Message: "Re: Deborah" - Behind the Name

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[Opinions] Re: Deborah

by Brightfield (pumpkin)

11/17/2008, 8:25 AM

My name is Deborah and I love it. Like you, I dislike Debbie and although I used to go by Debbie as a child, I'm now very much a Deborah.

I pronounce it De-bor-ah, not Deb-ra.

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- abbasdaughter +4

11/17/2008, 7:19 PM

yeah... when I started insisting on my full name in elementary school, it was back in the 80s and no one seemed to go by the full name... Then suddenly in the 90s it became more common for people to use the full name (I'm in my 30s now... and still won't answer to Debbie).

- Brightfield (pumpkin) +3

11/18/2008, 1:46 AM

I'm in my 30s too! 95% of Deborahs went by Debbie in the 70s and 80s but now it's probably 50/50. I do quite like Deb and I do get called Debs a bit - which I don't mind too much. I think Deb is cool though.

- abbasdaughter +2

11/18/2008, 2:43 AM

I think it all depends on the person what fits... Only selective people get away with Debs (ok... 1 that I can think of and she's a closer friend)... some of my En.-speaking friends will occasionally shorten it to Deb, but I don't tend to get the Jpns. doing that as their syllabic language turns it into "Debu", which means "fat"... not the direction I want to go with my name.
After switching over to my full name (once I found out my real name) in the beginning of gr. 3 or so, I wouldn't even answer to Deb until some time in my later teens... I'm ok with it now though. It's just Debbie *does beach bimbo airhead bob reminiscent of late 80s/early 90s blond jokes* I'm not so fond of.

This message was edited 11/18/2008, 2:48 AM

- Brightfield (pumpkin) +1

11/18/2008, 6:07 AM

I don't think the image of Debbie has been helped by 'Debbie Does Dallas'!

- abbasdaughter

11/18/2008, 4:25 PM

I haven't seen that show... and had pretty much forgotten it even existed. Maybe I can go back to forgetting after this... I thought it was the sitcoms from the 80s ("Three's Company" type shows) or so where it seemed to be the name of the odd date a guy would have with intentions of getting their way with her...
Maybe that's why some of them started switching over to Deborah in the 90s.

This message was edited 11/18/2008, 4:26 PM

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