Mum furious after people keep ‘making up names’ for her daughter

A furious mum has turned to the internet for advice after people keep "making up names" for her daughter.

The woman explained on Mumsnet that her friends and family members kept shortening her little girl's name, or giving her nicknames. And she wasn't one bit happy about it, so she wanted advice on how to get people to stop "abbreviating" her daughter's name. She said:

"My [daughter] is called Megan. We call her Megan at home. Other people seem to think it’s ok to change it to other versions: Meg, Meggy, Megs. “Her name is Megan and that is what we call her at home. "Am I being unreasonable to think people should just call her by the name her parents use & not make names up?! It really bloody irritates me.”

She later added that it "irritates" her 6-year-old daughter, too - and said that the little girl often corrects people too. Some people completely sympathised with the mum and the "annoying" situation. One person commented:

"It’s annoying and I completely feel your pain. My youngest [daughter] has a beautiful classic name but it gets shortened often to something that sounds a little trashy and tacky. "I hate it and I made sure to put her full name as her preferred name at school so it doesn’t happen there."

Someone else added:

"It would annoy me too. Megan is a lovely name. My sons name gets shortened and it's annoying so I get it."

Other users in the parenting forum, though, thought the mum was overreacting. Someone wrote:

"Calling her by a clear diminutive of her actual name, eg Meg, is just people being friendly, and could be a term of endearment. So yes, chill for goodness sake."

A different parent said:

"Meg as a diminutive for Megan is hardly making names up? If you pick a name with an obvious shortening then I’m afraid you have to expect that people will probably use it."