my dad told me that when he was really young, he thought all women were called 'mommies' and all men were called 'daddies'

One day when my father was a very young child, back in the early sixties when the civil rights movement was in full force, he was riding the bus with his mother. It was already crowded when the driver stopped and picked up a black man who proceeded to take a seat right next to them. My dad then leaned over, looked the man straight in the eye, and said "Hi daddy!"

I can't even imagine what grandma's reaction was.

Anon

In our family, like many others I'm sure, we have little made up words for everyday things to make it easier for the toddlers as they learn to speak and for the adults to understand.
For example,
boo-boo = a hurt or a scare, be-bette = an insect, bankie = blankie
The one that really stands out though was 'na-na' which meant food. For a 6 year old, the most logical conclusion as to why we called my step-grandmother 'Nana' was because she was always eating. :-X
(I hope she never reads this)

Caz

I used to beleif that my mom's name was mommy. Then one ay, I was playing at my friend's house and when she said " Mommy...... can you bring me some water?", I told here " Wow! You mom's name is Mommy too!"... the look she gave me marked the beginning of the end of my naive childhood!

Lovely

quand j'etais petite je croiyait que quand des gens atteignent 18ans il changaient de noms pour des noms qui font plus femme ou homme alors que l'orsque que l'on eté petit on avaient des noms d'enfants

armine et charlene 401

I used to believe that we have certain names that we'r called by when we are children..and that we get new ones when we get older....so nina(my sister) anabelle(a friend) etc where all 'childrens names' and odette(aunt) and patricia(mother) were grownup names...so i went about asking kids what theyd want their name to be when they grew up or asking adults what theirs was when they were little.....sadly i dont really remember the replies i got...just recall confusion on their faces

The Yogic Ballerina

One day my grandma and I were picking up my little brother from school. After he got in the car I noticed a boy had the same bookbag as him. I pointed it out to my brothe and he said: "Yeah that's Josh. His last name is Ua." (Josh+ua)

Kel "Evacuation Sign"

In 'Harry Potter' When I first read it, i thought that you pronuonced Hermione as Her-me-one. I remember doing a book review and everyone laughed at me. :(

Agent R

I used to think that people chose last names for their kids

Anon

I used to read about Lady Penelope and believe that her name was pronounced Penny-lope (lope as in antelope).

Anon

i used to think everyone with the same name looks and act the same. my name is sarah...u can imagine how petrified i was when i was until one day this girl came to my school, her name was sarah (ironically), she didn't look anything like me. Then i asked her how she spelled her name...it was without an H....ahah

sarah

When I was really small (maybe 4) I thought all men grew up to be called John! My dad and grandad are Johns and I guess because John Smith is a 'general' name for a man (at least in the UK)... I don't know. It didn't seem to confuse me that my Uncle is called Peter, I just wanted to know when my name would change!

Kitch

When I was younger I used to find it pretty surprising how my Dad could call my Grandad (his Father-in-law) names and get away with it.
I remember later telling Mum in the most concerned voice; "Mum! Dad called Grandad DICK!"
Later I found out this was due to his last name being Whittington and had something to do with the story of Dick Whittington and his cat.

Belinda

I was named Elizabeth, after my aunt. My family has always called me Beth, and she went by Betty. I always thought that when you were named Elizabeth, everyone called you Beth when you were little; and when you were an old lady, they called you Betty. I'm 32 now, and i'm still waiting for people to start calling me Betty.

beth

When I was little, my parents told me if someone had the same name as you they could be related to you, so till I was about 8, I would say to every Hannah I met, 'hey we might be related', until I realised my parents meant surnames...

Hannah

Up until i was 7 i belived i was the only girl in the world named fern then my aunt said she new a little girl called fern.I was so devistated.I then wanted to change my real name to my middle name sachiko meaning joy in english (of couse i wanted the english name) and my middle name to be fern then i found out that i couldnt change my name for along time.I said to my mum the next day "when i grow up im gona change my name to Ala kikurass. You should of seen the FACE she made it was so funny.I got grounded for the next 2 weeks.My mum looking back to it now thinks its funny to hear a 7 yr old say what i said.

Fern AKA:Ala Kikurass (i wish)

When I was just getting ready to start kindergarten, my dad tried to teach me to write my name. He wrote "CRYSTAL" on a sheet of paper and told me those were the letters to my name. He didn't understand when I wrote"LCATRSY" (or something similar).
I thought the letters were MY letters (and no one elses) and I could use them in any order I wanted.
I wonder just how worried he was about me starting kindergarten.

SYRTALC (or something similar)

My dad's a farmer, and so we have CB's in our tractors. He always used to say "Hey you!" over the radio to someone else, and I actually thought someone's name was HeyYou. It didn't help that he told me someone WAS named HeyYou...but later on he said he was pulling my leg. I was so broken hearted...

Farmer's Daughter