S/O-- how do you differentiate 2 people same name?

[Apple]

It came up in the Nana thread...

How do you differentiate two people who have the same name (either in person or "behind their back", lol).

At work we had two Jerrys who did the same job.  They were called "good Jerry" and "bad Jerry".  Bad Jerry wasn't necessarily bad, but he wasn't as nice as good Jerry.

Growing up we used "big name" and "little name" when my mom babysat a girl with the same name as my sister.  My sister was older/bigger so she was "big name" when they were around.  Same sister was given a complete new name in college.  Her name is the normal nickname for a much longer name, and there were too many with that nickname.  So even though she's the only one whose real name was the short version, she was given a nickname based on the last part of the full name (So, if her name was Viv, she was given the name "Ann", even though she wasn't a Vivian).

We've also just given some people new names, some not very nice.  Like the short guy who thought he was the best became Napoleon.  We had one guy we called "The Senator" (it wasn't a good thing).  I've known a "Jim" who became "Jake" for years because there were so many Jims.

[Wisconsin Beth]

The one I worked with longer is X aND the newer one is Xladt initial.

[Peace Of Mind]

Back in the old days it was Big Al and little Al.  Whether they were older/younger or built/slender.   But now that people are bigger I forget that people don't like being called big - even if they're not bigger (fat).  It's so hard to be pc these days because everybody gets butt hurt about something and it's hard to see what their issues are sometimes if they're not obvious. 

We'd also use hair color. Blonde Kate, Red Kate.


Behind their backs?  Bitch Sue, Nice Sue, Ugly Jim, Cute Jim, etc.   


My step dad was a Commander.  His nick name for me was The Admiral because I'm a shrinking violet/shy type when I came of age. 

[giramomma]

We used family names for our first two kids.

Usually one goes by a shortened version and the other is the full version. ex: Sam and Samantha.

There's three men (including DH) with the same name in a one block radius. Context helps there.

One of my co workers has the same name as DH and another coworker has the same name as the peanut. I used "my" in front of their names to distinguish. Eventually, though context really helped.

[justme]

From the grandma thread, I had a grandma close and grandma far.

At the end of middle school there was another person with my name in a lot of my classes. We became justme and justme 2. (Sometimes I was referred to as justme 1) The second didn't appreciate that she was older but number 2. Sophomore year a third justme came into our group a year behind and she became justme 3.

No one is ever inventive about my name. My not two year old niece just calls me ustmeee!

[dannylion]

We had 2 Jims in the office for awhile. The Jim who had been there the longest was "Jim."  The other Jim was "Other Jim" (in person and otherwise). It seemed to work well. No one asked Other Jim what he thought, probably because he was sort of annoying. Of course, Jim was annoying, too, but he was there first, so he was Jim.

[Peace Of Mind]

Jun 29, 2016 0:03:02 GMT -5 dannylion said:

We had 2 Jims in the office for awhile. The Jim who had been there the longest was "Jim."  The other Jim was "Other Jim" (in person and otherwise). It seemed to work well. No one asked Other Jim what he thought, probably because he was sort of annoying. Of course, Jim was annoying, too, but he was there first, so he was Jim.

Now see - it would be Old Jim New Jim for me.  No wonder I piss people off.  I used to call them Old and Big. 

[cronewitch]

We used last names at work for Jims, Steves, Davids, Alices, Dans, Garys.
Micheal was named Micheal until he went to college then they started calling him Mike claiming they already had a Micheal, then he got in another group who already had a Micheal and they also had a Mike so they named him Mikie so his name changes by association at home he is still Micheal.
Ed and Eddie are uncle and nephew same last name different middle. Growing up it was Ed and Eddie P now they are Edward middle last and Edward Last but we still call Eddie, Eddie at home.
I grew up as Little Alice my aunt was Big Alice, I didn't mind until I was taller and heavier than her so when I hired another Alice and she offered to be big Alice I told her no and called her Alice Lastname. I was called Big Al on one job for no reason we didn't have two of us.

[debthaven]

Funny story ... Since middle school, DS1 has had a close friend with the same first name as DD. When DS3 was small, he couldn't understand how both DS1's friend and DD could have the same name. So he told DS1's friend, no, you're not "Susan", THAT'S Susan (pointing to DD). So DS1's friend said, so what's my name then? And DS3 said, "Pretty Girl!" The name stuck. Over 15 years later, we still all call her Pretty Girl LOL.

At school we have three men with the same first name (but on 2 campuses). They're all British, so we call them Name I, Name II and Name III (based on the order in which they were hired). 

[Blonde Granny]

In our community of 50+ homes we solved that problem with having Shirley 1 or Shirley 2.  The numbers were assigned by who who moved in first.  Shirley 1 has now moved into assisted living.  We also have Carol 1 & Carol 2 (2 is me).  One guy simply goes by his last name.  It works for us old people.

[NoNamePerson]

I went to work for a company where there was another NoName. Made it really confusing as we both had the last name Person. It got boiled down to "Good" NoName and "Bad" NoName. Guess which one I was. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

A former roommate had gone to pharmacy achool and came out of it with two friends with the same first name, same last initial, same hair color and same age.

