My current last name is something I inherited from my sociopathic father. That's not exaggerating, he has all the traits of a sociopath, and he was psychologically abusive. It also is spelled in an unusual way and nobody can pronounce it. My mothers last name is lovely, but it doesn't match with my first name or. It's nice and Italian, and the side of the family it comes from is alongside those who I identify with the most. The only problem is that for reasons I don't completely understand myself. I have not cut my father out of my life. He hasn't done anything to me in a while, probably because he knows that if he did, I would sever all ties with him. A while ago I asked him to stop abusing me, and he responded by moving to the other side of the country. He has never once so much as acknowledged what he did to me. Maybe that's part of the reason I still talk to him, because I want to hear him say that what he did was wrong. But he won't ever. My first name is lovely, and it means "gift from God" but if I changed my last name, it would sound ugly with it. So I was thinking of changing it to a nickname I gave myself when I was two. I've always felt like it's my real name, and it's what most people call me. But the only problem is that my nickname isn't a real name. It's a word for a type of animal, and I only know of one person who has it, and they're a celebrity. Would people take me seriously with a name like that? I want to get in to med school, and I want to become a respectable psychiatrist. Do you think you can do that with a hippy first name? Any advice is appreciated unless the advice is to seek help about my father. I've had help, and I still have regular phone calls with my father, despite my psychiatrists advice. I have a plan though, when I move out of my mom's house, I'm going to get an unlisted phone number, and "forget" to give it to him. So don't worry, I've got that covered. I repeat, I don't want any advice on dealing with my dad, just my name.
Hi there! I personally wouldn't choose something that isn't a 'real' name. I'd suggest that you choose a name that would go well with your mom's last name, and to which you could form an attachment.
