One of my pet peeves is when people call me Carol. I don’t mind being addressed by any of the variants of Carolyn, such as Caroline, Karolin, or Carolina, but Carol is a completely different name. Carol is the feminine version of the male name Carroll; Carolyn is the feminine of Charles, which is my father’s name. And I don’t mean to offend the Carols of the world, but the name brings up the image of a 1950s housewife. Carolyn/Caroline, on the other hand, is associated with a free-spirited princess of Monaco. You can guess which one I’d rather be, even if reality doesn’t bear it out.
In fact, I don’t want you to mess with my name at all. I’m not Carrie (a psychokinetic nightmare), or Lina (a Swedish civil servant.) Just come up with something completely different: acceptable former nicknames of mine have included Buffy, Neilmom, and Tai Pigu. And if in doubt, just call me Carolyn.