Aftet graduation, one stayed in the city where they went to school and the other went to Pittsburgh. So when she'd talk to me about them, I kept getting them confused and would interrupt to say "Wait, Sue in Madison or Sue in Pittsburgh?" Eventually they were just Sue Madison and Sue Pittsburgh. I know they both knew about it too. I believe both have moved but I haven't seen them since my friend's funeral, where I introduced them to my parents as Sue Madison and Sue Pittsburgh.

[Cookies Galore]

I have three friends who are Nicks. I just call them by their last names. Though the one Nick is Greek, so even though his given name is Nikolas, we also call him Nikola.

[wvugurl26]

I had to change a friend in my phone's contacts to his last name. I had Chris and Christie so it kept merging them under Christie. After redoing it so many times, he's just listed under last name now.

There's a lady in my organization in the DC office with the same name as me. She goes by the full name and I go by a shortened version. We get each other's emails sometimes. I just forward them.

[plugginaway22]

We know 2 people named Scott, one is spelled Scot.  They became 'Scott' and 'One T', and to this day when he is called 'one T' it cracks me up.

[NoNamePerson]

Hmm, forgot about the time I was dating couple of guys at same time. Came back from lunch one day and boss man said "John called"

Me: Did he leave a number?

Boss: No I figured you had it.

Me: Did he leave a last name?

Boss: Figured you knew it.

I had to explain to him I was dating two Johns!! Kinda sounds like a hooker doesn't it  

[alabamagal]

My dad and brother are both Michael. Dad is Mike, brother was Mickey when he was younger. But at school brother started going by Mike. Got confusing when we shared a home phone and people called. When brother got married his wife called him Mike so added to confusion.

I still call my brother Mickey even though he is over 50. My kids call him uncle Mick, but my dad is grandpa so no confusion.

Actually my Dad texted last week and said "Mike" took him to a baseball game and at first I didn't know who he was talking about because I never heard my dad call my brother Mike.

[Waffle]

I used to work with a woman who had a lot of Joseph's in her life. Her son Joey, late husband Joe- who was mostly referred to as Joey's father, current husband Joe, stepson Little Joe, and father-in-law Big Joe.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Jun 29, 2016 7:58:04 GMT -5 @patstab said:

My son named his son the same name! Really?

So now its big and little, but that will cause problems, my husband goes by the same name

even though its his middle name, so 3 of them. Makes no sense to me.

one of my nephews is a junior. And at 16 is in the middle of an overdue growth spurt. For most of his life he's been Little Mike and his dad was Big Mike. Well, my son decided that we need to call him Medium Mike now that he's bigger. He's still shotel and leaner than his dad. We explained all of this around Christmas but I don't think anyone other than my son is buying into Medium Mike. Lol.

[chiver78]

freshman year in college, my group included a pair of roommates who were both Mike. we were all trying to figure out what to call them both when one of the guys solved the problem. he said that his nickname back in HS had been "Stew" b/c he looked like Beavis and Butthead's friend Stewart (the one who wore a black Winger t-shirt) and it just stuck.

[gs11rmb]

Jun 29, 2016 0:54:12 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Funny story ... Since middle school, DS1 has had a close friend with the same first name as DD. When DS3 was small, he couldn't understand how both DS1's friend and DD could have the same name. So he told DS1's friend, no, you're not "Susan", THAT'S Susan (pointing to DD). So DS1's friend said, so what's my name then? And DS3 said, "Pretty Girl!" The name stuck. Over 15 years later, we still all call her Pretty Girl LOL.

At school we have three men with the same first name (but on 2 campuses). They're all British, so we call them Name I, Name II and Name III (based on the order in which they were hired). 

My oldest daughter is named Sophia. We had no idea it was such a popular name so with our second child we checked the social security register and any name in the top 100 was scored off our list!  Anyway, when our younger girl was in the Toddler 1 classroom, two girls named Sophia enrolled.  For weeks that confused our DD.  Her teachers said every time they said Sophia, she would look around trying to find her sister .

[thyme4change]

We've always just gone with last names.  At one time we had an abundance of Jacks on the soccer team.  One kid we started calling Jack plus his last name - it just seemed to flow.  At the end of one season, his mother was laughing and said "Even though all the other Jacks left, and he is the only Jack, everyone still calls him {{both names}}."  I hadn't even realized all the other Jacks left and it was no longer necessary to distinguish him that way.  LOL.  We replaced most of our Jacks with Alejandros.  I am sure there is some racist social commentary in there, but one of the guys last name was short, concise and easier than Alejandro so we asked his permission if we could just use that and he said "Everyone always has."  

My niece married a guy with the same name as my nephew from my other sister.  We haven't come up with anything smooth.  Usually it is either their full name or "Michelle's Matt" (my niece's name) vs. "Susan's Matt" (my sister's name.)  Not tragic. They live close to each other - but nowhere near any of the rest of us.  

At one time our next door neighbor, one of the (very involved) soccer Dads, and a guy at my DH's work all had the same first name.  I could usually get it by context clues, but one day my husband was telling me a story about what one of them said, and I worked my way through each of them and it wasn't making any sense.  Eventually my husband said "No - the guy I went to law school with."  Gee, how did I not figure that one out.  

