> > Then I went to college, where on a stone tablet, they had inscribed, "Everybody has a first name, a middle initial, and a last name." I felt sorry for a few students, mostly girls, who had no middle name so were given the middle name, NMI. I also felt sorry for myself because they called me William and got confused when Howard was on my papers.
> > "What is your first name?"
> > "William."
> > "Then why don't you put it on your papers?"
> > "I never use William. Everybody calls me Howard."
> > "Oh."
>
> Being a high-schooler, I can only hope that colleges these days have gotten rid of that proverbial stone tablet. My first name is William as well, but similarly, I go by my middle name, which is Cody. Many times I won't even respond if somebody asks for William, unless they clarify that after all, they really *are* speaking in my direction. And to further confuse the issue, my father is a William as well, which sometimes leads to minor confusion...
>
> -- codeman"you talkin' to ME?"38

My brother is Jim, after my father, also Jim. But my brother has always been known to the family as "Ambrose." As a matter of fact, since I'm six years younger than him, I didn't really know he had a name other than Ambrose, or that he was called Jim or Jimmy at school. Shortly after my father left the household, a woman called, asking for Jim. I told her he had moved out. She turned out to be my high school aged brother's girlfriend!

Mou"I still have trouble with sisters-in-law who expect me to call him Jim"sie