Really, did you not think he would be called "Fulton" for the rest of his life. Didn't you consider that he would have to explain and spell his name each and every time? If you wanted to be so different, then you got that. Stop complaining about getting what you ask for. People don't have time to remember your "rules" about what to call your child. Please, get over it.

My daughter's very unique name is Hayley Banana (she's 7, so yes, we beat Gwyneth Paltrow and her Apple to the fruit theme). On Hayley's school records, I do not list any middle name, only her first and last.
My son's name is quite long (Zane Roan Zephan Silas). On school records, his is only listed Zane Roan.

We are happy with our name choices, but we don't presume these names are everyone's -- or anyone else's for that matter -- cup of tea. So we made sure there's never any debate since we didn't give them the debating materials.

(And you can always head on down to the courthouse and have your son legally switch his first and middle names!! That the teacher would have to respect!!)

My brother, who is now 50, goes by his middle name...he is a III, in a family of 3 of the same. So, he was always, 'Dillon', the middle name.........I'm a couple of years older, but don't remember too much trouble with him being addressed by his chosen name in school. Teachers generally accepted the explanation of what he was called and ran with it. You son has teachers that are plain nasty, if they won't take the explanation, say OK, and go with it.
I'd be going to the Principal, and then the Region Superintendant, if the school refused to call my child by the name of their preference when it's a legal part of their name.
When ever possible, just list his name as F. Creed Norman. My brother, a professional, is known as H. Dillon...the name the H stands for, never comes into play.
Hope that helps!

I agree that, by naming your son Fulton you have set him up for a life of being called Fulton until people understand what he prefers to be called. You had your reasons - I won't judge you for that. I like the suggestions of Sharon Watson whose brother lists the first initial. I think your sensitivity to it is probably an issue for some people. After all, his name IS Fulton and this is a society in which, if you choose not to use your first name, you need to let people know. And maybe remind them once or twice. It sounds as if you get annoyed with him being called Fulton at these places. I suggest you write down F. Creed when you can (like baseball etc) and be less sensitive about it when he is called Fulton. In the same token, if your son has requested of his teacher to be called Creed, she should honor that request. I too would have written to his teacher if his request was not being honored.

I like the F. Creed Norman idea. It's got a nice ring to it. Like F. Lee Bailey. F. Scott Fitzgerald. You get the idea. We just didn't think that naming him "Creed Fulton Norman'' sounded right, to the poetic ear.

I want to add one more thing. I find people are way too inflexible about ALL issues pertaining to names. Ask other married women who use both last names. Many of us don't WANT a stinking hyphen! But we usually get one anyway. I advocate a slash mark, as in "either or,'' as in Brittany Wallman / Norman. I hope this catches on.

And if you do the F. Creed thing, he can still be called Creed. It just gets around the fact that you need to list his first name for whatever reason. So this way, it's out there for legal reasons, but much easier for people to call him Creed.

My official married and voter registration last name is Kelly Hurley (my last name, and his, NO hyphen). Every time I go to vote in my small town, I get abused by the female seniors working the register rolls. Some have outright REFUSED to look me up under "K."

I try to give them lots of patience but it's always the same every election. Their generation didn't deal with this much.

So let me get this straight, you named your child Fulton but you want him to be called by his middle name, Creed. If Fulton is his legal first name, then that is what most people who have a informal relationship with him will call him i.e. teachers, doctors, etc. If you want him to be called Creed so badly, why don't you just change his first name?

If you wanted him to be called Creed, you should have named him Creed, not Fulton. I don't see why people don't name their children what they want them to be called. He can legally change his name to Creed (or something else if he wants) when he gets older.

If you really wanted him called Creed, you should have named his first name Creed. Either way, people are going to call him by his first name anytime they see his "real" first name which is Fulton. But if you didn't like Fulton, why didn't you use that as his first name? I just don't get parents who give their kids "unusual" names and yet complain about how hard it is for the world to remember or spell them. He will have this problem for life.

The "Fulton'' part is a family name. And the name "Fulton Creed' was a byline my husband used once when a friend of his was trying to start a magazine. We thought it was cool. Honestly I figured the order didn't matter, that a person can go by their first or middle name. My gosh it's not like I'm asking people to call him "Norman,'' his last name. Is it really that unconventional? I don't think so.

I like the idea of calling a child by either their middle or first names. It's your preference. My son has the same first name as his father and grandfather, so we call him by his middle name most of the time. In school, he is called by his first name. I remember filling out forms for my kids about their names and nicknames and the name that they would prefer to be called.

Your son should just become accustomed to using his first name, because it is his first name, but then the people that are closest to him can call him by him middle name. And when he gets older, he can introduce himself by just his middle name.

I think the first comment from Gloria is a bit harsh. I have a friend who uses his middle name to seperate him from his father. While I agree tha t you did name him Fulton for a reason, it's his choice what he wants to be called. I've always been asked in school and in my professional career the name I prefer to go by.

I apologize for sounding harsh. I really didn't mean it that way. I was coached a long time ago by my former mother-in-law who had a very unusual first name (Louine) and had to spell it out her entire life. She asked me not to do that when I named my kids. I respected what she said - it made a lot of sense to me then and does still now - so I named Nicole without an "h" and Kristen without the "Ch" or "in". My former name was Clark and everyone always wanted to add an "e". Even then, you would think simple, but it isn't. Add anything else to the mix and it just gets too complicated.

My father, William Barton McCash, went by his middle name, too. I don't know whether he ever got called "William" in school -- maybe it wasn't such an issue in those days -- but as an adult he could quickly tell whether someone actually knew him. Anyone who tried to call him "Bill McCash" was immediately recognized as a stranger. This worked particularly well for discerning telemarketing calls.

I hope this doesn't sound hard, but, well, your title says it all: what WERE you thinking? Most people do get called by their first names, so why does it come as a surprise to you when people call your son by his first name instead of his middle name? After all, that's the norm (though not in my family; I have 3 aunts, a greatgrandmother, and numerous other relatives who do not go by their first names!) Your son has the right to request that people call him by his middle name, but I suppose his teacher has the right to call him by his legal name as it appears on school records. Have you actually asked her to call him Creed? (I know you've told her you call him that, but I wasn't sure if you had actually asked.) Has she actually told you that she won't call him that? If she has, you might have to just let it go, since that IS his legal name. Or, like one poster suggested, go down to the courthouse and change it.

It never ceases to amaze me that people are this idiotic. If you want the kid to be called a particular name then give him that as a first name instead of pounding your heads against the wall trying to get others to do your bidding. Eventually Fulton Creed will grow up and he can enforce his will until then why give this so much energy?

It never ceases to amaze me that people won't simply call people what they wish to be called.

I'd give one people one slip on the first name thing...after all it is the norm. But it is certainly NOT unheard of to have one name on the birth certificate and another that is used in everyday life.

My 6 yr old son has a nickname that is unusual and he will now introduce himself as his "real" first name and then say, "But people call me ___." Sometimes he says, but my FRIENDS call me ___.

It's a good screening mechanism, in my opinion. Screens out the people he's not likely to want to spend time with.

Then again, my kid(s) have names that can be (are) shortened and two middle names on top of it. We are very mean people.

I have a difficult first name...according to the world. Never got it spelled or pronounced correctly. KARA. Pretty hard I guess. So, I decided when I was pregnant with my daughter, I wanted a "normal" name. LAUREN. So far, so good. I didn't want her to have to explain all the things I did as a kid. I hope I saved her. But, Creed deserves to be called what he wants.