My dad named me Stephanie so I would have a professional name if I so chose later in life but he named me Stephanie so he could call me Stevie which he and my mom did every day of my life. Unless I was in trouble at which point I was called Stephanie Barbara. Embarrassing. My brother couldn't pronounce Stevie when he was little so he called me Didi... until he could pronounce it. I grew up my entire life being called Stevie by most people except teachers in school. But even by classmates I was called Steve-the-girl... I was a little tom-boyish back then, preferring to play games with boys in gym than walk the track with the girls. LAME. But regardless, I went by Stevie almost exclusively for 25 years of my life. My best friends and family have always called me that.
In fact, to showcase how ingrained it was in me, one time in college, during the first day of a class, the teacher was taking attendance and told us to stop her if we want to be called something else. When she got to my name, she said "Stephanie Fucks" and I replied "it's Stevie"... re-read that sentence if you didn't catch it the first time. I did NOT correct her for thinking "Fuchs" was the f-bomb in plural form. I let it go. Couldn't have cared less. BUT I WAS NOT GOING TO BE CALLED STEPHANIE!
Generally speaking, I use my legal name only when it doesn't matter. For example, when I register for a course and they know me by Stephanie and I will only see them for 16 hours total on two different Saturdays, I don't really care. If I am meeting someone I'll never see again and have a name tag on, I let it go. What's the point?
The confusion begins and ends with my husband. He did not want to call the person he was dating, Stevie because, to him, it was a boys name. So he called me Steph/Stephanie and when he did it around others, they literally had no idea who he was talking to/about for a few seconds.
Since then, I've had several people make the switch over to Steph/Stephanie but I'm not really a fan of it. I mean, I won't disown you if you call me that. By all means, if you want to call me that, fine. But realize I literally don't recognize it. So if you are trying to get my attention and I don't respond, it's not because I am being rude, it's because I no more recognize myself as Stephanie than if you tried to get my attention by calling me "Susan". It just isn't said enough to me to make a difference. The only reason I respond when Scott says it is because my mind has made a connection with that name and his voice. Same as my parents. If you want to know what I prefer - it's Stevie. And if you call me Steph/Stephanie, I will question your motive because there's a good chance you're just trying to piss me off.
Stevie is no different a nickname for Stephanie than calling someone Liz instead of Elizabeth, Alex instead of Alexander, Matt instead of Matthew or Jeff instead of Jeffrey. So sometimes, when people rarely refuse to call me Stevie (or apparently don't "get it"), I don't get them. They use other people's nicknames... it's not that hard.
I like being unique. I like having a non-normal name. I liked being one of TWO girls on the UMass campus with the name Stevie. I like knowing that when you say Stevie, there is a 99.99% chance you are talking about me (or Stevie Nicks (vomit) or Stevie Wonder).
I hope that clears it up.
PS - I realize that it's confusing that I sign every blogpost with Stephanie but it's my name so deal with it. LOL.
I thought you were going to say that people should call you Stephanie...and I was like "no you are Stevie forever"
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