Is there anything worse than overfamiliarity, Bob?

Listeners of yesterday’s Today programme may have caught the testy exchange between Nick Robinson and Lord Hayward – or “Bob”, as Robinson referred to him. “I’m not Bob,” spat back Baron Hayward. “I’m never Bob! I’m sorry to be pedantic, but I am Robert.” A humbled Nick (Nicky…?) Robinson apologised for the mistake.

Is there anything worse than overfamiliarity? I can’t help but wince when people I’ve never met before call me “Bry”, and my husband, a Harry, has an aversion to “H”.

A friend, Victoria, recalls

schoolmates calling the house phone and asking for Vicky. “There’s no Vicky here,” her indignant mother would reply, “but I can get Victoria for you…”

Then there’s the chum everyone has taken to calling “Christopher-not-chris” on account of his irritation at the shortening of his name.

Are there any monikers you have been given that you’d like to see shelved? Email me at the address above and we can try to launch a campaign against nicknames from absolute strangers.