People have mispronounced and misspelled my name my entire life, and generally continue to do it even when I, my friends, and/or my family correct them. It’s a relatively common name but spelled in a unique way that could be pronounced as another very common name that I now can’t stand. I don’t hate my name, I’m just not interested in dealing with corrections and misunderstandings in college. My middle name is one of the most common names ever and doesn’t fit me as a first name so I’m not interested in using that. Would it be strange to use a completely unrelated nickname in college? I wouldn’t lie if people were like, “Is that your real name?” but I probably wouldn’t include my real name in addition when introducing myself if not brought up.
Nope. Here are some of the illustrious nicknames with which I have been tagged (or self-tagged). Feel free to borrow:
Toddler: Tommer Bomber
Junior High: Icy Star (I started that one. I am ashamed. lol)
College: Thomascat
Ex-girlfriend: Tomcat
Wife: Bagel Chicken (in response to my calling her “Muffin Bear”…), Tom-Tom
If you will reveal your name, we could suggest nicknames. We are a creative lot.
My nickname is whale.
My best friend couldn’t pronounce her little brother’s name, so she called him “Boofer.” The name stuck, all through high school. It’s a good thing he managed to shed it finally, because he’s now a very distinguished professor with many honors to his name. 
Ha these are all great, thank you! However, I was going for the more “legal name change test drive,” if that makes sense. I’m not sure if I’ll change my name, but I’m entertaining the thought, so i wondered if it would be weird if I introduced myself as a different name-name as a nickname. Like some friends of mine refer to me as “Rory” since I look kind of like Alexis Bledel’s character from Gilmore Girls though my name is Haleigh. I wouldn’t use that because I don’t want to get the Gilmore Girls comment every time I introduce myself, but that’s kind of the idea. Would that be extremely weird?
As.another idea, I know someone who legally changed the spelling of her name (to a more traditional spelling) but kept the same name.
Haleigh like pronuced Haley?
“Is that your real name?”
“No, it’s a nickname. I don’t really use my birth name.”
Easy.
My real name is a common nickname. Like real name is Joe instead of Joseph, but too many people call me Joey (a name I can’t stand). I’ve learned to pick my battles on when to correct people. If they’re people I’m only going to interact with a few times, I correct them to Joe instead of Joey. If it’s someone I am going to spend some time with, I’ll correct them.
No, it’s not weird to have a completely different name. It’s actually pretty common in my partner’s family because the same handful of names is used for basically everyone- so everyone goes by a nickname to not confuse people.
I could change the spelling legally, but my family loves it and spent lots of time trying to find a unique name, so as to not hurt any feelings, I was thinking a name I use in place of mine at my college would be good. I’ve tried spelling my name different on papers at school just for kicks but everyone else got confused and I would sometimes forget to use a different spelling, etc etc. Go big and just use an entirely different name or go home is where I am right now.
It sounds like Hallie, but I get Hayley most days of the week. Drives me crazy. I understand it looks like Hayley and they can’t magically know the pronunciation, it just irritates me when people I see a lot still don’t get it right. Plus, I was thinking when I get to college, I’m going to be in a much bigger class than high school and there’s no way a professor could possibly remember the exact pronunciation and I don’t expect them to. Just to protect my sanity and maybe relieve them of the anxiety when trying to remember, I’ve been researching easy, short names that I would like and they can remember. And a new name feels like a new start, I guess? Kind of fun to mix it up. Not to mention, when my classmates know the correct pronunciation and a teacher says it wrong in class, they all smile smugly and turn to stare at me and it’s dumb but I hate it so much. Like yes, they don’t know my name, ha ha ha, it’s not for lack of effort.
And I completely know the feeling, I’ve let so many introductions go by without me correcting them, so there are a lot of people out there who still think my name is Hayley. But since I won’t see them ever again most likely, who cares. The hard thing now is finding a name that fits me and is easy to say. And since I plan on going to a college where no one knows me, I can just say, “My friends call me _____,” even though they definitely do not.
My sister has a name like mine too that is easy to confuse, so at summer camp, they gave her a completely different sounding name on accident and it just stuck. Luckily she loves it, makes her sound cooler. No one there knows her by her real name and they get confused when we say it. That’s a good win-win situation, but I was hoping it wasn’t weird to give myself the new name instead. Good to know I’m not alone there.
You can reinvent yourself in college and call yourself whatever you want. One of my freshman hallmates decided in the first couple of weeks that he wanted everyone to call him “Wolf” because he had a spiritual/existential meeting with a wolf over the summer. It took a while, but it stuck and he is now forever known to everyone as Wolf.
Hal, like from the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey, which is having a 50 year anniversary this year.
That’s awesome, I love it. I’d personally go for something a little more “name-y” like Cora or Rose or whatever, but good to know even “Wolf” can stick. Also, love your profile picture/screen name! Definitely one of the best shows ever.
Totally can relate. I spent my whole life having my name totally butchered. I have used a nickname for decades now. I know lots of other people who don’t go by their birth names.
My school has like an online portal where your personal information is stored, and you have the chance to put a “common name” there. One of my friends, who I had gone to high school with and called her by her full name, decided to shorten it for college, and now everyone from friends to professors calls her by the shorter name. It’s even used on semi-official documents. It actually took me a little while to get used to and I had to constantly correct myself, but she loved that it’s not a hassle anymore. Maybe see if there’s a similar “personal info” page where you can easily change your name at your school?
I love the name Cora, it is a good unique one. And I’m glad you enjoy Psych. Hands down one of the best television shows out there.
i have a friend at work with a totally normal name but in college people started calling her Moose. Now even her government e-mail has (moose) after her name so everyone knows they are e-mailing her. It has stuck for 30 years. Another friend (a guy) had a normal name but didn’t like it and started calling himself Claire in college. No one even knows him by his real name. Another goes by CJ and not a single person knows what the C or the J stand for and she hates them. So yes do what you want. If you introduce yourself by it now no one will know any different from the start!
I’d consider changing the spelling to Hallie.
This is exactly why I don’t get why parents give their kids creatively spelled names that will be forever mispronounced or misspelled.
Instead of changing your name, why not change the spelling? Edit: I see you have already mentioned you don’t want to do that, but wouldn’t your parents be more hurt by you changing your name altogether?
@planner03
I probably won’t actually change it, I’ll just tell people at school I go by something else now. I think my name spelling is cool, I just don’t love the name “Hallie” for me. I like names that are rare sounding and have a rare spelling, while mine is a common name with a rare spelling which is just kind of a hassle. So I wouldn’t like it even more if I just went to “Hallie,” if that makes any sense. I still want something unique, but shorter for college. And they said they don’t care as long as I don’t change anything legal and it’s still part of my identity, which is perfectly fine by me.