In my family (a Welsh thing?) we're known by our middle name. But bureaucracy doesn't work that way and email addresses were kinda formal at first, so I appeared on the internet in c1996 under my government name, which I have never liked. I prefer a diminutive of my middle name, James. - ThreadSky

jamiebear.uk • 2 days ago

In my family (a Welsh thing?) we're known by our middle name. But bureaucracy doesn't work that way and email addresses were kinda formal at first, so I appeared on the internet in c1996 under my government name, which I have never liked. I prefer a diminutive of my middle name, James.

Reposted from Dr Jamiebear 🏳️‍🌈

Goodbye @thisisrjg.bsky.social, hello @jamiebear.uk

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jamiebear.uk•2 days ago

I got known in my niche hobbies under my government name. With social media, I had to find a handle that bridged both. My initials were the obvious choice, but 3-letter handles were all long gone. I settled for 'This is RJG', after the BBC Empire Service's "This is London". Insert Lillibullero here.

jamiebear.uk•2 days ago

Having three first-or-surnames in row has always been a pain in the neck. I've lost count of how often I've been addressed as "Mr Russell" by someone being formal or almost worse "Graham" by someone being informal. It takes time and effort to unpick where they've gone wrong.

jamiebear.uk•2 days ago

This is made far worse because I'm not "Mr" Anything, I'm "Dr" Whomever, although there's no need to be precious about that; and that my name 'is' actually "Russ", not "Russell". (I have a godson whose name is Charlie, not Charles. EVERYBODY gets this wrong. I feel his pain.)

jamiebear.uk•2 days ago

I planned, on getting married, to change my name officially to James Graham Bowden-Smith, taking my husband's (made-up by his dad) surname. I didn't get round to it at the time, but 5 years ago I finally filled in the paperwork, got it witnessed, and wrote out a cheque.

jamiebear.uk•2 days ago

And then my mum got cancer and I had to drop everything and get a Lasting Power of Attorney, which is deliberately difficult to do and expensive and needed to match my government name at that moment. Changing it later was also difficult and expensive, so I put it off. And kept "thisisrjg" online.

jamiebear.uk•2 days ago

But this *isn't* RJG and hasn't been for fucking ages. This is JBS. And it's about time I started actually using the name that I actually use and other people actually use and am actually called by everybody actually (except my mum, who is exempt "because I pushed you out of my vagina").

snathe.bsky.social•2 days ago

As an uncle to a Charlie, my brother's eldest kid, WHO IS CATEGORICALLY NOT CHARLES, (it's actually because my Dad's nickname when he was younger was Charlie) I totally get this.

(Mind you, the poor lad was given Nathan as a middle name...)

jamiebear.uk•2 days ago

Charlie gave up correcting people at ~7. He's perfected a look that sums up his contempt for those in authority who get it wrong, but doesn't challenge them on it because he knows other people know his own name better than he does. His first trip to the PennDOT DMV – soon! – will be interesting 😬

andrewbowden.me.uk•1 day ago

One of my mum's friends has a name that can be shortened in two different ways. She uses one personally, the other professionally. I only leaned this because she's a nurse, and when at school one of my science teachers went into the hospital she worked in.

andrewbowden.me.uk•1 day ago

Well you can guess the confusion when Mr Roberts told me one of the nurses who had looked after him knew me, and I was adamant I didn't know any nurses but that name.

Anyways, names are weird and confusing.

andrewbowden.me.uk•1 day ago

And it took me years to stop thinking of you as Russ.

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