<p>Hey, I've lived in the US for a couple of years and now I'm starting college. In high school my first name always made introductions a bit more complicated than I'd want them to be. While it's only five letters, there's some vowel action going on that you don't really see in English, and I'd really just want to be able to avoid the confused faces etc so I'm considering telling people to "Just call me...."</p>
<p>I don't really have trouble coming up with names, but I'm curious about what have others in a similar situation done, have you just gone with your real name?</p>
<p>I’ve had a lot of friends who chose an American name to make things easier, but if you don’t want to you sbouldn’t feel pressured to. I know many others who use their actual name even if it’s more difficult to pronounce, and all of their friends get used to it pretty quickly after the first introduction. I know some who have their birth name and an american name, and they respond to either and will sometimes introduce themselves with either. I also have friends who use their real name with friends, professors, coworkers, etc, but when they go to starbucks or something, they use a fake name because using their real one isn’t worth the trouble.</p>
<p>that’s exactly what I did. My name is relatively long and rare so when I was introducing myself at all the noisy orientation events people constantly asked me to repeat myself multiple times. At first I would try a few times then say “Just call me, [nickname that is a shorter version and for whatever reason people could easily hear].” It got so annoying that eventually I stopped trying to introduce myself by my real name and only used the nickname. I switched my name on facebook shortly after and the only time there was ever an issue would be when someone wanted to email me since Brown’s e-mail addresses are <a href=“mailto:FirstName.LastName@brown.edu”>FirstName.LastName@brown.edu</a>. Luckily no one with the same last name as me had my nickname as their actual first name so people would quickly figure out they had the wrong email address. I later learned Brown let us create alternate emails that would direct to our inbox so I had them make <a href=“mailto:Nickname.LastName@brown.edu”>Nickname.LastName@brown.edu</a>. You should probably do the same if it’s an option.</p>
<p>It’s pretty funny because all my family and friends from high school call me by my full name whereas everyone I met in college and beyond calls me by my nickname and both parties get a little confused when they hear someone from the other group call me by something different than they’re used to.</p>
<p>If I were in a small class where the prof wanted to learn our names, after they read my real name off the class roster I would say , “You can just call me [nickname].”</p>
<p>My legal first name is only three letters, but often confuse majority of people that I meet because it has an ‘i’ in it and they don’t know if it’s pronounced as ‘ai’ or ‘e’. Going by my nickname is definitely easier for me, but I just let people that speak my native language call me by my birth name.</p>
<p>It kind of is a bother to correct teachers and people on first days of classes and whatnot though. And I used to hate it in high school when I had a sub, for some reason.</p>
<p>My name isn’t even difficult to pronounce or uncommon but I’ve always gone by a nickname. I just tell people my nickname unless I’m in a professional setting usually</p>
<p>I have a certain nickname (since birth) but it’s totally unrelated to my real name. I’m going get some people to come me by my nickname because I will miss hearing that name if I go away (which is VERY soon). Also it just a cool name in general and easier to pronounce.</p>
<p>Yeah I knew several people in my high school who have foreign names and instead went by an American nickname to make things easier. Some people chose names that are similar to their real names (start with the same letter and whatnot) and others chose totally unrelated names.</p>
<p>My name is foreign and the pronunciation is confusing for some people at first. I have thought about going by a nickname in college because it’s the perfect time to reinvent oneself, but then I just decided against it. All my friends and classmates from elementary, middle, and high school eventually learned my name anyway so my college friends and classmates will too. I mean, I’ve gone by this one name my entire life so I’m kinda scared that if I go by a different one it might feel a bit fake and like I’m not being 100% myself. :D</p>
<p>I like to switch it up. I go by Niklas, but sometimes I get sick of it being pronounced “Nicholas” so I just say Nik. But then I get sick of people spelling it “Nick” so I go by my last name with some friends.</p>
<p>I have always gone by my nickname, so people already think it is my name. In professional situations I tell them my name is [first name], but I go by [nickname].</p>
<p>It’s kind of a pain for legal reasons, but it works. The worst thing is trying to tell professors to change my name for roll call/student list.</p>