Can Jeff change his name to Jeffrey?

[buddhapunch09]

Okay so my buddy today, his name is Jeff, we decided to hangout and cigarette it up.

I greeted him like I always do; "Hey Jeff what's up?" he looked into my eyes and said "My name's not Jeff it's Jeffrey"...
Can he do this?? Can me make me call him Jeffrey?

He said it's flows smoother and it is whats actually on his birth certificate, so he would like to be called that for now on.
Also:
Will people call him Jeff when they first meet him? Or will he ALWAYS be know as Jeffrey because of introductions; to the name Jeffrey.

Please I can't find any answers to this. Should I also start calling people Matthew instead of Matt or Richard instead of Dick?

[semaphore]

He can change his name legally. He can't really do anything about you, if you keep calling him Jeff though.

[Deleted]

This is so random hehe... people can request that you call them whatever they like. He can't make you call him anything but it's only polite to go along with what your friends would prefer you called them. Obviously he'll have to tell people that call him Jeff to call him Jeffrey, and it's likely that new people he meets will call him by whatever name he introduces himself by.

As for the other names, just go by what the person you're talking to wants to be called.

[Seme]

It's not complicated, if he wishes to be called Jeffrey rather than Jeff, then start calling him Jeffrey. Most people with names that can be abbreviated will have a preference, its normally considered polite to ask them rather than assume.

He can change his name legally. He can't really do anything about you, if you keep calling him Jeff though.

Looks like his name is already legally Jeffrey, so nothing to change

He said it's flows smoother and it is whats actually on his birth certificate, so he would like to be called that for now on.

[Deleted]

If it's someone you just met I think it should be better to call them by the full name Jeffrey instead of Jeff, but if it's someone you already know, I don't see any problem in calling him Jeff, but if he doesn't like it, just call him Jeffrey.

[dPwnShop]

My real name is Randall but I've always been called Randy. I could never imagine all of a sudden trying to make all my friends start calling me Randall lol.

Looking at if from your point of view, I have a friend who is known as Dean but his real name is Chris. If he ever started getting butthurt about people calling him Dean and wanting us to start calling him Chris I think that I would quit hanging out with him. Not because it bothers me calling him Chris, but because it would bother me that he finds something like that bothersome, if that makes any sense.

Probably why, at age 28, I've narrowed down the amount of friends I will kick it with to only a handful. Or have the friends I used to hang out with narrowed me out of their group of friends they want to hang out because stupid shit bothers me.... Something I need to think about.

[Theodon]

I don't understand the need to get verification from people on a forum about calling your friend what he asked you to call him. It's not that complex from what I've read in the OP. You call them by their name unless you know them well, then you adopt a shortened version. Nicknames are a sign of social acceptance and, in some cases, you need to let them get to know you before they are comfortable with it.

He's asked you to call him by his proper name, so either do it or don't.

[vizzle]

I don't understand why this is such an issue to the OP. Call your friend whatever he wants to be called unless it's incredibly stupid, and in that case, slap him for being stupid.

[raddry]

What are you talking about? He can ask you to call him however he wants. Why are you making a thread over that? o.O

[Raphtheone]

Back in elementary school people called me Magnus. At my first workplace people called me Martin. At my second workplace people called me Edwin. None of them are even remotely close to my real name, and all done on my request. This was inspired by a childhood friend who was named something, can't remember, and he changed it to something else, and I had issues calling him by something that I didn't consider to be his name. At my second workplace, there was a woman who made people call her Nova. Being her boss I had access to her personell files, and that wasn't even her name. My brother got people to call him Fågel (Bird) at his workplace, which isn't even a real name, and it'd be the strangest nickname I've ever heard, and completely unwarranted (he doesn't sing, nor can he fly).

An individual can get you to call them whatever they want. You can ignore it, if you want to be rude. Whenever I meet someone who has a problem with remembering names, I just tell that person they can call me whatever they want. Makes for interesting situations.

[Liara]

What an odd question.
You call people by whatever they ask you to call them - unless you want to be a dick (no pun intended).

I mean, if one of my friends asks me to suddenly call him Mr. Fluffycakes, I'll probably smack him upside the head, but otherwise, just go with their wish.

[Svifnymr]

A guy at work insists on "Kenneth" rather than Kenny, though I told him I'll call him whatever I want and he agreed to that. Other folks though he'd get very pissy about it.

A friend growing up didn't like "Chris" so went by his middle name "Frank", instead. If he tried to switch back people would probably think he was an idiot.

Me being a Michael, I get "Mike" "Miguel" "Mikhail" "Mikey", the only one I have said "don't call me that" is to "Mickey". I prefer Michael but it's not a big deal for me. Usually I can tell what someone wants by how they call too. ("Mikey" always means they need something.)

When a new person is hired, it's one of the first things I ask though, is "how do you prefer to be called". A girl named Kate said she prefered Kate, didn't like Katie, so I always called her Kate but everyone else always went with Katie. She never corrected anyone even though it bugged her.

So, yeah, your friend probably always wanted Jeffrey, but got saddled with Jeff by overly familiar teachers and such and now is trying to reassert what name they prefer. Unless he's being a dick about it, I'd say give him his preference.

---------- Post added 2012-10-07 at 12:35 PM ----------

What an odd question.
You call people by whatever they ask you to call them - unless you want to be a dick (no pun intended).

At my old job, I used to see all sorts of names. Richard Palmer who goes by Dick was one of the funnier ones, though there was a woman whose last name was Nagdemon.

[Pendulous]

I don't understand why this is such an issue to the OP. Call your friend whatever he wants to be called unless it's incredibly stupid, and in that case, slap him for being stupid.

Pretty much. I tried getting my friends to call me by my name for awhile, but it never caught on. They still use a nickname that one of them gave me a long long time ago, one that doesn't really make sense anymore.

I do have a similar situation though. I have a friend named Bradley, who I always called as such. Everyone started calling him brad (he didn't care one way or the other). Eventually I started doing so too, but was the last to do so (until everyone started calling him by his last name, I'll never understand why). Bradley sounded a lot better than Brad in my head. Still does.

[Brandoh]

You eva smoke a jeffery....??
Like ya ol mate jeffery down the street

[chadwix]

There is someone who changed their name to "Meta world peace" on the lakers. Oddly enough he is a thug. Could you image actually calling someone that?

[mindvox]

Just call him "j-dawg" for a while and he probably won't mind Jeff

[Galloways]

I think it's safe to say that we're being trolled after seeing this topic and also seeing that he hasn't even replied to his own thread yet.

[DarkSoul]

Jeff's not changing his name, he's asking that people call him by something else, which happens to be his given name printed on his birth certificate. Out of respect for him as his friend, do so.

I was the same way, when hit about 18 I preferred being called by my given name, rather than what everyone had always called me growing up. My family and very old friends still call me what they always have, but ever since I started introducing myself and signing my name as what I preferred to be called, it's never been an issue.

[Sunshine]

I think it's safe to say that we're being trolled after seeing this topic and also seeing that he hasn't even replied to his own thread yet.

More likely based on post history, this is some stoned rant.

Closing this; we don't really need spam-type threads.