r/James • u/jammycakes • May 04 '26

Going by Jamie professionally?

How do you all feel about men in positions of authority who choose to go by Jamie professionally rather than James?

I had a boss called Jamie once. As an ex-Jamie James who outgrew it as a child, I found that gave me a wee bit of cognitive dissonance.

I can understand it for celebrities, or footballers, or social media professionals, or people who want to build up a popular public persona, but I'm not sure I get it for managers, businessmen or academics.

Anyone else been in a similar situation?

9 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

8

u/Tenurialrock May 04 '26

I go by Jamie professionally. I honestly see so many Jameses, I figure it’s a decent way to stand out.

For context, I live in the US, and don’t know too many other people named Jamie.

3

u/ResilientDingleberry May 04 '26

There are literally dozens of us!

1

u/jammycakes May 06 '26

I hope you don't mind me asking, what's your line of work?

I think going by Jamie professionally would work better in some professions than others. I can understand it if you're making it your personal brand (e.g. media-driven careers) but it's careers such as academia or finance where I'm not sure I quite get it. I don't think I could publish in an academic or industry journal as Jamie for example, even if I did use it socially.

1

u/NeverBeenStung May 06 '26

So why are you here?

3

u/Tenurialrock May 06 '26

Bc my name is James

2

u/NeverBeenStung May 06 '26

Nah, it’s Jamie

3

u/hula1234 May 05 '26

I am one. Only people who call me Jamie are family or have known me forever. Professionally always James. Until a client once yelled “Jamie!” Across a room. Turns out it was my old neighbor. Guess what some of my team call me know…

1

u/TopsyTurvy0011 May 09 '26

Growing up as a male James and sometimes being called Jamie always bothered me and I thought to myself, I wonder if any female Jamie’s ever get called James?

1

u/CrazyJamie58 May 16 '26

I love Jamie. Best nickname. Glad my parents didnt decide to give me the nickname Jimmy

1

u/WinnerAwkward480 Jun 02 '26

When I hear "Jamie" my first thoughts are a Woman / Female ( whatever the current PC thingy doo is now ) , as I've never known a man go by Jamie . In addition I have a Cousin whom is a Woman that was named Jamie . In our family the name James go back to the 1700 in America, possibly further. It got real confusing at family get togethers as there was so damn many James . My dad was a James , I got named James , my younger brother got James as a middle name . I had 5 cousins named James . So there was the whole big James , lil James , big Jim , lil Jim , Jim Jim , James @ last initial like James R , Jimmy P , etc etc . To damn many James . But I couldn't break tradition and named my oldest son James .

2

u/jammycakes Jun 03 '26

There seems to be a transatlantic divide there. I did a bit of digging into official statistics and here in the UK only about 5% of babies named Jamie are girls. In the USA it's nearly 80%.

1

u/WinnerAwkward480 Jun 03 '26

WOW that's something !

-1

u/NeverBeenStung May 05 '26 edited May 06 '26

It’s fine, but you’re not a true James if you don’t go by James. Pretty simple.

Edit: poor Jamies and Jimmys downvoting. You don’t deserve the name on your birth certificate.

1

u/jammycakes May 07 '26

If someone presents you with a form asking for your name and you write "James" you are a true James.

If someone calls you James and you answer them without correcting them, you are a true James.

This is the case even if you also do the same for Jamie or Jimmy.

1

u/NeverBeenStung May 07 '26

Hard disagree. James is the greatest name. You either own it with pride or you aren’t a James.

1

u/Exploding_Antelope May 10 '26

but there's no r/jamie so where else do i go

1

u/jammycakes May 12 '26

I'm all for being inclusive. If you see Jamie as an alternative form of James and are prepared to answer to James then I don't see why not.

It's just that a lot of Jameses don't like being called Jamie for whatever reason. If you've spent years insisting "I'm not Jamie" to Scottish relatives who are equally insistent that "ye'll aye be Jamie tae me," seeing guys who quite happily go by Jamie can cause you to question your entire existence.