the one that had to sign the contracts, which meant using my legal name. I gradually left Murph behind, getting tired of the same nickname questions. In fact, I met my wife who only knew me as Tom until we'd go to my folk's house. One day, several years into our marriage she looked at me & said I really was a "Murph"! Since I really always preferred it, I had it legally changed with my Mom's blessing. My Dad would have got a kick out of it if he was still with us.

Sent by Murph Wanca | 11:15 PM ET | 06-13-2007

my name is Burgess Needle. Yes, that's my real name. It's not a nom de plume, not a nom de guerre, it really is Burgess Needle. I've hated it from the first day of elementary school when the other kids asked me what my name was and I said 'Burgess" and they all asked, "What?" and I repeated 'Burgess!" and they all said "What?" and that's when I knew I was doomed. I was named Burgess because when my mother was pregnant with me she and my father went to see a play starring Burgess Meredith and during the 2nd act, according to family legend, my father grabbed my mother's leg and exclaimed,"That's it! We'll name him Burgess!" They had to pick a name that began with the letter 'B' after my mother's later father whose own name began with a 'B.' and they didn't want anything as banal as Barry or Bruce or Bernard or...whatever. It had to be Burgess. So, when I was 17 years old and told my father when it was legally possible to do so I was going to change my name. He looked at me askance and said something like, "Well, the name Needle hasn't been around that long, and I know its unusual, but you should really think about this..." Then, it was my turn to look back at him and declare, "Not Needle! I don't care about Needle! Don't you get it? Its Burgess! Burgess has to go." He looked truly shocked. Could not believe my decision. End of story? Here I am, still Burgess Needle. Don't ask me why. I still hate it.

Sent by Burgess Needle | 11:22 PM ET | 06-13-2007

Names are funny. Some people hate their names for being common. I felt blessed that other people shared my first name. The name "Linda" must have been first choice for 10% of mothers between the years off 1945-1965. There was always another Linda or two in my class. This was my salvation because it mitigated the embarrasement of the two boy's names that followed it. I survived all sorts of caustic comments throughout grade school and junior high. When I married and took my husband's last name, I was in bliss. For two years my first and last names had a pleasing ring with no gender confusion. Two years later, to my chagrin, I was facing divorce and my husband wanted only 2 things...besides the checking account. He wanted my wedding ring and his name back.

After recovering from my shock and enduring another name change, I decided to stand by my given name with pride. During those 30+ years I have learned to use my full given name with pride and have remained true to my personal vow to never change it again.

Sent by Linda Daryl Paul | 12:08 AM ET | 06-14-2007

My given name was Orilla. I changed it to Keri when I turned 40, it took that long to get the courage up to tell my mother I wanted to.(I was named after her sister) Mom was great but my 16 year old son burst in to tears, he wanted to know who he was going to be. I assured him nothing would change I was still Mom to him!

Sent by Keri Lawson | 12:19 AM ET | 06-14-2007

I LIKE my name, both maiden/birth version and with married last name. My complaint is the way society makes it so difficult for those of us who go by First Initial, Middle Name, Last Name. In the 70's and 80's, it was quite common for paper and computer forms to have room for several characters in either or both first and middle names. But in the last 10-15 years, both printed and computer forms have gotten less flexible and only give room for 1 character of middle initial. This makes for future problems and confusions when you get filed with your middle name first and first initial as middle, or the first initial dropped or only having a first initial and a middle initial. In these days of trying to make sure everyone is clearly and uniquely identified, it would seem that forms should allow us to put what is our "legal" name wherever we have to fill it in. I am a computer professional (programmer, business analyst, project manager, requirements definition), so don't try to tell me that the computers "require" or "won't allow" the first initial-middle name context. They can be programmed any way, and the databases won't take up any more disk space with a first initial-middle name than a first name-middle initial entry (blanks get compressed out in either case). I am angry about what I perceive as mental laziness on the part form designers and the group-think and arrogance of assuming we all fit in a particular box when the flexibility is so easy to provide. I wage my own personal war by crossing out the middle initial labels on forms and bolding and largely writing in my full middle name.

