I’m a big believer in calling yourself what you want to be called. If you don’t want to be Reginald Dwight, then you can be Elton John. If you don’t want to be Eileen Edwards you can be Shania Twain. And if you don’t want to be Bernard Schwartz, you can be Tony Curtis. More than that, people should respect your choice of name and not refer to you by the name you don’t want to be known as. In a very small way, this is me.
I was named Richard and always hated it. I always wanted to be Rick, Ricky Rickie, Rikki, but by the time I reached secondary school I simply gave up. The name on absolutely everything was Richard. I must have chosen the easy life of just putting up with it. And until 1999, while I was making progress on the Rick/Ricky front, I still had the name I didn’t want. Then, it all changed.
A move to a new job and with it I sort of put my foot down. I’m not going to be Richard or Rich anymore. And when people call me that, I’ll start correcting them. Slowly, but surely, things changed. People I didn’t know before just called me Rick and I just put up with it when people I knew before called me by the name that suited them, not me. I’m afraid it pissed me off, but what can you do? I can understand it, too, when you know someone by one name for a very long time it could be hard to get used to a different name, but Christ, at least try.
It’s bad enough being called Johansen, with people pronouncing it as both Jo and Yo, because even in old age I still haven’t really decided. But then, I don’t care which version people use. My first name – well, it boils my urine to hear and read the original version in all manner of places.
I’m not asking for much so please, stop Richard and Rich. However, I do appreciate that after reading this little rant – and don’t worry, I won’t end it by saying ‘rant over’ because I loathe that phrase as much as I detest Richard – you might refer to me as Dick.
