Has anyone ever addressed you by an unwanted nickname? Of course it's probably happened as a child, but we're not talking about being teased in grade school with silly nicknames like “smelly” or “scooter”.

We're talking about your professional and academic adult life, and most importantly, your real name. Is your name Kenneth, Anthony, Barbara, Elizabeth, or something that is commonly shortened? Have you ever been called Ken, Tony, Barb, Liz, or a shortened version of your name instead of your real name?

As we speak and interact with a growing number of individuals, we have realized that many people who have average North American names actually struggle with people saying their names correctly.

In this case, the names are relatively common and not particularly hard to pronounce. The problem is that quite often common names are shortened to nicknames, without the person’s consent. If a man has been Michael all his life, maybe he doesn’t want to be addressed as Mike. If a woman has been Janice all her life, she probably doesn’t want to be called Jan. Although it often goes unnoticed, this is a common occurrence and annoyance for a growing number of people.

But nicknames save us time and effort, right?

It’s amazing how far the human race has come, but like all species, we don’t want to make any extra effort where we don’t have to. We cut corners everywhere – run that yellow light so we don’t have to stop; pay the extra dollar instead of going to the store across the street; call 411 instead of looking up a number in the phone book. We even call people nicknames, just to save us the effort of pronouncing a few extra syllables. There are hundreds of names that are also shortened on a regular basis. Once in a while, there will actually be individuals who prefer to use a nickname instead of their real name, and it may bother them if you address them by their 'actual'. For example, my first name is Jonathan but from a young age I have used the nickname Jon. When someone at the bank, at a restaurant, at work, or anywhere, addresses me as Jonathan, I tell them, “It’s just Jon.”