If you could have chosen your own name, what name would you like to have had?

If mum had her way I would have been called Shane which I would have much preferred instead of dad's choice of Brian! They wanted a name that couldn't be shortened, i.e Christopher to Chris, Andrew to Andy, you get the picture. Ok, but trouble is the amount of people that cannot spell Brian right, I have had it all my life and it did get tiresome, endless spellings of Brain instead! I didn't realize so many people had dyslexia! I did change my middle name by deed poll here in the UK and by a solicitor to a name of my choice but it's such a long winded process and expensive too. So if I could have chosen my name I would have stuck with Shane.

I don't like my name and I have started using the shortened version of it. It is a biblical name and I have often been teased about it. Also, it is often embarrassing because when I have to give my name and address to other people some of them have to ask me how it is spelled. However, I am quite happy to use the sortened version and it is much nicer than the long version.

Fortunately I was never teased about my name. Now I WAS teased (quite often!) about having red hair, but over the years I came to love my red hair. I have always been fine with my name, and after my father's passing, for some strange reason it means even more to me. Its like my name is what he chose for me and I find such honor in what he meant to me that the name he gave me is even more meaningful now! I kept my maiden name as my middle name when I married, again due to how much I love that man!

My name is actually Tina and when I was young I used to want it to be like Stephanie, Christina...longer and more dramatic...instead of just plain Tina. Then when I got older I found out that my Mom actually named me after Tina Louise, the actress from Gilligan's Island...talk about glamorous. Since then I've been happy with my name. [b]~~AT PEACE WITHIN~~ **STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS**[/b]

I actually really like my name (Emma). If I could pick my own name, I would have picked something similar like Elizabeth or Anne or something. Yeah, I feel like an Anne. But I like Emma the best. There aren't any nicknames for Emma really---except I get really annoyed when people think Emily is another option. They're two different names people! One is not a nickname for the other! haha