Going by a different name in college?

iaparent
Fri, 13 Jul 2018 17:11:43 +0000

People do it all the time, choose to be called whatever you want.

I have a good friend that I have known since kindergarten. I have always known him as Chuck (short for Charles). His parents, siblings, teachers, coaches, college friends, grad school friends, and first wife all called him Chuck.

When he was getting remarried he asked that I be his best man. I went to visit him and meet his bride to be before the wedding and noticed that she called him Charlie. I assumed this was a pet name and didn’t think too much of it but it felt odd. Fast forward to the wedding and everyone from the bride’s side refereed to him as Charlie and his side as Chuck, it was an odd weekend for me but I was able to incorporate the awkwardness into my toast. It turns out once he started dating again part of his “protective” measures against getting hurt again was to go by Charlie at first, to not let women get too close to him but by the time he was ready to take a deeper step in the relationship Charlie had stuck.

Today he is known as Charles professionally, in publishing, and in the media; he is Chuck to his parents and those from his past; and he is Charlie to anyone he and his wife are social with. I would be confused but he seems to make it work seamlessly.