I have a fairly common, multisyllabic first name that has A LOT of nicknames that can be made from it, and it’s common that people with this name preferred to be called by one of those nicknames, but I am vehemently not one of those people.

I always introduce myself by the full length of this name. It’s important to me because my mom named me, and she fought for this name since it’s unusual to have it in my culture. She is no longer alive, so this is one of the ways I honor her memory. I’ve also always just liked it a lot; I feel like it suits me well.

Anyways, a lot of times it seems, people take the liberty of changing it or shortening it without asking me, and I hate it. I feel the same feeling as nails under my skin whenever I am called by one of those names. This happens in both personal and professional settings and I always try to (politely) correct the person by saying “Excuse me, my name is XYZ, not X.” 

Sometimes when I do it, I realize that I am interrupting what they were going to tell me right after addressing me, but I feel like it was rude of them to change my name without asking in the first place. I feel the need to correct it immediately because I don’t want it to happen again. I see sometimes that people’s face drop and they look offended, and I feel bad about that. I can see them try to back track by saying: “Oh, my cousin is named XYZ but she likes to go by X” and I truly don’t know what else to say except “I am not your cousin” and that seems to alienate people further. 

AITA for taking issue with this and going about it this way?