When I named my blog JenFul several years ago someone told me that would make people start calling me “Jen.” I laughed and was like, sure, right, whatever, that is totally not going to happen. If you understand the concept of foreshadowing at all then you’ve probably figured out that, yes, actually, that did totally happen. People call me Jen all the time–in emails, in Facebook comments, and even once or twice in person. And it’s kind of driving me crazy.
Jen is a perfectly lovely name. I have at least three friends named Jen. There’s Jen L. and Jen S. and Jen T. and I would happily have brunch or drinks with them any time and let them sleep on my couch if they ever so desired. However, I myself am not a Jen. I’m just not. I’m Jennette. When I was a kid I was Jenny, but that didn’t really fit and wasn’t unique since every other girl my age was named Jennifer and many of them went by Jenny too. So when we moved during kindergarten I switched to Jennette and I have never looked back.
I like that my name is unique enough that I rarely ever run into any else named Jennette or Jeannette or Jeanette or Johnette or what have you. But it’s also not so weird that people haven’t heard of it before. It is difficult for people to spell correctly, which is annoying, but I’ve become used to that over the years. However that’s also partly the reason I chose the name JenFul for my blog because I knew no one would ever be able to spell my first name correctly in a domain. I figured jenful.com was easier to remember.
Unfortunately this means people that interact with me mainly through my blog have started calling me Jen. And it’s totally my own fault! I wish I could remember who told me this was going to happen because they were extremely prescient and I should have listened to them. Sadly though, I don’t know what to do about it. I supposed I could move my blog over to jennettefulda.com and hope people can find it by Googling. Google is smart enough to suggest that you spell my name correctly, which has earned them my eternal love.
I do like the nickname JenFul a lot though. If people were calling me JenFul instead of Jen, I would be fine with it. But they’re not. So someday when I have some free time to redesign all my web sites (like in 2018) I might change the blog name. I dunno. In the meantime, if you write to me, please don’t call me Jen. Thanks! I should probably add that to the FAQ on the contact form, but no one seems to read that anyway. (NO! I DO NOT WANT YOUR GUEST POST! GO AWAY, PLEASE!!)
Vickie says
October 9, 2014 at 9:46 pmI know you have your full name at the top of your blog, you might “sign” Jennette at the end of your posts too, prominently.
JenFul says
October 9, 2014 at 11:40 pm@Vickie – Heh, I take it you don’t remember this post: http://pastaqueen.com/blog/2009/01/please-do-not-put-you-name-or-url-in-the-body-of-your-comments/
Katherine says
October 10, 2014 at 4:54 amI feel your pain. I’m Katherine. Growing up, my family called me Kathy, but when I got to grade school, there was a Kathleen who went by Kathy. Not really caring, I decided to go by Katherine instead… Until the internet. I was married in 2000 and, in 2001, I signed up with LiveJournal as Katen, a handy five-letter combination of my first and last names. (I would use it for my Twitter handle too.) Later, I signed up for Gmail as katenab. Both are short and both are combinations of my first and last names. But I’ve never gone by Kate. Never. Never ever. And, yes, being called Katen or Katenab would be fine! Those are names I’ve chosen. Kate? Not so much.
Natalie says
October 10, 2014 at 7:29 amMy name is Natalie and I hate hate hate being called Nat. Not many people do it, but it’s hard for me to confront those who do and tell them I hate it. I’m very non-confrontational. I suppose it is better than Natty.
Natalie says
October 10, 2014 at 7:30 amOh, and sorry for putting my name in the body of my comment when it is right there above.
JenFul says
October 10, 2014 at 12:39 pm@Natalie – No worries about signing you name in your comment. I don’t care about that anymore. I wrote that post I linked to during the first year of my headache when I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and trying to exercise control in at least once facet of my life.
Meg says
October 10, 2014 at 4:07 pmI thought it would be professional and mature to use my full name in my GMail address, even though no one has really used it since I was in middle school. Occasionally, people call me “Megan” in emails, because obvious, I think “Wait, am I grounded? Is this the DMV? WHY ELSE ARE YOU CALLING ME THIS?”
Debbi Does Dinner Healthy says
October 10, 2014 at 7:22 pmI still think of you as Pasta Queen! No one ever spells my name correct either.
I named my baby Jory. He’s now 12. Conversations as he is introducing himself go like this.
Jory.
Jordy?
Jory.
Joey?
Jory.
George.
Yes.
He’ll never forgive me.
KathleenC says
October 14, 2014 at 11:49 amI actually know an other Jennette! She goes by Jenner.
I went by Kathy most of my life, but somewhere early in college I changed… I guess because teachers always called attendance from the registrar’s enrollment sheet which had my full name. And most of my now friends can’t imagine calling anything else. But it still sounds right when family calls me Kathy…
Dagny says
November 6, 2014 at 11:32 pmOh come on, don’t whine! People often decide to call me DAGS. I have no idea where they come up with it or how it is so many people do it and it’s for sure they’ve NEVER heard it anywhere. So it’s a mystery. And it’s a bad slang term in Australia. So it could be much, much worse.
Charla says
December 13, 2014 at 2:24 am@Debbi, your post reminded of a recent conversation with a life long friend about the many incorrect, but sometimes amusing, variations of my name people come up with! Named after my father Charles, to a mother infatuated with all things french, my name is pronounced with a soft ch (think shhh) like Charlotte, but NOT! And when I try to explain it to people, it usually goes something like this:
What’s your name?
Charla.
Charlotte?
No, Charla. Like Charlotte, but no “t”.
Charlo?
No, with an “a” at the end.
Char-lay?
(@__@)
I’ve been called Charlie, Shirley, Carla, Charlene, Chandra, Chala, Chara, to name a few. My personal fave, Shurlock was announced in a crowded restaurant to have everyone sing HBD to me! Even some distant relatives can’t get it right and call me Charla with a hard ch (think cheese) because his name is Charles and I was named after him, right? Anyway, like Dagny said, it could always be worse…
Charla says
December 13, 2014 at 2:26 am@Debbi Does Dinner Healthy – This made me laugh out loud! Tell your son, welcome to my life. I’ve been correcting people for 4 decades now…