Name Game

[grammargirl]

I've been thinking a lot about names lately, how the things we are called affect both how people see us and how we see ourselves. Anyway, I've got this whole philosophical tangent in my head about names and identity, but it's still pretty jumbled at the moment so instead I thought I'd do that silly name meme that was going around like the plague a while back.

If you call me...

...Melanie, you are most people.
...Mel, you are my mother, most of my relatives, a friend who's known me since before high school, or a few select friends from college (naiveinsight, echo_eriol, Josie Joe, Becca and Amy come to mind offhand).
...Anie, you are Emily.
...Ninnie, you are corenrind, before she fell off the face of the planet. Again.
...Melaynie, you are Jim Anderson (in high school) or Jason (from time to time even today), trying to annoy me.
...Smellanie, you are naiveinsight or Matt the Frat Boy, trying to annoy me.
...sweetie, you are quixoticdancer or, sometimes, my mother.
...sweetling, you are penguinboi, being endearing.
...dollface, you are mathforlovers, but I don't know if it counts since she calls everyone that.
...frannyzooey, you are from LJ and don't know me very well.
...Melanie Elizabeth [last name], you are my mother, and I am no more than ten years old and in Big Trouble.

What do people call you? Drop me a comment and tell me the story behind a few of your names.

Comments

[adam-oddfellow.livejournal.com]

If you call me Adam, you are more or less everyone.
If you call me Adma, you are either Evan or Collin trying to be funny.
If you call me anything else (particularly 'sweet-pea' or other terms of endearment), you're Jessie.

'Adam' doesn't lend itself to nicknames, which is fine by me because I like my name the way it is.

[chellen.livejournal.com]

If you call me...

...Ellen, you're most people.
...Chellen, you're a select few friends from high school (Jean, Victoria, Lisette, etc...), and my livejournal/umich friends.
...Lellen, you're Lauren Sly and you're bringing back the old Spirograph days from elementary school.
...El, you're a friend who doesn't feel like calling me by my full name, you lazy bastard! :p
...dollface, you're Haley.
...Chaney, you're my group of jock boys from high school and/or my high school physics teacher, Mr. McKnight.
...Chaney's little sister, you're anyone who graduated high school with my brother, or you may be his close friends from college pulling my chain (Miller, Bro Swood, Pung, etc...)
...sweetie, honey, or any of those other terms of endearment, you're probably my mother or my ex-boyfriend.
...kid, you're my brother, Matt.


There's one more name, but it's one I've never been called, but always wanted someone close to coin me. Maybe someday it'll make the list.

[mathforlovers.livejournal.com]

actually, i call you, ellen, and curtis that. i might call emily bate that, but i so rarely see her.. so, you're one of the special ones! *grin*

[naiveinsight.livejournal.com]

I also call you Melly.

[raptorgirl.livejournal.com]

If you call me Vanessa, you're most people.
If you call me Van, you're Marc Kaplan and I really don't want to talk to you.
If you call me Nessa, you're geckoboy's sister and I REALLY don't want to talk to you.
If you call me Baby V, you're my mom up until two years ago. No joke. She knew it annoyed me, too.
If you call me V, you're my boyfriend being goofy. Or you're just too lazy to say my whole name.
If you call me Raptorgirl, you know me from LJ or Instant Messenger.
If you call me Raptor, you're too lazy to say "Raptorgirl."
If you call me LexMurphy, you know me from Instant Messenger, circa 1998-2003.
If you call me "Kechara," you're penguinboi, circa mid-1999.
If you call me Furball, you're Ben Bostrom and his cronies, circa 7th grade at Princeton Junior High.
If you call me Catwoman, you're Bryan Pendleton and his cronies, circa 9th grade at Princeton High School.
If you call me "that girl," you're one of the many kids I went to high school with who didn't know my name but wanted to make a nasty remark about my clothes/hair/glasses/whatever within earshot. You can kiss my ass.
If you call me "girl," you're a student in the halls making a pass at me, and you don't know I'm actually a teacher. Or you're some random creep downtown.
If you call me Hannah, Georgina, Marissa, or Sasha, you're a random creep downtown and I've just given you a fake name.
If you call me "bitch," you're one of my friends, I've just made a sarcastic remark, and you're pretending to be angry.