Re:The epic rise and fall of the name Heather
by ergothus on Tuesday September 25, 2018 @10:50AM
(#18066746)
So true...I was "Brett" growing up and to this day the number of "Brett"s I've heard of is less than a dozen.
As a kid I loathed it and promised myself I'd change to a nice "jim" when I was old enough. Not only was I a victim of bullying and felt my name made me stick out, but the kids would call me "Brat" while the adults used "Brent" or "Bret", and I truly thought the unusual name made it all worse.
As an adult I don't particularly like my name, but I do appreciate being unusual. When another "Brett" does show up in conversation or text, I take a second to realize it isnt about me. (The current US supreme court nomination has been less than fun in an extra way for me)
I cant imagine how different it must be to have a common name and default to assuming that your own name probably means someone else.
I used to sit next to a Bob Smith, and everytime he called someone new on the phone for work (we did that back in the day) he had to follow up with "no, for real".
As a kid I loathed it and promised myself I'd change to a nice "jim" when I was old enough. Not only was I a victim of bullying and felt my name made me stick out, but the kids would call me "Brat" while the adults used "Brent" or "Bret", and I truly thought the unusual name made it all worse.
As an adult I don't particularly like my name, but I do appreciate being unusual. When another "Brett" does show up in conversation or text, I take a second to realize it isnt about me. (The current US supreme court nomination has been less than fun in an extra way for me)
I cant imagine how different it must be to have a common name and default to assuming that your own name probably means someone else.
I used to sit next to a Bob Smith, and everytime he called someone new on the phone for work (we did that back in the day) he had to follow up with "no, for real".