Names

1. Looking at the official grade sheet, I see that many of my students have nicknames as their given names! Tony is not short for Anthony! Johnny is his real name -- not John!


2. The door sign on the office of one of my colleagues has been changed to now show the last name she had about a decade ago. (Thank you dissertation abstracts for giving me a glimpse into the past!) I never did understand why people change their names. I have had the same name my entire life. It's worked well for me, and I've never felt the need to change it.


3. There are some people in my department who are referred to as Dr. Lastname by some faculty when speaking to other faculty. I find this quite weird.


4. At the other extreme: my calculus students have started calling me by my first name. Who told them to do that? Not me.