My full name is Benjamin, but really only my grandma ever called me that.

I go by Ben so thoroughly that remembering I have extra syllables is like, this weird bonus surprise sometimes.

Truth be told, I’d probably get pretty uncomfortable if all my friends started calling me Benjamin.

Using someone’s prefered monicker isn’t that hard, though apparently it is for the people in this person’s life.

AITAH for insisting that people call me by my full first name?

I have a 8 character, two syllable, first name.

It’s uncommon but easy to say/pronounce because it’s two simple English words joined together and is also a place name.

But if you only say the first syllable, it becomes a common first name.

I’m going to use “Michael” for discussion purposes but that’s not my name.

I feel like I’ve been given a riddle to solve about what the true name is, but we’ll move on.

So I’ll always communicate my full first name.. “Michael” but a surprising number of people feel the need to call me “Mike” or even “Mikey”.. I’ll usually just respond “I prefer Michael” and for most people that’s enough.

Some people, however, refuse.. They’ll say “that’s too long” and continue to call me “Mike”.

Again, we’re talking about a name shorter, in syllables, than “Benjamin.”

AITAH for insisting that people use my actual given first name when they address me?

I find it incredibly disrespectful when people use different names like this, especially after I’ve corrected them.

And I’m not talking about “hey buddy” situations where they aren’t using / don’t know my name, that’s fine.. Just not changing me to “Mikey”.

He’s not your pal, friend.

My feeling is, if it’s too many syllables to say my name properly, they are free to save all the other syllables by not addressing me at all.

The funny thing is the people who most often do this seem to be people who want to sell me something and are using a sales trick to gain intimacy/trust but it does the opposite with me.

Once in a while, I’ll encounter someone who just won’t quit.. And I’ll end up asking “what makes you think this is ok?” but only after requesting my correct name a couple of times.

Let’s see what the comments have to say:

You friggin’ wot, mate?

Put in a tiny bit of effort, y’all.

Just TRY.

That’s not my name!

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