<p>Hi everyone! I'm not sure if there is a similar thread like this however I have yet to find one but if you do, please direct me to it. </p>
<p>Anyways, I was wondering have any of you ever thought of changing your nickname once you enter college? I'm not talking about actually changing your legal first name, however just the nickname. </p>
<p>You see, I have a very long first name (think of it as multiple first names put together) so I've always wondered, out of all the options for a nickname for me, I ended up with this one. I love my first name however I have a nickname in mind that I particularly grew attached to despite the lack of people that call me by that. The college I'm going to will most likely be out of state meaning no one will know who I am; a great opportunity to start over right?</p>
<p>So I'm wondering, have any of you decided to introduce yourself under a different name in college? Did your friends from high school or family find it weird when someone called you something else? If you could, would you do it?</p>
<p>I’d say if it’s a shortening, gentrification, or alternate spelling of your name, then that’s okay. I did that when I went to high school. If it’s none of those, then it’s a little weird, imo, because non-name-based nicknames kind of just happen, they’re given to you by other people. Picking one yourself might be awkward. It might not be, but it probably would seem strange.</p>
<p>A friend of mine introduced herself as her middle name in college, so her middle name kind of became her first name. To me, she is who she introduced me as. I have no idea how her old friends see it, but her parents seem absolutely fine with it. It’s just a name – ask to be called what you like.</p>
<p>I have a friend who also introduced herself by her middle name - it took me a while to learn that it wasn’t actually her first name! Like Layperson said, she is (to me) who she introduced herself as. I also changed my “nickname” in college, somewhat - in high school, a lot of people called me by my last name (or by an abbreviation of it), which I wasn’t exactly a fan of (a boy started calling me that in middle school and it stuck pretty much all through high school). However, I always introduce myself by my first name here, and when someone tries to abbreviate my last name, I just tell them - nicely - that I prefer my first name. Usually, people have no problem with it.</p>
<p>I have a rather stolid first name and felt it was limiting me to a certain image. I decided on a new nickname once I got to college and introduced myself by it, and now pretty much everyone calls me that. I think I have a new identity because of it. Yes, my friends and family back home find it a bit odd (it’s a man’s name, really), but I don’t mind. They find it cute.</p>
<p>In high school everyone, even teachers, called me by a “nickname” (it wasn’t completely random but was made of components of my name). I never had to say that was my nickname, but people just caught onto it. It started with one person and in a few years everyone except my family called me that. </p>
<p>In college only two people have called me by my nickname (I didn’t tell these two, but they just started calling me it). No one has caught on. I can’t tell them what my nickname is because then that would be like cheating the system- nicknames are supposed to be natural in my opinion. </p>
<p>So in college, unless you tell them something they’ll probably just call you by your first name, and maybe you’ll get your own nickname later on. But I bet the new nickname will be different than what you may have initially wanted.</p>
<p>Yeah go for it, just say my name is whatever but my friends call me this, if their not in anyway similar, just introduce yourself as your nickname. No one will know.</p>