[Deleted]

Jun 29, 2016 7:58:04 GMT -5 @patstab said:

My son named his son the same name! Really?

So now its big and little, but that will cause problems, my husband goes by the same name

even though its his middle name, so 3 of them. Makes no sense to me.

I know- so confusing.  Our family really liked the name Mark.  We had Big Mark (Mom's brother), Little Mark (my cousin, not Big Mark's son) and Baby Mark (my cousin, Big Mark's son).  They all had the same last name but different middle names.  Baby Mark is now in his 40s and is generally referred to as "Mark (middle name)".

Dad always said he gave us names that were not duplicates of other family member names.  Then his brother married a woman whose first name was the same as my sister's.  At least their middle names were different.

[Deleted]

I said on the other thread about daughter's friends Saturday Tara and Sunday Tara (based on the art class they attend). She also has two friends named Isis. One Isis, one Isis from art class. 

We do a lot of the possessive name calling. We have a large homeschool group. There are bound to be repeats. So there is a fair bit of... I saw Miss Jenn's Violet at the pool. Or "Ayden did this"... Which Ayden, Miss Kathy's or Miss Molly's ? 

As for adults with the same name, its either Miss Heather Last name, or if the last name is difficult Miss Heather first initial of last name. 

[gs11rmb]

Jun 29, 2016 8:32:46 GMT -5 oped said:

I said on the other thread about daughter's friends Saturday Tara and Sunday Tara (based on the art class they attend). She also has two friends named Isis. One Isis, one Isis from art class. 

We do a lot of the possessive name calling. We have a large homeschool group. There are bound to be repeats. So there is a fair bit of... I saw Miss Jenn's Violet at the pool. Or "Ayden did this"... Which Ayden, Miss Kathy's or Miss Molly's ? 

As for adults with the same name, its either Miss Heather Last name, or if the last name is difficult Miss Heather first initial of last name. 

Oh dear ... that has to be a difficult name right now.

[Deleted]

I always have a bunch of students with the same name.  One year I had three Ashleys, two Jessicas, and three Matthews in one class.  I asked them if there was a shortage of names that year.  They offer me nicknames (nicknames like Goose, not shortened versions) to use, but I don't like nicknames.  Quite frequently, they are a trap and refer to something I wouldn't reference about a student if I knew the meaning.  So just no.

Instead, I refer to the student by their full name (Ashley Smith).  I don't know why you guys have to try so hard to differentiate people at work.  Family, sure.  But you don't need Good Mike and Bad Mike.  Why not Mike Smith and Mike Jones?

My daughter and her aunt share a name.  She was not named for her aunt.  It is somewhat confusing at times, but my daughter usually stuck with the full version of the name (think Becky vs. Rebecca) since the shortened version is her aunt's actual name.  My daughter prefers the shortened version so that is how she introduces herself to friends, colleagues, etc.  But family usually use the distinction to indicate who is who.

A family at church has three sons.  They all married girls named Debbie so have the exact same names.  They get called Mike's Debbie, John's Debbie, etc.  The children at church call them Mrs. Mike, Mrs. John, etc.  I wouldn't like either of those "titles."

[Deleted]

It is. We use Isil in our house. 

[andi9899]

Jun 29, 2016 0:03:02 GMT -5 dannylion said:

We had 2 Jims in the office for awhile. The Jim who had been there the longest was "Jim."  The other Jim was "Other Jim" (in person and otherwise). It seemed to work well. No one asked Other Jim what he thought, probably because he was sort of annoying. Of course, Jim was annoying, too, but he was there first, so he was Jim.

I worked with two Jims and we just called them by last name.

[swamp]

uncle John's kid is Johnnie, his kid is John John.

My grandfather was Frank, my dad was Frankie.  He's now frank.

My great uncle was Mike.  My brother is Michael.

My aunt is Pat, her daughter is Patty.

My uncle is Roy, his kid is Chip.

My best friends mom was Mary.  She was Mary Belle.   Her father was Bill, the son was Billy, and Billy's kid was Will.

At work, there are some duplicate attorney names.   We usually call them by their last names.

[bean29]

My husband and son share a name. DH's given name at birth was different, but too foreign sounding. He used DS's first name for business for many years, before formally changing his name about a year ago. I had a hell of a time getting the correct picture with the correct phone # on my cell phone. Turns out the cell phone was populating the name based on facebook and it kept trying to associate DH's picture with DS's phone number. I finally just created a duplicate contact for the facebook fed contact, and then added DS's middle initial and DH's contact has New First Name Old Name as Middle Name.

My DD and my DN's wife have same first name, but different pronunciation and Last Names.

BIL and FIL have same legal name but FIL uses (three) nicknames depending on who is addressing him.  Grandkids found it very funny that one of his nicknames is Treynee (sp?) which was apparently a reference to him being the third child in the family (3 in Spanish).  MIL has a nickname too, not sure of the origin.  My youngest BIL was maybe in 3rd grade when he first learned that his nickname was not his given name (He is actually JR).

In my Mother's family almost everyone uses their middle name.