Nomatophobia?

Does my daughter suffer from Nomatophobia? (that is the fear of names, in her case her own name).

Okay, so maybe not actually suffering from it but, okay let me stop right there and tell you what this is all about.

The other day the kids were playing in the park and I over heard some of the girls call Riley "Caroline". At first I thought I miss heard but then I heard it from another girl. Still I thought they must just have confused her with her friend.

Then this afternoon Riley walked down to the shop with me and on the way back a little girl said "hello Caroline" and Riley answered back. So when we walk on back home I ask her about this. Turns out, Riley has been telling kids that her name is Caroline cause it's a far nicer name than Riley, and she would have liked it far better if we had called her Caroline.

Well, I tried to explain to her that grandpapa's Harley is called Caroline, so we couldn't call her Caroline and besides, we wanted to call her Riley. Riley is unique and pretty and very few girls are called Riley. Also, if she doesn't like Riley she has a middle name, Catherine or Cat, which she can use if she really doesn't like Riley. But, there you go, she likes Caroline and wants people to call her that, at least for now.

To be fair, I don't use the name my parents gave me. Only, well because to be called Marie-Jeanne in Belgium, is the equivalent of being called Gertruida Johanna in South Africa (my apologies to anyone called Gertruida Johanna or any version of it. I know you didn't chose your name either). So, I use a version of the name my mom and my aunt call me, Mary-Jo which, has been shortened to Jo. My parents totally understand where I'm coming from since my mom also got very traditional South African names (Alberta Hendrika), luckily for her, her mom decided to call her Alta.

So, here we are 3 generations of women, all not using our "birth" names. What does it say about us? Not much other than the fact that even though our parents like Riley's parents thought they were doing a pretty good job when they chose names, it doesn't mean we're going to like them.

Do you use the name your parents "saddled" you with? Or do you love your name and thinks it suits you to a "t", let me know.