Sent by S. Dian Odell | 1:50 AM ET | 06-14-2007

First, let me say that one of my favorite passages in recent American literature is the "My Name" chapter in Sandra Cisneros' book "The House on Mango Street" where the girl considers the history of her name and ponders new names for herself. My name is Mary. I used to think of my name as boring, plain and common. I am the first-born child of Italian-American parents, born 10 years into their marriage. My full name is Mary Elizabeth because Elizabeth in the Bible had a child late in life, so my name is weighted in a strong Roman Catholic tradition. Born in the late 50's I thought that had my parents been hippies (not) and I was born just a few years later in the 60's I could have been a Heather or a Willow.

I am a poet by craft and have come to realize my name is like poetry, not in a romantic sense, but like the process of writing a poem itself. It is clear, open, with an elemental simplicity and efficiency, and a great subtext to boot. No matter the complexity of theme or word choice, these are things a poet strives for when writing. My name reminds me to stay true to the poem as I work it through to the end.

Sent by Mary E. Torregrossa | 2:04 AM ET | 06-14-2007

I'm a fifty something female. My name is Jimmie. It's not a nickname. I didn't always like it but came to be proud of why it's my name. My dad didn't want a James Amos C...., Jr. When I was born first I got the name. Thanks Dad.

Sent by Jimmie Miller | 3:04 PM ET | 06-14-2007

My name is Gus and my wife of 30 years is named Gari. I always enjoy the nervous looks when I mention my "life partner" Gari.

Sent by Gus Bystedt | 3:24 PM ET | 06-14-2007

Ok heres a name for you. My name is Ercan Mehmet Tekdogan Prononce airjon mehmet Tekdowan.
It was and still is always a topic for conversation. I did have the the great opertunity to meet Mr Obama during one of fund raisers at Prarie Moon in Evanston IL and I told him my name while we sat next to eachother at the bar and to this day Im not sure if he thought I was serious and not poking fun at his name...

Sent by Ercan Mehmet Tekdogan | 3:37 PM ET | 06-14-2007

My mother's name is Debra and her two best friends in highschool were also named Debra; they were always refered to as 'the three debras'. She hated that and thus named her children Quinn and Shayla. I also have a Korean step-brother named Holland after the family tradiction. He lives in Japan!

Sent by Shayla | 4:16 PM ET | 06-14-2007

My name is Mike Hall. I gladly and my wife reluctantly just named our beautiful baby girl Carnegie. We have had a very positive response thus far and my wife has even warmed up to the name. She especialy loves how people always remember Carnegie. I like the fact that her teachers will always know where she is sitting and if she ever comes home complaning about being teased I will buy the next ticket to New York and take her to Carnegie Hall so she can see for herself what a wonderful place it is.

Sent by Mike Hall (Carnegie Mae Hall's father) | 1:30 AM ET | 06-15-2007

Hi Barrie! I'm a girl named Barrie, too. Always hated my name in elementary school (where I played violin, too), and prayed I could change it to Sue, my middle name. I've met several other women along the way who also are named Barrie, but so far I claim the distinction of being the first (born in 1949). In the last two or three decades I've come to appreciate my name ... it's different! Guess it just took me a while to grow into it. And, like you, if I had a quarter for every time someone asked me what my name is short for, I might be approaching the wealth of Oprah ... another unusual name, and it certainly hasn't hampered her in any way!

Sent by Barrie Rissman | 1:56 PM ET | 06-30-2007

Iyi gunler, Ercan, nasilisiniz? One thing that's very positive about your name is that if you ever decide to write a technology blog, you've already got "Tek" in your surname, and a lot of bloggers would kill for that. :-) Sag olun - ac

Sent by andy carvin | 1:57 PM ET | 07-02-2007

I too have suffered being a female with, what mosty people think, is a man's name. It's really not, it's french but anyway the best comment I ever had was in Texas when a low level goverment official called my name for an interview. I stood up and he looked at me and said you're white? and female? Now days I proudly use my full name just to show people it really is bad to judge a book by it's cover or a person by their name

Sent by Edmonde Franco | 5:05 AM ET | 07-09-2007

I am a female and my name is Barrie also! I was named after a female surfer in the 1960's. Fred Astaire also danced with a woman named Barrie Chase! It was a tough name growing up, but as an adult I love it, although most forms people call me Barbara as they can't fathom that a woman would actually be named Barrie...LOL!

Sent by Barrie | 10:54 AM ET | 09-18-2007