Also Known As

And I'll hang around as long as you will let me
And I never minded standin' in the rain.
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
You never even call me by my name.

I've gone by quite a few names in the 39 years I've been living. When I was a child, I went by Jamie because I have the same first name as my father.

Nowadays, the only people who call me Jamie are relatives and people who knew me when I was a child. I'm older and prefer to use James not only professionally, but also when I'm off duty.

Salesmen and customer service representatives usually try to establish familiarity with me by calling me Jim. I never have liked being called Jim.

However, I've not minded being called Jimbo or Jim Beau. I suppose they appeal to my sometimes perverse sense of humor. Those of you who've accessed my MySpace page know that I usually go by my middle name Beauregard there.

One of my history professors at Southern Miss once told me, jokingly of course, that the only thing that was good about me was my middle name. There's also my Library Guy moniker, which I was originally called by (and still am) by people in Laurel.

There are people I know who've gone by one name when they were younger, but prefer something else now. I know people who go by one name professionally, but often want people they consider to be friends to call them by another name.

There are a couple people I know that I can't help but automatically refer to them by their professional names because that's how I first came to know them. I'm terrible remembering peoples' names, so that's also a concern.

There are people who I have to keep from calling them by their first names because they go by other names. My workplace requires people to wear identification badges, which helps out my memory. But then, I have to remember those people who go by other names.

Argh. If only remembralls actually existed...